Dad Blame

Discuss the November 2015 book of the month, Ruby's Choice by D.F. Jones
User avatar
Momlovesbooks
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 328
Joined: 13 Apr 2015, 12:49
Currently Reading: A Book for Oreo
Bookshelf Size: 253
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-momlovesbooks.html
Latest Review: Winter's Kiss by H.L. Hines

Re: Dad Blame

Post by Momlovesbooks »

It's a Southern term, but doesn't have to be used by hillbillies in overalls. I remember my grandmother saying variations of it.
User avatar
DennisK
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 470
Joined: 12 Jun 2015, 19:00
Favorite Author: Ken Follett
Currently Reading: Light in August
Bookshelf Size: 39
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-dennisk.html
Reading Device: B00L89V1AA
fav_author_id: 3559

Post by DennisK »

OK, you don't HAVE to wear overalls, but it would certainly help. If I would read a New York gangster using that term, I would cease to believe in the character. How about an Italian romeo jumping up exclaiming, “Dag Namit!” The very thought makes me laugh. Stereotyping a character is much of what literature does. In that context, I suppose all readers and writers are bigots. If I were developing a character who used that kind of language, it would be someone who was close to the land, prone to curse, and probably wore his baseball cap, backwards. May God help me! .
User avatar
bookowlie
Special Discussion Leader
Posts: 9071
Joined: 25 Oct 2014, 09:52
Favorite Book: The Lost Continent
Currently Reading: The Night She Went Missing
Bookshelf Size: 442
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bookowlie.html
Latest Review: To Paint A Murder by E. J. Gandolfo

Post by bookowlie »

Well said DennisK. As the gangster would say, "Fuggedabodit."
"The best way out is always through" - Robert Frost
User avatar
DennisK
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 470
Joined: 12 Jun 2015, 19:00
Favorite Author: Ken Follett
Currently Reading: Light in August
Bookshelf Size: 39
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-dennisk.html
Reading Device: B00L89V1AA
fav_author_id: 3559

Post by DennisK »

:obscene-smokingpimp:
:lol:
User avatar
bookowlie
Special Discussion Leader
Posts: 9071
Joined: 25 Oct 2014, 09:52
Favorite Book: The Lost Continent
Currently Reading: The Night She Went Missing
Bookshelf Size: 442
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bookowlie.html
Latest Review: To Paint A Murder by E. J. Gandolfo

Post by bookowlie »

Somehow the Southern phrases seem like something outsiders never understand, while NY slang expressions make sense.

Or is it just me?
"The best way out is always through" - Robert Frost
User avatar
DennisK
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 470
Joined: 12 Jun 2015, 19:00
Favorite Author: Ken Follett
Currently Reading: Light in August
Bookshelf Size: 39
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-dennisk.html
Reading Device: B00L89V1AA
fav_author_id: 3559

Post by DennisK »

bookowlie wrote:Somehow the Southern phrases seem like something outsiders never understand, while NY slang expressions make sense.

Or is it just me?
I don't know about that, as I would have never guessed what "grinder" meant.
User avatar
bookowlie
Special Discussion Leader
Posts: 9071
Joined: 25 Oct 2014, 09:52
Favorite Book: The Lost Continent
Currently Reading: The Night She Went Missing
Bookshelf Size: 442
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bookowlie.html
Latest Review: To Paint A Murder by E. J. Gandolfo

Post by bookowlie »

"Grinder" is not used in NY at all...it's a New England term. Although it's still the Northeast, New Englanders have their own unique expressions and culture. :)
"The best way out is always through" - Robert Frost
User avatar
Bigwig1973
Previous Member of the Month
Posts: 1007
Joined: 16 Apr 2020, 19:57
Favorite Book: Notes from Underground
Currently Reading: The Elements of Style
Bookshelf Size: 503
Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-bigwig1973.html
Latest Review: You, This Is Me...OVER?! by Clinton Beaudel Dooley

Post by Bigwig1973 »

A complaint of mine - never more than in the computer realm: Mouse, worm, etc... It's like we ran out of words; so we have to reuse the ones we already have. Why can't we just makeup a new word for those things that are new? Dennis K

We can't just make up new words because in psychology, schizophrenics who make up "new" words are insane and these words are called "neologisms". I'm assuming there are other criteria for making up new words. Perhaps someone else, or a lot of people heard that and now they are paranoid. Someone's gotta do it, though!

As to "Dad Blame!" - this book is the only place I've ever heard the expression. I've come across "Dag nab it!" which I think means about the same thing, but could also be interpreted as "Someone referred to as Dag ought to take/steal something"

Makes me think of the movie when Brad Pitt (Mickey) asks "DJew like dags?" Of course, everyone likes dogs.
"...I'd discuss the holy books with the learned man...and that would be the sweetest thing of all...would it foil some vast, eternal plan..." Hamick Fiddler on the Roof

La Belle Dame Sans Mercy, Merci, Maria - Chartier, Keats, Hamik?
Post Reply

Return to “"Ruby's Choice" by by D.F. Jones”