Feb 19 2007
My Butt is a Dragon
(Note: The final installment of “Apartment Life Returns” is almost ready. I’m trying to tie it up as neatly as I can without making everyone wait too long. I anticipate a Tuesday finish.)
A couple weeks ago, a co-worker walked down our aisle of cubicles and said what sounded like “My butt is a dragon.”
I ran the sentence through my head a few more times and, knowing that he had come in very early that morning, came up with an alternative that seemed much more appropriate. “My butt is a-draggin’.”
That got me a-thinkin’. Is that usage colloquial?
It’s not unusual in the South to hear someone tell a story that includes a phrase like, “He was all upset and just a-cryin’,” or “We looked at the possum, then over at her, and she was just a-runnin’.” More commonly, however, the latter would be heard as “She was just a-gettin’ it.” Which means, basically, running very fast. I’ve seen a man chase and run from an o’possum, with the tide changing less than 15 seconds into the chase, and believe me when I say there’s nothing slow about it.
The “a” in the above examples is pronounced like the “a” in “above.” Or, as most people probably barely remember, the schwa sound. It’s length is similar to a grace note. Those who read music know that means there’s no assigned time for it to be held; it’s there just long enough to be noticed.
I had this post’s title sentence written on scratch paper stuck under a refrigerator magnet. Yesterday, while Shannon prepared the house for a party that night, apparently she decided not to proudly display it for the guests (some who had never been to our house, and some whom she’d never met). She gladly set it on the computer desk, directly in front of the computer monitor. What’s she doing right now?
Just a-sleepin’.
It’s kinda like the Southern saying: “I’m fixin to make dinner” or “I’m fixin to go home soon”… you get the idea.
What’s all the “fixin” about???
Dave - I don’t know how that one crept into the locals’ vocabulary, but you used it correctly in your examples. I hate when people try to make fun of southern speech and do it wrong. One example is addressing just one person as “y’all.” I’ve never heard anybody do that (but maybe I just grew up in the wrong area).
“Fixin’” was part of my everyday speech for years, but I dropped it somewhere along the way. Apparently for some people it isn’t easy, or they just don’t care. A co-worker still uses it, and one lady at work razzes her every time.
Oh, I know people that use y’all for singular (all y’all is plural).
The other one that gets me, is “Over Yonder”.
My bud Curt uses that one a lot! *LOL*
Hmmm. I thought you were just announcing that your butt is a fire breathing beast. I thought, “what wonderfully vile imagry!” Sadly…you were just a-talkin’ about colorful language of a slightly less colorful variety.
I try to avoid the use of ‘ya’ll’ and ‘fixin’,’ but occassionally they creep into my speech. I usually cringe internally after using such an expression. I don’t look down on people for such usage, but I really don’t want it coming out of my own mouth.
Dave - My dear, late grandfather said, “over yonder” all the time, as well as “up yonder,” and other directions.
Moksha - Nope, nothing quite that exciting. Although, sometimes after certain meals… nevermind.
Alvis - Just say it. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
Oh geez, now y’all got me a-talkin’ in an accent. I’m fixin’ to drive PD crazy all night.
Mark? Just what did you tell Alvis about me and JuJu??? Put that in an email ASAP please. ;-)
You use your iTunes card from Mokker yet?
Wow, reading all this makes me wish it was 85 degrees outside so I could hop in the cement pond.
Linda - Good, glad to hear I’m rubbing off on you. (ahem)
I didn’t tell Alvis anything he couldn’t read on your blog, as far as I remember.
Real funny about the iTunes card. You like playing jokes, don’t you?
Blitz - Nice one. My in-laws got one of them thar cement ponds.
Mark, where I come from, if a girl is just a-gettin’ it, she’s rather more stationary than running, but might be flailing a little bit, depending how good her man is.
Simon, I fixin’ to agree with you. Which explains why I was clueless reading what Mark wrote up there. Thanks for the clearing-upment.
Simon and Linda - I knew that would be taken that way by some readers. I think it’s a shorter version of “gettin’ after it,” if that helps any. Probably not at this point, but that’s okay.
When I hear people mistakenly use double negatives, and just general laziness with grammar, that’s just com-monplace in Arkansas.
For me, what’s funny about the “southern dialect” is that I really, really enjoy it when I hear people who are completely uneducated speak that way. I’m talkin’ bout them good ol’ boys who got ‘em an 8th grade learnin’. I get very interested in the words, which are mostly made-up, and how they use them to get a point across. There’s a certain amount of creativity in making up one word that might take the place of two or three words that are actually a part of the English language. For example:
“He blowed that animal plum up. Werenth’n left. Damsthin y’er seen.”
It’s no exaggeration to say that I’ve heard guys tell a complete hunting story that to someone from the northern half of the US, would be like hearing a foreign language. They wouldn’t have a clue.
Probably one of my all-time favorite Foxworthy sayings is, “Today’s word is sensuous. Sensuous up…might as well get me a beer.” LOL
All I know is that since I ate those jalapeno peppers, my butt is a DRAGON!
Charles - Whatever people might say about him, Foxworthy’s bit about made up redneck words is a classic. One of my favorites is “mayonnaise.”
“Mayonnaise at least fifty of’em ov’ere.”
barrett - Considering past performances, I have no doubt that’s true.
;)
Mayonnaise….good one. Don’t recall that one, and I thought I’d heard them all.