Regionalisms

Stiger05 · Feb 15, 2012

I've been revising a manuscript and have noticed several regionalisms I have to change. Phrasing that is, apparently, unique to the south, because betas from other areas have tripped up on them, while they've slid past more local CPs. I try not to write like I speak, but sometimes I'm so used to saying things a certain way I can't help but write them, especially in dialogue.

A few examples:

"gotten a hold of" or "get a hold of" instead of just "gotten" or "get." (As in: "I should have gotten a hold of some vodka before I left for the party." Another version I hear, but am proud to say I've never used: "get a holt to/of". As in, "I'll pay you when I get a holt to some cash." or "get a holt of that strap and pull.")

"set it down" instead of "place" or "put". (i.e. "She set it down on the table.")

similarly "set afire" instead of "set fire to" or "catch on fire" or, more simply, "light". ("Hey John, set that pile of sticks afire, would ya?")

"fixing to" instead of "about to" ("I'm fixing to go to the store.")

"toboggan" meaning a knit cap (I recently learned this is a sled up north and a hat is called a "beanie". It threw a northern beta when I said "she pulled her toboggan over her ears." haha).

That's just a handful that come to mind. I have to make a conscious effort to watch my phrasing, or change it when I edit. Does anyone else have this problem? If so, what do you catch yourself writing?

Alessandra Kelley · Feb 15, 2012

Actually, if your story is set in the south that stuff is pretty cool.

But yeah, I only know a toboggan as a sort of sled without runners. That sentence would have thrown me.

However, up here a "beanie" is little yarmulke-like cap with a propeller on top. A knit cap is just a knit cap or a hat.

jmlee · Feb 15, 2012

Apparently it's a Minnesota-ism to stack prepositions... Apparently elsewhere people don't say they'll put the book "up on top of" the table or drive the car "back inside of" the garage. I guess it's uncommon elsewhere to end a sentence with a preposition too, like... "Are you coming with?"

I also make a conscious change from "pop" to "soda"...!

Luckily, most of what I write is regional (whether it's a midwestern USA thing or a pirate thing or whatever), so I will usually binge on podcasts/movies/music/radio from that area while working on the project and I tend to pick stuff up pretty quickly.

randi.lee · Feb 15, 2012

We like "ahs" here in Mass. "I'm gonna" "You wanna" "We coulda" "He oughta" "They shoulda"

CaroGirl · Feb 15, 2012

I think most regionalisms add colour to a story and I'm all for them. Except for "toboggan" for a hat, I'd be willing to accept any of those regionalisms you outlined in your post.

In my neck of the woods, a knit hat is called a toque (pronounced took (long o)).

Stiger05 · Feb 15, 2012

I agree that it's fine and adds to the story when the setting is clearly in a particular place, like the south, but when the setting is more of a floating concept, I feel the language should be more universal. The story I'm revising is set in the south in my head, but I never actually say where it is, so it could technically be anywhere. The location isn't critical to the story, so the only set-up is that it occurs in a smallish city.

I'm loving the phrasing y'all are giving me. Stacking prepositions is a completely new one!

Jehhillenberg · Feb 15, 2012

CaroGirl said:
I think most regionalisms add colour to a story and I'm all for them. Except for "toboggan" for a hat, I'd be willing to accept any of those regionalisms you outlined in your post.

In my neck of the woods, a knit hat is called a toque (pronounced took (long o)).

Stiger05 said:
I agree that it's fine and adds to the story when the setting is clearly in a particular place, like the south, but when the setting is more of a floating concept, I feel the language should be more universal. The story I'm revising is set in the south in my head, but I never actually say where it is, so it could technically be anywhere. The location isn't critical to the story, so the only set-up is that it occurs in a smallish city.

I'm loving the phrasing y'all are giving me. Stacking prepositions is a completely new one!

AGREED.

Yep, that's me. Been through that. We're both here in Alabama. If it's something that will completely throw someone, something that's pretty much only specific to the South that it would take others out the story on account of, then I change it.

But I think certain phrases, places, and whatnot (mannerism, traditions, etc.) add flavor to a story. As long as it doesn't weigh down the story or completely polarize, I don't change out regional things. I elaborate so there's little confusion. Context clues work wonders as well.

