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A Family Vacation Guide To The Appalachian
Mountains
 First, a bit of history to enable you,
the reader, to better understand the jargon/dialect of the people of Appalachia: those
wonderful, Majestic Appalachian Mountain people!
Most importantly: prounouncing the word "Appalachian" - it is "app" - "uh" - "latch" - "in"
(not "App - uh - lay - shin)
Until the 1960s, when the Interstate highway system really made travel in and out of
the mountains easy, the Majestic Appalachian Mountain jargon/dialect had been fairly well
preserved since the 1700s. Linguists noted that there were words and forms of
speech found there that were very closely related to Elizabethan English forms, and that
did not exist anywhere else in the world.
Probably the one aspect of the Majestic Appalachian Mountain Culture that is misunderstood
the most is the way the people of Appalachia talk. They still speak in the
purest form of "Virgin English." Their dialect developed as a result of the
merging of four British dialects when America was in it's infancy.
Not long after the first settlers landed at Plymouth Rock, it didn't take long for
the east coast to become overcrowded and the migration westward began. Europeans
began flocking to the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains were
rugged and hard to cross. During this crossing many people found that the mountains
were abundant with wildlife and the valleys were rich in minerals and were perfect for
farming. They decided to end their travels, stay and build their homes.
The early settlers to the Appalachian Mountains area were mostly Scottish, Irish, German,
and English. Thus the merging of all these dialects combined with the isolation of
the area has caused the Appalachian Mountain jargon/dialect to be labeled in many
phonetics and language studies as "Virgin English:" a form of English that has changed very
little since the settlers first came.
The relative isolation of the mountains insured a quality of life in the people of
the Majestic Appalachian Mountains reminiscent of their earlier way of life. Life in
the wilderness and the continuing isolation have made the Appalachian people
different from most other Americans. The Appalachian value system that influences
attitudes and behavior is different from the national norm. The more
important values of the Appalachian Mountain people are religion, family solidarity,
individualism, self reliance, pride, love of place, modesty, being
oneself, sense of beauty, sense of humor, neighborliness and
patriotism. The Appalachian Mountain people have learned to combine the wisdom of the
old ways of living with the technologies of the new.
Even with the modern day Interstates traversing the Appalachian Mountains, life is
still slow to change; the laid-back and slow way the people of the Appalachia still speak
is testament to this. By studying the dialect in different regions of
Appalachians, one can find subtle differences in the pronunciation of
words and phrases.
Even the meanings of some words and phrases will vary from region to region.
The dialect is rhotic and characterized by distinct phonology, morphology, syntax, and
lexicon. It is mostly oral but can also be found in some writings. Author
John A. Blankenship has some interesting reading about the Appalachian dialect.
The original settlers, the English speakers, that settled the area came mostly from West
Anglia, the Scottish Lowlands, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland via Northern Ireland in the
middle 18th and early 19th centuries, and their speech forms the basis of the
dialect. Along with German immigrants, these groups populated an area which is
still largely homogeneous culturally. Like many regional dialects it is used most
often or most characteristically in discussing cuisine, in storytelling, or when discussing
native industries (i.e., coal mining, forestry: logging). The characteristic syntax
and morphology of Appalachian English gives way to more standard forms in schools, public
speaking venues, and courts of law, but the phonology is likely to remain the
same. The Appalachia language is considered Shakesperian from the days of
Queen Elizabeth I.
Speakers of Appalachian English have little or no trouble understanding standard English,
but even native speakers of other dialects can find it somewhat unintelligible, and
foreigners can have significant trouble understanding it. For instance, the
hard R that is used is a product of the Irish dialect, and the way the people of Appalacia
run two or more words together, such as "jeat" instead of "did you eat" is a product
of the Elizabethan English influence. The hard "K" and "ch" sound we use is
attributed to the
German influence.
For this author, the most distinctive feature of the Appalachian dialect is often the
double, even triple negatives, the very flat vowels, the odd words and colorful phrases,
such as:
* Adorable: "cuter than two speckled puppies"
* Something not straight: "crooked as a dog's hind leg"
* Soda in a can: "dope" - I've heard the elderly use this
one: "sody-dope." I personally use the generic word
"Coke."
* One who has difficulty an ins truction: "couldn't pour piss out of
a boot with the instructions written on the heel."
* Reference to either 'up' or 'down' the road: "over the road."
* I haven't seen you in a long time: "haven't seen you in a coon's age"
(referring to a raccoon, not as a racial slur)
* Everyone: whereas in the deep south one hears "y'all," the common Appalachia
term is "you-un's."
* A long way - a Distance: a "fur piece."
* Did you eat yet? "jeat?"
