Beatin’est

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, my name’s Barbara Larson. I’m from Dallas, Texas.

Hi, Barbara. Welcome to the show.

Hey, Barbara.

Thank you.

What’s going on?

Well, I thought of something the other day that puzzled me.

My mother had an expression that she used to say called the beatness thing or that’s the beatness thing.

And I never thought much about it. I just used it too, having heard it my whole life.

But one day years ago, I used it around my husband and we were dating at the time.

And his family’s from Iowa.

So I guess they don’t say that in Iowa because he was like, what did you say?

How do you spell that?

What does that mean?

And I hadn’t thought about it.

I just thought it was a normal expression.

And years have gone by.

And just a few weeks ago, someone I work with used the expression that made me think of it again.

And that person is also from West Texas, like my mother.

So I don’t know the history of expression or how it came to be, but it was something I grew up hearing.

And how do you spell it?

Well, I guess it’s B-E-A-T-I-N-G-E-S-T.

And the thing would be T-H-A-N-G, of course, because that would be more of a Texas way of saying.

Dang.

Yeah.

Right.

That’s the Beatness thing.

And so if something is the Beatness thing, what is it?

It’s kind of a puzzling situation that you can’t figure out a solution.

Oh, interesting.

So it’s kind of like saying, don’t that beat all.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.

Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Interesting, because I’ve usually seen beatenest, spelled B-E-A-T-E-N-E-S-T, to mean something that’s really excellent, splendid.

Again, beating all.

And that’s the idea.

It’s something that is the thing that beats everything more than anything else.

But it might be beating it through being exceptional or unusual.

Right.

Right, right.

Rather than excellent or terrible.

Right.

And I haven’t heard it used in more of a, that’s a great thing, it’s more of a puzzling thing.

It’s so interesting to me.

And I’ve never seen it written, so I may have spelled it incorrectly.

I’ve only heard it spoken.

Well, you will find it throughout the South and the South Midlands,

So it makes perfect sense that you’d find it in your part of the country.

And that perhaps the other friend of yours didn’t know it.

But, yeah.

You said that was your husband from Iowa, right?

Right.

Oh, your husband.

Yeah.

I’m married to an Iowan as well.

They don’t know as much as they think they do.

Oh, exactly, exactly.

They’re not familiar with all these nice expressions.

But that helps me understand it better.

I really had no idea where it came from.

And it has a huge history, a couple hundred years almost.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, sure.

So it’s a long American history of this word.

Use it with pride.

I don’t know if the president will ever use it, but you’ve got a fair claim to it yourself.

It’s quite possible.

Well, good.

I’m glad to hear we’re in good company.

It’s not just my family.

Indeed.

Well, I’m sure your family is great company, but other folks as well, for sure.

Well, thanks.

Thanks.

I appreciate it.

Okay.

Well, Barbara, thanks so much for calling.

Thank you.

Great.

Take care.

Have a good day.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Well, we love those regional dialects, and we’d love to hear about the one in your part of the country.

So give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.