Thursday English Lesson: How Smart Are You?

Ok, this is my second, possibly last eastern Kentucky English lesson.

Smart can mean many things, and is used many ways. Also, "Right" can be used many ways.

Smart can mean someone who knows a lot, either about a particular subject, or in general. Right can mean opposite or wrong. Or opposite of left (English is like that).

However back home they are both intensifiers, and have other meanings. If a person steps on a rusty nail, he may say something like "Oh, that smarts". In this instant smart is used to describe pain. If it smarts, it hurts, take my word for it. Later on when when the doctor asks him how bad it feels, he may say, "Well, it hurts right smart", and the doctor would know exactly what he meant. If something hurts right smart, it hurts, again, take my word for it.

Smart can also means other things.

That boy runs right smart. Most likely the speaker is saying that boy runs alot, not that he runs well. I can't ever remember that exact sentence tho. How about, "That boy plays the banjer right smart". Ok, now you have to be careful, cause most likely it means he plays the banjo a lot, but it could also mean that he's good at it. Altho if they wanted to say he was good at it, most likely they'd say, "That boy's a good hand at banjerin' ". Or a right good hand.

I like language a lot. And I like this older usage of words - but its going away. I remember the old folks, the people who were born in the late 19th century, and are all dead and gone now. Those folks had a way with words. The "old-timey" ways are gone.

Ever heard (pronounced heered back home) anyone use the world holp? Its an old way of saying help, and I'm pretty sure old Will Shakespeare himself used it. So did my Grandpa, I heard it.

So, who cares? Language changes, and to wish for the older way of speaking, is to wish for times that are gone. It gets no one anywhere, once times are gone, they're gone. But I like it just the same. Just aint gonna fret about it.