Yeah, I know we all know what howdy means. And I suppose it's just a contraction of "how do you do?" But I'm curious about its Western twang. Do only Americans say it? And what kind of Americans say it? And when?
I've been known to use the word, but there's a bit of jokiness in its usage, and its certainly a relaxed situation when I would introduce myself in this way. I can't actually think of the last time I said it.
***
Apparently, its origins are more Southern than Western, and the word is a contraction of "how do ye". It was first recorded as "how de" in 1828, and our present spelling is from 1837. It is a southern expression, but migrated west with Civil War vets.
Thinking about this word made me think about the expression "Boy howdy". I'm pretty sure the first time I ever heard it was on Big Valley when Lee Majors said it in passing to Barbara Stanwyck. Of course, Big Valley was set in Stockton, California, but Majors was originally from the south, so perhaps he slipped it in. It is a Southernism usually attributed to Texas, and if for some reason you've never heard it, it really just means "Wow!" According to The Word Detective, there's a theory that it was brought to other parts of the U.S. after World War One, when returning vets used the term after hearing it from their Texan counterparts.
If there's one thing I've learned from doing this blog, it's that soldiers and sailors have had an awful lot to do with the dissemination of language over the centuries.
Also television.
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Soldiers, sailors, and, at least in earlier times, merchants, I imagine, though these would likely have been sailors, too.
ReplyDeleteI know there are a lot of good books about the story of English, but I wonder if one has been written about the way language moves geographically. I mean, for the nonspecialist.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I didn't mention from that Word Dictionary posting is the way "boy" has evolved. Apparently "Oh,boy!" comes originally out of the same kind of usage as "Oh, waiter!". What's used to get someone's attention eventually becomes a way to signify that what is being said deserves attention. Like, "Boy, am I hungry!"
Love that kind of stuff.
You could check the bibliography in The Story of English.
ReplyDeleteI’ve just returned from England where, naturally, I heard the word “blimey” a time or two and even used it once myself. Not until today did I look up the origin (It’s apparently short for gorblimey, or God blind me). That, in turn, led me to the fascinating world of minced oaths. I’d known about the phenomenon for years, but I never knew it had a name. Minced oaths sounds like a richly satisfying meal.
ReplyDelete===================================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com.
Loved that minced oaths entry. Knew some of them, but far from all.
ReplyDeleteSeems like the impulse to swear can be diffused but never wholly eradicated.
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ReplyDeleteZounds! You're right!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I bet you, "Boy!" is just a stand in for profanity, once you get right down to it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know; sometimes a boy is just a boy.
ReplyDeleteUnless it's a buoy. But that's just when I pronounce it.
ReplyDeleteI've always pronounced it that way. So, apparently, do the whimsical folks at the fish restaurant in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, who label their bathrooms "Buoys" and "Gulls."
ReplyDeleteThe pronunciation of the word as a homophone for David Bowie's last name has always grated on me, though that could be because I heard and knew the other pronunciation first.
Howdy!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!
And blimey, you two are chatting here as well?
Thank you, bookwitch. I expect you may also be soon receiving many felicitations of the day shortly.
DeleteHow would you say blimey in Swedish, I wonder?
There are so many ways, I don't know where to start.
DeleteHelvete!
Fan också.
Actually, that's enough profanity for one day (and those are the mild ones).
Thanks--this could come in very handy at work, at least as long as there are no Swedes around.
DeleteHello Seana, this is interesting and brings back memories too. I loved that show "The Big Valley" and I had forgotten that it was set in Stockton. I would also like to wish you Happy Birthday today. Enjoy, Janet
ReplyDeleteHi Janet, thanks for the birthday wishes. The real question, though is were you a Heath girl or a Nick girl? I'd ask, or a Jarrod girl, but I don't think there were very many of those. He was just too darned (minced oath) sensible.
DeleteFor anyone reading along here, Stockton was just a stone's throw from where Janet and I grew up in Dublin, California. The landscape is very much the same.
I hate to admit it, but Heath, of course. But, I really wanted to be Audra and wear those long beautiful dresses, own horses, and live in that big house in the gorgeous green valley. I did a lot of daydreaming in those days, a that was more fun than school work.
