Southern Tongue

Rating:
Summary: Southern!
Review: I actually found this book suprisingly informative. It contained so many words and phrases I always say and never think about, that I just kept laughing. I think this would be a welcome addition to any Southern bookcase.

Rating:
Summary: Southern!
Review: I actually found this book suprisingly informative. It contained so many words and phrases I always say and never think about, that I just kept laughing. I think this would be a welcome addition to any Southern bookcase.

Rating:
Summary: Southern as grits and gators
Review: I would like to rebut a previous review of "Southern Tongue". I'm a born and bred Southern boy who's been away from home for quite some time. Buying this book was like getting a care package from Mom. It sparked a flood of memories and (like the publisher said) left me homesick, but happy. It reminded me of the crawfish boils we used to have in the summer and of how Daddy always had to have his grits on Saturday morning. It reminded me of things my Granny used to say when I was young. Things I had forgotten. The reviewer that I'm rebutting stated that there wasn't a hint of insight in this book as to anything Southern. I disagree and I AM a bonified Southerner (not a Californian like this other self-proclaimed expert.) In fact, I can't for the life of me, think of anything in my own Southern vocabulary that isn't in this book. Granted, many of the expressions in this book are in used elsewhere, but this was stated in the fore matter of the book (had you read it). I live in Alaska now, but I still use my "Southern Tongue" everyday, so of course the expressions exist outside the South. Also, in defense of "Southern Tongue", this is obviously a nostalgic, novelty, gift, "hit-home" with a Southerner type of book. Hell, I bought 5 to give to my kinfolk back home next Christmas. It's a little piece of the South that I am proud to have on my coffee table. If you want "etymology and regional analysis" you should probably go get a college education. This book, however, is as fun and light-hearted as the South and Southern people are, and if you don't get it then California is probably a good place for you to be. Like Lynyrd Skynyrd sang, "A Southern man don't need [you] around anyhow."

And to the author...thanks! I've been reading a few expressions each night, and always catch myself smiling. Now when my Alaskan friends wonder what I'm talking about, I show them your book, and they usually get a kick out of it too. Thanks again.

Rating:
Summary: Southern as grits and gators
Review: I would like to rebut a previous review of "Southern Tongue". I'm a born and bred Southern boy who's been away from home for quite some time. Buying this book was like getting a care package from Mom. It sparked a flood of memories and (like the publisher said) left me homesick, but happy. It reminded me of the crawfish boils we used to have in the summer and of how Daddy always had to have his grits on Saturday morning. It reminded me of things my Granny used to say when I was young. Things I had forgotten. The reviewer that I'm rebutting stated that there wasn't a hint of insight in this book as to anything Southern. I disagree and I AM a bonified Southerner (not a Californian like this other self-proclaimed expert.) In fact, I can't for the life of me, think of anything in my own Southern vocabulary that isn't in this book. Granted, many of the expressions in this book are in used elsewhere, but this was stated in the fore matter of the book (had you read it). I live in Alaska now, but I still use my "Southern Tongue" everyday, so of course the expressions exist outside the South. Also, in defense of "Southern Tongue", this is obviously a nostalgic, novelty, gift, "hit-home" with a Southerner type of book. Hell, I bought 5 to give to my kinfolk back home next Christmas. It's a little piece of the South that I am proud to have on my coffee table. If you want "etymology and regional analysis" you should probably go get a college education. This book, however, is as fun and light-hearted as the South and Southern people are, and if you don't get it then California is probably a good place for you to be. Like Lynyrd Skynyrd sang, "A Southern man don't need [you] around anyhow."

And to the author...thanks! I've been reading a few expressions each night, and always catch myself smiling. Now when my Alaskan friends wonder what I'm talking about, I show them your book, and they usually get a kick out of it too. Thanks again.

Rating:
Summary: A way of life
Review: Southern Tongue is the most comprehensive compilation of southern verbage I have ever come across. Being a "Texan" by birth, and a ... by heritage, most of the entries are used in my daily conversations. I really enjoyed the descriptive text that follows each entry. Being a "Son of the South", I can relate to the contents of this book. I highly recommend it for it's entertainment, as well as educational, value. And I "ain't just whistling Dixie".

