Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Am I a hillbilly offspring? I'll tell you directly.


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?


 

8 comments:

Kim Lehnhoff said...

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.

Connie said...

My Dad said "warsh" for wash and "rench" for rinse, so we might just be cousins. :-)

Val said...

"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."

Bookie said...

I might to Connie's line...the word zink for sink and purty for pretty!

Merlesworld said...

I know what you are saying .
Merle........

Sioux Roslawski said...

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.

Pat Wahler said...

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

Sandi said...

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. ;-)