Tipper says ideal for idea
idea noun Variant forms ideal, idear, idee, ider, idey, idy (forms sometimes have stress on first syllable)
—Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English
Since I started making videos about language and other Appalachian things back in 2020 I’ve had a lot of folks comment about the way I talk.
Most often the words are complimentary. Sometimes people say I sound like their mother, aunt, or grandmother. Or maybe the people from an area where they lived at in the past.
Sometimes people comment to let me know I’m saying something wrong, which I am very guilty of doing. Just ask my family—they have a running list of things I say that they think is funny.
The two words that people most often point out are okree (okra) and ideal (idea).
Granny says okree and I know Pap did too, so it’s only natural that I use that one. But Granny says idea the correct way (or the way society says you should) and I can’t remember for sure how Pap said it. So maybe I learned ideal from him or maybe it was from someone else like Mamaw who kept me when I was little.
Although the dictionary entry has ideal as the very first variant form listed there isn’t one example of it in the rest of the text other than 1975 Montgomery File: ideal.
The most common variant for idea that I’ve heard over my lifetime in this area is idee.
I say ideal for idea so often that I could be the example in the dictionary listing.
2024 Brasstown “I have an ideal that might could work.”
Last night’s video: My Life in Appalachia 32 – January – March 2024.
Tipper
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Tipper I used to think your maiden name was Wiltson, then I realized the way you pronounce it is just part of your charming Appalachian accent.
I say words wrong all the time and get corrected a lot.
I remember how Jimmy Swaggert used to say the New Nighted states of America
My grandfather said “idee” for idea. In fact, a lot of his words had the “ee” ending instead of the “ea” or “ia” ending they should have had. I have heard folks say “ideal” for idea, but I don’t recall anyone in my family using it. One thing my grandfather said that I didn’t know was incorrect until I started school was “chimley” instead of chimney. I couldn’t understand why the people at school were pronouncing it wrong! Then I realized they were not the ones mispronouncing it.
As long as we keep talking each other, it doesn’t matter how we pronounce words!
My husband says ideal instead of idea, too. The only other thing I can think of that he says differently is ray-road for railroad. He was born near Mount Shasta, California but moved to Alabama when he was 5. And I can’t imagine being bold enough to try and correct someone’s pronunciation of a word. It’s a stretch for me to consider it anything other than rude.
My elders said words like “idee-idy” & “ideal”. They also said “okry-okree-okruh” for okra. I had one aunt that used the soft “a” on the end of words like “wind-a” for window but my daddy said “win-der” for window. They were brother and sister. My aunt also said “heat-a” or “heat-uh” for heater. I tend to use the soft “a” or “uh” on the end of some words. My daddy said okree, my aunt said okruh. I say both. My daddy would say, “now that’s a good “idee-idy” My aunt said “idee -uh”. I say “idee-uh” for the most part. I loved the soft southern accent my aunt had, but I also loved the down to earth southern/Texas drawl my daddy had. I remember our teachers in school tried to drill outta us all the “incorrect” spelling and usage of words our elders used One of our teachers gave us demerits for using the wrong word usage or spelling. However, I must say most of the teachers’ efforts were in vain becuz we still use the same ol’ words we used as kids that our parents and grandparents spoke. It’s still alive and well in our neck of the woods.
My grandparents on both sides always said “okree” for okra, and most of the time, I say “okree” myself—depending on who I am talking to—LOL. My grandparents and several other older relatives always said “idear” for idea; however I don’t usually say it that way—I usually say idea—I have also heard many older people say “idee/idy”. Another word my grandparents and other older relatives always said was “ice box” instead of refrigerator—my first mother-in-law always called a refrigerator by the word “Frigidaire” likely because the first brand she ever saw was made by this company—many others I know, including me, call it “the fridge”. Some other words that come to my mind: tomato/damater; biscuit/bistick; brush/bresh; window/winder. I know there are others, but they just won’t come to my mind at the moment.
The first person I heard saying ideal for idea was my online Pastor from Indiana. That’s a pretty wide spread from the Appalachians. However Pastor Paul Begley does have family from the hills of Kentucky and all over the Appalachians.
LOLove for The Blind Pig And The Acorn.
We say idee clare and many more, but it would take up too much space here and spell check would have a complete breakdown, so I’ll stop with the words, LOL. Some words we may pronounce differently but if you were brought up hearing them, then that’s the way we say them. We’re not ignorant if we don’t say it properly. Tipper, just keep saying your words just like you do. I love them! I’m not in Appalachia but I am definitely Southern- but not stupid. 🙂 Have a great day everyone!!!