Becca C. · Feb 15, 2012

Stiger05 said:
"gotten a hold of" or "get a hold of" instead of just "gotten" or "get." (As in: "I should have gotten a hold of some vodka before I left for the party." Another version I hear, but am proud to say I've never used: "get a holt to/of". As in, "I'll pay you when I get a holt to some cash." or "get a holt of that strap and pull.")

That just seems wordy to me. I would cut those extra words because they aren't really pulling their weight.

"set it down" instead of "place" or "put". (i.e. "She set it down on the table.")

Seems fine to me.

similarly "set afire" instead of "set fire to" or "catch on fire" or, more simply, "light". ("Hey John, set that pile of sticks afire, would ya?")

A little weird, but you can easily see what it means.

"fixing to" instead of "about to" ("I'm fixing to go to the store.")

That would totally trip me up. Here, "fixing" to do something is kind of like craving, like a drug addict craves a fix.

"toboggan" meaning a knit cap (I recently learned this is a sled up north and a hat is called a "beanie". It threw a northern beta when I said "she pulled her toboggan over her ears." haha).

That made me laugh out loud. Yeah, a toboggan is a sled. I'm Canadian, so here, a knit hat is called a toque (pronounced like Pippin Took). But that's sooo not an American word.

missesdash · Feb 15, 2012

Toboggan is the only one that would trip me up. The others are fine, especially in context. If someone can tell "set afire" means "to set on fire" in context, I'd call it a personal problem haha. But you did say you don't want it to sound specifically southern.

I apparently speak "non-regional" american english, probably from moving around so much when I was younger. So the harder thing for me is writing with regionalisms as I have to listen to a lot of audio to pick them up.

Also, this is probably more of an issue when you write in third person? When writing in first, you kind of have to know where the story is set, or at least where your character is from and then any colorful words/phrases should be intentional.

That's my disjointed and entirely unhelpful contribution to the thread.

frimble3 · Feb 15, 2012

I think the fine folk of Alabama should be cut some slack over their use of the word 'toboggan'. It's not like they have the snow to use a real (sled) one. : ) They probably named the knit cap from the activity: saw a picture of tobogganers, and there you are.
None of your examples of regionalisms were difficult to understand, and they added to the regional feel, but, if you're going for a more generic effect, they're distracting.

The_Ink_Goddess · Feb 15, 2012

"Fixing" and "tobaggon" are the only two that tripped me up, and I'm English.

I would only cut them if you're going for an incredibly generic setting and you don't want any regionalisms. But I LOVE religionalisms if you're setting it in a specific area, because it gets me into the voice of the book.

Rhoda Nightingale · Feb 15, 2012

I don't think it's terribly distracting, but I do live in Virginia, so I could be wrong...

"Toboggan" and "set afire" are the only ones that stopped me. I don't think you need to change the others, and I agree with everyone else that it adds color and depth to a story to have some "regionlisms," especially in the dialogue.

Ah hell, go all out--throw in a "Darn tootin'" or a "Heavens to Betsy" while you're at it.

jmlee · Feb 15, 2012

Alessandra Kelley said:
However, up here a "beanie" is little yarmulke-like cap with a propeller on top. A knit cap is just a knit cap or a hat.

I had to think about this for a while and text my brother, and I think up here a "beanie" is the propeller hat, a knit cap is a knit cap, BUT a knit cap with ear flaps and the pom pom on top is a "beaner."

Or that's just my brother trying to make me look dumb.

KateSmash · Feb 15, 2012

Nothing relevant to add, but when I moved South (from NY of all places) when I was 15, the very first day in my new school some guy asked me if I liked his toboggan. I spent a good ten minutes looking around for a sled and staring at him like a dummy before someone explained that he meant his hat.

No one's let me live it down since.

So that'd be the only one I'd change. The rest add a lot of flavor, I think. It could help strengthen your setting. Take it from generic small cit to something with it's own character.

wampuscat · Feb 15, 2012

I agree that toboggan is the only one that threw me and that I like regionalisms.

