Group Reportage for Presentation
Jin Cheng, Tianzhi Xu
English 101
Dr. Lauren Holt
Group Reportage: Southern Idioms
25 September 2013
The Beauty of Southern Idioms
Idiom provides a special perspective for people to learn about a region. By studying idioms within a specific context, people become able to study more about the society’s history, culture and social norms. The usage of idiom varies from area to area. In the United States, idioms are more frequently used in south than in other parts of the country. Southern idiom is not only used to convey specific meaning, but also helps to connect people in the same community, creating a sense of belonging. Though in some situation, idiom is considered old-fashioned and backward.
Idioms sometimes are regarded as old fashioned and backward because of regionalism and racism. People who use idioms a lot in daily life are mostly southerners, especially the African Americans in the south. It is historical reason that makes Americans from other areas discriminate southerners. However, after getting rid of the prejudice of south culture, people can then realize and feel the beauty of idioms.
Initially people created idioms to help them better express their ideas, which were hard to develop by the language they accumulated in daily life. Idiom in definition is “a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words.” It is also defined as the kind of language and grammar used by particular people at a particular time or place. Therefore, idiom by its definition is generated from people’s daily life and shows specific features from the background culture it comes.
In fact, idiom has already deeply rooted in southerners’ life so that most southerners truly appreciated using idioms in their life. Idioms bring the sense of belonging to a lot of southerners. For instance, there is a website named “It is pretty” devoted to present the beauty of southern life and to help southerners better understand south culture and history. One of the editors of the website posted an article on Dec 30, 2012. In the article she talked about her childhood living with her grandmother, who used a lot of idioms in daily life. She called up a wealth of memories, most of which seemed exceptionally moving when she mentioned the conversation she had with her grandma. And those conversations were filled with strongly local-favored idioms. For example, when she “got an ex-boyfriend who did not work”, her grandma said “he’s about as useful as a tit on a boar hog.” The author signed that idioms were so vivid that she was easily caught up with memories when she heard of them. Therefore, she held the idea that idioms played great roles in southerners’ life and should be appreciated instead of being abandoned.
To better understand the current situation of the usage of idioms in southerners’ life, researchers interviewed several people on campus. Some of them come from northern America while some of them are native southerners. Surprisingly, it took them long time to think about even one idiom. They mentioned that they seldom realized the existence of idioms but they all admitted that they must use a lot of idioms in their daily conversation. They thought that idioms had already merged to their life so that they could hardly notice the presence of idioms. What’s more, there is an interviewee named Marissa Gogniat who comes from Pittsburgh said to researchers that she found it ”very cute” to hear people say idioms. Therefore, most people in fact broadly accept idioms today.
What’s more, southerners use idiom to create “unity”. (Boles 123) When an idiom thrives from specific area, only people in the same environment are able to understand the meaning of the idiom. Therefore, by using idioms, people obtain a way to recognize individuals who are from the same culture as they themselves. Then a bond is formed, which makes people within the identical community to experience a sense of belonging. Moreover, according to the anthropological concept “Egocentrism” that people “focus on the ego and its capacity for self-assertion, which is often alien to members of other cultures”(Wulf 107), southerners feel pride through using idioms exclusively attached to their living environment. This phenomenon is embodied by the experience of an interviewee named Chuck Kwadwo Sarpong, who identifies himself as an African American and has been living in the south for years. Sarpong found his friend from the north could not understand the meaning of the word “soda” when he was asking for beverage. However, realizing “soda” was a southern idiom, he turned to use “pop”, which is a northern way of expression, his friend then understood what he had meant. Sarpong told there is an affinity with people who use the same idioms as he does, and interacting with those people brings him an intimate connection.
In conclusion, southern idioms are created under the demand of expressing rigid ideas vividly. They may be regarded as outmode language but they do have their irreplaceable status in southern culture and have already merged into southerners’ daily lives. The beauty of the southern idioms might always be ignored but it truly exists.
Some of southern idioms that will be introduced in the Pecha Kucha presentation are listed below:
1. “Like for”: “The verbal phrase like for followed by an infinitive and its subject, as in the sentence ‘We’d like for you to visit us,’ is, according to Professor Russell, ‘the habitual idiom for any Southerner in Tennessee Georgia Alabama, and probably elsewhere in the South.” This idiom is widely known in the south. (Dunlap 18)
2. “Hankering”: “A strong, often restless desire for an item”.
3. “Get on my last nerve”: “If something is getting on your last nerve, you are completely fed up, ready to lose your temper.”
4.“I bought it for a song and you can sing it yourself.(Used to describe something that is/was extremely cheap.)”
5.“Shoot, I reckon. Sure, I guess. "Reckon" is used often when expressing an opinion or an estimate. "I reckon he done wore him self out." ”
An interview approach is also conducted in the context of Emory University’s main campus, which is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The interviewee group consists of students, faculties and staff. To examine the effect of the usage of idioms and how idioms function, researchers composed the below interview baseline questions:
1. Are you from the south?
2. Have you ever heard of any idioms in the south? What are they and what do they mean?
3. How often do you use idioms?
4. When talking to people from areas outside the south, would you still use those idioms?
5. According to your experience, who use idioms frequently?
6. What do you think of the southern idioms?
7. Is there anything else you would like to tell about the southern idioms?
(The record and analysis will later be available on Tansy and Jenny’s Pecha Kucha and portfolio websites.)
Works Cited
Boles, John B. A Companion to the American South. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002. Print.
Dunlap, A.R. The American Dialect Society (1945): 18. Print.
Wulf, Christoph. Anthropology: A Continental Perspective. London: University Of Chicago, 2013. Print.
