Today’s guest post was written by Ed Ammons.
It’s Choosedee!
How do you say “due”? Is it /do/ or /doo/? Rhymes with who. Or do you, like me, say /dyou/ or /dū/? Are do, dew and due all pronounced the same? Not in my world. We pronounce “do” the same as you doo but the other two are /dū/.
How do you say “Tuesday”? Is it /tooz·day/ or maybe /twos·day/? My folks say /tyous·dee/! / or /tūs·day/ The “tues” part of the word rhymes with our version of “dues” /dū/ and both rhyme with chews and choose. As a matter of fact, lots of folks I know say /chews·dee/.
How do you say “yesterday”? /yeh·str·day/ right? Not here! It’s /yis·ter·dee/!
We never get tired, we never get fired! But we stay tarred. We still never get farred because we believe in giving the boss a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. If we cain’t or he won’t, we quit.
When we say, “what fur, Mommy?”, we hear “Cat fur to make kitten britches, that’s what fur.” in return Actually makes sense. Well, sorter.
Now then there’s fer. Fer is a measure of distance as in “how fer is it to grammaw’s” Fer is pronounced exactly the same as fur. A fer piece is further than Grammaw’s house. I spelled it fer so as not to confuse it with an animal’s coat. “How much further you got to go?” “I’ve still gotta fur piece yet.” “Well, at least you’ll be warm.” See how that didn’t work?
I hope you enjoyed Ed’s post as much as I do! Ever since I first read it I’ve had all those words going round in my head. I’ve also been trying to listen to myself and see how I say the words when I’m not consciously thinking about it.
I’m pretty sure I say all the days of the week with dee on the end instead of day 🙂
I love the old cat fur to make kitten britches saying and I plan to keep it alive when my grandchildren get big enough to ask me what fur?
Last night’s video: We Got Our Taters Planted & Tipper Has Crazy Hair.
Tipper
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Miss Tipper , loved your post today. I live in the South, raised in Missouri or as some say Missourah. I was from around St. Louis and area part of my life. Some say St. Louis, some say St. Louee. The second pronunciation of both words drives me crazy. It kinda depended in what area you lived. Outstate or the area round abouts St. Louis or Southern Missouri. Isn’t it a hoot to know one state can have so many dialects. Life is fun. Sometimes. Love and prayers to you all. Babes too. Jennifer
All this talk about pronunciation makes me think of that scene from sling blade with Carl and the boy…”I like the way you talk” “Well I like the way you talk” and if you’ve seen it you know how the rest of that scene goes
Ed’s post has us all really listening to ourselves on those words. It reminded me of a pastor I had in my youth. He always said, woosh instead of wish. I remember being confused because knowing the meaning of woosh or whoosh did not line up with what he was saying. I had to ask his daughter after service what was he saying because he said “if you didn’t listen, then later you’d woosh you had”. She laughed and said he means wish, but he pronounces it woosh, even though it sounds like whoosh. I’d never heard anybody except him to say woosh instead of wish. He was an excellent pastor and we all loved him and his family very much. He did get our attention with some of his wonderful mountain vocabularies, but woosh was one I’d never heard before. Come to think about it, I’ve never heard it since then. It must have been a word only his people used. I’ve never used it myself, but I’ll never forget him using it.
I have, in the past, heard wooshed used fairly commonly instead of wished. “I heard they had a good time. I wooshed I woulda went!”
Mama used to say it wouldn’t rain if you could see enough blue sky to make kitten britches. I have seen this disproved lots of times!
Loved the post! I hadn’t thought about how I say the days of the week but yep, dee is on the end instead of day. I had my husband to say the days of the week just now and he does the same thing. We also both say Saderdee for Saturday. Thanks, Tipper, for sharing this and thanks to Ed also.
Being from Tupelo, MS., I have always been a bit chagrinned and taken aback by all these transplanted yankees who move here pronouncing it Too-plo. It would be the same with two lip (tulip) .I was taught in grammar (elementary) school that “if a word has two different vowels, the second one makes the first one say its name” , ie Tew not Too. In single syllable words, the vowel normally has the short sound. Such as tap (not tape) or Pap (not pape). Thanks for bringing attention to this. I enjoy your daily email.
I say a lot of the words Ed mentioned exactly like he wrote, especially the days of the week, they all end in dee. Someone else mentioned syrup, I also say serp. I am pure tee country in my ways and speech and too old to care what anyone thinks about it.