(And jmlee, I also changed from pop to soda.)

missesdash · Feb 15, 2012

Alessandra Kelley said:
However, up here a "beanie" is little yarmulke-like cap with a propeller on top. A knit cap is just a knit cap or a hat.

Okay, this is hilarious. I didn't know propeller caps were common enough to have names. I've only seen them in cartoons. I google imaged it and only one propeller cap was in the first few pages. It was labeled "propeller beanie."

This is totally unrelated to the quote above but, in Baltimore people say "hot dug" instead of "hot dog." It's so ugly.

Nymtoc · Feb 15, 2012

It has all been said. Still, I'll add my 1½ cents:

1. Regionalisms are fine (I like 'em), as long as you make it clear that the story is taking place where such speech is common.

2. There's certainly nothing wrong with regionalisms in dialogue. At times, you may want to state where the speaker is, or where she/he comes from, but it's possible to let the reader conclude those things from context.

3. Regionalisms in your own voice--or the voice of the narrator--are trickier. If you are writing as a "regional-neutral" person, you should stick to standard English. But if you want to indicate deliberately that you, the writer (or narrator) are from, e.g., Alabama, you might choose to use regionalisms: "We were fixing to go into dinner when John walked over to the shed and set a pile of old newspapers afire and stood there laughing. I was getting worried about John. I knew he had gotten a hold of a bunch of fireworks left over from the Fourth of July, and if he..."

(I don't mean to steal your regionalisms. But the above example would not only pull me into a story but tell me a lot about the narrator and the setting. This sort of thing can work well.

)

Stiger05 · Feb 16, 2012

"Heavens to Betsy"

I am guilty of saying this quite frequently, haha. As well as "oh fiddle-dee-dee". What can I say, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a kid and some things stuck!

jmlee · Feb 16, 2012

missesdash said:
Okay, this is hilarious. I didn't know propeller caps were common enough to have names.

you've obviously never been to the midwest.

Rhoda Nightingale · Feb 16, 2012

Stiger05 said:
I am guilty of saying this quite frequently, haha. As well as "oh fiddle-dee-dee". What can I say, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a kid and some things stuck!

I don't use that one myself, but I have been known to say "Well, bless his/her heart," quite often. It's quite a useful little idiom, because depending on the context and tone it can mean "What a sweetheart," or "What a moron" and just about everything in between.

My mom, on the other hand, uses "Heavens to Mergatroid," or however the hell you spell that.

Mari · Feb 17, 2012

Stiger05 said:
I've been revising a manuscript and have noticed several regionalisms I have to change.

I live in Kentucky. I write about a specific place in Kentucky. I have regionalisms out the wazoo. I have my husband read for me, and he lets me know when I sound "a little bit too much Harlan County" for the general populous.

Mari · Feb 17, 2012

Rhoda Nightingale said:
I have been known to say "Well, bless his/her heart," quite often.

In everyday speech, this is one I probably overuse!

Stiger05 · Feb 17, 2012

"Well bless his/her heart.

Constantly. It always softens the blow.

AmyJay · Feb 17, 2012

All of the regionalisms you listed seem like they'd make sense in context, so I wouldn't be too concerned with taking them out.

jmlee said:
I also make a conscious change from "pop" to "soda"...!

I actually had to consciously remember to call it pop in my story, since it's set in Western New York, and I'm originally from the eastern part of the state where it's known as soda.

LadyA · Feb 18, 2012

I'm from the rural South of England, and there're plenty of farmer-isms to be avoided. Apparently adding 'to' on the end of sentences is Devonshire - e.g. 'Where are you going to?' and slang for a mentally ill person is 'fruitcake'. Teen girls are 'maids' (one of my dad's friends saw me and my sister and said to Dad "you'm got a lovely pair o' maids", to give an example). We also call tourists 'grockles', not to be comfused with the Cornish who call their tourists 'Emits' (sp). Unintentionally funny when watching Twilight.

There are others, but the point I'm trying to make is that I cut out a lot of regionalisms unless I'm setting my book in Devon, just for ease. Although I do cling on the the word 'fruitcake' for the more un-PC of my characters.

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