Words and">and">and">and Their Stories: A Final D.A.R.E.

24 March 2012

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we talk about words like

honeyfuggle

and">and

pinkletink

,

puckerbrush

and">and

swop

. These are words not found in most dictionaries. But you can find them in the Dictionary of American Regional English. Joan Houston Hall is the chief editor.

JOAN HOUSTON HALL: "The Dictionary of American Regional English, familiarly known as DARE by its acronym, is a collection of words and">and phrases and">and pronunciations and">and even bits of grammar and">and syntax that vary from one part of the country to another."

The fifth and">and final book in the series was published last week. Work on DARE first began in nineteen sixty-five under Frederic Cassidy, an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and">and a team of eighty researchers traveled across the United States to document the words used by Americans to describe their daily lives.

Ms. Hall says the final project is based on almost two and">and a half million responses to more than sixteen hundred questions.

JOAN HOUSTON HALL: "The questionnaire dealt with all sorts of things that have to do with our daily lives -- from time and">and weather and">and food and">and clothing and">and farming and">and plants and">and animals and">and religion, health, disease, honesty, dishonesty -- all the parts of our lives that we have words for."