My cousin went to the doctor with her husband to discuss a medical procedure he should have had long before that day. The doctor asked him when he wanted to schedule it. She was upset that her husband had delayed getting it done and answered for him. She said I want it done yisterd. Lots of folks where I’m from say yisterd without adding the ee. It’s funny how I’m sitting here with that word rolling around in my head and wondering if I ever pronounced it like that when I lived in the big city up north years ago…I bet I did!
The kids and I were watching your video making French toast and syrup yesterday and trying to say syrup like you do. We say “seer-up” and you say “serp” I was saying to us, Miss Tipper has the accent but to Miss Tipper it’s us who has an accent! I love to hear the different ways people say things.
When my eastern Kentucky coal mining great uncle used to come up for a visit, I’d have to talk like him to understand what he was saying. He spoke so fast and with such twang I can still remember it. I do the same with my grandpa he’s got that south eastern Kentucky drawl and it comes out of me every time I talk with him.
I suppose it’s according to the environment I’m in as to how I pronounce the days of the week. If I’m in a more “business” type of environment, I am more likely to say “Mun day”. However, if I am amongst friends and family, it’s more likely to come out as “Mun dee”. The first time I heard “cat fur to make kitten britches” was on an episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies”. I thought it was so funny!
When I read the words fer and fur I thought of Alvin York’s mother. How fer is it Alvin or what do you want to do that fur Alvin?? A few years ago my great niece corrected me in saying the word ten..did I mean tin for a roof or number ten???? Have a great Thursday. Be kind and help someone!
Tipper, I watched your video of Matt planting potatoes. That’s how I usually do it, but I am going to try the layering method in a few grow bags. What size are the grow bags you are using?
My siblings and I pretty much speak with a northern accent. We moved from eastern Ky to northern Ohio when I was four and one half years old, and I’m the oldest of five, so how I used to speak has pretty much disappeared do to the teachers making you pronounce every syllable in a word. I do notice when I get around my mother and siblings, I revert back to the speech we used when I was small. I had to stop and try to remember how my parents spoke/speak. Daddy is gone but Mom is still here, (94 yo.) Daddy and Mom spoke very slow and like Tipper and Matt. The days of the week have “dee” on the end. “Farred” and “tarred” are used. “Fer” is used as in what fer instead of for and they use it as “it’s a fer distance.” “Bacci” used for tobacco; I find myself using “lobble” for liable as, it’s lobble to be a busy day tomorrow. There are other words I still drift into using especially when I’m with someone with an Appalachian accent but not my husband, he’s northern.
What a fun read. Have a nice Tursdee!
Along this thread, can you hear a difference between pin and pen and pan? I always had to add an adjective to make sure folks had the right object in mind–ink pen vs straight pin. One of my friends from another part of the US hears the three words different from one another. But, when she says pen, it sounds more like pan to me.
I think that Ed’s got it right! The area that I live was once called Fer Top because it is the highest point on the mountain and it is a good distance from the more populated southern end of it.
This was a good one. i did the same thing, saying the words outloud to listen to which way I usually said it! Have a great day, Tipper. Keep up the great work. Much love, Jane
My mama always says ‘cat fur to make kitten britches’. Thanks for making me remember that. She says lots of things that I don’t think twice about cause I heard them all my life. It’s always funny when I read about words or phrases and realize she says them. Have a great day everyone.
I say:
Monday
Toosdee
Wensdee
Thursday or Thursdee
Fryday
Saderday
Sundee
I never thought about it much until I read the post!!
I also say warsh and squarsh
It is time to warsh the squarsh!!
Lots of generational Coloradans say it that way. Also, I know it is weird, but I also call my state Calarada. No use for those o’s!!!
Yee haw!!!
Darron
I enjoyed the post. Nice ta start the dee with a smile
my sister Anne had her tonsils took out yesterday due to cancer, she is home now, in lots of pain, God bless you friends please pray for my sister Anne to be healed from cancer thank you very much
Norman-I’m praying for her and I hope her pain lessens today.
Praying for your sister, Norman. May God bless her and you also.
Mr. Dahlonega, I too am praying for your sister and your family. Cancer is a family involved illness and they are an integral part of care and healing. God be with you all and blessings for Miss Anne and you all. Jennifer