Larrupin’

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Mark. I’m calling from Dallas.

Hi, Mark. Welcome to the program.

All right. I grew up in New York, and my wife is from West Texas, and we’re always teasing each other about accents and odd words and stuff. And one that I really love is a story she tells about her grandfather, who was a World War I vet who lived around Tulsa, Oklahoma his whole life. And she said that when a meal was really delicious, old Sam would push back from the table and say, that’s Larapin, and I’ve never heard of that.

Where in New York are you from?

I was born outside the city, and I lived in upstate New York up by the St. Lawrence River.

Okay.

So these are two very distinct styles of American English, aren’t they? Oklahoma English and New York-style English.

Seems to be.

Yeah, well, this makes perfect sense.

Yeah.

What is that Larapin? And where is that? Is that a regional thing?

Yes, it is, as a matter of fact. You hear it mostly in the Texas, Oklahoma, West Midlands area like that. And it’s an adjective, right? Larapin. It’s not like he’s comparing it to some noun that’s a larapin. It’s not a kind of terrapin or anything like that.

Right. Do you have any sense of how it’s spelled?

I don’t know, actually. I’ve only heard it in speech.

So L-A-R-A-P-I-N, I would assume.

Yeah, that’s one version of it. It’s not really standardized.

Oh, there are about 900 ways to spell larapy.

I’m sure, yeah. Yeah, but it looks like it comes from an old word that means to beat or to strike or thrash. So, you know, a whomping good slice of pie.

Right, okay.

Oh, wow.

So we have other words in English that behave the same way.

Sure.

Doesn’t that beat all?

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

Okay, all right.

So it’s just a comparison about if it thrashes or beats something, then it’s just so good that it actually literally pummels the competition.

Yeah, strikingly good.

Strikingly good. There we go.

What a hit.

Yeah.

That’s great.

We could go on and on.

Martha, my southern flower, do you have larripen as part of your vocabulary?

Only by adoption. I’ve adopted it into my vocabulary because I love it.

Have you, Mark?

Well, since I learned about it, yeah. I now do that as sort of a tip of the hat to my wife and her family or whatever. And so I’ll pipe up with that at the end of a meal sometimes. And it goes over well.

People receive that and they understand that it’s a compliment, right?

Yeah.

Okay, good.

Larapin.

Yeah.

Well, maybe more people will adopt it now. I think it’s a great word.

Larapin.

Well, you’re a larapin good caller, Mark. We appreciate your calling.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mark.

All right.

I’ll be listening.

All right.

Take care of yourself.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Bye-bye.

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