I used to love listening to my Granny tell stories. I’m actually blogging about it today over at The Writer’s Alley. For one thing, she was a great storyteller, for another I LOVED listening to her Appalachian dialect. One of the things I noticed was the way verbs were used at times.
For example, she might say “Come here, I’m gonna learn you something.”
or
“Reach me that cup, will ya?”
It would be fun to look at all the ways verbs are used in different ways in Appalachia. Do you have any to share?
One thing people say where I grew up is “might could.” Like I “might could” help you load the dishes, etc. Also, I remember asking my Grandpa where “yonder” was when he would say something was “over yonder.” One book chock-full of WV dialect (and a beautiful story!) is Child of the Mountains by Marilyn Shank. That was a beautiful middle grade book that won a Christy. Again–FULL of dialect but I found most of it spot-on from where I’m from. 🙂 Love those Appalachian stories.
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Ooo, Heather. I’m going to have to find that book! I love Appalachian stories that are done well and aren’t belittling. And yes, I’ve great up hearing ‘might could’ a lot too. 🙂 Used it quite a bit myself in my younger days.
And “Where is Yonder?” would be a GREAT children’s book title 🙂
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Why don’t you tote it in a poke was an expression I heard while working in
Southwest Virginiall
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