The Dictionary of American Regional English
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-07/dictionary-american-regional-english
Beth Witherell and Jennifer Ellsworth, graduate students who worked on DARE, listen to one of the more than 1,800 audio recordings made in the field. Their job was to transcribe pronunciations in phonetics and select parts of conversations for examples of words to include in DARE.
(Courtesy: UW-Madison Archives)
In Ohio, the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb is called a "tree lawn." In other parts of the country, it is a "curb," a "devil’s strip," a "parkway," a "swale," or a "street lawn." More than a dozen names for this can be found in the Dictionary of American Regional English. The fifth volume covers words and phrases from ‘slab’ to ‘zydeco’ and completes a fifty-year project to capture the unique ways people in different parts of the country speak. The dictionary has been used to solve crimes, teach medical students, train actors, and understand political candidates. Joan Hall, chief editor of the dictionary, and linguist Ben Zimmer join Diane to discuss the diversity of American language.
Guests
Joan Houseton Hall
chief editor, Dictionary of American Regional English
Ben Zimmer
the language columnist for The Boston Globe and former On Language columnist for The New York Times. He is also the executive producer of the Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com,
Related Items
DARE in Photos: All photos courtesy of UW-Madison Archives and reprinted here by their permission. All rights reserved.
Program Highlights
In the late 1960s, linguistic field workers were sat across the country in word wagons. They collected words and dialects from nearly 3,000 Americans across the country. Their recordings became the basis of a 50 year project called DARE, Dictionary of American Regional English. The 5th volume reaching Z has just become available.
What's Special About DARE?
"It's a record of the way that we speak in the United States and it really puts together information about different words, different pronunciations in a way that no other reference work does. And so it's invaluable in that way. And you can actually look at it as a kind of a social history of the United States by looking at the way that our lives change in different parts of the country. Because the speakers, for instance, that the linguistic field workers were talking to, way back in the '60s, were often older speakers who were giving examples that could've dated back a 100 years ago," Zimmer said.
The Significance Of "Arthur The Rat"
"When the field workers went to interview the informants in these 1,002 communities, they also asked each person to be recorded. But tape recorders were pretty new then, so some people were a little leery, but most people agreed to do it. They were asked to do two things, one was to read this silly little story called "Arthur the Rat" that was designed, not to make any sense, but to include all of the important sounds of American English. So by having people all over the country read the same passage, we have a wonderful database of comparison. So we can see how they sounded in New England and Central Atlantic and all across the country," Hall said.
How Twitter Has Changed Linguistics Research
Zimmer said that some researchers are now using Twitter in their work because people often identify where they're from in their tweets, which they can plot on maps similar to the ones DARE has produced in the past. "But instead of requiring all of this laborious fieldwork, we can just make these on the fly, if we're interested. For instance, where do people say hella for instance? That's an expression that young folks are familiar with these days as an adverb meaning very. Like if something is hella good," he said.
Influential Areas Of the Country
"Over American history different parts of the country have had different kinds of prestige. And so if there's a certain prestige associated with a certain part of the country, people will imitate that. So in the very early days, it might have been Boston, New York and that -- so that patterns that were common there would then be picked up elsewhere. These days there could be different types of prestige. Among young speakers over the past couple of decades, southern California may be a prestigious variance of English for them," Zimmer said.
You can read the [full transcript here(http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-07/dictionary-american-regional-english/transcript).
Comments
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Have you ever heard 'shot from taw'. My grandmother used it and I have not heard anywhere else. She was from East Texas..................Listening to you on Internet radio in the UK....................ET
In rural Utah I have found several unusaul usages. The term "barrow pit" refers to a ditch that runs parallel to a highway. Possible source may be "borrow pit" which is a earth pit used to provide extra material needed to construct a road.
I sawn - I heard this in Little Egypt - deep southern Illinois - from my Grandmother in the 1960's
I was reared in Wichita, Kansas and speaking of the comment "my bad", back in the early to mid 1980's we said " my bag, my bag". This was used in the same contents as "my bad". It was a way of apologizing by saying that "it is my bag of CRAP and or mistake.
I grew up in little Egypt too (Mt. Vernon), and I have an aunt who also used to say "I swan," or sometimes, "I swan to Pete."
Also I had elderly relatives that would refer to the main highway as the "hard road."
I cannot tell you my pleasure and feelling of vindication when the caller asked about toboggan! A native of Louisville, KY with many northern friends, I oft found myself embroiled in arguements and at the end of (albeit loving) ridicule for my insistance that it was a hat. Superb!
Also, I absoultely love this show!
I so enjoyed listening to this program, and wanted to add another unusual phrase that my great aunt always used. She was raised in Siler City, NC and spent her adult years in Wilmington, NC. She would use this phrase in nearly every conversation ....
