Folk phrases
Posted by ESC on August 22, 2001
In Reply to: "Hitch in your git-along"..type of phrase posted by Patty on August 22, 2001
: My great granny used to use phrases like "he's got a hitch in his git-along" (meaning: he's momentarily thwarted, or he's no self-starter). Is there a categorical term for this type of folk phrase? Is there a book that has collected these from old rural America? Thanks.......
: - Patty
There's probably a term for these phrases. But I don't know what it would be. I call them country-isms.
There's a billion books with these sayings. And I'm trying to buy all of them. Listed here are my favorites. I have a couple of "scholarly" ones in addition to these:
Mountain Range: A Dictionary of Expressions from Appalachia to the Ozarks by Robert Hendrickson (Volume IV, Facts on File Dictionary of American Regional Expressions, Facts on File, New York, N.Y.,1997).
Southern Stuff: Down-home Talk and Bodacious Lore from Deep in the Heart of Dixie by Mildred Jordan Brooks (Avon Books, New York, 1992).
This Dog'll Really Hunt: An Entertaining Texas Dictionary by Wallace O. Chariton (Wordware Publishing, Piano, Texas, 1989, 1990)
Whistlin' Dixie: A Dictionary of Southern Expressions by Robert Hendrickson (Pocket Books, New York, 1993).
- Accafortis, Yehoodi & other "family words" Toby Hecht 09/19/01
- Folk phrases Patty 08/22/01
- Web sites ESC 08/22/01
- Country talk sites ESC 08/23/01
- Country talk sites ESC 08/23/01
- Country talk sites ESC 08/23/01
- Web sites ESC 08/22/01