Out for a walk. And someone said, “Good morning! It got winter, didn’t it?”
It was 28 °F, so yes, it did. But I’d never heard that idiom before. Have you?
A quick search turned up a handful of examples. From northern California oral history: “it got winter and they built this lean-to or cache or whatever you might call it.” From a novel set in Kentucky: “It was like it got winter all at once.” From a Flickr photograph: “It got winter . . . a little.” Does winter here function as an adjective? Or does the idiom omit to be, as in the common-in-these-parts idiom “need + past participle”? As in The car needs washed. Or maybe, soon, The snow needs shoveled.
Friday, December 18, 2015
Got winter?
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You could substitute "turned" for "got" in all of those examples and they would make sense. I've never heard this usage before.
ReplyDeleteYes. I have to admit, I don’t think I’ve heard “It turned winter” either. “Turned cold,” yes.
ReplyDeleteNever heard either "got" or "turned" winter).
ReplyDeleteI can try it out now... because it just got winter here too:
"18°F Feels Like 4°"
If I hear it again, I’ll be tempted to stop and ask. But this morning it was just too cold to stop.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of it before either, but I like it.
ReplyDeletePoetry material!
ReplyDeleteA friend used to make fun of me when I would say, for example, "My hair needs cut." I blame it on ancestry in Pennsylvania (but I don't say "warshing machine" or "redd up").
ReplyDeleteMy friend Norman (a linguist) has a comment on another post saying that this idiom moved west from Pennsylvania.
ReplyDeleteIs there anything more provincial than making fun of other people’s regionalisms? :)
"Redd up" is Scottish in origin, I think. My mother used it. I don't think my dad did. They both said "Warshing."
ReplyDeleteWow — the American Heritage Dictionary has it coming from Scotland and “especially common in Pennsylvania as part of the phrasal verb redd up. ”
ReplyDeleteI hear warsh often.
Yep, I got a lot of "Why don't you redd up your room?" :)
ReplyDeleteSusan Glaspell uses "red-up" in her one-act play, Trifles. I've always been fond of it, but it is hard to use in everyday conversation..
ReplyDeleteMarie Kondo could’ve written about the life-changing magic of redding up. I’m going to start using this expression. It’ll make tidying up funner than ever.
ReplyDeleteI can hear "the snow needs shoveled" with less eye-twitching response than "it got winter", even though they are both missing the "to be".
ReplyDeleteHave you heard "over the house"? As in, "they were over the house last week." And means, they came to visit/were entertained in my home by myself or other parties who live at said house. Even "come over the house tomorrow" is acceptable to the speakers I know who use this.
It sounds like Christmas song lyrics about Santa. It has me glancing toward the roof or listening for choppers overhead and just takes me out of the conversation to a large degree.
I’m pretty sure I’ve said it, at least when younger. Like “a couple people” (which I’m pretty sure I’ve never said), dropping a word.
ReplyDeleteIf you’re Rosemary Clooney, you can even drop the “over.” :)
As soon as I saw the word "Rosemary" that song started in my head! I think it is because we were just talking of the "Sisters" number from Tr movie "White Christmas".
ReplyDeleteI just ADORE "Come On 'a My House"! Have you heard the live Eartha Kitt did in Japan??? It's full of Japanese lyrics and is thus pretty wild!
I had no idea there was such a thing. It’s amazing. Here’s a recording with good sound; here’s a live performance. Talk about making a song your own!
ReplyDelete