Laurence Brown is a British writer and YouTuber who somehow convinced the city of Chicago to let him in. He is an English Language graduate from Lancaster University and a passionate word etymologist, with a particular interest in British and American neologisms. Since moving to the United States, he has become increasingly curious about Britain's historical influence on American culture and about America in general.
Southeast Kansas/Southwest Missouri. Ornery is pronounced “onn’ry” here. And it’s very difficult to convince the natives it is spelled o-r-n-e-r-y.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in SW Pennsylvania and have known ornery (actually all these words) my whole life. I have always understood ornery to suggest bad-tempered, uncooperative, unpleasant to deal with. One expression: He's as ornery as a hungover skunk!
ReplyDeleteIn middle Tennessee, pronounced orn'ry. I understand it to mean irritable, peeved. It is used in the Appalachian Christmas carol
ReplyDelete"I Wonder as I Wander" ...
"I wonder as I wander Out under the sky
How Jesus the Savio(u)r did come for to die
For poor ornery people like you and like I
I wonder as I wander Out under the sky."
yes ornery is used in Alabama to mean being in a very bad mood. Sometimes it is used more commonly for the elderly when they are in a particularly bad mood.
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