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Duncanpup

(14,856 posts)
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 07:41 AM Saturday

The last person i knew who spoke old Appalachian was my grandmother.

Old man dyslexic rambling bad punctuation warning.
The other day i traveled back home to visit a friend and his wife.
My friend retired around six years ago as a union freight driver and moved back home around twelve miles from my tribe of northern Appalachian relatives.
My Dunc the golden floof and i headed out on our seventy mile drive not empty handed. You just don’t show up empty handed is the thought as we knew we would be fed.
We had a case of P.B.R. for my friend and around five pounds of butter for his wife.
A bit on my friends he is seventy four his wife i think seventy two in age.
I met this man as a young union driver around nineteen ninety eight and we became close friends.
He would joke that he had to come to civilization to follow the union work as his terminal back then our union company had a change of operations and took out road drivers in his old freight barn.

Yet the other day over a meal of ground beef and noodles with homemade bread i met my friends oldest sister she is eighty four in age.
And i enjoyed every moment with this woman as in listening to her speak or her kindness that was genuine a pure heart as it reminded me of my grandmother.
And was she Ornery in the things she said. Example in visiting my golden seventy nine pound chunk was mooching the ladies as they made dinner.
My friend’s sister looked at Dunc and spoke in the kitchen (Now honey a fed dawg don’t hunt and you look like you haven’t missed too many meals).
Or later Dunc sacked out on their couch after he scored ground beef and noodles from my friend’s wife.
Laying there with all four paws in the air tail between his legs covering himself he’s modest.
Dunc likes to make himself feel at home immediately my friend his sister said.
(At least he has the courtesy to cover his Thang up)as this kind lady was rubbing chunk tummy.
Other old Appalachian sayings i heard this fine woman say.
Redd up- Cleaning up.
Gallavantin- Out running around.
Where there’s bees there is honey.
Shit or get off the pot.
She even said in talking to me and i smiled. She said honey if i was twenty years younger that dawg wouldn’t be the only thang cuddlin you in bed.
Another one that made me smile was in reference to case beer I gave to my friend. She said well that case of beer will keep him out of the Beer Gardten a bar the Beer Gardten not garden for a day or two.
Then she asked me you don’t drank beer no i stopped in my reply to her.
Well maybe you have gotten some sense in getting older she replied cuz my brother sure as shit don’t have any.
My point in this is it was a blessing to meet this woman i enjoyed every moment in experiencing her energy and in how she is in personality.

31 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The last person i knew who spoke old Appalachian was my grandmother. (Original Post) Duncanpup Saturday OP
You'd a been in hog heaven around both my grandmothers' sisters. I still use reded up for the supper table ... marble falls Saturday #1
This message was self-deleted by its author COL Mustard Saturday #13
my parents hailed from Arkansas and Oklahoma and relocated here in the pacific northwest... samnsara Saturday #2
Pretty much the same story here. multigraincracker Saturday #10
I cook blackeyed peas on New Year's Day every year! Silver Gaia Saturday #21
Fried okra is yummy! Silver Gaia Saturday #20
I sure wish I could get some purple hull peas! bamagal62 Saturday #26
They are sooooo goood! I miss them. Silver Gaia Saturday #28
Purple hull peas and cornbread!!! bamagal62 Saturday #29
Right! Silver Gaia Sunday #30
Thank you all Starlight27 Saturday #3
I grew up with the language. It is hard to shake off. I also talk slow which makes it even crazier. twodogsbarking Saturday #4
Old grown over strip mines. Duncanpup Saturday #5
I live in the mid Atlantic now. COL Mustard Saturday #15
Great essay, Thank you Duncanpup. Diamond_Dog Saturday #6
Don't fear ILikePie92 Saturday #7
Virginia is farther west than West Virginia. You are spot on. The people are great. America. twodogsbarking Saturday #19
Not only Appalachia but the Deep South also Keepthesoulalive Saturday #8
Sorry I forgot one of my faves Keepthesoulalive Saturday #12
In 1951 . . . AverageOldGuy Saturday #9
Yes! And "young'uns" for children! Silver Gaia Saturday #17
"Y'all" is the singular SCantiGOP Saturday #23
Another wonderful tale in the life of....... democrank Saturday #11
Love this! Haven't heard gallavantin in decades! Joinfortmill Saturday #14
Lawd a'mighty! I ain't never heared so much Silver Gaia Saturday #16
Sounds like when Figarosmom Saturday #18
im third gen ca. AllaN01Bear Saturday #22
Thang. Hain't it awful. twodogsbarking Saturday #24
Hi ,Duncanpup. I live in SW PA. The following words can be heard here also. Redd up. Gallavantin and Shit or get off of debm55 Saturday #25
If you are on instagram, bamagal62 Saturday #27
I grew up near Cleveland, Oh Marthe48 Sunday #31

