Interviewer: {NW} And um talking about kinds of animals um the kind of bird that can see in the dark? 461: Owl. Interviewer: Okay what what different kinds of owls are there? 461: Hoot Interviewer: Huh? 461: Hoot owl Interviewer: Mm-hmm that's the bigger one isn't? 461: Right that's the biggest. {D: And there's scrooch owl.} Interviewer: Okay. 461: {NW} {D: But the screech owl I guess but we used to call 'em the scrooch owl.} Interviewer: Uh-huh. 461: That's all I know. Interviewer: Did you ever hear any stories about him? Like 461: Oh yeah when the weather changed? Interviewer: What was that? {NS} 461: If an owl {NS} we if we'd if we'd hear an owl hollering out Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: uh we'd say that the weather's gonna change in twelve or twenty four hours I don't know what it meant twenty four hours. Be a change in the weather. Interviewer: Huh 461: I've heard that but I don't believe it. Interviewer: Hmm um what about the kind of bird that drills holes in trees? 461: Woodpecker Interviewer: Did you ever hear that called anything else? 461: Yes uh uh uh Interviewer: Did you ever hear that called peckerwood? 461: No Interviewer: No one around here says that? 461: They call 'em woodpeckers {NW} Interviewer: What do you call the the big ol' woodpecker? The one about the size of a chicken. Speaker 3: Hammerhead 461: No oh I see uh god some kind of god I don't know what we'd call 'em but I think it was just an old boys name that we associated 'em with. Interviewer: Did you ever hear lord god? 461: Yeah no Interviewer: Lord god? 461: It was some kind of god that we called but it wa- wasn't that. Interviewer: Do you remember where where you learned the word? Did I mean was it pretty common? pretty common 461: No. Just between young boys you know playmates bird hunting slingshots and things. I never did hear adults use it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm 461: I think that maybe something that I just don't know we didn't use it much we used a woodpecker. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. and the kind of black and white animal that has the strong smell? {NS} 461: {NW} Skunk we call 'em polecats. Interviewer: Okay and um say if some animals have been coming and getting in your hens and you didn't know what kind exactly it was is there any general name you'd use? 461: Varmints Interviewer: Okay what does varmint mean exactly? 461: I don't get no just exactly the definition but it would be could be a skunk could be a coon Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: uh opossum opossum Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: or either a weasel. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Some kind of an animal that would travel at night. Interviewer: It wouldn't be something like a 461: #1 Well now I mean though # Interviewer: #2 mouse or a bat? # 461: I'm talking about chickens uh some kind of varmint that you could see his track. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: See well I saw where a varmint crossed the road. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Well you wouldn't expect it to be {NS} uh {NS} I don't know but a squirrel don't uh uh wouldn't in in my opinion I wouldn't classify them as a varmint. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: You know what I'm talking about? Interviewer: Yeah 461: But I would a an opossum or a coon Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: but I don't know why a squirrel no. Interviewer: What kinds of squirrels are there? 461: Fox and cat Interviewer: What's the difference? 461: Fox squirrel is a big squirrel Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: and a cat squirrel is small. Interviewer: Did you ever hear of any kind of squirrel called a boomer? 461: No Interviewer: I guess that's that's more of a {NS} I think that's a big squirrel up in the mountains or something. 461: Might be Interviewer: Uh what about something that looks kind of like a squirrel only it it's a little smaller and it has stripes down it's back and? 461: Weasel? Interviewer: {NW} I was thinking of something like um uh you may not have 'em around here do have you ever heard of chipmunk or ground squirrel? 461: Yeah but we don't have 'em here. Interviewer: Okay 461: We might have 'em they're just pets you don't they not wild. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. What um sort of fish do they get around here? 461: What kind of fish? Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Bass. Trout. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: {X} jack fish brown Interviewer: Those are all fresh water fish aren't they? 461: Right Interviewer: Know anything about the the salt water fish? 461: Not much king mackerel snapper gro- mullet barracudas I don't know much about 'em I just know they in salt water. Interviewer: What are some of the other things that people get from the the salt water besides the 461: oysters Interviewer: This is something that you hear making a noise around a pond at night? 