178 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
the people a new word introduced with blasting, 
supplied withthe convenient singular " f u. " * * Oxen ' ' 
is singular, and the plural of course is "oxes." The 
men still wear "galluses" — as they did in New 
England a generation ago. 
The efforts of the people to comprehend the sub- 
tleties of grammar is well illustrated by one of them 
who, anxious to speak correctly, asked whether, 
when a piece of work was all finished, it was better 
to say it was "done done" or "plumb done"; and 
another, in an effort to be exact, explained, of some- 
thing that you thought ought to be, "Oh, it's ben a 
bein' a long time." 
The usual illiterate transformations have taken 
place in the use of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. 
"Reckon you'll have wood enough to do you until 
to-morrow?" the boy inquires. "John, did you give 
me out?" a woman asks her husband whom she has 
kept waiting. People here do not "carry," they 
"tote"; and they "reckon" instead of "think," 
though when they think hard, they "study." In- 
stead of saying you must do a thing, you say you 
are "obliged" to do it. "I'm obliged to go home 
and get the dinner," the woman with whom you 
have been talking says apologetically as she leaves 
you. That the "moon fulls to-night" is an interest- 
ing fact, for soon, that is, on the "dark of the moon," 
you can plant your corn. 
"Gwine" in some places takes the place of "go," 
and you freely hear such expressions as "gwine to 
gwine," "done gwine," and even "done done 