marble falls

(67,047 posts)
1. You'd a been in hog heaven around both my grandmothers' sisters. I still use reded up for the supper table ...
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 07:58 AM
Saturday

... learnt "Old Dan Tucker" and "Ride a Little Pony Downtown" on my granpa's knee. Learnt a bit of racism on that same knee, too. He was too successful, fortunately. The people he described were people I didn't see anywhere.

I lived in Cleveland. I never noticed that black people were different until I was eight or nine. I believe children are race blind for the most part until some adult or teen "sets 'em astraight".

Response to marble falls (Reply #1)

samnsara

(18,579 posts)
2. my parents hailed from Arkansas and Oklahoma and relocated here in the pacific northwest...
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 08:34 AM
Saturday

..before i was born 74 years ago but they brought the South with them in so many ways. Granted this wasnt Appalachia but close enough for me to enjoy:

Okra
cornbread in milk
pinto beans and greens with hot sauce
biscuits and gravy smothered in chili powder
'I reckon'
'pertnear'
'pianey' ( piano)

now even my parents have passed but I correspond with one of my moms' childhood friends who recently went into a nursing home in Oklahoma. Shes still very with it at 94 and her beautifully written letters continue to bless me with 'southernisms'..and childhood memories of my mother.



ps i never ate the okra but dad gave me a pickled pigs foot at a young age. It was sour.

multigraincracker

(36,000 posts)
10. Pretty much the same story here.
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:36 AM
Saturday

Black eye peas on New Year’s Day and you’ll have good luck all year.
Dad and mom hated the South and loved living in Michigan. I miss them.

Silver Gaia

(5,127 posts)
21. I cook blackeyed peas on New Year's Day every year!
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:36 AM
Saturday

I make spicy blackeyed peas with tomatoes and serve it with jambalaya and collard greens. My tradtion says that every blackeyed pea you eat that days equals one more day of good luck in the coming year!

Silver Gaia

(5,127 posts)
20. Fried okra is yummy!
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:30 AM
Saturday

I still love it, especially with purple hull peas served over crumbled up cornbread. Purple hull peas are hard to find out here in California now, though. I used to be able to find them frozen, Pictsweet brand, but not anymore. If I want them, I have to grow them myself now.

twodogsbarking

(14,469 posts)
4. I grew up with the language. It is hard to shake off. I also talk slow which makes it even crazier.
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 08:45 AM
Saturday

Appalachia. Nice scenery, eh.

Duncanpup

(14,856 posts)
5. Old grown over strip mines.
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 08:55 AM
Saturday

Strip cuts or piles of old mine filling. Old equipment the coal companies left rusting in the woods yet it is beautiful the forest and mountains.

COL Mustard

(7,511 posts)
15. I live in the mid Atlantic now.
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:52 AM
Saturday

When I spend a little bit of time on the Gulf Coast, my southern starts to come out. It always takes me several days to decompress from up here, but then I start...slowin' down....how...I...talk...and droppin'...mah...trailin'...gees. Then I get back up here to work and nobody can understand me for another week.

ILikePie92

(188 posts)
7. Don't fear
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:10 AM
Saturday

That dialect is still alive and well in SW Va/eastern WVa. If you get the chance go visit Bastian, Va. Go to the little store right off the interstate and stay and listen to the bluegrass music on a Sunday afternoon and talk to a few people.

twodogsbarking

(14,469 posts)
19. Virginia is farther west than West Virginia. You are spot on. The people are great. America.
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:28 AM
Saturday

Keepthesoulalive

(1,560 posts)
8. Not only Appalachia but the Deep South also
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:20 AM
Saturday

The language was so direct you always understood what was being said.
Child you are being hard headed.

AverageOldGuy

(2,749 posts)
9. In 1951 . . .
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:36 AM
Saturday

I was 7; my father's business transferred us from Bolton, Mississippi, to Knoxville, Tennessee.

Although we -- my family and our East Tennessee neighbors -- spoke the same language, we didn't speak the same language.

The phrases/words that I still recall were:

dope -- a soda pop (Coke, Pepsi) -- "I'm gone drink a cold dope."

you'ns, or shortened to y'uns -- we said "you all" or "y'all" -- "Do y'ums want some ketchup with them fried taters?"

poke -- a paper sack -- "Put them groceries in that poke."

SCantiGOP

(14,547 posts)
23. "Y'all" is the singular
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:40 AM
Saturday

The plural is “All y’all,” as in :

—Y’all come here.
—Just me?
—No, all y’all.

democrank

(11,663 posts)
11. Another wonderful tale in the life of.......
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:38 AM
Saturday

I so enjoy your colorful, character-filled writings. Thank you.

Joinfortmill

(18,596 posts)
14. Love this! Haven't heard gallavantin in decades!
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 09:52 AM
Saturday

I grew up working class/middle class New Englander.

Silver Gaia

(5,127 posts)
16. Lawd a'mighty! I ain't never heared so much
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:14 AM
Saturday

talkin green as y'all been doin!

My family was from Arkansas, too, and I heard this way of talking as a young girl there. Grandma called this way of speaking "green."

I heard a lot of talk like this in Middle Tennessee, too. Two word combinations i heard there that I've not heard anywhere else are: "at'air" (that there) and "ove'rar" (over there). I "like to never" figured out that second one!

I love all the dialects we have in this country! I've lived all over the U.S., north and south, east and west. Each place has its own dialect. And you know why? It"s because we are a country of immigrants, and we all brought unique ways of speaking with us that have mixed and mingled over time to become equally unique local dialects. Love it! ❤️

Figarosmom

(7,009 posts)
18. Sounds like when
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:22 AM
Saturday

We would visit relatives in West Virginia. Glad to hear Dunc minded his manners

AllaN01Bear

(26,520 posts)
22. im third gen ca.
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 10:39 AM
Saturday

my family has a terrm and its tobeetle . run together meaning to squish as in a bug.

debm55

(48,514 posts)
25. Hi ,Duncanpup. I live in SW PA. The following words can be heard here also. Redd up. Gallavantin and Shit or get off of
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 01:36 PM
Saturday

pot. They call it Beer Garden around here. I wounder if some people moved west and brought there words with them. Thank you for a great post.

bamagal62

(4,011 posts)
27. If you are on instagram,
Sat Jul 19, 2025, 01:42 PM
Saturday

Follow haesicks
She does an “Appalachian word of the day”. It’s hilarious!

Marthe48

(21,286 posts)
31. I grew up near Cleveland, Oh
Sun Jul 20, 2025, 11:48 AM
Sunday

In 1962, my parents bought a farm in s.e. Ohio. At the time, it took us 6 hrs to drive down. Our place hadn't been farmed, but the next place was worked and we met and got to be friends with the family. I remember them saying 'O'er yannah' which meant 'over yonder'. O'er yannah in the holler.
Perry, the farmer, introduced us to leg wrestling. My Dad was 6'6" and Perry wasn't more than 5'8". I have a picture of them laying on the ground, side by side, but head to toe, one leg each in the air, getting ready for another bout. There was much whiskey involved. Lol

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