Free Republic

Here's the challenge: certain words and phrases characteristic of Appalachian English in eastern Tennessee and elsewhere can be traced back to Scottish English. Some of these are disappearing; others have spread throughout the South; a few seem to be making it into widespread usage. How many do you know? 1. backset; 2. let on; 3. bonny-clabber; 4. palings; 5. redd up; 6. creel; 7. kindling; 8. hull; 9. nicker; 10. whenever. (I knew 5 of the 10, so that makes me 'bout half smart . . .)

The unenlightened assume that Appalachian accents and usages are a “hillbilly” corruption of the flatlands Southern drawl. This is not so; the accents and usages of the Backcountry developed contemporaneously with the versions of English spoken in the other areas of European settlement. The society and culture of the Backcountry were dominated by the large numbers of Scotch-Irish immigrants, blended with the influence of German, Dutch, Welsh, Scottish, and yeoman English settlers. Appalachian speech developed from the versions of English introduced by these settlers, independently of the development of the Southern drawl and the Yankee accent of New England. The...

Are yous up for a few more words on the subject of Appalachian English? The words for today being "yous" and "you'ns," along with variant spellings like "youse," "yooz," "you-uns," and "youens," and their Scotch-Irish roots. The traditional speech of the Backcountry is not a "corrupt" dialect, as is often assumed by those from "yonder" and “away,” and its roots can be traced to the places from whence the Backcountry settlers originated. "Yous" or "youse" as the plural form of "you" is of ancient origin and came to America with Scotch-Irish settlers in early colonial times.

An order of the Virginia Colonial Council dated May 4, 1725, concerned an allegation that "divers Indians plundered the Quarters of Mr. John Taliaferro near the great mountains [i.e., the Blue Ridge] . . .[and carried off] some of the Guns belonging to and marked with the name of Spottsylvania County . . . ." The Council concluded: "It is ordered that it be referred to Colo. Harrison to make inquiry which of the Nottoway Indians or other Tributaries have been out ahunting about that time . . . ." Now, the Colonial Council was an august body and its...

Here's the challenge: certain words and phrases characteristic of Appalachian English in Eastern Tennessee and elsewhere can be traced back to Scottish English imported to this country by Scotch-Irish settlers. Some of these are disappearing; others have spread throughout the South; a few seem to be making it into widespread usage. How many do you know? 1. piece; 2. beal, bealing; 3. mend; 4. airish; 5. chancy; 6. muley; 7. bottom; 8. discomfit; 9. singlings; 10. fireboard . . . .

In 1869, writer E. A. Pollard toured the western provinces of Virginia gathering material for his book The Virginia Tourist (J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1871). Pollard noted and included in his book fragments of the English spoken by the mountaineers, including a pair of interesting words, "extrornificacious" and "beatingest." These and a few other Appalachian English words are presented in context in an excerpt from The Virginia Tourist. NOTE: These are not "dirty" words! [Sorry!]

Europeans named the southern mountains after the Apalchen or Apalachen tribe of natives. How did the name progress from "Apalchen" to "Appalachia" and "Appalachian Mountains?" By the whims of cartographers and geographers, it seems. The steps from "Apalchen" to "Appalachian" can be traced by referring to vintage maps which provide names for the mountains of the East.

Go to the article link to see the full-size (much larger area) image.

Boone, N.C. — Appalachian State University has put all campus buildings on lockdown and is urging students and staff to stay away from an area near campus after reports of a masked gunman.

Appalachian State rolls over Delaware for third straight title Chattanooga, TN (Sports Network) - Armanti Edwards threw for three touchdowns, and Appalachian State captured its unprecedented third straight national crown by routing Delaware, 49-21, in the Football Championship Subdivision title contest. The Mountaineers (13-2), who pulled off a shocker by beating Big Ten powerhouse Michigan on the road in their season opener, and won the Southern Conference, culminated the season with their 12th consecutive playoff victory. ASU became the first Division I squad since Army in 1946 to win three national championships in a row. The Mountaineers are undefeated in...

In the Appalachian Mountains, writes James Webb in Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America, “American flags are frequent, on the trucks and in the yards and on the porches. America got bombed and mountain people don’t forget, even if it happened in New York and Washington, because when it comes to fighting wars, mountain people have always been among the first to go.” In chronicling the Scots-Irish, Webb writes of the people who made him and, he argues persuasively, America what both are today. It is a close call on which benefited the most from that lineage. Webb is...

The future of North Carolina Conservatives By Alan M. Teitleman It is a sad state of affairs for Conservatives in North Carolina. What used to be a conservative state is now rampant with liberals posing as Republicans. Although I have only lived in North Carolina for five years, I have seen a lot of changes in North Carolina politics during that time. I saw the chairman of a county Democratic party switch party affiliation and become elected to the Stallings town council as a Republican. I saw the Democratic party actively recruit Democrats to switch parties and run in Republican...

<p>DUBLIN, Va. --Peter Odighizuwa spends most of his time in a cramped jail cell, alone with the delusions that fed his deadly shooting spree at a fledgling law school.</p> <p>In his first extended interview, Odighizuwa told The Associated Press he thinks often of the 2002 rampage, when he killed the school's dean, a professor and a student and wounded three other students, though he has trouble explaining why he did it.</p>

<p>POSTED: Jan. 8, 2003 9:15 a.m.</p> <p>WHITESBURG, Ky. (AP) - An Appalachian advocacy group placed ads in some of the nation's largest newspapers Tuesday, criticizing a proposed CBS reality TV series that it says is demeaning to rural people.</p> <p>The show, which is being called "The Real Beverly Hillbillies," places a poor Appalachian family in a Beverly Hills mansion. Casting for the show is being conducted in the Appalachian states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.</p>

Why did you hear about Peter Odighizuwa, who killed three in a law school shooting, but not about Tracy Bridges, who stopped him with a handgun? America’s First Freedom Magazine April 2002 Issue, p. 28 By Blaine L. Smith The mainstream media’s mantra often seems to be, “Ignore The Facts, And They’ll Go Away.” But not this time. The media’s cut-and-paste journalism has once again failed to portray the truth, quite possibly endangering lives with its misleading reporting. On Jan. 16, it happened again. At the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Va., a student who learned he would be...

<p>Perhaps. The Hatfields and McCoys are ready to have at each other again, but with barristers, not double barrels.</p> <p>It was a melancholy Ron McCoy who filed suit last Friday against one John Vance — a Hatfield — down in Pikeville, Ky. Mr. McCoy would like access to the small McCoy family cemetery that abuts Mr. Vance's property.</p>