"Welllllll.....hush!"
Often it was to mean, "you don't say!" and at other times it meant "good for you!"
I have never heard another person use this phrase except for Mildred and her sisters.
Thank you for the wonderful program and I look forward to the new dictionary.
In small, isolated, rural northern Utah this phrase - Born in a barn on a farm - used to be pronounced like this - Barn in a born ......
One day after hearing a Scottish person speak I wondered if it could be a holdover from the Scottish heritage of people in those communities? Wish I had called in in time to ask.
Diane, do you believe in serendipity?
I was listening to the intro of your 11:00 program this morning when I heard the word "treelawn" used by you. I stopped puttering in my kitchen and listened intently.
Yesterday, while playing Scrabble on my computer, against the computer, my electronic opponent "Scrabbled" on me using "treelawn". I thought the computer had cheated! I had never heard that word. My Scrabble dictionary didn't list it; my trusty Webster's didn't list it; and my Oxford e-Dictionary didn't list it.
Now, just 24 hours later, I hear that it is indeed a word used in Ohio for that strip of real estate between the sidewalk and the street. Amazing!
Hi Diane,
Thanks so much for bringing up the use of "So" as a preface to a sentence. I began listening to NPR last year when I was suffering from the effects of chemotherapy. Unable to accomplish much, I spent hours being entertained and educated by its wonderful programs.
After a while, I began to notice, much to my annoyance I might add, that many of the guests being interviewed would start to answer a question by first saying "So." Almost like a complete sentence. If the show host would ask if they could explain something, they would first say, "Sure." Then they would proceed with "So...." I brought this up to my brother who was the first to entice me to listen to NPR, and he said he hadn't noticed. As he is four years younger than me and has lived in New York for many years, while I have lived in St. Louis even longer, I wonder if perhaps he is so accustomed to this pattern, that he has tuned it out. It is still going on, as one of your callers today started off with "So."
Thanks again for noticing.
Joan M Thomas
Here is a phrase I hear regularly: "all get out". The usage seems to indicate extremity of condition, as in: "It's colder than all get out", or "that car is faster than all get out". Does anyone have an idea of the origins of this phrase?
Having moved from Washington, D.C. to central Pennsylvania when I was young, I remembering hearing "youins" or "yuns" (pronounced not quite like buns but close) to mean "you all." I remember coming home from my first day at my new school and asking my mother "What's a "youins" as I just could not figure out where such a word would come from. In D.C. we used "ya'll" which made much more sense being closer in form to "you all."
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Post your own list of words on the YouTube Channel
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Regional Dialect
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Post your own list of words
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Then visit another YouTube Channel
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The Worldwide Accent Project
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Diane, I hear you pronounce wash as warsh. That's how I say it too! And I also I say squarsh. I get teased for this, and although I haven't lived in Wisconsin since I was 14, I still seem to be hardwired to pronounce those words with the unwritten "r". And I'm nearly 70!
"b23erlin wrote:
Please is response to not understanding comes directly from the German -- Bitte. >It means please, but also "what did you say?"
March 7, 2012 - 11:17 am"
The Brits say, "Sorry?".
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Wikipedia says-
"The Bubbler' was developed in 1889 by the then-small Kohler Water Works (now Kohler Company) in Kohler, Wisconsin, which was already well-known for its faucet production. While Harlan Huckleby is credited with the actual design, it was Kohler who patented it and trademarked the name. The original Bubbler shot water one inch straight into the air, creating a bubbling texture, and the excess water ran back down over the sides of the nozzle. It was several years later before the Bubbler adopted the arc projection, which may have allowed the drinker to partake more easily, or was perceived to be more sanitary.
The bubbler concept took off and there were many copies. Since the name was trademarked, other companies named their fountains "The Gurgler" and "The Gusher".
Original working examples of the Bubbler can be found today around the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin."
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
"Glenn Mike wrote:
One change in language that seems to have developed in the past few years, that I originally found annoying. This is people's (usually young poeple) answering "Thank you" by saying "no problem." It sounds condescending, though in most cases I'm sure that condescension is not intended. Yes, I suppose that I still find this annoying.
March 7, 2012 - 11:47 am"
I agree that condescension was probably not intended and may be an attempt to ease any feelings of indebtedness on the part of the Thanker.
I had a Friend who would not accept a gift until the Donor assured the Friend that the Gift was worthless and the Friend was doing the Donor a favor by taking it off his hands and saving a trip to the Dump.
Thus is the fear of obligation.
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
"JoanMThomas wrote:
Hi Diane,
Thanks so much for bringing up the use of "So" as a preface to a sentence. I began listening to NPR last year when I was suffering from the effects of chemotherapy. Unable to accomplish much, I spent hours being entertained and educated by its wonderful programs.
