# You purdy thang



## rosamc

Me gustaría saber qué significa la frase "You purdy thang". Muchas gracias


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## Masood

rosamc said:
			
		

> Me gustaría saber qué significa la frase "You purdy thang". Muchas gracias



Significa _'you pretty thing'_ (cosa bonita/hermosa etc)...en un acento estadounidense, pero del sur del pais, creo. Los estadounidenses te ayudarán más tarde, sin duda.


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## dave

Simplemente es 'you pretty thing' pero escrito en acento americano (quizá del 'sur profundo' de EEUU - algun colega americano nos puede confirmar el origen de este acento?)


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## niña

Purdy thang??? ¡Qué bárbaro!


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## Timmy C

Es una moda de dirigirse que usarías con una chica bonita, algo como "mi bonita". Puede usar con chico tambíen. "Purdy" es "pretty" escribido en el acento del estados sur del Estados Unidos.


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## paultucker79

Timmy C said:
			
		

> Es una moda de dirigirse que usarías con una chica bonita, algo como "mi bonita". Puede usar con chico tambíen. "Purdy" es "pretty" escribido en el acento del estados sur del Estados Unidos.



But it sounds absolutely awful. Being English I would hope to never come across this hideous saying


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## lauranazario

paultucker79 said:
			
		

> But it sounds absolutely awful. Being English I would hope to never come across this hideous saying



A little bit of tolerance, please... I'm sure not all British accents are 100% melodious. 

Let's all try to conduct ourselves in a polite manner.
Peace,
L.


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## cuchuflete

paultucker79 said:
			
		

> But it sounds absolutely awful. Being English I would hope to never come across this hideous saying



It is certainly a far cry from standard English.  It's more southwestern than southern.  

Being English, you may well have come upon parallels.  When I hitch-hiked from London to Brighton, I was offered a ride by a lorry driver.
He said things so strange to my ear that I had to strain to understand half of them.  He was, nonetheless, courteous, generous, and despite our differences in dialect, a good traveling companion.

Shall we cease spitting venom and spliting infinitives in our denunciations of what is simply foreign to us?  Why not just put it in the 'picturesque oddities' collection?

Best regards,
Cuchufléte


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## Slurpyboy

Well put Cuchuflete... one of the beauties of language is its variety, such as dialects and accents. Even you, being from Maine, would not sound like me who lives among the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. For example, every thing is so "wicked" in your area of the USA!

"Purdy Thang" is a sad attempt at the phonetic spelling of "Pretty Thing", exactly as it is pronounced in some areas of the United States. To be honest, even when I say the word "pretty" in normal speech, it sounds more like "Purdy".

I cannot see it ever being used in writing, other than to accentuate the dialect for reasons only the writer would know (maybe in a poem or a song).

Peace,

Slurpy


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## gotitadeleche

It is from U.S. southwest (for example Texas, where I am from). It is the way a cowboy would talk, not the ususal accent of the higher educated inhabitants (with no disrespect intended). A cowboy might say about a pretty lady or a horse "She shore is a purdy thang." Do I talk like that? Not in normal conversation, but when kidding around I might.


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## gotitadeleche

Slurpyboy said:
			
		

> I cannot see it ever being used in writing, other than to accentuate the dialect for reasons only the writer would know (maybe in a poem or a song).
> 
> Peace,
> 
> Slurpy



Or in novels about cowboys.


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## Focalist

Slurpyboy said:
			
		

> "Purdy Thang" is a sad attempt at the phonetic spelling of "Pretty Thing", exactly as it is pronounced in some areas of the United States


Why, "sad" attempt, Slurpy? It seems like a magnificently successful one to me, given some of the dog's breakfasts even famous authors can make of trying to represent "regional speech" (Charles Dickens is one of the worst offenders in this regard -- just _what_ dialect is that supposed to be that Dickens has the people of Coketown speaking in "Hard Times"?).

F


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## Focalist

lauranazario said:
			
		

> A little bit of tolerance, please... I'm sure not all British accents are 100% melodious.
> 
> Let's all try to conduct ourselves in a polite manner.
> Peace,
> L.


I agree with you totally, Laura, but I would just like to point out that Paul said "English", not "British". A great many of us would prefer not to be tarred with his English brush.

F


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## Slurpyboy

Focalist said:
			
		

> Why, "sad" attempt, Slurpy? It seems like a magnificently successful one to me, given some of the dog's breakfasts even famous authors can make of trying to represent "regional speech" (Charles Dickens is one of the worst offenders in this regard -- just _what_ dialect is that supposed to be that Dickens has the people of Coketown speaking in "Hard Times"?).
> 
> F



I meant no offense, what I meant was that there exists a way linguists truly write the phonetic transcription of a word or phrase, like you see in a dictionary, or on some of the papers I had to do when when I was in college studying Spanish phonetics. 

I don't believe that "Purdy Thang" is the way it would be written as a true phonetic transcription.


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## Focalist

Slurpyboy said:
			
		

> I meant no offense


None was taken. I was just curious.





