“You’re a looking awful peaked. Go on over ‘ere an let your momma feel your far-head and see if you’ve got a temperature.”
Last night’s video: Alex Stewart – Portrait of a Pioneer 5.
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I have heard these words all my life. I’m from South Carolina. just below the North Carolina line. We are more like North Carolina people. We talk like them and eat like them. I love your posts, I read them everyday. This is the first time I have responded. We used to live in Hayesville. I learned to can, garden, and crochet. I was the younger one. The older ladies took me under their wing. We went to the community center in Hayesville to do activities. Please don’t take this wrong, we were the “Happy Hookers”. Those were the most wonderful people. I still love Hayesville. My kids went to the Hayesville schools and loved them. My husband was the Pastor. who started the Nazarene Church there. Hayesville will always be special to us.
Always found it odd when referring to a fever as a “temperature”. Hopefully everyone does have a temperature but not a fever…..:)
Lol exactly I’m going to get a little scared if you don’t have a temperature. But I have heard old people say that back in the 80’s. Either that or I read it somewhere I often confuse what I’ve read and heard.
Heard this all my life but wondered as to the spelling. Thanks.
A similar term used by Southerners, if not Appalachians, is”bilious,” as in, “I’m feeling a bit bilious, today,”or “He/she looks bilious.”
“Puny”is sometimes used to indicate a smallish, weak-looking stature, but I’ve also heard “wormy” to describe the same.
A good word used and well understood all over the South and maybe elsewhere. My bride looked peaked before she came down with the flu.
This calls to mind other terms used to describe appearance or how one feels. I like to startle the young ladies in the supermarket check out with, “fair to middlin'” when they ask how I am. Sometimes it’s f”air to partly cloudy.” I might start askin’ ’em if they think I look peaked just to see their response.
JC mentions ‘aspern’ to treat being peaked. Did anyone else get an ‘aspern and a co-cola’ to fight it off? New co-colas don’t work. You have to have the old ones made with pure cane sugar and lots of fizz. 🙂
Yep, I’ve used that many times when folks look like their starting to get sick or extremely tired….you lookin peeked today…
Glenda, looks to me like your spelling is pertnear perfect! I just love our language!
I love our language too. I love the look when I say, Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits…people have that wide-eyed look as if to say….huh????
Evey time I hear puny or peaked, I am reminded of something my Mom said years ago. A friend who had been feeling “under the weather” came by, and I suppose her haggard appearance must have startled my Mom. In her attempt to address the problem, Mom looked at her and said, “You look puky,” This brought peals of laughter from all of us including the friend.
I’ve always heard this and said it many times myself. If kids were pale, they were “peaked looking” and especially if they were “glassy eyed” you knew they were fixing to come down with something. I refer to “puny” as not having an appetite.
The spelling of peaked would lead one to assume the word is pronounced /pēkt/ as in “reached a summit or a limit”. I spell it peeked and pronounce it pee-kid /pē/kid/. The /id/ sound is the same as the ending syllable of striped /stri/pid/ as in the snake.
It is difficult to explain the difference in pronunciation as a dictionary would. The Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English has it as peak-ed.
Same for me. I grew up with this word, and it was definitely two syllables.
I hear peaked pronounced as peakid or peak-id, meaning not looking so well.
This ain’t related but many times when I read your blogs my mind goes in many different directions. I’ve overheard my Papaw Lewis, many years ago, say he read an r-tickle (article) on such and such.
Puny is another word that comes to mind when peaked is mentioned. Although the meaning of the puny usually relates to small and weak, poor in quality, amount or size, it is still used in Northeast TN to describe how one feels, physically.
He/she said they are not going to school today because they feel puny.
Puny is sometimes used to describe a more permeant fact as in, He/she has been puny ever since they were born. Pecked seems to be used to describe a more present, passing condition than puny, although I have heard the words used, interchangeably.
Hmmm so what is the difference between peaked and puny? To me they each mean a general blah feeling; not much energy, not hungry, not thirsty, not much interest in anything. Feeling too well to lay down and not well enough to sit up.
Like in the overheard, it is parents who spot it in their children. Parent radar or something. We know what’s normal.and what isn’t we notice. Guess that is why children say, “Can’t get away with nothing.”
pronounced peek-ed.
Yes, pronounced differently than when referring to a limit as in, the horsepower of the engine peaked at 4500 RPM if the engine is tuned just right.
Naked is one of the words pronounced the same way. Tha ole rooster has lost so many feathers that he looks like he naked.
“You look peak-it and your eyes look glassy. Come here so’s I can check your temperature.” Mom would put her hand on my forehead and pronounce her diagnosis. “We’ll watch it. Go git some aspern and drink this whole glass of water. Then you go and have a lie down.”
Peaked is a wonderful word…yonder, pertnear…love that one…wish I could spell it…lol…I do look forward to Fridays.