Weird and wonderful regional words - American Tongues Episode #6
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- čas přidán 21. 02. 2008
- From gumbands to antigogglin, schlep to jambalaya -- How many of these words do you know?
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You can travel across the US and still find plenty of regional expressions that baffle. From the documentary AMERICAN TONGUES
I rmember the time I ordered a GRINDER while I was in Boston. The clerk gave me a look like I had two heads. lol
I am truly surprised that in this video "schlep" is presented as a word from a New York regional dialogue. Schlep is a Yiddish word that is used frequently by people who come from Jewish families - and not just in the New York area!
I say "Schlep" a lot and I'm African-American. I think I picked it up from friends with East coast and Jewish ancestral ties though. Funny how none of the Southerners had heard of it or knew what it meant
I have noticed the word "snicklefritz" being said in most dutch american towns.
When something was crooked my mom would say it was "whop-jawed" and if we were wasting time we were "lolly gaggin'" or "dilly dallyin'".
Russell Solomon my dad says lolligagging and dilly dallyin too! Born and raised in St. Louis
@@Chasearabbi Texas here!!!!
Cool, thanks!
Hey Neil
I'm from Chicago(I have no accent) didn't realize have diverse America is linguistically, but what I love more are the different accents and dialects from you guys across the pond! I'm an English Compisition major and many classes I've had are British Lit, which means we have to learn the history of English/British/Scottish/Welsh language and literature. Its so interesting; Picts, Britons, Celts, Scots, Saxons, and so on. So many dialects and languages.
How interesting! I def. learned some new words ie antigogglin. Also, I didn't realize that people from Louisiana had such distinct accents.
@entrepreneur41 The only thing about the Southern dialect is that it is not standard for all areas. Louisiana, for example, has the typical Southern drawl, but it also has the Cajun French, and the Yat dialect (most commonly heard in the Greater New Orleans area). Yat has been compared to Brooklyn accents.
Well, possibly the fact that I've lived in both countries, as I was born and raised in Britain, and spent 6 months in the US last year. Whereas you my dear, have spent your whole life in the US. And, as a hiker, I KNOW that there is a difference between accents between each other town and village as I experience it CONSTANTLY! Whereas when I was in America I could travel by car for miles, and miles, and when I got to my destination everyone sounded exactly the same as the last place!
Dan
@98bigbutt I'm from NYC also, and everyone I know uses that word. Maybe it depends on where you're from. My mother is from NYC also, and she uses "schlep" all the time too.
Thanks for posting. I'm English and love regional accents. I have little reference to internal American accents other than what us Brits would call a general or generic American accent.
I can imitate over 20 British and Irish regional accents and quite a few American but it's the strange words that make a true accent. I'td be good to see someone American run through the accents as impressions. Cheers...Or should I say G'bye Y'all
Look up Amy Walker!
@stealthis Haha, yeah, I guess you're right. I feel as though everybody feels the same way about their own accent since you live with it.
i'm fascinated with regional dialects across North America. it seems there's not much $ or overall interest in the study of it, but I will most likely continue to read about it for years to come
@1:48 this sold me , now I want to try it !
Of course this documentary came out in 1988. No internet, people were much more isolated and insular.
This is amazing. I have never heard many of these terms! are most of them still used? I lived in Alaska, Oregon, New York and have traveled across the states overall but I am very entertained by these terms.
I doubt it. Just in the last 30 years since when this was filmed, regional dialects and terms have been fading with the standardizing effects of TV and movies.
"Schlep" is & will continue to be used, as it's not what this upload characterizes it to be. Id est, a "regional" word. But rather... it's part of a foreign language. That being Yiddish.
Schleppen is a German verb which means to carry. It has been Anglicized to schlep, schlepping, schlepping around. The US received progressive waves of German immigrants throughout the centuries, so it is not surprising that it is also used outside of NYC. It is not only particular to the German dialect of Yiddish.
Here in Alabama, I hear a lot of older people using the word hope in the place of help. For instance; He is going to hope me to get the car started
Hey, the Boston Red Sox are my second favourite team! I'm not a big football, or soccer as we yanks call it, fan nor am a fan of American football either. I'm mostly into baseball and I sometimes keep an eye on hockey, Blackhawks are actually in the running so far. LOL! rugby has been catching my eye, its pretty big here in Chicago amoung the college crowds its starting to get into more high school programs as well.
Any suggestions on where to find info about the various British accents? I'd love to know more about them - I can, more or less, recognize a Manc accent, but that's about it.
