In Appalachia we like to add the letter r to words that don’t even have one. And sometimes we like to add an r to the end of the word just for extra fun. Here’s you a few examples:
- warsh (wash)
- winder (window)
- banjer (banjo)
- tomater (tomato)
- minner (minnow)
- nannar (banana)
- piller (pillow)
- feller (fellow)
- tater (potato)
- widder (widow)
- yeller (yellow)
- baccer (tobacco)
Names are not immune to the addition of the random r either. A few years ago we were discussing the r phenomenon and Blind Pig reader Wanda said her family called her Wander and Blind Pig reader Suzi said she was surprised to learn her Aunt Ider was actually Aunt Ida.
The r use is certainly on the decline in my area of Appalachia, however I still hear all the examples above on a fairly regular basis. How about where you live?
Tipper
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40 Comments
Phyllis
December 18, 2021 at 7:09 amI have a slight southern accent living here in southeastern Missouri. When traveling to the south I quickly pick up on accents and dialects. I’m wondering do any of you say “whallago” as in saying awhile ago? I sometimes think it sounds Australian. Anyway I enjoyed watching your family on YouTube wallago. 🙂
Auther Ray
April 4, 2020 at 3:16 pmBeulah – Beaular
Edna – Edar
Joe Mode
April 10, 2019 at 9:32 amI know these, use some, and still hear them here in East Tennessee. Oddly, my granny said Winder (and Warter for Water) but my mom and I say Winda. Any words that end in “ow” or “o” is changed to an “a,” such as Yella, Tomorra (Tomorrow) Fella (Fellow) Barra (Borrow) Wida (Widow) Tamata, Patata, Pilla (Pillow) Minna (Minnow) Ohia (Ohio) And Florida is pronounced Flarr-duh. Does anyone else do this?
I find it curious that we are made fun of for adding the “R” to words, but people in Boston and the New England areas remove the “R” with impunity. Folks in the lower south and Tide Water Virginia remove the “R” and use what I call a soft “R,” as in “Ova theyah” (Over there) In East Tennessee we would say “Overr they-er” by adding a few more syllables, or as my aunt would say, “Overr thar.” I even heard a kid saying, “Overr dar.”
Lastly, who gives directions such as these when describing where something is located?
Up and under the bed (pronounced “upenunder”
Up and over the fridgerator
Down and behind the stove
Up and out the winda
tipper
April 16, 2019 at 8:24 amJoe-I say winda too 🙂 and I add the a to ow words! All your directions are familiar to me too. I never heard up in under until I met my husband! Thank you for the comment!
Jim Thomas
April 12, 2018 at 4:28 pmI remember my uncles saying hisn and hern and itsen.
Erroll Woodward
April 1, 2018 at 5:51 pmI guess your use of the letter “r” has used ours all up. Here in Down East Maine, we often use”ah” for the rs at the end of words.
Thus we have : Lobstah for lobster, hackah for hacker, cah for car, workah for worker ,etc.
No need to return any of the “rs” as we get along bettah without them.
Blessings
Leon Estes
March 10, 2018 at 4:45 amI guess I come by it honest – – My Gr Gr Grandpa was born in East Tennessee, but moved to SW Missouri in about 1855. By the time I was born my Dad was in Central Oklahoma. And, we used “warsh” for a long time in our family!
Laura
March 9, 2018 at 6:44 amMy father calls the piece of furniture where he keeps his folded clothes a “chesterdrawers.” I think I was in college when I finally realized he was saying “chest of drawers.”
Bobby C
March 8, 2018 at 8:20 pmJust love to read about all the folks who have the same experience with this as me. My granny on my mama’s side was Velma, but everyone called her Velmer and my great grandma on my daddy’s side was Flora and they called her Florie. Funny how some a’s become “er”s and some become “y”s. I also have a great aunt Thelmer instead of Thelma and a cousin Evie instead of Eva.
Is it just me, or does it seem that we only do this with the women’s names and not the men’s?
