Y'all or You guys? (Webster, Pittsburg: rental, cabin, authority)

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

I remember my Daddy telling us girls to do something and then he'd add, "you better be 'hittin' high cotton'. which translated, meant get the lead out of your pants and get the job done, pronto!

LOL There was another term common among men when I was growing up where the "hittin" was eliminated in favor of a less elegant -- albeit rhyming --term. It was usually used to mean the person in question was sitting pretty in fortune and luck! LOL For instance, "Well, ol' Joe Bob, he's sure _____in high cotton, now that he found that oil"

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

Thanks Reb! I can almost hear your paw-paws now, LOL. As to the lunch/dinner...well now shoot...you've got me soooo confused!!! Let's see, I know it was always called Sunday dinner (the noon time meal after church) and later that evening it was supper. Now, it's get confusing, the noon time meal was called both dinner and sometimes lunch. I've gotten to where I say lunch all the time now, maybe it has to do with my kids saying lunch because that's what they said at school. The evening meal was supper, but it was also called dinner at times. LOL, drive you crazy! I know Thanksgiving dinner was just that, dinner, no matter if it was at 12:00 noon or later in the day, or even closer to suppertime if things had gone haywire! Ah, you gotta love our lingo. One thing about it, we all know what we're talking about, even if no one else does! Like my Daddy use to say regarding the lunch vs. dinner, I don't care what you call it, as long as you call me when it's ready!

And I can almost hear YOUR daddy now!

But anyway, yeah, THAT one (dinner and lunch) is confusing issue, I agree (heck, up the road somewhere, I might make it a poll! LOL).

As it is though, here is my take on it (and I would like to hear from others as well...even though, yeah, this strays somewhat off topic):

The basic "rule" when I was growing up, and I think was probably the same all over Texas/South, was that the three meals of the day were breakfast, dinner, and supper. In certain other parts of the country, it was breakfast, lunch and dinner.

With that said though, the term "lunch" was not unknown in the South, but it just generally referred to a quick bite to eat...such as someone might pack and take to work with them. Dinner however was in more common usage as this was a day when many women did not work outside the home and would actually cook a meal at noontime. I remember growing up that my daddy and grandfather would come home and eat "dinner" at noontime...but they might take some "lunch" to work with them on other days.

By extension of course, supper was the evening meal....with the exception of Thanksgiving as you say!

And continuing on what you mention, LoneStar, I very much agree the federal "school lunch" program, as it was officially designated, had the effect of, over time, changing the way we refer to the same today. That is to say, lunch replacing dinner as the default term for noon time meal.

*grins a bit in remembering* A couple of years back, at "lunch time" I told my classroom aide, that I was going to go home and "eat dinner". One of my students asked if I meant "lunch". I was a bit taken aback as the mistranslation in generations was something I hadn't thought of before. Anyway, when I explained somewhat, the kid told me something like "Dont worry, Mr. Hill, my grandmother still calls lunch dinner"

Oh lord...

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

*grins a bit in remembering* A couple of years back, at "lunch time" I told my classroom aide, that I was going to go home and "eat dinner". One of my students asked if I meant "lunch". I was a bit taken aback as the mistranslation in generations was something I hadn't thought of before. Anyway, when I explained somewhat, the kid told me something like "dont, worry, Mr. Hill, my grandmother still calls lunch dinner"

Oh lord...

Hahaha, know EXACTLY what you mean!

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by GoingHome2TX

Even when living in Yankee-land, while the twang might have left my voice, the staples of "ya'll", "fixin' tuh", "over/up/down yonder", "iffin'", and "feller" have always remained with my speech.

I still use the cotton references, as well. Another old-fashioned saying along the lines of that is one my great-grandmother would say when I was a kid: "Well, I'll be! Pull a plank off the house, we've got company!"

It took me years to figure out what she was talking about, but long after she died, I did finally stumble on the answer. I was reading a book about Texas history, and specifically early settlements. It was not an uncommon practice to pull boards off the side of a house in summer to let air flow through. Since glass was considered a luxury that most people making a fresh start in Texas could not afford, windows were not used. The only way a lot of early homes could be ventilated was opening the door and literally pulling boards off the side of the house.

Learn something new everyday, thanks. I love our expressions and the different meanings they have.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

Learn something new everyday, thanks. I love our expressions and the different meanings they have.

Absolutely right, LoneStar!

I will maintain til the cows come home that one of the reasons we Texans/Southerners are such good story/joke tellers is that our accent and idiom lend to it being so. This is actually a topic that has been studied and written on, as it is.

BTW, GoingHome2TX? I hope you don't mind that I abbreviate your monkier with GTT. It is complimentary and I am sure you caught the intent. That is, that old "saying" common across the southeast during Texas settlement and Revolution era...and after the "Civil War" when many scribbled or burnt "Gone To Texas" (in notes or on burnt out barns) as explanation to their kin as to where they were headed.

GTT! It has a proud history and I like it!

[GoingHome2TX]

You can call me whatever suits your fancy, even if it's "Nancy". Jes' don't call me late fer dinner!

The name worked for about 2 months, and then I wasn't going home, I was home. At this point, it is pretty much irrelevant, save possibly for a reminder that I was a P.O.W. outside of my zone of content for far too long.

By bad choice in name picking on this forum, I am GoingHome2TX, by birth my name is Kevin, by retrospect, GTT is much better. I've even contended that the first 18 years of my life, I honestly thought my real name was "Hey A__hole!"

It won't insult me in the least, so have at it!

[txstate]

Depends on who Im talking to and about what.

[Rathagos]

Originally Posted by Texanwannabe

Now to throw off TexReb's poll a little bit, there is a term used by people who live in Pittsburgh, PA! It is repulsive, but I have used it alot and I still find myself using it. I try to catch myself when I feel it coming out of my mouth! It is....

Youn's... pronounce yoonz!!!

My wife is from right outside Pittsburgh (Beaver County), and her, her friends and family don't say "yoonz" they pronounce it "yinz". She works in a pediatricians office as a nurse here in west Texas.. and some people pause when she slips into the "yins" bit. But, now the word "deal" has entered her vocabulary, and it drives me crazy!! "Can you hand me the deal?" "If you turn the deal the other way it should work" etc. Drives me up the wall!

But, to her defense, it drives her crazy when I say I'm "fixin' to" do something.

[scubashawn68]

What is "Youns" or "Yins" ?

[NOTAM]

i've been wonderin' myself. never heard such a thang

Originally Posted by scubashawn68

What is "Youns" or "Yins" ?