Anonymous. "It Is Pretty." It Is Pretty. Wordpress.com, 30 Dec. 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Jin Cheng, Tianzhi Xu
English 101
Dr. Lauren Holt
Group Reportage: Southern Idioms
25 September 2013
The Beauty of Southern Idioms
Idiom provides a special perspective for people to learn about a region. By studying idioms within a specific context, people become able to study more about the society’s history, culture and social norms. The usage of idiom varies from area to area. In the United States, idioms are more frequently used in south than in other parts of the country. Southern idiom is not only used to convey specific meaning, but also helps to connect people in the same community, creating a sense of belonging. Though in some situation, idiom is considered old-fashioned and backward.
Idioms sometimes are regarded as old fashioned and backward because of regionalism and racism. People who use idioms a lot in daily life are mostly southerners, especially the African Americans in the south. It is historical reason that makes Americans from other areas discriminate southerners. However, after getting rid of the prejudice of south culture, people can then realize and feel the beauty of idioms.
Initially people created idioms to help them better express their ideas, which were hard to develop by the language they accumulated in daily life. Idiom in definition is “a group of words whose meaning is different from the meanings of the individual words.” It is also defined as the kind of language and grammar used by particular people at a particular time or place. Therefore, idiom by its definition is generated from people’s daily life and shows specific features from the background culture it comes.
In fact, idiom has already deeply rooted in southerners’ life so that most southerners truly appreciated using idioms in their life. Idioms bring the sense of belonging to a lot of southerners. For instance, there is a website named “It is pretty” devoted to present the beauty of southern life and to help southerners better understand south culture and history. One of the editors of the website posted an article on Dec 30, 2012. In the article she talked about her childhood living with her grandmother, who used a lot of idioms in daily life. She called up a wealth of memories, most of which seemed exceptionally moving when she mentioned the conversation she had with her grandma. And those conversations were filled with strongly local-favored idioms. For example, when she “got an ex-boyfriend who did not work”, her grandma said “he’s about as useful as a tit on a boar hog.” The author signed that idioms were so vivid that she was easily caught up with memories when she heard of them. Therefore, she held the idea that idioms played great roles in southerners’ life and should be appreciated instead of being abandoned.
To better understand the current situation of the usage of idioms in southerners’ life, researchers interviewed several people on campus. Some of them come from northern America while some of them are native southerners. Surprisingly, it took them long time to think about even one idiom. They mentioned that they seldom realized the existence of idioms but they all admitted that they must use a lot of idioms in their daily conversation. They thought that idioms had already merged to their life so that they could hardly notice the presence of idioms. What’s more, there is an interviewee named Marissa Gogniat who comes from Pittsburgh said to researchers that she found it ”very cute” to hear people say idioms. Therefore, most people in fact broadly accept idioms today.
What’s more, southerners use idiom to create “unity”. (Boles 123) When an idiom thrives from specific area, only people in the same environment are able to understand the meaning of the idiom. Therefore, by using idioms, people obtain a way to recognize individuals who are from the same culture as they themselves. Then a bond is formed, which makes people within the identical community to experience a sense of belonging. Moreover, according to the anthropological concept “Egocentrism” that people “focus on the ego and its capacity for self-assertion, which is often alien to members of other cultures”(Wulf 107), southerners feel pride through using idioms exclusively attached to their living environment. This phenomenon is embodied by the experience of an interviewee named Chuck Kwadwo Sarpong, who identifies himself as an African American and has been living in the south for years. Sarpong found his friend from the north could not understand the meaning of the word “soda” when he was asking for beverage. However, realizing “soda” was a southern idiom, he turned to use “pop”, which is a northern way of expression, his friend then understood what he had meant. Sarpong told there is an affinity with people who use the same idioms as he does, and interacting with those people brings him an intimate connection.
In conclusion, southern idioms are created under the demand of expressing rigid ideas vividly. They may be regarded as outmode language but they do have their irreplaceable status in southern culture and have already merged into southerners’ daily lives. The beauty of the southern idioms might always be ignored but it truly exists.
Some of southern idioms that will be introduced in the Pecha Kucha presentation are listed below:
1. “Like for”: “The verbal phrase like for followed by an infinitive and its subject, as in the sentence ‘We’d like for you to visit us,’ is, according to Professor Russell, ‘the habitual idiom for any Southerner in Tennessee Georgia Alabama, and probably elsewhere in the South.” This idiom is widely known in the south. (Dunlap 18)
2. “Hankering”: “A strong, often restless desire for an item”.
3. “Get on my last nerve”: “If something is getting on your last nerve, you are completely fed up, ready to lose your temper.”
4.“I bought it for a song and you can sing it yourself.(Used to describe something that is/was extremely cheap.)”
5.“Shoot, I reckon. Sure, I guess. "Reckon" is used often when expressing an opinion or an estimate. "I reckon he done wore him self out." ”
An interview approach is also conducted in the context of Emory University’s main campus, which is located in Atlanta, Georgia. The interviewee group consists of students, faculties and staff. To examine the effect of the usage of idioms and how idioms function, researchers composed the below interview baseline questions:
1. Are you from the south?
2. Have you ever heard of any idioms in the south? What are they and what do they mean?
3. How often do you use idioms?
4. When talking to people from areas outside the south, would you still use those idioms?
5. According to your experience, who use idioms frequently?
6. What do you think of the southern idioms?
7. Is there anything else you would like to tell about the southern idioms?
(The record and analysis will later be available on Tansy and Jenny’s Pecha Kucha and portfolio websites.)
Works Cited
Boles, John B. A Companion to the American South. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002. Print.
Dunlap, A.R. The American Dialect Society (1945): 18. Print.
Wulf, Christoph. Anthropology: A Continental Perspective. London: University Of Chicago, 2013. Print.
Anonymous. "It Is Pretty." It Is Pretty. Wordpress.com, 30 Dec. 2012. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.