Robert from Hamlin, West Virginia, was surprised to while touring with a gospel group to hear Southerners describe an especially good meal as larrupin’ or larruping. The verb larrup means “to strike,” and larruping is one of several intensifiers that have to do with beating or thrashing, like whopping or striking. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Larrupin’ for Emphasis”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Robert, and I’m calling from Hamlin, West Virginia.
Hello, Robert. Welcome to the show.
We’re glad to have you here. What’s going on?
Well, I have a question about a word that I used to hear a lot when I was further down south. I live in West Virginia, but I used to travel full-time with a gospel quartet that was based in Alabama. And I was the only guy that was not from Alabama or Georgia in the group. And so sometimes we would eat somewhere or there would be a meal that was especially good. And they would say that the meal was larabin. And the first time I asked them what this meant, they looked at me like they just couldn’t believe that no one had ever heard that word. But we have never used it anywhere that I’ve lived, and I had never heard it before just a few years ago, down south. I’m curious about where it came from and, you know, how it kind of landed in Alabama, and at least to me, seemingly nowhere else.
Well, you know, you usually hear it in places like Texas and Oklahoma and more toward that area, and it means terrific, right, or striking, right?
Yeah, that was kind of the sense I got, because it was always, I mean, if you had a good meal, they would say it was good or delicious, but it was like reserved for the best of the best.
-huh, -huh.
Larapin good pie, something like that, right?
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah, and it comes from an old dialect term, larap, that means to beat or strike or thrash or whip. And it’s one of those words in English that has to do with beating or striking, but that also means something really the best of its kind.
Oh, interesting.
Yeah, yeah. It may go back to a Dutch word that means to whip, but I usually associate it with Oklahoma and Texas. It’s interesting that your friends heard it where they grew up.
And by dialect, you mean English dialects because it was widespread throughout the minor linguistic regions of the United Kingdom, right?
Yep. Means to beat or strike. L-A-R-R-U-P. Except in the non-literal use, which just means more of the same or emphatic or very or awesome.
Right.
That’s awesome. That’s fascinating.
Robert, thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it.
Hey, thank you for having me on the show. I love to listen.
Thank you. Take care.
Great. Thanks, Robert. Bye-bye.
Thanks. Bye-bye.
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