It amazes me how few adult people I meet who grew up in this town. I get right tired of spelling "Rowan" for people, and they always say, "Oh, Roe-an!" It wouldn't serve any purpose except my own venting, to tell them that people used to pronounce it "Ryan" or "Rhine." My friend Sandra H.B. still says "Ryan Road," but then she's almost as old as I am. About in the 1950s, people started saying "Rau-an," which is right, when some of the Rowans got tired of getting their names mixed up with the actual Ryans. I wonder how they like being called Roe-an by this gormless generation.
"Gormless" is a word that Grandma Hatfield in my book uses. When she said it, I had to look it up in the dictionary. Fortunately, Grandma with her archaisms doesn't last very long. The book, by the way, is at 70,000+ words and still growing. When it's done, I may have to get a wheelbarrow to haul it around in. That's a "wheel-bar," if you're even older than I am. But who is?
3 comments:
I do understand about the pronouncing of words properly for where you live. I am from Texas, born and raised there but have moved away as an adult. I, therefore, have an 'accent'. Not overpowering, but an accent. I do pronounce things in my own 'way', which to this day is a joke with some. I will say that unless you heard my grandfather pronounce things, you haven't lived! Example: A pillar is not something that supports your roof, it is something you lay your head on. A flaw is not a mistake, you walk on it. Yes, people who are not from your area do have problems talking in the proper way! A Texas girl living in Indiana always runs into this!
Glad you're moving along with your book! I need to actually put mine together so I could actually see if they can get published. If life would give me a moment of rest, I may do that!
Have a wonderful day! Hope your basement is doing better!
Hugs from Indiana
Even after they started called the road by its proper name, the Rowan people were still pronounced Ryan or Rhine. Remember Mama's friend Jenny Rhine? She was a Rowan.
Mary Louise was the first Rowan I knew who insisted on the right pronunciation. And a rowan tree would die if called Ryan or Roe-an.
Deb: Thanks so much for reading my blog. Good luck with your books! You may have to wait till retirement, as I did, to really get down to trying to publish.
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