* Hot "fire" will burn: "far"
* How far away was the fire? "How fur was the far?
* Children: "chillin"
* Young Children: "yung-uns"
* "You:" The person that I'm specifically talking to: "chu"
* What are you doing? "whachu doin?"
* Pretty: "purty"
* Potato: "tater"
* A person without any clothes on: "nekid"
* A tire on a vehicle: "tar"
* To be sleepy: "tard"
* If you were the youngest of five children: You were "the least" of five
"kids." (They really do mean children, not 'kids' as in baby goats!)
* A person who lives "locally"or in the neighborhood is someone "from around
these parts."
* You checked books out from your local "liberry."
* If you picked a "mess" of beans, you had enough for a meal.
* Children are told to, "go out and pick me a pound and half of beans" and they
would know exactly how much to pick!
* Or if one is going to the garden to pick some beans and gather some turnip
greens they would say, "I'm fixin to head down thearin to pick me some pole beans and
creasy greens."
* Stay a "spell" means to stay and visit awhile.
* A stocking cap as a "toboggan."
* "Yonder" is to designate some place "over there."
* A mite means a little bit of something.
* "His people" and "her people" were relatives.
* One's family is "our people" or "their people."
* Being in the midst of an issue, controversy or conversation or to be right on
target is to be "smack dab" in the middle.
* Daylight savings time is "fast time."
* One does not drink a can of soda. They drink a can of "pop."
* If someone was not telling the truth: "There goes Pete Brown tellin'
another one."
* Or if a child was one to easily cry: "There goes Lizzy Jones goin' to
cry another river."
* A pregnant woman is a woman who "Is in the family way."
* When one is going fishing at the creek it is said, "I'm goen fishen
down the crick."
* To "eyeball" something is to measure a given distance with one's eye.
* And listen to the "or" as a substitute for "a" - I have to WORSH some
clothes.
* And listen to the adding a "c" to words that begin with "h" - "Out
CHERE in the woods."
* She got pregnant: "She got KNOCKED UP."
* To "eyeball" an area: To give an approximate measurement to a given
area simply by looking at it.
This author has travelled the world over and has lived in many countries, currently
maintaining a summer home in the Majestic Appalachian Mountains. When one is in
an "English speaking" environment, psychologically, one expects to understand what they are
hearing. However, such was not the case in my early days of living amongst the
people of the Appalachia. I felt I had literally stepped off of a plane, into a
country, where everyone spoke a language, totally foreign to my own ears. I had
little or no understanding of what the people of the Appalachia were
saying!
When I first went to the Appalachian Mountains I opened a
Thrift Shop. During that first, extremely cold winter many customers came in asking
if we had any "toboggans." Not having any SNOW SLEDS in the store,
the customers were told "no, toboggans." All the while I did not understand why
our massive shipment of "knitted stocking caps/hats" were not selling!
I felt so blessed to find a wonderful church! The Pastor was from the
Appalachians however he had spent a significant number of years "outside the
mountains." Though his sermons were sprinkled with words that were 'foreign' to me,
it was nothing like his Assistant! All feelings of being 'blessed'
totally diminished when the Assistant was asked to bring the Message of the Hour!
Seemingly every 12th word or phrase the Assistant spoke was either one that was "foreign"
to my ears or was spoken with such a heavy accent that I did not understand what was being
spoken! I found myself mentally 'stuck," laboring over the understanding of what I'd
just heard.
The speaker says, "Back in those days I thought I knew it all - I was going to set the
woods on far!"
Me: I'd learned "far" was "fire" - so why would he commit ARSON?
The speaker says, "We got a Johnny Cracker for a penny."
Me: What is a Johnny Cracker?
Meanwhile, the speaker had continued speaking.
I'd momentarily set aside that word/phrase and attempt to focus on what was currently being
spoken. Within two or three words, I'd find myself once again "stuck" on
another "foreign" word or phrase. This "mental gymnastic" continued through the
whole sermon! The feelings of frustration were beyond
description! Why didn't I sit in the back of the church so I could
just slip out and go home without being noticed??!!
As in all of my foreign travels, I was determined to conquer the
language. Today, I still have some Appalachia language barrier
challenges. However, they aren't accompanied with the deep frustrations that they
used to be and they all are the ingredients for wonderful humerous
conversations. And few laugh harder than the Pastor's Assistant!
Rather than think of the people of Appalachia's jargon or dialect as some kind of curse or
sign of stupidity they should be looked at as a distinct cultural trait and embrace it as a
proud, unique and special preservation of the past.
A visit to the Majestic Appalachan Mountains and conversation with the people
of the Appalachia will indeed prove to be memories that you will cherish a
lifetime!
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