Three more expressions heard among old timers in southern Illinois: "Ah'll swon!" An expression of amazement. "Without" or sometimes, "Thout." It means "unless," as in, "Ah cain't do this, thout you do that." "Airy," means the article "a." "He don't have airy hammer." (Originally "e'er a"). ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill<mailto:wnoliver@worldnet.att.net> To: ILJOHNSO-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:ILJOHNSO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 4:38 PM Subject: [ILJOHNSO] Little Egypt Heritage, Ullans, 7 May 2006, Vol 5 #17 Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois © Bill Oliver 7 May 2006 Vol 5 Issue: #17 ISBN: pending I had recently read an article about colloquial sayings used in various sections of our country, which in turn reminded me of some of the expressions that have been used around my family. Quick examples being the use of the “t” in place of the past tense, “ed” or slurring sounds – pairful for powerful, as in “aa got me a pairful hankerin fer some o them.” Grandma and Dad had other words which I never heard outside the family. Hallo, and neebr, as in “hallo thar neebr.” Grams would sometimes say, “don’t skunner your cousins”, which meant not to “annoy” your cousins. “Hoke fer ma knittin”, which meant “look for” or “poke around for”. Another pronunciation from Grandma Oliver was “thonner”, which I thought was a variation of “yonder”, which really was the meaning not the pronunciation. “Me Da cou get a face that would box a goat” Grandma Lester would say “s/he’s a bit dotty”, while Gradma Oliver would say, “S/he’s a bit dotin” meaning senility. “Ay [aye], an’ neither would “blether” or talk nonsense. When our oldest son was learning to speak, he would ask for a story to be read and say to us, “han’ ahine”. He wanted us to put our arm around him as we read to him. “Ahine” comes close – maybe. This could be “akin” to “aneath” meaning underneath. “Who air ye/ya atter?” – Who are you after? “Aside” – beside. “About” – as in about face, meaing on backwards. When Grandma was instructing me, she’d say something like – “hyer’s ow aa wint hit”. One sound which seemed to have a least three meanings never seemed strange to me at all – “a”, “a”, and “a-“ ”a” could mean “I” or “of”; or if run together with another word, it would mean “on”. An example could be; “a hadda glass a milk a-Sunday.” “Clock” is another word which can have many meanings; such as, “spot” [as in recognize], “sit” [as a hen does on a nest[, “sit” [as in overstaying one’s welcome], and “large cockroach” [so if you see one walking up your wall, you know what it is]. “Scallions”, or young onions. “Scullery”, as in kitchen maid. When Grandma wanted to express “like two peas in a pod” she might say “tarred with the same brush”. When I was to behave in public, I was told to “pass yerself”. Now “pass” also meant “past”, as “you passed the corner”. I’ll leave you to interpret “thon boy hasn't much wit about im”. We are all aware that “lass” refers to young ladies; so “there's bin a lotta bad weather this lass while”. Oops! Here it takes on the meaning recent – “lass while” = recent time(s). Grandma Oliver “wuddna have a drop a sweet milk in ‘er tay.” “An aam right tickled” to write this article. Ancestry.com http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.illinois.counties.johnson<http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=localities.northam.usa.states.illinois.counties.johnson>