Suzanne in Tucson, Arizona, says her mother used to say the following to her quickly: Will you? Won’t you? Can’t I coax you? Aw, c’mon! You said you would! You think you might? You promised me! Won’t your mama let ya, huh? There have been many versions of this saying through the years, including the 1968 song “What a Bringdown” by Cream. A similar version was popularized by Anthony Trollope in his book Doctor Thorne (Bookshop|Amazon): Oh, oh! Mary; do you love me? Don’t you love me? Won’t you love me? Say you will. Oh, Mary, dearest Mary, will you? won’t you? Do you? Don’t you? Come now, you have a right to give a fellow an answer.This is part of a complete episode.
A Winter Dictionary (Bookshop|Amazon) by Paul Anthony Jones includes some words to lift your spirits. The verb whicken involves the lengthening of days in springtime, a variant of quicken, meaning “come to life.” Another word, breard, is...
Rosalind from Montgomery, Alabama, says her mother used to scold her for acting like a starnadle fool. The more common version of this term is starnated fool, a term that appears particular to Black English, and appears in the work of such writers...
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