they - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
they, thae adv There (to introduce a clause). [they Scottish form; cf snd (at there), possibly from false analysis of there’re (pronounced as there) as being a contraction of they + are; citations for 1912, 1921 and 2002 reflect this reanlysis.]
Ulst.:
1912 O’Neill Songs of Glens 37 There’ nobody can rightly tell the colour of his eyes, This Johneen.
1921 O’Neill More Songs of Glens 11 Never think I’m wantin’ to miscall the race o’ men, / There’ not a taste o’ harm in them, the cratures!
1953 Traynor Donegal Glossary 301 = the phrase they are means ‘it is’ … : ‘Is there a sitting room upstairs? They are’.
c1970 Gregg Blaakberries Thae wur yänst a wee gerrl wuz sweepin the fläer whun she fun a säxpenz.
2002 Gillen Wizard’s Quill 29 There a lot o’ trectors noo of course, / But I’m in no hurry to sell mae horse.
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 249 Ir they oany left? If they wur naen tae be got whut wud ye dae?
U.S.:
1871 Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster 146 They’s always some sums too hard fer a feller.
1937 Hall Coll They used to be a puncheon floor in it, but my father tuck it up.
c1999 Sutton Me and Likker 31 I told him I couldn’t do that or they would be a whole bunch of people after my ass for not saving them a jar of it.
