![\"Book](\"https:\/\/brianjnoggle.com\/bsgfx\/howtotalkpureozark.jpg\")
<\/a>This book<\/a> is very similar to How To Speak Southern<\/a><\/em>. It was written by a newspaperman (in this instance, a Springfield newspaper editor) based on some columns or essays, and this one dates back to 1961. It did not get nationwide distribution, though: this is a chapbook and was probably only locally distributed and not for very long.<\/p>\nIt also collects phonetically spelled Ozark accent words in a dictionary form; however, this one had thinner, less humorous definitions, so it was a bit less enjoyable to go through. It has a lot of overlap with the later collection (not directly–nobody’s plagiarizing here), but enough so that it was not fresh. Sometimes I had to read the words a couple of times because in some instances, instead of giving a definition, the word would include a sample of it in an Ozarks sentence. Which was full of other Ozarks words, so I had to read it a couple of times to figure out what word it was supposed to be. You know, having to work for the punch line doesn’t make humor more rewarding.<\/p>\n
As in the previous book, this one includes something I didn’t think was a particular Southernism: The word mull<\/em> meaning “to think over.” Of course, in this instance, it only identifies the definition of the word and not its etimology, so I have no idea why this is particularly Southern. <\/p>\n So I didn’t really learn anything from the book, and I’m not sure how true-to-life it is 50+ years after it was written. Much of the Pure Ozark sounds a lot like South City Hoosier. Of course, the line of my family that lived in Lemay a long time and pronounced the French invisible R in toilet<\/em> and wash<\/em> originated in the Ozarks anyway. So there I go.<\/p>\n Books mentioned in this review:<\/b>
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