My wife’s mother said “feesh and deesh ” for fish and dish. My wife has a ‘spesh imspediment’ and can’t pronounce words with gs or x properly as in dogs or six.
I grew up with teachers that emphasized proper grammar and listened to John Cameron Swayze on tv. Newscasters today make all sorts of grammatical mistakes and it takes 4-6 of them to “entertain” us while giving us the news. John gave us all of it by himself.
I thought my husband was the only person that says feesh and deesh.
All of these are very common to me. I more often that not just say idea, but if I’m really flummoxed about something or frustrated I might say, I ain’t got no idee.
I want to say my dad says ideal most of the time, I’ll have to pay attention to it next time I talk to him.
I grew up with ‘ideal’ as being the preferred way or standard. But find it interesting the way you use it.
When I was working at a hospital in southern FL, a nurse from Virginia referred to soft drinks as a ‘soder’. On the other hand, my younger brother, raised in the Midwest as was I, (just a 15+ years younger) calls soft drinks, soda pop.
Sometimes it feels as if I ought carry a dictionary around for conversations with some individuals…to educate myself.
Okree is common where I grew up and I still say it. Language is part of our heritage. We need to keep it going. There will always be critics.
Okree is good country pronunciation. However, English teachers insisted on okra as correct spelling. One had to be bilingual at an early age. Example: possum/opossum. Cheer/chur/ chair. Drekly/ directly. Chimley/ chimney. Warsh/ wash. Hit/ it. Adder/after. Clum/ climb. Clem/climbed. I’m sure there are many more. Anyone???
We had a neighbor who said okree.
Various members of my family said idee, okry, extry crispy, prostrate gland, alumium, Progical Son, iindentify (eye-in-dentify), and many other words with a twist. Those mispronunciations still conveyed the message even though they made me smile.
Tipper, I smile every time you say…ideal or okree!! Blessings to all and an especially Happy Birthday to Granny.
Both of my parents said idee most of the time but I have heard them say ideal. I think I say idea when I find myself saying I have no idea more often now that the senior moments have mingled with my blonde moments.
Oh my, sweet to hear words I haven’t heard in many years:) I never heard Ideal to be used as an expression for idea, BUT I sure remember hearing idee, idee clair, sody crackers, and I do still say “okree.”
Enjoyed your video and especially Paul and the men singing gospel at the end.
I guess most people don’t know, or don’t want to know, that spell check can be corrected. I have trained mine to accept the words I use, as I use them. All I have to do is right click on the word with the squiggly red line under it and when the menu appears, choose “Add to dictionary”. After that, no more suggested spellings for that word. Spell check is a good thing once you get it whupped into shape.
Over the years I have noticed words you pronounce more like my children’s than my grandparents’ generation. Does that mean you are a step ahead of me? What if I compile a list of words which your use of sounds a bit foreign to me. Not because they sound archaic but because they are a little too modern. How bout that?
I say idea and idy interchangeably. My wife say ideal, like you do. My daughter still says it that way. Both protested that they couldn’t say it at all without the L at the end.
I’m not sure what you mean by idee. Is that pronounced like when a cop asks you for your ID? Is it one or two syllables?
Ima gonna send you an excerpt of a little project I’ve beena working on for a good little while now. Maybe you’ll like it and post it here.
I talk like Ken Roper. Call me sometime. You have my number. You’ll see (or rather hear) what I mean.
Good morning Tipper. I could listen to you talk all day. I love the words you use and your accent. I remember when I was a young girl, I thought my mama was the only person in the world that said ‘warsh and rinch’ for wash and rinse. It took growing up to make me realize a lot of people say things like their parents said. My hubby says warsh too and I think it is so endearing. Even though I may say wash and idea, I know I have an accent different from others—and I love it. When I first met my late son-in-law, I just loved his southern accent. He was from WV also, but he grew up in the most southern part in Boone county. I could have listened to him talk all day too. He noticed that we always say sliding board instead of just saying slide. I thought everyone said sliding board. Lol. I am sure I say lots of things differently and don’t know it. I only realized that my hubby and I had an accent when we traveled to Niagara Falls for a vacation when our daughter was a baby—We were ordering lunch, and the waitress asked if we were from Kentucky. Please keep using your wonderful Appalachian words and teaching us many more. I just love this blog! It makes my day!
