“And Them” Colloquialism

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Barbara Sullivan. I’m calling from Waco, Texas.

Hi, Barbara. Welcome to the program.

Hi.

Thank you. Thank you. Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant.

What can we help you with, Barbara?

What’s going on?

Well, I’m calling about an interesting, very informal, I think a colloquial expression that I hear around Texas. And I was wondering if it’s in any other parts of the country. And I also kind of wondered if it had any kind of literary history. It’s not grammatical, but it’s probably acceptably used. It’s called, it’s and them, the two words, and them, used as the subject of a verb and also used to substitute for everybody else.

And you may give me an example?

Oh, yeah, please.

Yeah, well, for example, if someone who’s near and dear to me is going to tell me that Sam is coming along with his wife, Sue, he’ll say, Sam and them are going to be here after a while. Or if he’s going to tell me that Sam and Sue are coming with all their children, then I might hear, Sam and them will be here after a while. And obviously, and them means all those other folks. So it could be anywhere from one to 15 other people. It could be the whole family. It could be everybody at the house. And it could also be Sam and one other person, right?

And Sam and one other person.

Interesting.

-huh.

But I’m wondering, is it Southern? Is it Texan? Is it countrywide? Is it regional?

It sure is Southern. You hear it there in Texas. You hear it in the Appalachians.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I can’t think of anything more Southern than Ann-Nim.

Ann-Nim, yeah.

Maybe y’all.

Well, it’s a cousin to y’all because y’all is what you say when you’re standing in front of a lot of people or one person or more, right?

Right.

And Ann-Nim is what you say when they’re not around.

Correct.

So it’s kind of the same, different ways of referring to the same group of people.

Mm—

Right.

And absolutely, even though it’s not a grammatical thing, it’s absolutely acceptable.

Yeah, I think it’s charming.

Because that’s what everybody says.

Yeah.

So do you have any literary history for this thing, or do you know anything?

Literary history.

What are you looking for literary history for? You got an argument that you want to settle? You want to prove that it’s okay to say it?

I don’t want to prove anything. I just was wondering if you’d come across it. And, you know, I haven’t done any extensive research, but I was thinking, I wonder if Mark Twain used it. I wonder if Faulkner used it.

Now we do, too. We wonder that.

I bet so.

Especially Faulkner.

Well, it’s certainly recorded in the dialect dictionaries. This kind of thing has been noted for more than 100 years.

Is that right?

It’s got a long history, yeah. And the last time I heard it, I think, was a Barrett family reunion.

Oh, yeah.

So it’s spread up into Missouri as well. You know, it’s not just Texas. And it’s pretty much east to west, probably as far north as the northern edge of Tennessee and as far west as, say, I don’t know, what’s that little spur of Texas called?

Oh, well, are you talking about just where El Paso is?

Yeah.

It’s just called far west Texas as far as snow.

Okay.

Yeah.

And there are some variations of it I’ve seen in thing or in that.

Oh, my.

Very good.

Yeah, or in those.

Yeah, but the most common is exactly as you described it, and them, for one or more people.

I love that, Sam and them, meaning Sam and his wife.

Exactly.

Well, that’s my favorite. I think it’s really very cute.

Yeah.

So have you adopted it then?

I probably have. I probably try not to say that, but I probably have.

Thank you so much for giving us a ring today.

Well, thank you. It’s been a pleasure to talk to you.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

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