"Stump the Yankee"

[BettyO]

Fantastic, Joe!

I NEVER knew that!! Love it! I'll look at the Wizard of Oz now in a different manner! And the site also states that there is a Lincoln lookalike in that scene - I'll have to look for that for sure!

[LincolnMan]

Well, as my Tennessee grandma used to say: "if that don't beat all!

[L Verge]

I hate to admit it, but this Yankee does find some great trivia questions. Maybe we should let him up easy?

[J. Beckert]

Bullfeathers. I'm winning the next one. Just you wait and see.

[L Verge]

If you don't, we're renaming this thread, "Stomp the Yankee."

[Jim Page]

(01-27-2013 03:26 PM)LincolnMan Wrote:  Well, as my Tennessee grandma used to say: "if that don't beat all!

Bill, we need to start a discussion of oddball Southern expressions. My grandmother (Northern Florida) used to say, "I swan!" and "Gee monetti!" She had another pet saying like those that I can't remember at the moment.

He brother had a goofy one; he'd say, "By grabs!"

So, with your grandmother's saying, we have documented four of these weird expressions.

--Jim

[L Verge]

How about adding "Gimme a speck of sugar."? I've also heard "I swan!" and "Gee monetti" all my life. I always thought the latter had to do with something Italian, however. I've also heard "By gum."

[BettyO]

I've also heard "By Cracky!" and "Tarnation!"

[Jim Page]

(01-28-2013 06:07 PM)BettyO Wrote:  I've also heard "By Cracky!" and "Tarnation!"

Hah! This could turn into a parlor game! Betty, both of those are very familiar to me, as is "gol-darnit!" and "dagnabit!" I also used to hear, "Well, dog my cats!" which made no sense to a seven-year-old.

I used to hear my Dad say, "What in the Sam Hill?!?!?" and I had a bandmate here in Maryland use a variant, "What in the Sam Hell?!?!?"

My favorite uncle still uses "dawg-gone" about every third word, especially when discussing current politicians.

Roger, you can electronically wash my mouth out with Octagon Soap whenever you see fit!

When the discussion the other day was about stuff teachers used to do that would be felonies today, that's one I'll never forget: Port Arthur, Texas; Tyrell Elementary School; my third grade teacher. She caught me calling a classmate in the lineup for entering class "stupid." I also suffered the in-the-coat-closet treatment and many raps across the knuckles with a wooden ruler.

But I deserved them all, dagnabit! BOY HOWDY!!!

--Jim, the cusser

[BettyO]

I've heard my dad say "Dagnabit!"

[L Verge]

Jim - You, Betty, and I definitely speak the same language...

[Jim Page]

Laurie, when I was a kid, having grown up in most of the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico, I had the worst "Southern" accent you can imagine. I made Gomer Pyle sound like William F. Buckley.

It became an issue when we moved to Naples, Florida, where most of the kids in school were from "up North." One day when I had to read aloud in class, the whole room went nuts when I said, "Dawg" for dog. I was so embarrassed.

I went to the librarian at the Naples Public Library, who was a wonderful person, and asked her if there was a book about how to lose an accent. She referred me to an autobiography of Walter Cronkite, where he had updated Demosthenes' trick of speaking with pebbles in his mouth by using marbles when speaking. I did that 15 minutes a day for a month and it worked!

Many years later, I worked briefly on a PR job with Gary Burghoff (Radar on M.A.S.H.) who had a side business with accent and dialect coaching for other actors. He swore he could place my accent within 50 miles. I said, "Okay, go for it." He thought I had grown up in Denver, Colorado!

So the marbles worked!

--Jim

[Linda Anderson]

(01-28-2013 06:48 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Jim - You, Betty, and I definitely speak the same language...

I don't speak your language but I do remember Fred Mertz saying, ""What in Sam Hill's all the commotion about?" on the I Love Lucy show.

[LincolnMan]

Another of my Tennessee grandma's expressions: "Well, I'll be John Brown." Of course, the irony of the statement is that she would have been just about anyone BUT John Brown.

[J. Beckert]

Rebels 10
Yankee 3

Good morning and welcome back to another installment of "Stump the Yankee". The only trivia game on this site that's fun for the whole family. Well, maybe if you're a family of Rebels, that is. My luck has been poor here, to say the least.

Last month I travelled down to Surrattsville and met all of my Rebel friends. The Rebs couldn't have been nicer to me. I was given two private Booth escape route tours and showered with gifts of Moon Pies, Cheer Wine, cigars, a hat and several books. I was called Yankee several times and told I talk funny, but it was great fun. Now it's time to resume the hostilities. Let's get started.

Last week I posted a piece about a Booth wanted poster going up for auction. They're extremely rare and I doubt, outside of a museum, if most folks have ever seen one. An original has hung for years in the same place and is in private hands. Where is it?