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Archiver > APG > 2008-02 > 1203993302


From: Elizabeth Whitaker <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Soda vs Pop, and other terms
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:35:02 -0500
References: <975992.10609.qm@web62508.mail.re1.yahoo.com><06e901c8781b$ffdbe3b0$2101a8c0@CEB>
In-Reply-To: <06e901c8781b$ffdbe3b0$2101a8c0@CEB>


wrote:
> The "soda" vs. "pop" vs. "coke" concept is part of a much larger issue of
> regional dialect and identity that I find interesting. It's much like the
> grandparents' naming patterns. I took a class as an undergrad, called
> "Cultural Geography." We learned such things as telling where someone came
> from by whether they said brook or stream or creek (or even crick), and
> whether you carried water in a bucket or a pail.

That kind of thing is fun, but it can be
confusing to some of us: I am a native
Southerner, but the last people in my family
to stay put most of their lives were two sets
of my great-grandparents.

One of the other great-grandmothers was born
in north central West Virginia and moved to
North Carolina in her mid-teens, shortly
after 1900.
I've heard "diddley-squat" from my mother as
long as I can remember: when I saw the term
in Steve Coonts' books and found out that he
was from that same area of West Virginia, I
finally found out where it came from.
>
[snip]
> Other issues we studied were crops and types of architecture, predominately
> vernacular architecture (fancy way of saying how normal people built houses,
> sheds, and barns, without a plan or a builder; how they learned to build
> from their people).

One result of that is finding that "strange"
forms of architecture _belong_ where they
originated.
>
> In one case we studied, the object of the study was to try to determine the
> boundaries of the region that considered itself southern. So the researchers
> checked telephone books for the yellow pages of hundreds of cities. They
> could plot the frequency of times that businesses used the word "Dixie" in
> their names. The study resulted in a marvelous map with little dots for the
> "Dixies"--and one could surmise that, where the dots were thicker, the more
> that area had a southern identity.

That's a classic study. I was an aspiring
geographer for years.

John Rehder (pronounced "Reeder") is a fine
cultural geographer at UT-Knoxville who has
written a book on the cultural geography of
the Appalachians. (I took his class on the
geography of housing about 20 years ago.)
>
> All of these issues add meat to the bones of our families, and, often, clues
> to their origins--just by learning how they say things, how they name
> things, and how they build things. Does anybody else's family say "Scat!"
> when somebody sneezes instead of "Gesundheit" or "God Bless"? All of those
> phrases' origins are intended to chase away the "evil spirits" who might be
> causing that unhealthy sneeze, but I've met very few people who use the term
> "Scat!" (And in case that's a southern term, it means--Shoo! Get away from
> here! Go away!) (IS "scat" a southern thing too?)

Mine doesn't. Could it be an Arkansas thing?
After all, there are many "Southern" dialects.

Elizabeth Whitaker
Alexandria, VA


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