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Archiver > LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS > 2009-07 > 1247159181


From: "Gwen Coleman" <>
Subject: Re: [LDR] Thank you to Becky M
Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:06:21 -0500
References: <BAY114-W96EEB5E2E5777709A59518D2B0@phx.gbl><612283B3CBA64AF8A38CB8644C8BF9F2@KearneyHome2008><07BFD5A0070A4ED8AE77E0D11CA3B902@Sylvia><84146A05-66B8-497A-9917-9BF7A9F26252@shaw.ca><42394.43576.qm@web56604.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <42394.43576.qm@web56604.mail.re3.yahoo.com>


What a treat to read your post. It brought back memories of my grandparents
and all the old time country people who had their unique way of speaking.

My grandmother had a rooster that hated me alone out of all the children who
visited her farm. I would have been happy for him to provide Sunday dinner.
However, I would not have eaten him for fear who would have found some way
to attack me even in death.

Gwen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miller's Choice" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 12:50 PM
Subject: Re: [LDR] Origin of Given Name


<an enunciation and spelling problem.>

I tend to agree with Jon. As an eastern shoreman who still recalls the old
way of speaking, I can see where this may be true. My second
greatgrandmother's name was Ursula (1835-1919) and my spouse's
greatgrandmother was also named Ursula (b. 1879). Both names were pronounced
Are Sue Lah. The latter Ursula was known as Miss Sulie. My mother (b. 1913)
was originally named Ursula but baptized by another name and was so glad she
didn't have that "awful name". Much later, when teaching in Baltimore,
hearing the name pronounced correctly, she thought it was a lovely name and
wished her parents had remained with the original selection.

My maternal grandmother's speech was peppered with mispronunciations and
quaint expressions such as "crick" for creek, "dreen" for drain (referring
to what we now call a gut which is an offshoot of a river or crick and, my
favorite, "it's a fur [far] piece", meaning a long way to travel.
Notwithstanding this uneducated (she could read and write) manner of
speaking, grandmother knew all the weather signs, every tree and plant and
their uses, could milk a cow, pluck fowl, skin animals, utilize all the pig
except for the oink, make soap, churn butter, make dresses from flour sacks,
dye plain flour sacks from plant juices, weave baskets, etc. I still recall
all the trees by their leaves, bark and fruit plus many plants but
unfortunately do not remember the medicinal uses nor can I now distinguish a
mushroom from a toadstool. I wish I had been reared to be as self-sufficient
as she, thinking her survival skills were much better than mine will
ever be.

Despite my regret concerning lack of survival skills, I must confess I am
too soft-hearted/citified to want to be on a first name basis with my food.
My mother would not eat chicken because one time when she was home from the
city, just after eating an enjoyable Sunday dinner, mother mentioned she
hadn't seen Henny in the yard. Grandmother quite matter of factly replied
that Henny had been their dinner. Henny had stopped laying eggs so
grandmother stewed her up in a wine mixture (homemade from farm-grown
grapes). In today's cuisine parlance, Henny became coq au vin. I think I
would feel the same way as mother.

Becky M




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