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I've read a few post about funny NC expressions. Recently while cleaning out some file cabinets I ran across a little booklet my Mom gave me in the late 80s or early 90s: The Dictionary of The Queen's English. It was published by NC Travel and Tourism Division. The following section of words are definitions of old English words and phrases still used in NC today. (So blame the British for these funny sayings. )
arn = iron
arter= after
ast = asked
ball= bullet
barn = born
bile= boil (a fav of my grandmother. She biled potatoes.)
blowed = blown and blew
chainy = china (rhymns with rainy)
cheer = chair
claphat = hasty
cowcumber = cucumber
drap = drop
fit = fought
fitten = fit ... This food isn't fitten to eat.
flang = flung
git = get
hit = it
hoigh = high (pronoucned hoy). There was a hoigh tide today.
ill-convenient = inconvenient
jine= join (rhymns w/ pine)
learn = teach
mought = might
nary = not any
obleege = oblige
oisland=island (pronounced oy-land)
peart = for feeling well. Another Granny fav.
pizen = poison
recken = for believe
salet = salad
slue = for many
smidgen = a bit
tee-toncey = tiny
toide = tide
So the next time you can't understand a local, blame the British.
That's funny. My grandpa used a lot of those sayings. He was born in Oklahoma, raised in Texas. His ancestors were from NC. They left abt 1830. It shows you how stuff like that can stick for generations.
I've read a few post about funny NC expressions. Recently while cleaning out some file cabinets I ran across a little booklet my Mom gave me in the late 80s or early 90s: The Dictionary of The Queen's English. It was published by NC Travel and Tourism Division. The following section of words are definitions of old English words and phrases still used in NC today. (So blame the British for these funny sayings. )
arn = iron
arter= after
ast = asked
ball= bullet
barn = born
bile= boil (a fav of my grandmother. She biled potatoes.)
blowed = blown and blew
chainy = china (rhymns with rainy)
cheer = chair
claphat = hasty
cowcumber = cucumber
drap = drop
fit = fought
fitten = fit ... This food isn't fitten to eat.
flang = flung
git = get
hit = it
hoigh = high (pronoucned hoy). There was a hoigh tide today.
ill-convenient = inconvenient
jine= join (rhymns w/ pine)
learn = teach
mought = might
nary = not any
obleege = oblige
oisland=island (pronounced oy-land)
peart = for feeling well. Another Granny fav.
pizen = poison
recken = for believe
salet = salad
slue = for many
smidgen = a bit
tee-toncey = tiny
toide = tide
So the next time you can't understand a local, blame the British.
Well I'm British and I havent heard any of these! If it's the Queen's English it's not the current queen, maybe Queen Elizabeth I .
It looks more like an NC dialect of English
I watched a show on PBS regarding this same subject...The different dialects of NC and how the people that are native to the coast, specifically the smaller islands still talk with the same dialect that the settlers used. I don't think it was referring to the current Queen. It was pretty interesting.
I watched a show on PBS regarding this same subject...The different dialects of NC and how the people that are native to the coast, specifically the smaller islands still talk with the same dialect that the settlers used. I don't think it was referring to the current Queen. It was pretty interesting.
None of those terms are "NC English"--they refer to Ocracoke, an isolated island that was known, for many years, for its bizarre dialect that, legend had it, was the closest surviving dialect to Elizebethan English still around (I believe that's been mostly debunked). And, in the past 20 years or so, Ocracoke has had a lot more access to the mainland and I doubt any but the oldest residents even talk like that. Still, there are some interesting terminologies and accents! There is a book Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks, written a few years ago, all about the Ocracoke dialect.
But again, ONLY on Ocracoke or the OuterBanks would you find people talking like that (and much less so now)--it is NOT a "general NC accent".
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