461: Frogs Interviewer: Okay what do you call those big ones? 461: Bullfrogs Interviewer: And um what about the the little ones the tiny ones? 461: Rain frogs Interviewer: The kind that hops around on land? 461: That's a toad. Interviewer: If you picked up a rock maybe in a fresh water stream you might see it underneath that it's got claws to it and? 461: A crayfish Interviewer: Okay 461: we call 'em crawfish. Interviewer: What sort of things would you dig up to go fishing with? 461: Worms Interviewer: What different kinds? 461: Earth worms wigglers red worm. Interviewer: What about um the kind of fish you might use for bait? 461: Shiners Interviewer: Those the the small? Well you mentioned the gopher um what else besides a gopher is? 461: Turtles Interviewer: What about the the small one? That gets on land? 461: Box shell turtle Interviewer: And the kind that gets in the water? 461: Soft shell and a loggerhead alligator turtle I guess a snapping turtle. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: {NW} We we call 'em the loggerhead. Interviewer: Do you ever heard any other names for them? Did you ever heard cooter? 461: Yeah that's right. Interviewer: What is a cooter exactly? Is that that water or? 461: It's just a country name for a turtle. Interviewer: Any kind of turtle? 461: Uh no I think it would be associated with that box shell or either well I I guess it would be any kind. {NW} Say a cooter got my bait or either you could be driving down the road and says I see a cooter end of the road. Could be a box shell or either well we used to call 'em little stink pots they really got an odor to 'em. Interviewer: Oh really? 461: Yeah it can be fishy be fishing and catch a small turtle they they don't get very big . Interviewer: Just about as big as your hand or? 461: No not that big. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: When you catch 'em somehow they just got an odor. I reckon that's called the reason they call 'em stink pots. I know that that's just the name you know that Interviewer: Mm-hmm. never heard of that before. 461: {NW} Interviewer: Um 461: You know about stink pot {X} {NW} {X} How bout you math Jack you got math tonight? Interviewer: These are some kinds of insects the the kind of insect that flies around a light and tries to fly into the light flies around the light? 461: Candle fly Interviewer: What's that? 461: We call it a candle fly mosquito. Interviewer: Uh-huh a candle fly and mosquito are different. 461: That's right Interviewer: Is there any other name for the candle? 461: There might be I don't know. Interviewer: Uh-huh what about something that would um get into your wool clothes and eat holes in 'em? 461: Moths {D: we used to pronounce it mofts} M-O-F-T-S. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: {D: Mofts} {D: mofts} Interviewer: What would you call just one of 'em? It would be a? 461: Moth Interviewer: An insect that flies around and has a light in it's tail? 461: Lightning bug Interviewer: Okay what about an insect that's got um shiny wings two pairs of shiny wings to it and it's got a body 461: You talking about a mosquito hawk? We used to call 'em skeeter hawks. Interviewer: Okay 461: We're gonna make a country girl out of ya see how we we gonna make a country girl out of you with all this talk. {NW} Interviewer: Skeeter hawk 461: You pretty good ta- country talker anyways skeeter hawks and all that. {NW} Interviewer: And um what kinds of insects will sting you? 461: We used to call 'em wasts. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: And bumble bees hornets Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: yellow jackets. Interviewer: Do yellow 461: We used to call 'em yellow jackets. {C: pronunciation} Interviewer: What how do they build their nests? 461: What are you talking about a hornet? Interviewer: No the yellow jacket. 461: A hole in the ground or an old stump. Interviewer: What about something that builds a nest out of mud? 461: Dirt dauber Interviewer: Do they sting? 461: I guess Interviewer: You never been stung by one? 461: I don't know about that Randy now I don't know really and uh I know what you talking about but I don't know a don't think I've ever been stung by a dirt dauber. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Speaker 3: They don't sting. Interviewer: What about 461: {X} Interviewer: What about something that say if you went walking through the woods or black berry picking or something the little tiny red insects? 461: Look at that now she knows what a red bug is. Interviewer: {NW} 461: Is that right? Interviewer: That's what I was thinking of. 461: Red bug Interviewer: Okay 461: We called 'em chiggers no now the most common thing around here is a red bug but I have heard chigger somewhere like from Atlanta come down here and get 'em on them they call 'em a chigger. Interviewer: {NW} Okay that that's right that's what I would call it. {NW} Um and an insect that hops around in the grass? 461: That's a grasshopper Interviewer: Did you ever hear those called hoppergrass? 