Tamela
March 8, 2018 at 3:55 pmI’ve heard, still hear, and use most all of the “variations” mentioned: the inserted “r’s”, the double “d’s”, the end tag “er’s”, “ie’s” and “y’s” where traditional spelling would put an “a”, and, one I don’t see mentioned – so maybe it’s more midwestern – just plain leaving off the last letter or syllable as in saying “idee” for “idea”. – – gotta stop a moment and think on this one – – surely there are more examples of this last one. . . .
Michael Montgomery
March 7, 2018 at 8:45 pmBut once upon a few centuries ago, the R was lost before S in many common words. I remember a post about NUSS here a couple of years ago. HORSE was commonly HOSS, too, not just on TV Westerns. And what about PASSEL? I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say “a PARCEL of kids.”
Charline
March 7, 2018 at 5:03 pmHeard them all my life, but with the older generation passing on, these words are passing with them, this musical language.
Ken
March 7, 2018 at 2:24 pmTipper,
I had about 1/2″ of Snow this morning. It was those little round balls so I knew it wouldn’t amount to much. When I got below the Brady Curve, there wasn’t nothing, but folks were blowing their horns at me. I guess they were wondering where I got that Snow! ha …Ken
Don Byers
March 7, 2018 at 2:19 pmI toted a load o’ ‘baccer down to ‘Lanner ona truck.
PinnacleCreek
March 7, 2018 at 1:11 pmGotta love Appalachians. I have also noticed the practice at one time of adding a y on end. For instance Martha became Marthy, Ida became Idy, and my mother’s sisters who had an a on the end of their name automatically had y added when saying their names. As I think back and also in genealogy, it seems they had a love for names ending in a just so they could change it to a y 🙂
I have been visiting with grandson who lives in city. We came upon a street called Dent that went up a hill, and before I even had a chance to correct myself, I said, “Oh, that goes up Dent Holler.” He got quite a giggle out of me changing that city street into a holler. Force of habit I guess? No matter how I changed through the years I always called a hollow a holler.
Ken
March 7, 2018 at 12:47 pmTipper,
Nothing ain’t like it use to be. I blame ‘schoolin’ mostly, for causing this, but I liked my Teachers also. I can remember “old timers” and they’re putting an “r” at the end of most everything. It was alright with me, cause I realized what they were saying anyway. …Ken
William Buntin
March 7, 2018 at 11:19 amTip,
I remember my Grand Pap referring to the automobile as a FLIVER. I sometimes use the same expression. LOL
Bill
Wanda Devers
March 7, 2018 at 10:52 amI had an Aunt Velmer (Velma) and an Aunt Thelmer (Thelma) They were twins! Had an Aunt Buler (Beulah) too! Got a sister-in-law Brender (Brenda). These were all in West Tn so technically not Appalachia but the language, especially my mother’s, had and has a lot in common.
Dana
March 7, 2018 at 10:38 amMy Iowa Grandparents called my great aunt “Corey” instead of “Cora” and Grandma was called “Idey” rather than “Ida.” But their kids were “Verda” and “Ila,” and no one ever called them “Verdey” and “Iley.” A generational change?
Tom Brokaw, from South Dakota, (say Dakoda) used to report the news from WaRshington.
I had a friend from “Hot fud,” Connecticut who called me “Dayner.”
Some Appalachian pronunciations seem fairly common among many across the country who speak a language other than dictionary prescribed English.
Interesting the examples here of internal letter “T” becoming the sound of double “d.” (wadder) And years ago the end sound of “d” changed in other words to the sound of “T.” Who pronounces the “d”in “washed”? “Pushed”? But most say the “d” in “shoved.”
Papaw
March 7, 2018 at 10:26 amHow bout squarsh and urnions? And waspers, don’t forget them little devils!
Garland Davis
March 7, 2018 at 10:19 amI had three aunts:
Anner (Anna)
Eller (Ella)
Becker (Rebbeca)
Dee Parks
March 7, 2018 at 10:13 amI’ve head all those words and more from my grandmother back about 60 years ago in MS. With names, I head Elva pronounced Elvie or Velma pronounced Velmer.
Ann
March 7, 2018 at 10:09 amI’ve heard all of them from folks in several different parts of the U.S., but
I don’t hear them very often nowadays. Too bad. I still say warsh, and
use the terms nanner or tater occasionally just for fun.
