Date:  Fri, 17 May 1996 11:05:24 +0000

From:  Grant Barrett <gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JERRYNET.COM>

Subject: RE> Yuz



Missouri is in many ways a divided state. East Central Missouri (maybe Me=

xico, Kingdom City, Troy, Union, Hermann, Washington, possibly Rolla) is =

dialectically different than Southeast Missouri (Doniphan, Popular Bluff,=

 Greenville, Piedmont, Silva, Lutesville, the Bootheel etc.). Even the Li=

ttle Dixie speech of Mexico and other parts of Audrain county is differen=

t than the Ozark/Arkansas drawl of Southeast Missouri.=20



My aunt (my father's sister) travels to St. Louis once or twice a year an=

d to the best of my knowledge does not know anyone in Illinois except her=

 brother, my uncle. We are talking about a woman that did not get indoor =

plumbing until the mid-eighties. She works in a pool hall, managing the f=

lea market. Her husband is a big rig driver and runs a saw mill.



My father, who is from Southeast Missouri, and my mother, from St. Louis,=

 have different modes of speech but grew up only 150 miles apart.=20



--------------------------------------

Date: 5/17/96 10:43 AM

From: Steven K. Brehe

> aunt who has lived in Southeast Missouri her entire life says

>"yuz" as=3D

> in, "Yuz want to come back to the house for some cake?" The pronunciat=

io=3D

> n is between schwa and a "oo" in "foot". She uses it for singular and p=

lu=3D

> ral.



I grew up in rural east central Missouri, west of St. Louis,

and never, ever heard "Yuz" from native Missourians, although

I certainly heard "youse" in Illinois, esp. in the Chicago

area. (I must confess I don't know SE MO very well.)

Is it possible your aunt in eastern MO picked up this usage

from friends in western IL?







Steven Brehe

sbrehe[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nugget.ngc.peachnet.edu