Date: Tue, 31 May 1994 04:06:41 -0400

From: Clayton Gillespie CLAYKE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DELPHI.COM

Subject: say-so



I need help with the origin of an obscure usage in Cajun

French. It seems that some years ago the English loan (or switch)

"say-so" had currency in Cajun French. In _Louisiana-French_ (1931), Wm

Reed says: Used in various ways, "un say-so de creme," for example,

is the equivalent of `a cone of ice cream'. Daigle's _Dictionary of

the Cajun Language_ (1984, not reliable but is one of the very few tools

that exist to work with) has: say-so (Engl.), n.m., Ice cream (in cone).

Smith & Phillips (1939, Am. Speech, 14:200) has: SAY SO |seso| An ice-

cream cone.



Does anybody have any idea of what English usage could have given rise

to this? To begin with, maybe somebody has a DARE at hand...



My grandparents are Tippidot Cajun, and so I have had the opportunity

to misapprehend the patois on many occasions. For example, to me,

"Mon cher" sounds like "Moe shah" when spoken in the patois. Perhaps

the above usage is a bad transcription of "soupc,on"?



This is an ignorant speculation, of course.



- Clayton Gillespie

Electra Software & Consulting

clayke[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]delphi.com