Shirl
March 7, 2018 at 8:41 amMy friend from PA still says warsh and I still say most of your example word and a few more. My daughter is wanting to put a few hogs in the old hog lot until they get them fattened up. I told her the hogs would waller the ground so bad I wouldn’t be able to raise crops there any longer. Daddy would get our attention if he threatened to go break him a keen switch off of the willer tree.
Don Byers
March 7, 2018 at 2:17 pmI toted a load o’ baccer down to ‘Lanner ona truck.
Papaw
March 7, 2018 at 8:32 amSwaller.
Papaw
March 7, 2018 at 8:31 amNot only do I hear ’em, I say ’em. With the exception of warsh and yeller the complete list. For me warsh is worsh and yeller is yaller. Add marshmeller to the list and my great aunt Steller.
Nowthen over on Licklog there were not one but two Leler Breedloves. One was married to John Breedlove and the other to Bob Breedlove and they lived right close to one another. People couldn’t keep them apart if they needed to talk about them, so John’s wife became Leler John and Bob’s became Leler Bob.
You know every word the English language should have at least one r in it. Us Appalachian speakers are just a step closer to that goal.
I’ll be trying all day to think of words with extra rs in them now, thanks to you!
Cheryl
March 7, 2018 at 8:08 amAlways heard these from my dad who was born and raised in Florida!
aw griff
March 7, 2018 at 8:08 amI’ve heard all of these in e.ky. I use many of them in everday talk but some for fun. Some others I say are : mellow-meller,tallow-taler,valor-valer. Now, who ever heard a bull bellow???
Jackie
March 7, 2018 at 8:01 amMy wife puts r in words that don’t have them and leaves r out of others like Motha for Martha.
Lee Mears
March 7, 2018 at 7:32 amWe southerners talk slow for sure. My Granny who died in 1990 used all of your examples of language abuse and more. It used to aggravate my teenage soul to the bone because you know I was citified being from Canton and all. From the ‘taar on the caar going thru Eddards Cove (for Edwards Cove) to get gaas’ made me just cringe. For most part Granny was last generation to use the added or dropped ‘E’ and such. (And I adored my grandparents.) I have property in Beaufort, NC and its odd how many times the accent changes from say Murphy to Beaufort going across NC. (Not to mention GA.) I have tried in all my years to sound as if I can hold a civilized conversation with anyone from anywhere but I ‘reckon’ it takes me awhile no matter how hard I try.
Ron Stephens
March 7, 2018 at 7:06 amWe would rarely, if ever, say it but “meadow” would be “meader”. And in northwest GA “Armuchee” is spoken “Armurchee”. Somehow ‘moo chee’ is just a wrong note.
Miss Cindy
March 7, 2018 at 7:05 amI’ve heard all if these Tipper, and more. You are right though, I hear them less than I used to hear them. I started to a few more examples then realized we can manage to put an r on the end of almost anything!
JustAnOldGuy
March 7, 2018 at 6:58 amUmmm….You left out holler (hollow) both geographical and a reference to a lack of interior.
tipper
March 7, 2018 at 7:31 amThank you JustAnOldGuy! How could I forget holler I live in one LOL!
Sanford McKinney Jr
March 7, 2018 at 6:39 amTipper,
There are some words used up in the North East where an r is added. I remember the Kennedys saying Donner and Cuber for Donna and Cuba. There are probably more that do not come to my mind at this time.
I heard all the words you published while growing up on Upper Shell Creed, Carter County, TN in the forties and fifties.
Julie Hughes Moreno
March 7, 2018 at 6:33 amStill active and alive with several folks I know. I don’t hear it as much anymore. My Granny used to say “ that ‘bout took my backer”. That meant something was very painful and about all she could stand!
Tmc
March 7, 2018 at 6:23 amHey, cents you was up get me a glass of wadder (water).
Wondr ( Wanda ).
Rhondr ( Rhonda )
Here them quite often.
Sheryl PaulI
March 7, 2018 at 6:04 amI met a girl from NJ that did that too.
Charles E. Howell
March 7, 2018 at 5:57 am“Hold yer Taters.”