Be Particular!

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Rebecca from Charlotte, North Carolina.

I have a question that has been going around in my head for decades,

And that is I’m from the eastern part of North Carolina,

And when I was a child, I’ve got three older brothers and lots of cousins,

But my grandmother, who was born in 1897,

So she was already older when I was born,

But whenever she would take care of us and we were going to go outside or go to a friend’s house or play in the woods or something,

She never said, watch out for those snakes or be careful crossing the road or any direct thing like that.

She always just said, be particular.

And I’ve never heard it anywhere else.

And I just wonder where that might come from.

I can just picture her like out on the porch with her hands on her hips maybe or arms crossed.

This is very, very stoic.

Very stoic.

Stoic.

Okay.

And she was advising all of you to be particular.

That’s such an interesting usage of the word particular.

And it’s something that you will hear in the South and the South Midlands of the United States.

And it does mean, as you suggested, to be careful or cautious, you know, be particular when you cross the street.

And it goes back to the idea of particular meaning precise or fastidious or exacting.

You’re just paying extra attention.

And it’s just a really beautiful way to advise that.

Do you use it now?

No, but I think I might because it’s been on my mind for a while now.

Yeah, I just think it’s a lovely linguistic heirloom. I’d love to see you carry it on.

Well, do you know where it comes from?

Well, yeah, the word particular itself goes way back. It goes all the way back to Latin.

It has to do with a little bitty part. It comes from words that mean little part, and it has to do with…

Oh, particulate.

Yeah, it’s like particulate.

Yeah, yeah, just, and being very exacting about little things.

And I know that we’ve seen bee particular around in the southern United States since at least the mid-19th century.

Yeah, and you also hear it in southern Appalachia.

So by South Midlands, that’s like the southern part.

It’s kind of like what touches the northern part of the south.

So people who are listening in those regions may have heard it as well.

Well, I really appreciate your answer, and I like it a lot.

It really makes so much sense.

I agree with you completely.

I think it’s just really beautiful.

Well, I thank you so much.

And y’all be particular.

We will.

Take care of yourself.

You too, Rebecca.

You be particular as well.

Bye-bye.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

We know you’ve got generations of experience in the language that you speak.

Sometimes it’s your grandparents.

Sometimes it’s horizontal.

It’s what your cousin said at a family reunion.

Or maybe it’s a distant family that you met just once.

We’d like to hear how your family talks, whether it’s in your own home

Or it’s in the home of somebody you visited in another country.

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