DeleteWell, we're both in the Heath camp.
DeleteI never wanted to be Audra, though. She was sort of a brat. Plus, who would want your life constricted by three older brothers, plus Victoria Barkley?
You were born under a good sign! Happy birthday.
ReplyDelete=======================================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com.
Thank you, Peter. I don't know if it is a good sign, but I know a lot of good people who share it.
DeleteIf Dashiell Hammett shares it, it's a good sign.
ReplyDeleteVal McDermid actually shares the day, which is good in my books, too.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's a good one.
ReplyDeleteSoldiers, sailors and me you mean hehe, i just used it in a post!...for some reason it has crept into my lexicon as has 'howdy'..which is kinda interchangeable with g'day amongst my tribe...funny how words are moving horizontally across cultures now...many fear it, thinking 'oh no our whole culture is being subsumed by another!'...to that i say tish tosh, it only enriches
ReplyDeleteBoy howdy, is that a wonderful coincidence, Dan!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there is some case to be made for mourning the way English invades everything else, for instance, but, yes, there is far more gain than loss in all the mutations and metaphoric extensions, etc, at least to my way of thinking.
This is true Seana...I overheard a conversation someone was having the other day regarding the 'demise' of English and in my head I was, like 'WTF'....wtf being one of the groans said speaker was bellyaching about btw. As far as I am concerned the language is a malleable, dynamic entity that is far from the hell in a handbasket view of the speaker. It has grown and moves around like a sponge, taking in new words and discarding older less relevant ones. Oh dear, say some, it should stay exactly the same! To that I counter pish posh and be off with ye! If it had stayed the same we would be speaking with thus and thou and thee still...
DeleteI adore the way my language moves and love to listen to its variations, contractions (Chaucer found it handy during the time of very expensive printing costs and he is a joy to read)...
Oh my, now I am on a rant and have lost track....you are correct...I feel the gains that it makes from the world around far outweighs the 'losses'....IMHO!
Dan, I'm with you. Although I do lost patience with people who can't be bothered to try and understand older English forms as well.
DeleteI wonder if Americans and Australians and other exiles may feel a bit less concerned about the preservation of language than those in the Mother Country...
Interesting thought that one...i was listening to a stephen fry diatribe yesterday about this very subject and he is a man of incredible talent and knowledge in my eyes...he is, like you a lover of language and rails against those who believe english is a language that should stand still...if i can get a link to you im sure you would enjoy
DeleteAdrian has posted some of Fry'snon-comic Youtubes at some point, but if you have something in mind I'd certainly like to take a look at it.
DeleteIf you've posted a comment on a Wordpress blog and asked to be notified of further comments on that post, you'll know that Wordpress will send you an e-mail asking you to confirm your "subscription" to that post's comments. Here's the beginning of one such notice I have jist now received:
ReplyDelete"Howdy.
You recently followed this blog's posts. This means you will receive each new post by email."
This seems rather informal for written communication, does it not?
Yes, but there is no etiquette for the blogpsphere, is there. As most of the people I know who use Wordpress are actually in Europe, it does show that Howdy has indeed gone global.
DeleteBlimey, ain't gloibalization quelque chose je ne sais quoi?
ReplyDeleteI used je ne sais quoi this very day, even though in reality, I speak hardly a word of French.
ReplyDeleteSan fairy Ann.
ReplyDeleteNice one. For those who don't know what you're talking about (as I didn't), here's a nice link.
ReplyDeleteI had never known it was the title of a song by Paul McCartney.
ReplyDeleteA colleague and I have developed an abbreviation (not an acronym) that expresses a similar attitude about our workplace. It's IDFK.
I don't f***ing kare?
ReplyDeleteI don't f**king know?
ReplyDeleteI don't f**king knit?
I don't f**king kayak?
Leslie, we miss you. Looking forward to your return.
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ReplyDeleteLeslie wins! My exasperated colleague, the only person about whom I have ever said, "Gee, that guy has a bad attitude," threw up his hands one night and said, "IDFC!"
ReplyDeleteI said: "Considering the quality of the copy and the literacy of its writers, you'd better make that 'IDFK!'" So we did.