> what I meant was that there exists a way linguists truly write the phonetic transcription of a word or phrase, like you see in a dictionary, or on some of the papers I had to do when when I was in college studying Spanish phonetics.
> 
> I don't believe that "Purdy Thang" is the way it would be written as a true phonetic transcription.


No, but then songwriters don't use the IPA in their lyrics, and that's the kind of place where you'll see "you pardy thang" written down.

F


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## lauranazario

Focalist said:
			
		

> I agree with you totally, Laura, but I would just like to point out that Paul said "English", not "British". A great many of us would prefer not to be tarred with his English brush.
> 
> F



If you go back to post #6 in this thread, you will see that Paultucker79 admits he's British (PLUS he lists his country as the U.K.)... hence my reply in post #7. That's all. Please don't lose sight of the fact that my main concern was to elicit tolerance and politeness... from everybody.

L.


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## cuchuflete

lauranazario said:
			
		

> Please don't lose sight of the fact that my main concern was to elicit tolerance and politeness... from everybody.
> 
> L.



Laura N for Nobel Peace Prize!!!!

OK, I hereby publicly retract the spitting venom from my post in reply to the gentlemen, regardless of his preference for British or English.  Sorry.

Cuchu


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## David Carter

Hola a todos,

Soy de Texas también originalmente (pero apoyo a  Kerry) y estoy de acuerdo que es un tipo de  acento de los estados de Texas, Oklahoma, y otro estados del sur de EEUU. es un tipo de complimento indirecto, posible un piropo, frequentemente hecho por hombres borrachos en una cantina. Ellos piensan es un complimento, pero faltan los modales buenos.

David


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## Focalist

lauranazario said:
			
		

> If you go back to post #6 in this thread, you will see that Paultucker79 admits he's British (PLUS he lists his country as the U.K.)... hence my reply in post #7. That's all. Please don't lose sight of the fact that my main concern was to elicit tolerance and politeness... from everybody.
> 
> L.


I don't need to go back to any post in this thread. I'm not totally stupid, L.: I do know that the English are British and that Britain is a part of the UK.

That is not the point. You answered Paul's "Being English" observation by one of your own on "British accents". To me, that was associating all Britons with the sentiments that Paul expressed as an Englishman. As I said, a case of tarring all Britons with the same English brush. No "hence" about it.

I have no reason to doubt that your main concern was to elicit tolerance and politeness; I simply question whether you achieved it.

F


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## rosamc

Slurpyboy said:
			
		

> Well put Cuchuflete... one of the beauties of language is its variety, such as dialects and accents. Even you, being from Maine, would not sound like me who lives among the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. For example, every thing is so "wicked" in your area of the USA!
> 
> "Purdy Thang" is a sad attempt at the phonetic spelling of "Pretty Thing", exactly as it is pronounced in some areas of the United States. To be honest, even when I say the word "pretty" in normal speech, it sounds more like "Purdy".
> 
> I cannot see it ever being used in writing, other than to accentuate the dialect for reasons only the writer would know (maybe in a poem or a song).
> 
> Peace,
> 
> Slurpy



La frase la encontré en una canción.

No pensé que iba a causar tanta discordia....   De todas formas, gracias a todos por contestar.


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## paultucker79

Maybe i was a bit strong when I posted my message about "you pardy thing" I meant there to be an "embarrased face" rather than an "angry face" on the end of my message. The reason I said what i said was because I am hoping that foreign folk will learn "correct" English. By that I don't necessarily mean that by having an accent makes the language incorrect. And obviously I realise that many foreigners speak English with an American accent as a result of their teachings and the television/films (movies!) that they watch.  was just pointing out that to hear something like "you purdy thang" is not a great comment to teach someone. I have no qualms letting someone know what it means but I just wouldn't recommend someone use it in their common lexicon, they would just get strange looks!!


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## cuchuflete

paultucker79 said:
			
		

> Maybe i was a bit strong when I posted my message about "you pardy thing" I meant there to be an "embarrased face" rather than an "angry face" on the end of my message. The reason I said what i said was because I am hoping that foreign folk will learn "correct" English. By that I don't necessarily mean that by having an accent makes the language incorrect. And obviously I realise that many foreigners speak English with an American accent as a result of their teachings and the television/films (movies!) that they watch.  was just pointing out that to hear something like "you purdy thang" is not a great comment to teach someone. I have no qualms letting someone know what it means but I just wouldn't recommend someone use it in their common lexicon, they would just get strange looks!!



Many thanks for the clarification.  I fully agree with you.  I lament that both 'foreign folk' as you say, and native speakers commit such atrocities against English.  I have been seen, often, telling people that 'wanna', 'gonna', and such are not words in English.