My Daddy has been gone for almost 24 years now. He died a few days after he turned 75. In thinking about him I remember some of the words he used. A few examples are: “idee”, “arsh taters” and “ox-ee-gan” for oxygen. He and my mother grew up in eastern Ky. I was born in Letcher County, Ky but only lived there the first 4 1/2 yrs of my life. I grew up in Northeastern Ohio. Talk about a culture shock. I watched the video last night and remembered how Daddy always planted and transplanted seedlings. He always grew a very large garden every year. My mother cooked almost every bite we ate and used her canned and frozen goods she put up every year to feed our family of seven. That’s where I learned to enjoy gardening. Praying for Granny and Katie.
A bit off the subject, but this post makes me think of my Great-aunt Ida which of course we called Idee. And I’ll be the first (of several?) to bring up “idear” as a deliberate way of having fun with words. Folks from “off” may not get that about us. It isn’t necessarily because we don’t know any better. Sometimes we are just making our own fun and expect others will recognize that. Only they don’t always.
I have always said that fried okree was my favorite vegetable to cook and eat. I’ve been questioned about my pronouncement of that word several times. I got most of my Appalachian words and sayings from my mother and her mom. I also pronounce “Ohio” as “Oh hi”. got that from momma also.
Tipper, I myself make it a point not to hang near or acquaint with those who would tell me anything about the way I talk! As a matter of fact, I’d have to ask such a droll, dry prune who voted them dialect and speech patrol and tell them to mind their beeswax or else (clue here: there could be pain and it won’t be on me.) No one ever nominated ME for sweetheart of the year that’s for sure. …Talking is like dressing or a baby. You “rock” yours and I will “rock” mine. Furthermore, I got no idee why everybody concerns themselves over things that ain’t none of their beeswax whatsoever! Lol I think your dialect and ways are PERFECT just the way they are!!! Bless you all this morning and especially the babies and their babies and granny Louzine!!!
I have heard lots of folks use this word as you do. I think that part if the charm of your channels and blog is the way you say things as well as the way you live. I for one love it!
Well Tipper the pronunciation of words incorrectly is not a crime. My father would pronounce Hawaii in a unique way…Haw-waw-yuh, Chicago….Sure-cargo. ❤️ My mom said Or-tee-go for the word oregano. ❤️
Tipper, your not alone with people correcting how you pronounce words or say things. My family correct me all the time and they get great pleasure out of catching me saying words incorrectly. I’ve also had friends when I first moved here joke about how I say some words because they say I have an accent, which I just don’t hear it. I think I sound normal just like them. My granddaughter gets a kick out of some of my sayings and I try to explain them to her. When she was younger she thought I was cool for having saying people didn’t get, but now she’s a teen and she is in that stage of eye rolling or correcting me because it’s not proper grammar….says the girl that now calls everybody Dude. No matter how much people poke fun of me, I still say some of my saying or words the way my people did when I grew up in WV. As I was recently reminded, “you can take the girl out of the mountain, but you can’t take the mountain out of the girl” and I’m okay with that.
I grew up saying okree and never knew any different for many years, since that wasn’t a word I ever saw in my school books I remember my daddy saying, “the very idee!” when he heard ir read something unbelievable or annoying.
Tipper, I would never criticize your speech. I find it refreshing.
There’s one word you say which had me tripped up a bit, though I did figure it out. That is “oil”. I hear it as either awl or all. I love it!! You are a precious lady and I’m glad you’re here. Many blessings to you and yours!
Tipper, I have no idea (r) what the fuss is. I understood all.
Once again because auto-correct got me.
The cop asked me iffen I had any idee, and I said, “About whut?”
The cop asked me iffen I had enny idee, and I said, “About shut?”
IDEY CLAIR…that was my Mother’s favorite phrase. I watched the entire episode on your planting and I have decided next spring I am heading up there to get you to start my ‘red solo cup’ seed starting….just kidding. I do think I have not put mine in a bright enough area. They are coming up, but soooo slow. Prayers for Granny and God Bless you all…are we getting close to the exciting day for one of the new Grands?
Glenda, when I growing up two of my mother’s favorite expressions were idey clair and sure nuff .
Don’t feel like you are in the boat by yourself, I say okree, idey or idy and say sody (so dee) crackers for saltine crackers. If I tried to think about it, there would be many other words to go along with these. I don’t give it a second thought, if you don’t like the way I talk, turn around and go back to where you came from, now at my age I couldn’t care less about what anyone thinks of my speech. I was reading a story last night about how some of us older southern folks pronounce certain words, I may write another comment later about some of the words mention. Spell check is having a field day with some of my words in the first sentence.