How To Talk Like a South Dakotian By Alice Laird Rapport

The next time you head across the crick to yer old stompin' grounds, lookin' for a hot dish and some pop fer supper, stop spittin' seeds, go to the biffy, warsh yer hands, say yer grace, fill yer white plate with white bread (slathered with salad dressing, never mayo), white potatoes, white cauliflower, and a white chicken breast — and don't call it dinner if yer at the neighbors who live kitty corner cuz they're feathers are pertnear ruffled already. 

If you go hog wild and bust up the place, leave a hunnert on the couch on yer way back to yer neck o' the woods. Ya sher, you betcha, that's the god's honest truth.

By Alice Laird Rapport

Not long after I started working in Washington, D.C., I announced to my coworkers that I was going to the snack bar for a "pop." 

Well, that got me several questioning looks. So, that was the start of my learning to speak in East coast terms, albeit begrudgingly. I found that sometimes it's the words themselves and sometimes it's the pronunciation. And, sometimes it's a phrase or expression.

Carole Tonigan and I have been having fun compiling the following examples of some of the very local-Aberdeen words and expressions that we all grew up saying.

Please add to our list in the comments section and please keep talking the South Dakota way, wherever you may be.

Our Words

Pop, not soda

Filling station, not gas station

Hot dish, not casserole

Kitty corner, not catty corner

Supper, not dinner? When is supper, anyway?

You betcha, just because we say it — and sometimes after, Yah, shur.
Okey-dokey, not just okay

Drouth, not drought

Pertnear, not pretty near

Couch, not sofa

Biffy (where did this come from?), rather than restroom

Yeah and/or ya--another just because we say it

Our Pronunciations

Creek, pronounced "crick"

Roof and root, we say them with a "short u," not a "long u"

For, sounds like fer, as in, We bought that bike fer about a hunnert bucks.
Hundred, pronounced hunnert

Wash, usually has an "r", as in warsh

Coyote, any USD person knows the e on the end is silent

Our Expressions
My old stomping grounds

Our neck of the woods

In a jiffy

If I had my druthers

Slow as molasses in January

Knee high to a grasshopper

Ruffle your feathers

Come with

Hog wild

Spittin' seeds, as in sunflower seeds

Another 50th Reunion! By Alice Laird Rapport

1966 was a great year to graduate from Aberdeen’s Central High School and it was a great year for the Aberdeen Pheasant's Major League Baseball affiliate, the Baltimore Orioles.  In 1966, the Orioles won baseball’s World Series in a stunning upset over Sandy Koufax’s Los Angeles' Dodgers.  In that championship series, several former Pheasant players made important contributions.

Growing up in Aberdeen, especially during our high school years, left many of our Class of '66 with captured memories, including spending Summer evenings at the former Pheasants’ Municipal Ball Park.  We saw some good baseball as well as having fun being with our friends.  As players moved up through the Orioles farm system, we followed their progress and felt connected when they made the majors.

Recently, on July 8, 2016, prior to a home game, the Orioles honored members of their 1966 championship team by celebrating the 50^th anniversary of that 1966 World Series Victory.  How lucky was I to attend another 50^th reunion one month following the 50th reunion of our Class of '66?

1964 Northern League Champions - Aberdeen Pheasants

There were seven former Pheasant players on the 1966 Oriole team, although only two were at the anniversary game, Jim Palmer and Eddie Watt.  Both players were star pitchers of the 1964 Northern League Champion Pheasants.  Palmer starred for the Orioles over 16 years and was inducted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1990.  Eddie Watt was the star pitcher for the ’64 Pheasants with a 14-1 win-loss record and spent 10 years in the majors.  The remaining former Pheasants on the 1966 Oriole team included Steve Barber, Mark Belanger, Frank Bertaina, Andy Etchebarren and Tom Phoebus.

Jim Palmer's 1966 Rookie Card

Eddie Watt's 1966 Rookie Card

Enjoy the pictures of these memorable Pheasants, and the 50th anniversary of their World Series championship.  Please share your baseball memories, 
and please don't forget..Let's Go O's

 

Reunion Connections by Alice Laird

Alice Laird

The Central High School class of 1966 reunion offered many opportunities to reconnect with our classmates.  It also provided opportunities to reestablish connections within that larger connection that we all share.  Some attendees talked about those classmates they had been with since elementary school.  We enjoyed some kindergarten and first grade pictures and had fun trying to identify little faces.  We also heard about the camaraderie shared by the members of our sports teams.  And we even heard stories about the pranks that united a few of our classmates who had a common mission to have some fun.  We also recognized those who had served in the military--so many because of the time we graduated.  Perhaps the most difficult was the recognition of the connections we have lost because we have classmates who are no longer with us.

One classmate, who has chosen to remain anonymous, provided all of "the girls" who were together at Sacred Heart School with sparkly red bracelets as a reminder of one of those many connections.  Thank you so much, it will be treasured.