Rating:
Summary: Kiss ma grits!
Review: Southern Tongue is the perfect coffee table book for any true Southerner. I have recently moved away from the South, and miss it almost every day. This book brings a smile to my face every time I pick it up. It's not quite a dictionary in the literal sense, but it's definately a compilation of delightful and nostalgic "Southernisms." Just about every page has expressions I still use to this day and now can show my friends, "see I'm not the only one that talks this way!"
I can almost feel the warm breezes of home, and smell the bbq my Daddy prides himself on. Not to mention Mamma's chicken fried steak! MMM-MMM what a memory!
Thanks to Mr. Bonds for giving us this merry and light hearted view on the way we Southerners speak in such a delightful "down home" way. I enjoyed the heck out of it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a clue into the "Southern Tongue."

Rating:
Summary: Kiss ma grits!
Review: Southern Tongue is the perfect coffee table book for any true Southerner. I have recently moved away from the South, and miss it almost every day. This book brings a smile to my face every time I pick it up. It's not quite a dictionary in the literal sense, but it's definately a compilation of delightful and nostalgic "Southernisms." Just about every page has expressions I still use to this day and now can show my friends, "see I'm not the only one that talks this way!"
I can almost feel the warm breezes of home, and smell the bbq my Daddy prides himself on. Not to mention Mamma's chicken fried steak! MMM-MMM what a memory!
Thanks to Mr. Bonds for giving us this merry and light hearted view on the way we Southerners speak in such a delightful "down home" way. I enjoyed the heck out of it and would recommend it to anyone looking for a clue into the "Southern Tongue."

Rating:
Summary: Each entry is authoritatively defined
Review: Southern Tongue: A Dictionary Of Southern Expressions is a compilation of more than 1300 words and expressions commonly used throughout the Southern United States. Each entry is authoritatively defined, including usage examples for clarity and context. The entries are presented alphabetically in a dictionary style format, complete with headers and cross-references. Highly recommended for students of linguistics, tourists, academicians including historians and cultural anthropologists, tourists and travelers through the southern states, as well as novelists and biographers seeking authenticity in their historical or regional dialogues, Southern Tongue offers an in-depth examination at the unique ways in which Southerners choose to express themselves.

Rating:
Summary: An Over-rated Book
Review: There's a lot to disappoint in Southern Tongue: A Dictionary of Southern Expressions. First, the subtitle is misleading: these aren't so much southern expressions as they are expressions of informal American speech--countrified perhaps, but by no means regionally specific. One can go page after page without a hint of insight into things specifically southern. Here's the sum total of entries for page 73: good Lord!, goodness gracious, good ol' boy, good people, go off half cocked, gopher (errand boy), goshdawgit, goshdernit. Yep, that's it for the page, although each has a one-line definition and a single (or so) sentence example. This book definitely calls to mind that old saw: The food's not any good, and there's not enough of it.

The publisher doesn't make such a grand claim for the book. The Midwest Book Review on Amazon, however, really distorts the intention and the value of this book. "Each entry is authoritaively defined" is a line from the review that they felt strongly enough to use as the subject of the review. I see no reference to any authority in any of the definitions, and there's no attempt at any etymology or regional analysis. The 8 words I cited from page 73 are defined in about 50 words total--hardly a scholarly effort. Midwest Book Review says the book is "highly recommended for students of linguistics, tourists, academicians including historians and cultural anthropologists . . . as well as novelists and travelers seeking authenticity in their historical or regional diaglogues." They even claim the book offers "an in-depth examination" of the subject, despite the surface treatment. Again, I'm not quarreling with the book publisher, who makes no claims to high scholarship. (I don't care for the book, but I'm sure others might.)

I've never written in to criticize a review before and I don't expect to again. This is such an inaccurate review, however, that I don't think it should go unremarked. Why did Midwest take this approach?

Rating:
Summary: Pretty obvious stuff
Review: This book appears to be a hastily thrown together batch of expressions, very few of which strike me as regional. For example, do we need Mr. Bonds to tell us that "flustered" means frustrated, "fly off the handle" means to become angry, or to "follow" something is to understand it? Of the nine or ten entries on each page, no more than three of them are particularly southern, and even those are pretty durn obvious.

I bought this book when I was researching southern expressions, and found it less colorful than web pages available for free on the internet....