REGIONAL AND SOCIAL DIALECTS
This PowerPoint discusses phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic differences in New England, the South, the South West, California (Valley-Girl, and Surfer Dude), the Borsht Belt (Yiddish influences), Down-East Yankee, Minnesota (Lake Wobegon), Brooklyn, Western, Canadian, and Star Wars (Yoda) regional and social dialects.
The frontier humor of the American West or of Australia tends to be exaggerated: He is so stingy that he sits in the shade of the hackberry tree to save the shade of the porch. His feet are so big that he has to put his pants on over his head. His teeth stick out so far that he can eat a pumpkin through a rail fence. When Slue-Foot Sue married Pecos Bill, Sue insisted on riding his horse, Widow-Maker. Widow-Maker bucked her off and she bounced so high on her spring bustle that she orbited the moon and they had to throw jerky to her to keep her from starving to death. When Pecos Bill died, they marked his grave site with, “Here lies Pecos Bill. He always lied and always will. He once lied loud. He now lies still.”
Joe Barnes was sired by a yoke of cattle, suckled by a she-bear and had three sets of teeth and gums for another set. Nimrod Wildfire was a touch of the airthquake. He had the prettiest sister, the fattest horse, and the ugliest dog in the district. Wirt Staples has a shadow that can wilt grass, breath that can poison mosquitoes, and a yell that can break windows. Mike Fink was a Salt River roarer, a ring-tailed squealer, half wild horse and half cock-eyed alligator and the rest crooked snags and red-hot snappin’ turtle.
Don and Alleen Nilsen “Humor Across the Academic Disciplines” PowerPoints:
https://www.public.asu.edu/~dnilsen/ .
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