Redd Up the Home

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Oh, hey.

Hi, who’s this?

Oh, my name’s Ben. I’m calling from Olympia, Washington.

Olympia, Washington. Hello, welcome.

Welcome, Ben.

Well, I am originally from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, a town called Uniontown, about 50 miles south.

Yeah.

And there’s a lot of words in the Pittsburgh region that seem to be unique to the Pittsburgh area.

There was one word in particular that I used for years, and I just assumed everybody around me knew what it meant.

And it wasn’t until I was like 22 that somebody said, what the heck are you talking about?

And that word was read up.

This place is really a mess. Let’s read it up.

We really need to read up the place.

And, you know, it means pick up. It’s not like a deep cleaning, but to, like, gather up all the books and stack them and, you know, put your clothes away and things like that.

I read the place up.

And, yeah, apparently people just didn’t understand what I was talking about for about a decade of my life.

People from the other 49 states are now going, Red Up?

Because it’s really not that common.

I mean, maybe a little bit of Ohio and some of the adjoining states, but really it’s highly focused in this area, right?

Yeah, yeah.

If you hadn’t told us, I would have said, oh, what part of Pennsylvania are you from by any chance?

Yeah, because we would have known.

Yeah.

And there’s a little bit of local hometown pride in Red Up, right?

People kind of know that they’re known for saying it, right?

Well, Ben didn’t know that when he moved to Washington.

He was 22. He wasn’t finished with his education.

He learned.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That’s right.

And now I am very proud, actually.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because it’s a perfectly legitimate term in that area, exactly the area that Grant described.

And it comes from an old Scottish term that means to clear or clear out, like clear out the land, you know, or clean out.

What, you mean like to take out the stones and the stumps from the field before you plant it?

Yeah.

Okay.

That kind of thing.

Yeah.

And it’s usually spelled R-E-D-D.

And sometimes you’ll see red off, like red off the table.

But usually it’s red up.

Meaning to clear the table.

Yeah.

Okay.

If I remember correctly, it’s not etymologically related to ready, but there’s a nice synthesis there, right?

There’s like some contribution between these similar words.

Right.

And red.

And red, right.

Red as well.

They all kind of influence that term.

But we’re talking a little good long history here, aren’t we?

Very.

Yeah.

I mean, this goes back to as soon as people started recording American speech, this term popped up.

Right.

Yes, people were remarking on it.

Okay, so you’re plugged into a long history there, Ben.

Well, I wonder why it’s only in that particular region where people held onto the word and continue to use it.

And I continue to use it out here in the West Coast.

Good for you.

Well, there’s a lot of reasons for that.

I mean, it’s a whole show in itself, but the very short version is a little bit of hometown pride.

It’s a very useful term.

Those two things alone will keep a term in use, even if outsiders aren’t using it.

Yeah, and the Scots-Irish settlement.

Yeah, I mean, you’re going to speak like your parents.

You’re going to speak like your parents and your neighbors and your family, and that’s who you’re learning your language from.

And as long as they’re saying it, you’re going to say it.

I bet you $1,000, though, that you haven’t taught it to anybody outside of Pennsylvania.

They might understand it, but I bet they haven’t actually used it, right?

Right.

My partner Crystal, she doesn’t use the term, but she’s not offended by it anymore.

Okay.

Anymore?

She used to be?

Yeah, she was just like, what are you talking about?

She’s from Kentucky, eastern Kentucky, so she’s got all kinds of language on her own.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Have her call us sometime.

Those are Martha’s people, more or less.

Yeah, those are my folks.

Ben, this was a lot of fun.

Thank you for calling.

You’re welcome.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for taking my call.

Sure.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

I enjoy it.

All right, bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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