461: {NW} No no what is that? Interviewer: Well that's 461: I mean where did what did they use now now I've heard a few words I'm interested in this I've heared you use a few words you know like you asked me awhile ago but now a hoppergrass is anybody in this country calls 'em hoppergrasses? Interviewer: The people I talked to today black people in south Georgia. 461: A hoppergrass? Interviewer: Uh-huh {NW} 461: We need to straighten 'em out we call 'em grasshoppers don't we boy? Interviewer: Well they said peckerwood and hoppergrass. 461: Lord Interviewer: Um 461: What's interesting Barbara I- I'm telling you I'm really Interviewer: Well I- I think that's 461: Mm-hmm. Interviewer: especially black people I'm not 461: yeah Interviewer: I'm not sure. 461: That's like I was telling Maddy you remember when we was in uh North Carolina about Shirley and Wilson say youins Speaker 4: Yes 461: Well I- I she knows it but we don't say that here. Interviewer: Mm-hmm say if you hadn't a room hadn't been cleaned for awhile or up in the in the ceiling in the corner you might find a? 461: Spiderweb Interviewer: What about something outside stretched across a bush. 461: Oh yeah same thing. Interviewer: Okay and um the part of the tree that grows underneath the ground is called the? 461: Root Interviewer: And have you ever heard of using roots or vines for medicine? 461: Yes Interviewer: Do you remember what #1 what some of the roots were? # 461: #2 yes # Sassafras Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Sassafras I don't know what it is I haven't been uh I don't know about that. Only thing I know about is sassafras. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. your parents never did any home remedies or? 461: Yes a lot of 'em. Interviewer: Do you remember what some of the? 461: Sassafras Interviewer: Sassafras what was that taken for? 461: Sa- I believe it was I don't remember now but I think it was uh break the measles out on 'em. Interviewer: The kind of tree that you'd tap for syrup? 461: Maple Interviewer: Okay do you know what what you'd call a a group of those growing together 461: Orchard Interviewer: What sort of trees do you have around here? Just what are some of the common trees around here? 461: Pine oak sweet gum black gum number of kind of oak trees. Live oak turkey oak water oak Interviewer: What's 461: black jack Interviewer: What's the turkey oak? 461: I don't know what it is it's some kind of oak. And I wouldn't know it when I see it but but I do know that it's one of the oak trees. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: I've just heard it. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: And I wouldn't know I don't even know a white oak if I see it but I know a black jack. Interviewer: What's that look like? 461: It's just a little scrub trees down here on the sand hills. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: They don't ever get very big. Interviewer: The kind of tree that is the shade tree it's got um white scaly bark that you can peel off. And it's got 461: That is uh sycamore. Interviewer: The kind of tree that George Washington 461: We used to call a well actually that Washington you'd call 'em sycamore Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: but it's the sycamore. Okay? Interviewer: And the kind that George Washington cut down? 461: Cherry Interviewer: And um I don't know if you have this around here or not but it's a it's a bush or shrub it's got clusters of berries on it and the leaves turn bright red in the fall sumac or shoemake? 461: Yes shoemake Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: shoemake Interviewer: Have you ever heard um the story that the do you know whether you can eat those berries or not? 461: I've heard that you could I don't know I don't think I ever tried it I might have but I'm uh somewhere along the line I've heard that you can eat 'em I mean that rings a bell. Really to say that I've tried it I don't think I did. I don't encourage my children to eat 'em. {NW} But uh they was another story about that too that the juice would make ink. Interviewer: Oh really? 461: Yeah to write with you know or somebody might've tried it with a with a stick or chicken feather or something. Interviewer: I heard that about poke berries when I was little. What kinds of bushes or vines will make your skin break out if you touch 'em? 461: You talking about poison ivy and uh there's another one cow itch we called it. Interviewer: {NW} What's the difference now? What's is there a special special way how can you tell poison ivy when you? 461: Well uh and I I wouldn't know what poison ivy was if I walked out in the woods. Never been had a problem with it. I've been raised in woods but I couldn't tell you the bush if I walked up on it today. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Well I couldn't tell you about a cow itch either. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Just you just heard? 461: {NW} Well I've uh yes I've heard about it. Interviewer: And a kind of red berry that you can make shortcake out of? 461: Strawberry Interviewer: And a kind um berries got a rough surface some of 'em are red and some of 'em are black? 