Posted on 04/02/2010 6:44:38 AM PDT by jay1949
Prof. (Emeritus) Michael Montgomery has shown a definite link between the Scottish English of the Ulster emigrants to America and the Appalachian English dialect. Robert Burns was a poet and a lyricist who studied and wrote in Scottish dialect. His most famous collection of poetry is "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect." Burns collected Scottish folk songs, which he sometimes revised or adapted, and he traveled through southern Scotland collecting material for The Scots Musical Museum. Burns' poetry and lyrics thus reflect an extensive knowledge of the Scottish folk idiom. (Burns' letters, in contrast, are written in standard English.)
(Excerpt) Read more at backcountrynotes.com ...
*ping*
Wow, very interesting.
“If all else fails, I will retreat up the valley of Virginia, plant my flag on the Blue Ridge, rally around the Scots-Irish of that region, and make my last stand for liberty amongst a people who will never submit to British tyranny whilst there is a man left to draw a trigger.”
George Washington, at Valley Forge.
One of my favorite books on American history.
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Fighting-Scots-Irish-Shaped-America/dp/0767916883
From Publishers Weekly
Former navy secretary Webb (Fields of Fire; etc.) wants not only to offer a history of the Scots-Irish but to redeem them from their redneck, hillbilly stereotype and place them at the center of American history and culture. As Webb relates, the Scots-Irish first emigrated to the U.S., 200,000 to 400,000 strong, in four waves during the 18th century, settling primarily in Appalachia before spreading west and south. Webb’s thesis is that the Scots-Irish, with their rugged individualism, warrior culture built on extended familial groups (the “kind of people who would die in place rather than retreat”) and an instinctive mistrust of authority, created an American culture that mirrors these traits.
Another review:
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/oped/owens/04/webb.html
excerpt - These are the “red state” voters. They are family-oriented, take morality seriously, go to church, join the US military, support America’s wars, and listen to country music. They strongly believe that no man is obligated to obey the edicts of a government that violates his moral conscience. They once formed the bedrock of the Democratic Party—from the time of Andrew Jackson until the Vietnam era—but they have been moving to the Republicans since then. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Webb called the Scots-Irish in America the “the secret GOP weapon.”
Thank you Jay, always appreciated. Good Friday Greetings all.
Very interesting, I see in the article Burns’ referring to Satan as ‘auld Cloots’, ‘cloots’ meaning hooves.
I heard that used only one time and it was by a farmer in southern Ontario. His background was Scots; his father was from Scotland.
He told a story of how a horse had fallen through the ice and he had ‘clawed at the edge of the hole with his great cloots’.
(The horse was rescued).
Never heard it used by southerners, however.
Picture of a mural of G. Washington & the quote from Ulster itself:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25151328@N07/2373018575/sizes/o/
Bump for later.
Very interesting. I recognize the in instead of ing. I’ve been asked many times more than once where I was from, it seems we pronounce Ohio as AH-HI-YA and no one seems to know where that place is. LOL
Yes, I enjoyed his book. Emailed him and we exchanged a few emails. He asked me to go to Amazon and post a review.
Unfortunately, later he became the Dem Senator!
There was another book (can’t come up with the name..help me) that explained the different regions of England that emigrants came from and the words (still used today) that came from those areas. Many of the words you would have connected with black usages in the South...it was really amazing to discover they were not African in origin but very early migrations from England.
What was the name of that book?
Why should anyone be surprised by this? Seems like lots of Scots-Irish ended up in the Appalachians.
I have it, but haven't finished reading it.
My family were in Fauquier and Rockingham VA at the time of the Revolution..
I used to know some folks in Norfolk, Virginia, who would go every summer to visit relatives in Oh-HOY-Oh. I wonder how close that is to AH-HI-YA?
Funny my husband’s uncle lived in Norfolk until he retired from the military a year or two ago. Likely to be fairly close to the same pronoucation my Grandma’s family was from WV close to the border with VA.
That’s it! Thanks...I had brain freeze. You must post some of the words we consider slang that continue today hundreds of years after leaving England.
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