American Adventures - A Second Trip 'Abroad at home' by Julian Street
page 306 of 607 (50%)
page 306 of 607 (50%)
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enty?" may mean, _You see him_--_her_--or _it_? or _You see what
he_--_she_--or _it_--_is doing_, or _has done_? For gulla has no genders and no tenses. "Enty" is a general question: _Aren't you? Didn't you? Isn't it?_ etc. Another common gulla word is "Buckra" which means _a white man of the upper class_, in contradistinction to a poor white. I have known a negro to refer to "de frame o' de bud," meaning the carcass, or frame, of a fowl. "Ay ain' day" means "They aren't (ain't) there." A friend of mine who resided at Bluffton, South Carolina, has told me of an old gulla fisherman who spoke in parables. A lady would ask him: "Have you any fish to-day?" To which, if replying affirmatively, he would answer: "Missis, de gate open"; meaning, "The door (of the 'car,' or fish-box) is open to you." If he had no fish he would reply: "Missis, ebb-tide done tack (take) crick"; signifying: "The tide has turned and it is too late to go to catch fish." This old man called whisky "muhgundy smash," the term evidently derived from some idea of the word "burgundy" combined with the word "mash." Here is a gulla dialect story, with a line-for-line translation. A train has killed a cow, and a negro witness is being examined by a justice of the peace: JUSTICE--Uncle John, did you see what killed Sam's cow? NEGRO--Co'ose Uh shum. (Of) course I saw him. JUSTICE--What was it, Uncle |
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