Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 14:05:41 -0600 From: "Timothy C. Frazer" Subject: Re: Blessings and other southern euphemisms I have a student who wants to work on the history of the origin of "Bless you" for sneezing. Any ideas on bibliographic help? Where to start? Thanks, Tim Frazer On Mon, 27 Oct 1997, Gregory {Greg} Downing wrote: > At 09:07 AM 10/27/97 -0600, you wrote: > >David A. Johns wrote: > >> In my experience (pre-southern) expressions like "bless his heart" > >> were used by old ladies when talking about a child who had done > >> something good: "He brought me a flower from the garden, bless his > >> heart." There was no question that the expression was positive. > >> > >I believe the expression as used above contains a note of pathos. It's > >almost always directed at either a young person, an old person (who may > >have some sort of health problem), or a sick person. The intention is > >positive, but with pity, and it's not the same as "isn't that sweet." > > > > My wife's second cousin (about 60 y.o.) and aunt (about 90), both from the > lower Delmarva peninsula, used this phrase quite a bit in the mid 1990's. > The second cousin could rarely get far in a conversation with my wife > without using it. But I suspect they used it as an expression of intimacy or > familiarity or affection more than pity, given the context. (Admittedly, > though, this whole range of ideas does tend to become connected in some ways > -- cp. the connotational range of diminutive suffixes in romance langauges, > where either familiarity and/or contempt can be connoted). > > (Possibly relevant to the "using it to a child" idea, I should point out > that my wife is many decades younger than her cousin and aunt were, due to > late reproduction in my wife's part of the family.) > > Gregory {Greg} Downing, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu >