AmazonMidwife

...to create a blog post from comments from another blog? Too bad, I'm doing it anyway.

So, I was perusing Slog today and one of my favorite contributors, Paul Constant, posted a link to a map which color-coded the United States based on usage of 'pop', 'soda', or 'coke' to name a generic, carbonated, sugared beverage. There are lots of grammar/linguistics geeks on Slog, so there were lots of comments in the 'bag' v. 'sack', 'sucker' v. 'lollipop' vein, as well as 'pop' v. 'soda' et. al. I weighed in with this:

Okay, I grew up with 'pop' and 'sack' in NE OH, but my grandparents were from Shenendoah County, Va, so that explains it. What I've never been to etymologize is their phrase for clearing the table of dishes after a meal---'rid up the table'. Anybody got a clue?

and within an hour was rewarded with this:

'rid up the table'

REGIONAL NOTE The terms redd and redd up came to the American Midlands from the many Scottish immigrants who settled there. Meaning “to clear an area or to make it tidy,” redd is still used in Scotland and Northern Ireland; in the United States it is especially common in Pennsylvania as the phrasal verb redd up. The term, which goes back to Old Norse rydhja, can be traced from the 15th century to the present, particularly in dialects of Scotland and the North of England.

from a poster whose moniker is "shell or boomba?"

My response:

Thanks, sob. That makes so much sense, because that was how my grandma pronounced it, but I just attributed it to her accent and mentally adjusted it to 'rid'. The ethnicity was spot on as well, though they skipped through PA to get to OH.

I love my blog communities! So, to pass it on, which words did/do you use?