After a while, I began to notice, much to my annoyance I might add, that many of the guests being interviewed would start to answer a question by first saying "So." Almost like a complete sentence. If the show host would ask if they could explain something, they would first say, "Sure." Then they would proceed with "So...." I brought this up to my brother who was the first to entice me to listen to NPR, and he said he hadn't noticed. As he is four years younger than me and has lived in New York for many years, while I have lived in St. Louis even longer, I wonder if perhaps he is so accustomed to this pattern, that he has tuned it out. It is still going on, as one of your callers today started off with "So."
Thanks again for noticing.
Joan M Thomas
March 7, 2012 - 12:19 pm"
Wow, that doesn't agree with my observations!!
I think it is nearly universal now, to start any unscripted answer with, "Well,..".
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
"JoanMThomas wrote:
Hi Diane,
Thanks so much for bringing up the use of "So" as a preface to a sentence. I began listening to NPR last year when I was suffering from the effects of chemotherapy. Unable to accomplish much, I spent hours being entertained and educated by its wonderful programs.
After a while, I began to notice, much to my annoyance I might add, that many of the guests being interviewed would start to answer a question by first saying "So." Almost like a complete sentence. If the show host would ask if they could explain something, they would first say, "Sure." Then they would proceed with "So...." I brought this up to my brother who was the first to entice me to listen to NPR, and he said he hadn't noticed. As he is four years younger than me and has lived in New York for many years, while I have lived in St. Louis even longer, I wonder if perhaps he is so accustomed to this pattern, that he has tuned it out. It is still going on, as one of your callers today started off with "So."
Thanks again for noticing.
Joan M Thomas
March 7, 2012 - 12:19 pm"
Wow, that doesn't agree with my observations!!
I think it is nearly universal now, to start any unscripted answer with, "Well,..".
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Native Texan here. The generic term for soft drink indeed is Coke (!), but the even broader term is "soda water" - not "soda", not "pop" . And please allow me to confirm that y'all is plural - it is the contraction for "you all" in order to distinguish the word (you) from the singular. So, again, it's you (singular) and y'all (plural). Y'all's is the plural possessive. Those are the only 2 "correct" forms.
And I'm heading now to Amazon to buy the book - loved the discussion this morning!
Having lived in Germany, I can shed a little light on two words used in Cincinnati. The city has a large ethnic German population. Two word choices puzzled the guests. Each are translations of German expressions. First, if you don't understand someone, then the response is "'please?" In German, if you wanted to say "what?" or "excuse me, what was that?" than you would say ''bitte?" which translates to "please?" So in Cincinnati, they say, "please?"
In Germany, a child who is shy is referred to as "fremd." In English, this translates as "strange." Linguistically, I had a German describe this to be as fearing what they don't know, or that which is strange. Had the pleasure of living in both places.
Hi, I was born, raised and still live in Florida. To say we call all sandwiches Cubans would be like saying you could call spaghetti "bowties" just because they're both pasta.
We do not. We only call a sandwich a Cuban when it's made the proper way:
Ham, roasted pork, swiss cheese, pickles and mustard on Cuban bread.
I was sad that such a detail escaped your attention.
k
I found this topic fascinating, thanks. Re: southern California, just moving from the LA area to San Diego for a couple of years, I noticed a few things...I had grown up eating 'taquitos', and everywhere in SD, these were 'rolled tacos', never taquitos. Also I have family in Washington state; at that time I drove a small pickup with a 'shell', common then in the 80's, but was told it was not a shell, but a 'canopy'. The biggest thing in WA state is that they find it ridiculous that, referring to freeways or interstates, we add 'the' as in 'I took the five'. But I had this whole logical argument against that, since freeways basically began in Southern CA, and at first there were only one or two, people would say 'I took the freeway', then when there were many, this transitioned to 'the 10', 'the 57', etc. So, since CA had freeways when WA didn't, that entitled us to our 'the'. They still find it silly, and I find myself dropping it when I'm there.
Very interesting topic. I've lived and worked in numerous locations across the country and have been able to "follow" if you will, words and phrases that start in one location and move around the country. There was a comment during the program that the phrase "wicked" or "wicked good" is a New England phrase---sorry, that phrase was being used in the west many years before it started in the NE. When I first heard it I was in the west. Sometime later I moved to the NE area and the term was not heard there. Then several years later the term got started in NE and then stuck and grew. I see this not only in language but, in fashion. Terms/phrases starting in the west often do not reach the east and especially the NE for another 15 - 20 years, even with the Internet.
I once met an individual who could fairly accurately identify where anyone in a room had lived or spent significant time. He was pretty amazing.
I've also noticed that the age and background of those reviewing or collecting information also affects the information collected. I was not aware of the "Dare" effort and will certainly check it out.