I was born in Charleston; do I get to celebrate my 8,888th post?

Or rather, my ayutt-thousand, ayutt-hundred, ayty-ayudth post? My mother was the Charlestonian, and though she left most of her geech locutions behind, she still called the newspaper the "pay-uh-puh" and a boat a "bo-uht" for as long as she could talk. I tend to do so too, not so much to tease her posthumously but to treasure her memory in a small way.

Apologies to the 90-some percent of you who have no idea what I'm talking about!:D

If you had been born in Tampa, we would cut you some slack :P

from McClellanville. She too was born in The Holy City.

180

:P

I had many black friends in the fishing business. They laugh at me because I could not understand them much of the time.

Old Moses he be pointing saying "De pint de pint" I be searching through our stuff for the bumpee bottle of vodka.

He say "No no de pint" Oh I am supposed to steer "de bo'et to de pint."

Then he say "You crazy man." Moses often tell me so.

Old Moses he be gone long time now. But he never call me oneighty. Just Eddie.

Damn it

180

My ex-girlfriend's family are shrimpers down there. (Her grandfather was universally known as Geech; the family operated a restaurant called Captain Geech's for a while.)

did not venture North to McClellanville as far as I know. As a shrimper I never went down there either.

A lot of boats came down from the Beaufort North Carolina area and worked out of the South Carolina fishing villages.

My in-laws are Geechies. Cumbee is the family name. They lived on Daufuskie Island; sixty sixty-five years ago. Captain Joe, my father in law was a well known Tug Boat Captain and Charleston Harbor Pilot.

I used to have the 'Lord Ashley Cooper' English/Gullah Dictionary. You might re-call he was a writer for the Charleston Evening Post. Sadly the Gullah dialect is fading from memory.

Eight I think could be spelled ay'et.

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Funny that I forgot to specify NC/SC just because Beaufort and Beaufort are pronounced differently. I must be brain damaged. Anyway, I meant SC.

Yes, my dad brought my mom the News & Courier/ Post/Courier every Sunday for as long as she could still read and I think for some years thereafter. She stuck with Lord Ashley for as long as he ran.

As to spelling geechie eight such that anybody who doesn't already know how it's pronounced would get it, I think it's impossible. "Ay" without a consonant in front of it is mostly pronounced "I," so "eh-yut" would probably work best, but it looks horrible. I could ask my still-living aunt, but as she's a true Charlestonian, I don't even think she knows she talks funny.

with help from my wife. We have the Ashley Cooper 'Dictionary of Charlestonese' by Ashley Cooper, AKA John B.Gilbreth author of 'Cheaper by the Dozen' And (Bells on Their Toes)?

Another writer for the Post 'Jack LeLand' was a close friend and neighbor of my wife's family in Buck Hall/ Doe Hall area South of McClellanvile by about six miles on Rt. Seventeen.

We had a number of shrimper friends from Salterpath-New Bern N.C. They came to McClellanville every summer. We had a small restaurant/pool hall in McClellanville also.

Our main business was a hydraulic clam dredge (The Vicky Mary) and crabbing. I crewed on many a trawler and worked as far south as St. Augustine Fla. Also did some off shore grouper and snapper and rock shrimp fishing/trawling.

A hard life.

180

Isn't that the number of the Beast's Accountant?

they eat a lot of rice and worship their ancestors.

(I live in North Charleston.) Piccolo Spoleto catalog just came out. Lots of neat stuff I'll get to miss this year.