Dasn’t, Dares Not

Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Carol Parkey in Clay’s Ferry, Kentucky.

Well, hello, Carol. Welcome to the show.

Hi, Carol. Welcome.

What’s up?

Thank you, thank you.

Yep.

I have had a pondering for years over one of my grandmother’s words, and the word is dacent.

And she used it with mild alarm when I was a child that I was out picking raspberries and not being gentle enough, or I touched the chain that was attached to a control for the furnace that dumped coal or pellets or whatever in.

It was always a reminder to be careful and that we don’t do these things.

We doesn’t do that, is what she would say.

How long ago would this be?

It would have been in the 50s.

Okay.

Okay, that sounds about right.

Yeah, that does sound about right.

My grandmother said it, too.

She was a hillbilly from North Carolina, and she would warn us children away from things by saying, dacent, you dacent do that.

And my dad would talk about that word, but he was joking when he used it.

He would say, your grandmother used to say, dacent.

It’s just a contraction of dare not or dares not.

You dares not do that.

Oh, dares not.

Yeah.

Wow, that makes sense.

Yeah, and it makes sense, especially in dialects where you don’t have such a pronounced R.

You daz not do that.

If you say that quickly, you know, sometimes it can come out as dacent.

And I think you’re right that it’s more of an antiquated term.

I mean, Mark Twain used it.

And it’s widespread here and there east of the Mississippi, but it’s somewhat informal as well.

Would you say this is archaic now, almost obsolete?

If this is around anymore, we’re talking people in their 80s and 90s, right?

Yeah, yeah.

And that’s what I meant by my dad would use it, but he would be joking.

Right.

Well, these are Wisconsin people and 100% German.

So, you know, I didn’t think it was Southern colloquialism.

But, you know, isn’t that marvelous?

Yeah, it’s not exclusively Southern.

I mean, it’s definitely common down in the South.

Rural still in the United States in the few places it exists.

If you did a dialect survey, it might pop up, but boy, it is increasingly rare.

All right.

Well, I got another one that was a corrective.

Nix Nützen.

Quit Nix Nützen around.

Now that’s your German heritage showing up, right?

Yes, it is.

And my grandfather, who was very quiet but highly observant, would regale us with tales of people or kids who had done something wrong, that they were really, you know, not doing what they were supposed to, and he called them a dunamunnicamolus.

My goodness.

What the, what the, what the, what the?

Exactly.

And, of course, you know, kids’ ears perk up because it always went along with a good story of some sort.

Oh, yeah.

What’s that word again?

Dunamunnicamolus.

I’ve never heard that.

Now you have.

Like mullet like the fish or the haircut?

I have no idea.

Oh, my.

But I’m curious.

Now, do you use dascent yourself or in a joking way?

No.

You don’t.

I just cherish it as a memory of my growing up with my grandparents.

Isn’t that so often the way with those old words?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I bet you’re pressing the memory button for lots of other folks right now.

Oh, good.

Good.

Those memories are things to cherish.

I think that in our fast-paced life, we just sort of slide by many things.

And it’s a heartwarming sort of thing to have those positive reminiscences.

Agreed.

Oh, it sure is.

We call those linguistic heirlooms.

Absolutely.

Take them out of the attic, put them next to your easy chair, and look at them once in a while, right?

Well, I might start using it on my husband.

Carol, thank you so much for the memories and for the call.

Thank you very much.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

We know you’ve got some linguistic knick-knacks knocking around.

Give us a call.

We’ll talk about them, see what they’re worth, 877-929-9673.