1.0The News Journalhttps://qa.thenewsjournal.netrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="44ehHzCxtY"><a href="https://qa.thenewsjournal.net/manner-speaking-continuation-last-week/">In a manner of speaking (a continuation from last week)</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://qa.thenewsjournal.net/manner-speaking-continuation-last-week/embed/#?secret=44ehHzCxtY" width="600" height="338" title="“In a manner of speaking (a continuation from last week)” — The News Journal" data-secret="44ehHzCxtY" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); /* ]]> */ </script> https://qa.thenewsjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Bena-Mae-mug137.jpg200228Colloqualisms of this region have always held a fascination for me. I find that no area of this country speaks more to the point and uses more colorful language in doing so than in this part of East Tennessee and Kentucky. The fact that we sometimes, yea, many times, murder the King’s English only makes our manner of speaking more endearing, more unique. Take the expression, “I ain’t seen hide nor hair of him in a month of Sundays.” Isn’t that more picturesque than saying “I haven’t seen him in a long time?” Or this one, “I wouldn’t believe him if he swore to tell the truth on a stack of bibles.” Doesn’t that sound more convincing than to merely say “He’s a liar?” “Besides,” one might add, “I would never have no ‘truck’ with a man of his countenance who is such a born liar he has to get someone else to call his hogs.” Ever since there were schools and classrooms, teachers have been reading notes from parents whose puzzling excuses left much to the imagination. One misleading note (from Richard Lederer’s Anguished English) read: “Please excuse Jimmy for being. It was his father’s fault.” And this one; “Maryann was absent December 11-16, because she had a fever, sore throat, headache, and upset stomach. Her sister also was sick, fever and sore throat, her brother had a low grade fever and ached all over. I wasn’t the best myself, sore throat and fever. There must be the flu going around school, her father even got hot last night,” Then there’s the note which must have must have caused the teacher great concern: “Teacher, Please excuse Mary for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot.” Poor Mary. Anyone who has ever been cited for a traffic violation will empathize with these mixed up explanations. This one is entirely off the wall, yet believable: “I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law, and headed down an embankment.” Another one that was most original, must have brought a grin to the officer’s face: “A cow wandered into my car. I was later informed that the cow was halfwitted.” And how many times have we almost been in this situation: “In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole.” In my case it was always a wasp or a bee but I attempted to swat it with a rolled up newspaper. Breathes there a social worker who has never been taken aback with a letter similar to the following: “1 am forwarding my marriage certificate and six children I have on a half sheet of paper.” And this one which could cause talk in the community: “I want my money as quick as I can get it. I’ve been in bed with the doctor for two weeks and he doesn’t do me any good. If things don’t improve, I will have to send for another doctor.” Newspapers are not immune to making goofs and gaffes. The constant pressure of deadlines make them ripe pickings for leaving the wrong impression. Take this one that left me chuckling: “A man was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after he was found nude in a car at a hotel parking lot. A woman staying at the hotel said a man, wearing only a T-shirt, confronted her near her room. The woman told police she chased the man but he escaped.” I am reminded of a story Professor Carl Hurley told about a trooper who pulled the driver of an old pickup truck over on one of the backroads near East Bernstadt, Kentucky. He was citing the driver for having a busted taillight. “Do you have any I.D.?” the trooper asked the old fellow after he got out of the truck, “About what?” the old fellow answered. You may have to think about that one for a minute, but if you’re from Eastern Kentucky you get it immediately. “Iffn that don’t take the rag offn the bush/His elevator don’t go all the way to the top/They live up the road a-piece/She’s got a face that would stop a clock (or a freight train)/He would squeeze a nickel til the buffalo hollered/He’s got more money than Carters got oats (or little liver pills)” are just a few of the old-timey sayings I grew up with. They have become so much a part of our everyday speech that we no longer think of them as cliches. They make our conversations richer, more vigorous, more entertaining. Then there are the goofs, gaffes, fluffs and flubs that come together in making our common language the fascinating and hilarious tool with which we communicate. On that note I leave you with this example in a paragraph from a church bulletin that, by inadvertently leaving out the “0” in a word, changed the meaning of its message altogether: “Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say “hell” to someone who doesn’t care much about you.” Til next time, “Y’all come. And if you can’t come, write, ya hear?”