Please note the quote from your 'Royals' below,

Cuchufléte


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## lauranazario

Focalist said:
			
		

> I don't need to go back to any post in this thread. I'm not totally stupid, L.: I do know that the English are British and that Britain is a part of the UK.
> 
> That is not the point. You answered Paul's "Being English" observation by one of your own on "British accents". To me, that was associating all Britons with the sentiments that Paul expressed as an Englishman. As I said, a case of tarring all Britons with the same English brush. No "hence" about it.
> 
> I have no reason to doubt that your main concern was to elicit tolerance and politeness; I simply question whether you achieved it.
> 
> F



The latter part of the posts in this thread lead me to believe that I accomplished my goal... with a few notable exceptions.


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## cuchuflete

Isn't it interesting how one's reading of a line or word can lead to needless, and at times, unfounded, discord.  Here's an example, free of accent: 


			
				Focalist said:
			
		

> To me, that was associating all Britons with the sentiments that Paul expressed as an Englishman.


.

"To me" is the key to this particular bit of discord.  While F took this, 





			
				lauranazario said:
			
		

> I'm sure not all British accents are 100% melodious


 as somehow accusing all British/English speakers of intolerance!

To me, (without quote marks) this is a case of a reader bringing something to a text, and then 'finding' it within the text, and then taking issue with what was 'discovered'.

L never made any remark about the attitudes of English speakers.  Try as one might, it is simply not there, neither explicit nor implied by any visible context.

I am reminded of a childhood verse--

Today I saw upon the stair
a little man who wasn't there.

He wasn't there again today.
Oh, how I wish he'd go away.


Peace, brothers and sisters!
Cuchu


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## lauranazario

cuchufléte said:
			
		

> Peace, brothers and sisters!
> Cuchu



A big _*AMEN*_ to that. 
L.


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## ines

lauranazario said:
			
		

> A big _*AMEN*_ to that.
> L.



Adhiero con el pedido de Cuchu y el AMEN de Laura, foreros, veníamos tan bien sin entrar en discusiones y ayudándonos a crecer en todo sentido entre todos... volvamos al buen humor y a la buena onda.


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## lauranazario

ines said:
			
		

> Adhiero con el pedido de Cuchu y el AMEN de Laura, foreros, veníamos tan bien sin entrar en discusiones y ayudándonos a crecer en todo sentido entre todos... volvamos al buen humor y a la buena onda.



_*Foreros*_... ¡me encanta esa palabra! Y me gusta porque pienso que es lo opuesto a "forasteros". Poco a poco nos estamos convirtiendo en "familia", sin importar dónde vivimos.

Y como en toda familia, siempre surgirá alguno que otro "roce" entre los integrantes... la clave está en "no buscar bulla"... una frase muy común acá que significa _to not look for trouble_ o no buscar peleas.

Saludos.


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## Edison49

Timmy C said:
			
		

> Es una moda de dirigirse que usarías con una chica bonita, algo como "mi bonita". Puede usar con chico tambíen. "Purdy" es "pretty" escribido en el acento del estados sur del Estados Unidos.





permíteme corregir lo que escribiste:


se dice "escrito", y no escribido


saludos


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## snoomip

It's also used in a joking manner by many people. It's kind of like how here in Seville some people put in their emails "Musha grasia" or something like that. 

I've run into people with weird accents all over the place, in Spanish and English. Whenever this sort of thing comes up on this forum I start to think of Spud from "Trainspotting". They had to put subtitles to be able to understand him.

Peace!


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## Lizajoy

Well thank goodness no one asked about "purdy l'il thang" 


Peace & Love,
Lizajoy


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## GregorioC

Hi everyone!

It's interesting to think of "improper" English as evidence of robust linguistic evolution. "Purdy", to a native English-speaker (from our north-eastern States, atleast)  sounds like a gross pronunciation error by the under-educated. It also reminds me (forgive me paultucker79!) of the rediculous, intentional bending of accent employed by Mick Jagger to somehow authenticate the "earthiness" of his lyrics.

"Purdy" is so outragious a mispronounciation as to be regarded as parody and would never be acceptable here, North or South. Yet, I recall our President Carter, himself a nuclear scientist, caused national wincing with his ubiquitous references to "new-coo-la" power!

Cuchuflente and I are most likely to refer to our geographical affiliation as Northerners by pronouncing it "Naw-then-iz". When I was very young, I can recall listening to my Irish relatives speaking English. A good twenty-percent of their words I found undecipherable because of regional accent and to follow the conversation required concentration on context to fill in the gaps.  Now that's no purdy a'tall, is it?

¡Hasta la proxima vez!


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## GregorioC

Can't we all just git along?


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## snoomip

In a weird Lenny-from-"Of Mice and Men" sort of way, "purdy little thang" sounds endearing. 

I agree with GregorioC. We just need to "git"!


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## Starchild1980

rosamc, para finalmente contestar su pregunta, si es una forma de decir "you pretty thing" con un acento estadounidense del sur, hablado tanto entre los vaqueros como los afro-americanos por que acuerdese de que hay afro-americanos en el sur y lo he escuchado por ambos.  Perdon mi español, pero solo quiero terminar esta discordia entre todos.


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