Carol Perkins: Waspers, Punkins, and Tators

A serious statement, with author's usual good humor, on language: "Old habits are hard to break," she says, and notes, "They ain't a gonna happen over night."

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To read her next previous story click on Mother's Day and Pity Parties

By Carol Perkins

Waspers, Punkins, and Tators

The butchering of the English language didn't originate in Kentucky, contrary to what critics of our state might say. We didn't buy the butcher shop. We inherited it.


In most rural areas, folks talk in their own tongue. I'm not referring to a eligious tongue, but a language of their own. For instance, around here words like wasper, punkin, tators, mators, baccer, and winder are common.

Would a stranger understand? It might take time. "Kill that wasper on that winder" might need an interpreter.

How could 'move ins' not notice

Most of our "move ins" notice our words. How could they not notice?

Some of us own more creative ones than others. These are typical around here.

1. Brung: I brung the money to you.
2. Knowed: I knowed he was up to something.
3. Plum: That saw cut plum through his fanger (finger).
4. Retch: Retch me that screwdriver. (Reach)
5. Learnt: You learnt me English, Mrs. Perkins
6. Growed: You have growed a foot.
7. Thowed: He thowed the football to the runner.
8. Packed: Grandma was sick so I packed her to the doctor.
9. Upair: Did you look upair for the box?
10. Summers: Hide the box summers.

I would never correct an adult, for that would be rude, but having a discussion with teenagers about right words and wrong words was once my job. I particularly recall a very sharp senior leaving my classroom slightly agitated because I had assured him wasper was NOT word. He didn't want to believe he had been wrong and that his language had betrayed him.

He was also surprised that snuck was not a word as in, "He snuck through the woods."

People repeat what they hear so if they hear words used incorrectly long enough, they believe these words are correct. They think I seen sounds better than I saw; I done sounds better than I did. I sung sounds better than I sang, and the bell rung sounds better than the bell rang. I wish some of those teaching your children would realize these are incorrect.

The worst word in the world is 'ain't'

The worst word in the world (I always told the young people in my family) is the word "ain't". Of course, that is not the worst word in the world, but I wanted to stress how much I didn't like hearing it.

Yes, it is in the dictionary under slang. Can you imagine a political candidate saying ain't?

The media would destroy his credibility.

"What does it matter? Who cares what words we use?" Ask anyone who has interviewed for a job how important the way he speaks is. Ask anyone who has ever been asked to speak publicly, whether at church or at a banquet or a business meeting, how important correctness is.

We're judged the minute we open our mouths

Whether right or wrong, the minute we open our mouths, we are judged.

We are either thought to be smart or not so smart; educated or uneducated.

That's is just a fact. Old habits are hard to break and "They ain't a gonna happen over night."

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About the author: Carol (Sullivan) Perkins is a lifelong resident of Edmonton, KY, in Metcalfe County where she taught high school English at Metcalfe County High School until her recent retirement. She is a now a freelance writer. is married to Guy Perkins and they have two children: Carla Green (Mark) of Brentwood, TN and Jon Perkins (Beth) of Austin, TX and six grandchildren. Her latest book, Let's Talk About, is a collection of over 70 of her works, and she is presently working on the second book in this series. Carol's ties to Adair County go back to Breeding where her grandfather, Rufus Reece, and her grandmother Bettie Strange, began their married life and later moved to Metcalfe County. You may contact Carol at cperkins@scrtc.com or write at P.O. Box 134 Edmonton. If you would like a copy of her book, you can order through email. Watch for her next story on Sunday, May 24, 2009.

This story was posted on 2009-05-17 12:33:33

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