At 4:10 it reminds me of my family's old 'family reunion' videos. I remember getting yelled at like that. I also remember that I had a horrible problem with adding 'yeah' or 'kno' to the end of my sentences. "Mama said come here, yeah!" or "I don't want to do my homework, kno." Is that a Louisiana thing?
@baigandine I was especially surprised that it took her awhile to think of the "correct" word. I'm from the Midwest, and I've never heard the use of "gumband" before...it must be a very very regional word.
German: "schleppen" - to carry, to lug, to haul, and so on.
Hence "to schlep", I'd guess.
Filtered through Yiddish. Schlep is Yiddish. Yiddish is the Hebrew/Deutsch hybrid of the Ashkenazim.
It is..
I lived in England & Europe and many parts ofthe U.S.
There are different dialects in English villages and in the US. The big difference is that our dialects are REALLY spread out between states. There is a distinctive Texas accent as well as others. Some are hardto distinguish if you are not a native. Just the same as some villages would sound the same to a visitor but you could tell them apart as a native. What area of the states did you drive through?
2:19 Ned Flanders IRL
Dan where do you get your information from? I only ask so that I avoid using the site or books myself.
"antigogglin' is an Appalachian word (KY, WV)...I think it's similar to "sigogglin"
@trilobright haha, bet your from Mass. because I say frappe too.
and LMAO snicklefritz
@Pimetalz What? You are crazy! I know what you mean being from New England too and have the same thing. But I love it for it's plain, "flat", and "neutral" qualities.
Have you ever been to the uk? Every town, village, hamlet, and city have their own distinctive accent. If someone from Harlepool was to speak to me, I'd know he's from Hartlepool, or if someone from Carlisle were to speak to me, I'd know he's from Carlisle - just from the accents. You can't do that in America, you can do it in the major cities where it's diverse, but not throughout the rest of the country where you have vast swades of land with the same accent.
Dan
Does anyone know what johnny cake or johnny cake cereal is? I grew up eating it and still love it.
Yes, fried mashed potato cake.
No you can, I'm from Darlington, and I sound nothing like anyone from Durham, or Middlesbrough (granted these are towns, not villages), and they're only 10 miles away from me. Not only that, but places like Newcastle, just 30 miles away, have more than one distinct accent. Newcastle has 3 main accents in one town, most notably the 'geordie' accent. Of course here I am not referring to minority accents.
And then there's Leeds and Bradford, 4 miles apart, and yet a HUGE accent difference!
Dan
Hello fellow speech 100 students
Hey Neil from England(where in England are ya from?) I'm from Chicago and I'm a die hard White Sox south-sider. I worked at a cafe and three of my everyday customers are from the UK. One from Liverpool, one from Wales, and the last guy I'm not sure. I have a HUGE crush on the guy from Liverpool. I would love to visit England. I hate the Chicago accent, its so nasally.
Schlep isn't a NY word... its a yiddish word
Yes, but he was the first to advertise it as pop in the US ;-). He was British, but as many companies, he operated trans-atlantic.
Oh and something that needs to be added to the accents debate. For thousands of years we didn't have transport, therefore the accents of each town became pretty much isolated.
However, from its conception America had trains, and after only a few decades you had cars - invented by Karl Benz, NOT as commonly though Henry Ford ;-).
And so the accents didn't ever get much chance to ferment, if you will. Whereas in England they have.
Therefore making perfect logical sense.
Dan
Carbonated water was invented in the town I currently live (wikipedia just informed me, how nice ^_^ ), Leeds. And it was known as carbonated water, not soda water. And it was dubbed as 'pop'. America had already split off from Britain by this point, and due to tension between us, you never had it until 1806, when Benjamin Silliman (sillyman!? Haha!) invented it (though we already had it :-p) in Yale.
So there you go mister Linguistics :-)
Dan
i've lived in souther indiana like my whole life and i sound different from the people that live around here maybe it is because my mom is from northern/central ohio, idk?
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Okay, enjoy your games of handegg :-).
A CABINET??!! That's almost as ridiculous as calling it a "milkshake", it's obviously a frappe!
Milkshake makes sense considering it's shaken milk :P
No one in RI even calls it a fucking cabinet I have never heard that in my life
So am I the only one who found the “schlep” woman incredibly attractive
Schlep comes from the German schleppen.
Yiddish descends from German, so this makes sense
Soda is the word changed by dialect, not pop. Pop is used in every English speaking nation except America.
@98bigbutt i think its a yiddish thing.....
It is Yiddish.
Well, most Americans tend to say the model T was the first car, and yes, that's absolute bollocks.
You didn't have a railway until 1869? I thought you'd have got them the same time as us pretty much and we first got them in the mid 1820s. Even so, you've had trains since only 100 years after your conception as a country.
Dan
So, if you want to avoid my source, then just don't come to England. Don't worry, I'm sure you won't be missed.
How does the word soda date back to 1558 if it wasn't even invented then?
Dandelion and Burdock was the first ever fizzy drink, and it was dubbed 'pop' due to the bubbles inside it.
Did you just call me mr. idiot? Are you 5 years old?
There are 72 million people in the UK, not 60 million.
Even people living in the rural US have only settled there quite recently, and therefore their accents haven't diverged. Also, there is fast connections to cities even from there.
Dan
wow i've never heard anyone call a rubberband a gumband :/ that's honestly very funny sounding.
and i've always heard the word jambalaya but i never knew what it meant. thanks video. ha
antigogglin? wtf. ha. wouldn't it just be simpler to say crooked?
although i guess that's no different than ohioans saying pop instead of soda or hair doodles instead of hair ties. you know the thing you use to put your hair into a ponytail?
@baigandine its called keeping culture alive even though there might be a homegenized version of the word there trying to say they'd rather keep there old way - and whats wrong with that
LMFAO kishka
Mostly the southern states around California across to Florida. I did get to see a bit of NY though. I appreciate that there are accents and dialects, but they are spread out like you said, and some whole states speak with very little variation. My point was that in the UK even YOU would recognise an accent shift between say - Darlington (my hometown), and Middlesbrough, which is the next town across. Or you could go south into Yorkshire, and within 5 miles you could hear the accent change again
...villes. Serfdom.
My dad left lol
At ASU the annoying thing is Californians saying 'hell-a" every other word.
*hella ( formerly helluva )
What do you think the Cajun man said about 2:01 "anywhere of season" or "and aware of season" ?
I think it's "and various seasoning" (spices)
I think he said ...jambalaya - you mix that with meat and rice and with a seasonin'
I believe he said "well seasoned" :)
Oh whatever, acting like she's never heard the word rubberband.
In Detroit that's what we mean when we take a dump on somebody's poarch!
Why do they think it's schelp when it's schlep?
Who knows? It became popular, and it stuck.
Language is like that.
Yes but, "mister linguistics" is an ironic statement, praying on the fact that I had outwitted your remark. And then you replied with a childish, and not even offensive, "mister idiot".
It just goes against all conventions of how to insulting someone ;-)
Dan
NO! The first American to take the English word 'pop', and use it in advertising was Robert Southey, but he took the phrase from the English usage, which has been used for centuries now. We never even called it soda water like you, it's carbonated water for us, so it makes no logical sense that we'd call it soda! It was called pop, because it was aimed at upper class children, and it was meant to signify the bubbles popping at the top.
Dan
How is Jambalaya a regional word?
It's a word meaning 'mixed up' from an old dialect of the Occitan region of France
Most Americans speak a similar accent - these are extreme cases. In Britain there's a different accent in pretty much every town!
@unclewiggly4176 dyslexia
@kellynch,Really because I was born and raised in NYC and I've never heard of the word "Schlepp" before.
I'm from NYC,and I never heard of that word schlepp before in my life.
I have such a boring "accent". Western new England or whatever (im from Connecticut). So plain.
no one says gumband in Pittsburgh
Yeah, but did they back when this was filmed?
Not true. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and we all said "gumband." I haven't lived there for the past 40 years, but when I go back to visit I still hear it.
what the hell are you talking about?
No because America is largely made up of cities, and as I'm sure you are aware as a linguistics student, cities have a tendancy to merge accents together. Whereas Britain is mostly made of villages and towns.
Not only that, but British Americans generally came from around the same place - the South West of England. Meaning, at least the English influence on your language is restricted. Most the Irish were from northern Ireland as well, and those are your two main influences.
Dan
@kellynch,are you Jewish?It sounds jewish.
-__-, you're English, and yet you just referred to football as 'soccer'. Would someone please explain to me why Americans use the word football for a sport which rarely involves feet? Surely 'soccer' (what a foul word), as a game which DOES require use of the feet, is TRUE football.
Soccer is the original term homme. It was "association rules football". As "football" meant nearly nothing & everything depending on who you asked. Association got shortened to Soc. Hence Soccer.
lol the people from the south can't read schlep
We ain't got none a them Jew words 'round here.