Say What?
I grew up southern. There are just some words that I have always thought everybody knew and used. It comes as a great shock to me to discover that this is not so. Take, for instance, the perfectly good word "tump".
In everyday usage, you might say "Keerful, don't tump over yore trike". Or, "go tump out 'at bucket a' taters and fetch it back to the house".
Now I go and learn over at Possumblog that apparently, there are those that feel that its usage should raise eyebrows.
Show of hands: how many Fragments readers never hear'd of this wonderful and useful word? Come on. Fess up. Bless ya l'il hearts.
Comments
Neeeever heard of it.
I'm guessing, though, that Yiddish isn't big in the boondocks. ;-)
Posted by: Meryl Yourish | October 8, 2002 10:00 PM
[Raising hand at back of classroom]: Ummm, Mr. First? Will this be on the test?
;-)
Posted by: Curt | October 8, 2002 11:59 PM
Tump? Nope. Definitely not an East Tennessee word.
I've got a dope and a moon pie in yonder. The nice lady at the store put 'em in a poke for me. I'll just go and savor those epicurean delights whilst I cogitate on tump.
Posted by: Jim | October 9, 2002 9:04 AM
Je n' comprende pas....tump? Blog on!
Posted by: Bene Diction | October 9, 2002 9:24 PM
Tump? I'm going to try this one in my next game of Yahoo! Word Racer and see what they say. If I get "no such word" then honey, there ain't no such word.
Posted by: michele | October 10, 2002 7:36 AM
From Mr. Webster his own sef...I'll have you know.
Main Entry: 2tump
Function: verb
Etymology: perhaps akin to British dialect tumpoke to fall head over heels
Date: 1967
intransitive senses chiefly Southern : to tip or turn over especially accidentally -- usually used with over
transitive senses, chiefly Southern : to cause to tip over : OVERTURN, UPSET -- usually used with over
Posted by: fredf | October 10, 2002 8:02 AM
Well, all I can say is: try it out next time you see someone or something tumping over. Did you see that possum tump over? or: Yup, dern kid tumped right over in that mudhole. (Yah, it's ok to split the conjugated form from the auxiliary.) An extremely satisfying word.
Posted by: Quana | October 10, 2002 11:10 PM
As a native Arkansan, I know exactly what it means to tump. I heard it on float trips down the Buffalo and White rivers all my life. If you tump over your canoe, you will end up all wet. And then you have to retrieve your beers before they float away.
Posted by: Kris | October 12, 2002 5:46 AM
Yeah, I thought it was just in Texas as in the dog tumped over the garbage can or I tumped over the coffee cup. Here's a fun one, "ice house"; I think it's local only to San Antonio and environs and means a convenience store (ie 7-11)
Posted by: Tom | December 3, 2002 8:33 PM
Yeah, I thought it was just in Texas as in the dog tumped over the garbage can or I tumped over the coffee cup. Here's a fun one, "ice house"; I think it's local only to San Antonio and environs and means a convenience store (ie 7-11)
Posted by: Tom | December 3, 2002 8:33 PM
It is common in at least one mid-sized city. I grew up in Louisville, Ky., and many people in Louisville use this word. I've spoken with several people from rural Kentucky, and they swear it's a "big city" word. I don't say "y'all" or "aint," but I do say "tump."
Posted by: mike | December 4, 2002 1:58 PM
I've been tumpin' stuff over all my life! I thought it was a Texas word. I lived in Florida for a few years, no one knew what the hell I was talking about.
Posted by: Kelly | October 15, 2006 6:23 PM