When I taught preschool and when my own children
were young, I used ambiguous words in order to stall instant gratification or delay
an immediate request. Kids ask questions all day long; they have the need to know. I know!
Soon.
In a little while. Maybe. Possibly. Those stall words worked fine when my kids were
young, but as they got older, they would say, "MAYBE isn't a definite yes
or no." My dad would have been 99 this year, and I can remember the way he said the word, "directly."
He used it in different contexts.
"Go dreckly to the store." I knew that meant
straight there.
"You can go to the store dreckly." That meant
something altogether different.
Dad's favorite put off was, "I'll let you know
dreckly." WHENEVER.
My research indicates the word origin was British
English and its meaning was as soon as.
Derived from proper English, it found its way into
hillbilly dialect meaning in a moment.
In my family directly
had no specific time reference.
Any stand out or stand off words used in your family?
Any stand out or stand off words used in your family?
8 comments:
Read up the room, or red up the room, or redd up the room. Not sure how it's spelled, but it means to clean the room. It's Pennsylvania Dutch.
"Later" was my mom's favorite stalling word, with "we'll see" coming in a close second.
My Dad said "warsh" for wash and "rench" for rinse, so we might just be cousins. :-)
"Conly." It means "kind of." My mom used it all the time. "I felt conly bad when I saw that man at the stoplight with the sign saying he would work for food. So I gave him two dimes out of my change purse."
I might to Connie's line...the word zink for sink and purty for pretty!
I know what you are saying .
Merle........
Linda--My family would say, "You've got that all catty-wampus," which meant it (maybe the shirt or a comforter) was all twisted up/crooked.
The only thing that comes to my mind is "Because I said so", which I'm sure is not unique to my family!
Pat
Critter Alley
My mom says melk instead of milk. May be a Michigan thing. Also, "a couple three" which means two or three. We'll get a couple three snacks for the party. Used to drive.me.crazy! Ok, still does. ;-)
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