After 42 years away we moved back to Texas and I was finally able to get to know my grown nieces and nephews. Not long after we settled in I invited my niece over for dinner. When she didn't show up I couldn't help thinking that she could have at least called me. The next day, while my sister was visiting, my niece came over also. When I mentioned dinner, she said she came over but we were gone! I was so confused until Sis started laughing and informed me that dinner was the noon meal and supper was the evening meal! I had been apparently been gone too many years!
Having never lived in Texas before, I was "bumfuzzled" much of the time for the first two or three years. I flinched everytime our neighbor mentioned "mashing a button" rather than "pushing" a button. "Would you carry me to the store?" from a 150 lb. woman gave me pause, until I realized she wanted a ride in the car, not a piggy-back trip. One of my husband's co-workers got a new "what belt" and it took us most of the evening to figure out that "what belt" was a weight belt. Same co-worker--any problem was a "real buggerbear." I have no idea where that came from. I arrived in Texas speaking two languages, and I have learned enough Texian to get by. 2ofus, we need to get together and write a dictionary!
Lady from England who owned a Motel .She told guy -Do Not Be Coming Knocking me up in the Morning. Guy said No problem there. She about died when I told her in states me get PG.
:-D :twisted: A word of warning here.....I am a Born and Raised Texan and proud of it. So when others 'start in' on our way of life my hackles are raised (a similar expression recently brought over from the U.K. would be 'get my knickers in a twist') and being the type of personality I am I can not leave it alone. Please remember the row of smiley faces across the top while reading this post Where the speakers family originally came from has more to do with Texas speak than other things. Everyone in Texas, except for us Born here, came from somewhere else in this country or other parts of the world and they all brought their own colloquialism. And those colloquialisms from all those other countries merged as people conversed with each other. And even the Born in Texas people have been influenced by their family history. And there have been dozens upon dozens of Texas speak dictionaries printed over the last many years because newcomers find our way of talking just "so darn funny" Lunch, Supper, Dinner, they are also related to where your family was from and to a great part, in my early years, it was also determined by how much money your Daddy made. I grew up calling the noon meal Lunch, the evening meal was called Supper by us common folk and Dinner by the highfalutin (thats rich and snooty by the definition I grew up with). I was corrected by a co-worker (not a Texan) about the use of Supper and Dinner once many years ago....I did use the 'born here I can call it what I want it' card The What Belt is similar to Tar for Tire, Maher for Mexia (a city in central Texas)...a matter of lack of proper pronunciation training, years of hearing it pronounced that way and they don't know any different. And a word to the wise....don't try to correct them or you will fall under the extended definition of Highfalutin. Pushing a button or mashing a button....long before there were buttons to push, people mashed things with their thumb or finger....bugs particularly but that was sometimes also called squashing or squishing. You pushed a wagon or car or donkey but something that like a button, you mashed. Bumfuzzled is thought to be an alteration of English dialect Dumfoozle and Dumfound...can also be heard as Bumfoozled from some folks. Carrying someone to the store....synonyms for Carry are Convey, Transfer, Move, Take, Bring, Tote, Fetch, Cart...her question makes sense to me. Buggerbear, buggabear and several other forms of the word all come from the middle English word "bugge" (a frightening thing) or the old Welsh word bwg (evil spirit or goblin) or old Scots "bogill" (goblin), and has similar words in German "bögge" or "böggel-mann" (goblin), and most probably also English "bogeyman" and American English "bugaboo". All these people got together in a new country and the words got mixed together to make new ones.
Wait! What if I'm flying a plane over Texas, and the air traffic controller starts speaking in Texan??? Yes I was making this posting as a joke, but all of a sudden I also was reminded of another serious mid air collision in India almost 2 decades ago. Between a Russian cargo plane, and a Saudi Arabian 747. All the communications were in English, but because of each person's individual accent - The Russian and Saudi pilots, as well as the Indian air traffic controllers, just couldn't understand each other properly...
Lunch is always the noon time meal... no matter where you are. Dinner and supper are inter changeable. I always specify a time for the dinner/supper when I invite someone to eat with us. That saves a lot of confusion. My dad always ate dinner at 2:00 pm. He worked 2ns shift and we ate dinner whenever we made it. My mom never cooked for us when we were growing up. She drove bus and was never home morning or after school. We "fended" for ourselves.
Another aviation incident that I am now reminded of, happened in the early 80s. This one was about a Saudi Arabian diplomat who was traveling by PIA (Pakistan International Airline). It all started the moment that Saudi man asked for some extra Coke or Pepsi. The air hostess very politely told him that they were all out, sorry. So he said the word "maalish" to her - Which in Arabic means no problem. However in Urdu (the official language of Pakistan), the word "maalish" means massage... Pan American had once offered a massage service on some of their long distance flights (specially those flying over the pacific ocean) - But it was very quickly discontinued, as some Japanese businessmen assumed it to be something else (which they thought should have a happy ending too)... So this is how the misunderstanding got started. The Pakistani air hostess very rudely told him not a chance in hell! Whereupon the Saudi diplomat again said "maalish" (meaning no problem). A PIA plane was once hijacked by political dissident in the late 70s, where one passenger was killed by the hijackers. So since that time all PIA flights have 2 to 5 armed under cover commandos randomly seated among the passengers. Only the flight attendants know of them... So anyway, this air hostess got so annoyed by that Saudi diplomat (who too by now was angrily saying "maalish") - That she summoned the assistance of the commando. Anyhow long story short, the aircraft soon made an emergency landing. And the Saudi diplomat was taken away in an ambulance, (after the commando broke a few of his ribs)...
Toni what you said is so true. It does depend a lot on where you grew up with the kind of terms one uses for some things. We I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin we had lunch at noon and dinner was our evening meal. We also drank out of a bubbler at school. There are so many variations of meanings of words all over the world. My husbands Belgian Grandmother would take him and a few of his siblings into town in the car. When she got out she always told the kids-You stay on the car now. So when she came out of the store sure enough. There where the kids sitting on the hood of the car. They thought it was quite funny. In England and Australia you do not form a line, you cue up. Names can be somewhat of an issue in some countries. Say your name is Randy. When you go to Australia you might want to us a different name as that refers to a male body part. Or you wouldn't want to say after a meal--Boy am I stuffed. If you where a women they would congratulate you on your up coming new baby. In France you would not ask for a bathroom if you have to go. It's a toilet. Language can be fun and frustrating at the same time.
