Date:  Tue, 25 Oct 1994 14:57:54 -0400

From:  PPATRICK[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GUVAX.BITNET

Subject: thanks for stopping!



The "Go/come with" questions reminded me of something I encountered

about 12 years ago. After college at UGA, I lived in Chapel Hill Nc

for a while and canvassed for ACORN all over central Carolina, working

out of Durham and going door-to-door to raise money (middle-class and

poorer folks) and organize (mostly poorer folks). Over and over people

would say to me at the end of an interaction (andd this was whether

they gave me money or not-- unless they were really upset at me),

    "Thanks for stopping." [actually, /stapIn/]

The first few times I wondered "stopping what?" and thought maybe

they'd left off the "in", or "by". Finally I just decided it was a

Carolina thing. Is this usage customary elsewhere? Do others from the

region know it? Again, this wasn't just in the big Triangle towns, but

also in Henderson, Oxford, Gray, working-class black neighborhoods in

Greensboro, etc.

    I don't hear it anymore now that I'm in DC. But then this is

not, contrary to popular opinion, a Southern town (even though NC is a

primary source of immigration, esp. African American), and I don't

knock on doors much anymore...

    --peter patrick