461: Blackberries Interviewer: I was thinking of another one it starts with an R. 461: Raspberry Interviewer: Mm-hmm. do you have that around here? 461: No we don't have it around. Interviewer: Say if you were walking through the woods and there was some berries and you didn't know what kind they were you might tell someone you better not eat those they might be? 461: Poison Interviewer: Do you have a bush around here you call mountain laurel or spoon wood or s- 461: No no Interviewer: rhododendron 461: {NS} No Interviewer: Okay what about a a large tree it's got um shiny leaves on it and big white flowers it's sorta the symbol of the south in a way. 461: It's got big flowers? Interviewer: Uh big white flowers and shiny green leaves. 461: Oh you're not talking about a crepe myrtle are you? Interviewer: I was thinking of um magnolia. 461: Oh yeah yeah magnolia. Interviewer: Is that what you always called it? 461: Yeah magnolia. Interviewer: You ever heard of cow cumber or cucumber tree? 461: No Interviewer: Say if a married woman didn't want to make up her own mind about something she'd say I have to ask? 461: My husband but now listen some of it's used my ol' man my better half. Interviewer: What would he say? He'd say I have to ask? 461: My wife my ol' lady. Interviewer: And a woman whose husband is dead is called a? 461: Widow Interviewer: #1 What if he just left her? # 461: #2 Now listen # a lot of the the probably most common here's a wider Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: W-I-D-E-R. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: But widow Interviewer: Did you ever hear of um something else say if if they just separated what she'd be called? 461: a widow. Interviewer: Did you ever hear grass widow? 461: Yes {NS} Interviewer: would it- 461: not common but I've heard it. Interviewer: Uh-huh and um the man who's child you are the man who's child you are is called your? 461: My dad Interviewer: Okay 461: Daddy Interviewer: any other? 461: Pa and uh ol' man. I think daddy is most common here now these other names like the ol' man and pa now pa was commonly years ago but it's not now cause I can remember my daddy and people that would be pa and ma but it's daddy now and dad. Interviewer: What about uh 461: Father is very seldom used. Interviewer: His wife would be your? 461: Mama Interviewer: Any other name? 461: Ma momma {NW} mother very seldom used. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. Mother is very seldom used? 461: Yes momma is common. {NW} Interviewer: And together your father and mother are called your? 461: Parents Interviewer: Your father's father is called your? 461: Granddaddy Interviewer: Any other name for him? 461: Grandfather but very you don't see you don't hear that. Interviewer: You don't hear 'em called that or I mean? 461: You don't hear 'em called that. You hear 'em called my granddaddy Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: Grandpa oh I don't know probably fifty fifty with that granddaddy and grandpa I I would think there would be granddaddy is used more. It is just like that pa was back years ago But there's a lot of that still left too in grandpa. Interviewer: Would be your? 461: Grandmother Gran ma you don't Speaker 3: Momma 461: Grandmama well {NW} grandmother. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: I guess that uh now grandmother is uh Interviewer: And um something on wheels that you put a baby in and it'll lie down you call that a? 461: Stroller Interviewer: Or something that it can lie down in? Yeah well it's like a stroller but it's it's 461: Bassinet? Interviewer: Well it's got wheels though. And it it can lie down. 461: Carriage Interviewer: Okay and you'd say you put the baby in the carriage and then you'd go out and what the baby? 461: Push Interviewer: Okay and um say if had two children you might say you had a son and a? 461: Daughter Interviewer: Or a boy and a? 461: Girl Interviewer: And um if a woman were gonna have a child you'd say that she's? 461: Pregnant Interviewer: Okay did they use that word when you were growing up or do people 461: #1 No no # Interviewer: #2 say that as much # 461: {X} you know they used the word big. {NW} Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: They did if they said well did you know that Suzie is big? Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: That means to say that she is pregnant. Interviewer: Does that sound kind of vulgar to you now? 461: Oh yeah I mean it's my gracious I don't know how it sounds. Interviewer: It it just sort of it would shock you if someone said that now. 461: Yeah but they did then and {B} {NS} Used to say big Speaker 4: Yeah or there was a baby. 461: Yeah see Interviewer: Uh-huh {NS} any other expressions? Joking expressions or 461: They were serious about that big. Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: I mean it wasn't joking in other words they say she's big well you knew that she's I knew that she was gonna have a baby. I mean young. I didn't hear pregnant much. I think that they were I don't know whether my parents were trying to say big rather than to say pregnant they thought probably pregnant was vulgar oh you see. I don't know. Interviewer: Did you ever hear the word um big used as a verb? 461: What's that? Interviewer: Did you ever hear the word big used as a verb? 461: Beg? Interviewer: Big 461: Big? Interviewer: Meaning im- impregnate I guess. 461: Yeah Interviewer: You heard it as a as a verb too? It's not that important I just heard someone mention it. 461: When I let me ask me how you would use that now? Interviewer: Someone told me that that they used to hear people say uh like meaning um that that man was the father you say that man has bigged her. Did you ever hear that? 461: Yes sir Interviewer: #1 You heard it used used that way # 461: #2 yeah yeah # yes sir Interviewer: Does that sounds vulgar to you too? 461: Yeah it was used that way. Interviewer: Say if you didn't have a doctor to deliver the baby the woman that you might send for would be a? 461: Granny Interviewer: Okay and other name for her? 461: Yes uh granny woman and what is that uh uh I forget these things uh you can see that I don't see 'em. I don't hear 'em much often but they some words that's used. If you'd just remind me I'd tell you whether Interviewer: Did you hear midwife? 461: Yeah right. Interviewer: That was it? 461: But now years ago {X} when I say these things it's changed. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Okay now when I was born forty two we'll say forty years ag- well no I had to be let's say thirty years ago I would have been twelve years old. Thirty years ago granny woman was common. Now then you still hear midwife but you don't never say go get the granny woman midwives are used now unless somebody joking and they'll say we gonna have to get the granny woman. But now they still use midwives Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: But that's changed but thirty years ago granny woman was was common. Interviewer: Say if a boy has the same color hair and eyes that his father has and the same shaped nose you'd say that he? 461: Well uh he uh {NW} look like or favors or takes after. Well I say he looks like. Interviewer: What if he has the same behavior? 461: Acts like Interviewer: Are there any expressions that are used sort of disapprovingly like {NW} if his father hadn't been you know say the son is acquiring his father's bad habits? 461: Yes Interviewer: What? 461: Uh well I say that he would drink just like his daddy just a sod a drunk. Or either if he didn't seem to work you know some people don't Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: and it's just handed down looks like. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Says he's just like his daddy no good. Interviewer: Would you say he favors his daddy then 461: No Interviewer: or takes after? 461: Takes after takes after Interviewer: Uh-huh say if the child was misbehaving you might tell him if you do that again you're gonna get a?\ 461: Whipping Interviewer: Okay what else besides whipping might you tell 'em? 461: Spanking Interviewer: Is which is more severe? 461: I say uh whipping. Uh would be whipping is more severe. Interviewer: Anything worse than a whipping? 461: I don't I reckon Interviewer: Uh-huh 461: but uh I don't know uh I think you gonna get a beating I don't think that would be any different than a whipping. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. say if um if Bob is five inches taller this year you'd say Bob what a lot in one year? 461: He growed a lot but he grew. Interviewer: A woman that's not married is called a? 461: Um {D: okay a woodscoat.} Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: Now that was very common and it still is. Interviewer: Mm-hmm. 461: But uh that's it. Interviewer: Any other expressions? 461: I've heard it but I think it was a curse profanity. Interviewer: What's that? 461: Bastard Interviewer: That that has wider meaning. 461: Yeah so is there other names that's been used for that I I not {D: I might remember but I know wood- woodscoat was common.} Interviewer: {D: Yeah woodscoat was.} Um and you say your brother's son would be called your? 461: My brother's son? Interviewer: Well his 461: Nephew Interviewer: Huh? 461: Nephew Interviewer: Okay and a child that's lost both parents is called a? 461: Orphan Interviewer: And um the person appointed to look after the orphan is his? 461: Guardian Interviewer: Say if you have a lot of cousins and nephews and nieces around you'd say this town is full of my? 461: Kinfolk Interviewer: Okay any other word? 461: I don't think so Interviewer: Okay {Audio gets warped from here on out} and you say um well she has the same family name and she looks a little bit like me but actually we're no? 461: Kin Interviewer: And um someone who comes into town but nobody's ever seen him before you'd say you'd be a? 461: {X} Interviewer: What if he came from a different country? {X} 461: No he'd be a foreigner but now they'd call him a foreigner. Interviewer: Mm-hmm.