Sifoddling Along

By Marilyn Carnell

I moved to a Senior Living apartment a year ago. It has been a pleasant experience, but sometimes I find that when an Ozark expression or idiom slips into my speech people don’t understand what I am saying. I have a similar problem when they use Scandinavian terms like “Uf Dah” (amazement) or “biffy” (toilet).

Recently I went “down the rabbit hole” of my computer (to use a current example – to follow a random path deep into the internet). I stumbled upon several blogs discussing Appalachian words and customs. Their creators assume that the reader will find the terms new and unique. I am familiar with most of them because the Ozarks and Appalachia share a common language. When I was growing up in the 1950’s some of the following words or terms were still commonly spoken. Sadly, they are dying out and the colorful vocabularies shrinking.

One of my favorite words is poke - depending on the circumstances it can mean an edible weed, a punch in the eye, or a paper bag or sack. Lately it is pronounced Poke-ay and is an Asian bowl of fish and vegetables.

Much of my interaction with others is in the dining room. I have to restrain myself from saying things like: “John ate a “bait” or a” passel” (large amount) of beans. No wonder he has a belly ache. I thought he would founder (overeat). It can also happen when I try to explain a word with an example. “Back in the day when we had free range (no fences) the hogs would fatten up in the fall on mast (acorns).” No wonder they look at me anti-gogglin (sideways).

A statement like “I reckon (think) I can. After supper (dinner) I will do that dreckly (directly, immediately). It is as incomprehensible to a furriner (foreigner, not from this place) as asking him “jeet” (did you eat, spoken rapidly).

The end result has been my renewed interested in speech patterns and wonder at how many of the old expressions I absorbed in my youth.