Drawl

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Dr. Goodword
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Drawl

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:27 pm

• drawl •

Pronunciation: drawl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, Noun

Meaning: 1. To prolong the sounds of speech, to speak slowly by lengthening words. 2. To move slowly, to lag, drag out.

Notes: Used as a noun, this word refers to the process of speaking or moving slowly. Speakers in the US North accuse speakers with southern accents of drawling their speech in what is known as a Southern drawl. However, we all do it when we say, No-o-o! or So-o-o? We drawl the O in these words all the time. A person who drawls is a drawler with a drawl. When we do it we are drawling.

In Play: Despite the loss of southern dialects (see the language blog), slight traces of it still remain: "Tiffany Lampe fell in love with a boy from Atlanta, Georgia, but gave him up because she didn't want her children growing up speaking with a Southern drawl." Of course, not only Southerners drawl: "When Tiffany discovered that she had left her cell phone at home, she drawled in horror, 'O-o-h, no-o-o!'"

Word History: Today's word is something of a mystery. It might have been introduced by vagabonds' vernacular from Middle Dutch dralen, East Frisian draulen "to linger, delay", or Low German drauelen "to loiter, delay". We have evidence that such words exist or existed. On the other hand it could be an intensive form of the root of draw as in the sense of "draw out", as in Modern Icelandic dralla "to loiter". It might have been a native formation along the same lines, though we have no written evidence of such a development. The semantic and phonological relation to draw is hard to ignore, but just as hard to prove. (I shouldn't drawl out today's Good Word any longer, so I will express my gratitude to Chris Stewart for suggesting it now.)
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Drawl

Postby LukeJavan8 » Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:53 pm

TV: "O my Gawwwd".
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

Philip Hudson
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Re: Drawl

Postby Philip Hudson » Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:03 am

Rural South Texans have a unique drawl. Not only do they stretch out their words, they speak barely moving their lips. My family was not native to South Texas so we had a different accent. My father's opinion was that the denizens of the area were either too lazy to move their lips or were afraid they might loose their chaws of tobacco if their lips were too active.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

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Slava
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Re: Drawl

Postby Slava » Thu Sep 12, 2013 1:07 am

My father's opinion was that the denizens of the area were either too lazy to move their lips or were afraid they might loose their chaws of tobacco if their lips were too active.
Aye, drooling while chawing and drawling would be messy.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

LukeJavan8
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Re: Drawl

Postby LukeJavan8 » Thu Sep 12, 2013 11:21 am

Oh, the image that invokes. Eeeack.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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