# you'uns put a bottom to your stomach



## raffavita

Hi everybody,
I'm reading a book and found this passage a bit difficult.
At lunch time, a family is gathered around the table and their mother says:
 "Set and eat. You'uns put a bottom to your stomach."

I assume that "uns" here stands for "ones", but I'm not sure. The apostrophe puzzles me.
What does the expression "put a bottom to your stomach" mean?
Thank you very much in advance.
Raffuzza


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## pescara

Ciao rafs,
You'uns is just a dialect expression for the plural you (voi).

I have never heard the expression "put a bottom to your stomach."  It sounds like it might mean "put something in your stomach" but let's see what others think.

Ciao.


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## raffavita

Hi Pescara. I think you're right. It must be something like that. It sounds new to me (as many other expressions do, ). 
Thank you so much.


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## pescara

Raf,
Can you give us any other information about the character speaking this, like where she is from?  This sounds like "country" language.  Maybe with more information we can find a better explanation.

Ciao.


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## raffavita

The setting is a small country in Kentucky.
Does it make sense?
 Thank you again.


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## pescara

raffavita said:


> The setting is a small country in Kentucky.
> Does it make sense?
> Thank you again.


 
Yes, that kind of language would be typical of that region.  Maybe someone on the Forum who is familiar with the local dialect can tell us what the expression means???


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## TimLA

The "uns" could be interpreted as "ones" - "you ones" - the "ones" being an "extra" word like "all" in "y'all".

I'm guessing that "put a bottom to your stomach" means to "fill up", "eat hearty".

Also note the "set" and eat - wrong. It should be "sit and eat" - but the "set" would be common in the South.


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## raffavita

It's really strange since in Italian we have the expression "dare fondo alle provviste"  (to consume them). I'm not sure it's the same. Maybe not, but what sounds funny is "fondo" which is also one possible translation for "bottom."

Thank you Pescara, thank you Tim.


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## Claudio_it

I was wondering, couldn't it mean to stop eating, meaning to put something to close your stomach (as if there were a hole and you go on eating).
It is only a try anyway


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## raffavita

Hi Claudio it,

Actually, the previous sentence the mother utters is "set and eat", so they must be starting to eat. She's inviting them to eat. But I agree with you that the following sentence is very strange.
Thank you very much.
Raffuzza


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## Claudio_it

You're right, it woudln't have had much sense.


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## TrentinaNE

raffavita said:


> The setting is a small country in Kentucky.


Do you mean *county*? 

Elisabetta


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## raffavita

Yep, a small county.

Grazieeee.


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## ulyssem

Could that mean that they have to add a button to their clothes, either trousers or shirts, like to a larger size, as an invitation to eat a lot and get fatter? As it happens in the countryside typical hospitality from all over the world!


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## london calling

ulyssem said:


> Could that mean that they have to add a button to their clothes, either trousers or shirts, like to a larger size, as an invitation to eat a lot and get fatter? As it happens in the countryside typical hospitality from all over the world!


No, where did you get the word _button_ from? They say "bottom" (fondo) in the original.

Secondo me l'interpretazione di Tim è quella giusta: _riempitevi lo stomaco.
_


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## longplay

raffavita said:


> It's really strange since in Italian we have the expression "dare fondo alle provviste"  (to consume them). I'm not sure it's the same. Maybe not, but what sounds funny is "fondo" which is also one possible translation for "bottom."
> 
> Thank you Pescara, thank you Tim.



Mi sembra tanto "mangiate fino a sazietà", "fino al fondo del vostro stomaco","chiudetevi (tappatevi) lo stomaco!". Però...se è un tipo di slang...? Se si tratta
di persone 'non ricchissime' il "tappatevi lo stomaco con questo" è molto plausibile.


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## mflcs

The dialectical plural of "you" is indeed "you all."  "You'uns," on the other hand, sounds like a contraction of "you young ones."  

Although I've never before encountered the expression "put a bottom on your stomach," it does suggest stopping chronic hunger.


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## ulyssem

london calling said:


> No, where did you get the word _button_ from? They say "bottom" (fondo)  in the original.
> 
> Secondo me l'interpretazione di Tim è quella giusta: _riepitevi lo stomaco.
> _




LOL! Silly me! I misread! sorry!


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## uncleben

"Put a bottom on your stomach" seems similar to the metaphor "buco nello stomaco" in italian.
When you are hungry, you feel you could eat everything in the world, like your stomach... had no bottom.
To me, putting a bottom means something like "feel that your stomach starts to be full" or something alike.


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## CPA

Che strano, a me sembra invece che la mamma stia dicendo ai ragazzi di non mangiare senza fondo. Cioè, di darsi una regolata.


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## Gianfry

Bisognerebbe capire se a tavola ci sono solo i "young ones".
In caso contrario, è molto più spiegabile quell'apparente contrasto fra "eat" e "put a bottom..." (che per inciso mi sembra significhi quello che suggerisce CPA).
Quindi io direi:
_Sedetevi e mangiate. E voi bambini/ragazzi, (andateci piano / cercate di contenervi / ecc)!_
Dalle mie parti si direbbe: "Non strafocatevi!" 

EDIT: Da alcune fonti on-line, pare che "uns" sia solo una variante di "ones", e non di "young", in uso soprattutto nella regione appalachiana (quindi ci siamo, geograficamente parlando). Quindi riformulo la mia proposta: "_Sedetevi e mangiate. E (voi,) (andateci piano / cercate di contenervi / ecc)!_


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## Holymaloney

CPA said:


> Che strano, a me sembra invece che la mamma stia dicendo ai ragazzi di non mangiare senza fondo. Cioè, di darsi una regolata.


Anch'io la leggo così . Uno stomaco senza fondo sarebbe insaziabile, quindi i bambini mangerebbero senza mai averne abbastanza.


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## longplay

Effettivamente, se un italiano dicesse, a tavola, a un commensale "Ma sei proprio sfondato!", significherebbe che questi sta ingoiando tutto e di più. Però non
vedo una differenza sostanziale tra "tappatevi lo stomaco (con quel che c'è)!" e "non mangiate da sfondati !". A scelta...


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## london calling

Holymaloney said:


> Anch'io la leggo così . Uno stomaco senza fondo sarebbe insaziabile, quindi i bambini mangerebbero senza mai averne abbastanza.


Ma io mi fido di più del parere dell'amico americano Tim..... I'd like to see what other Americans think, however.


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## ElFrikiChino

CPA said:


> Che strano, a me sembra invece che la mamma stia dicendo ai ragazzi di non mangiare senza fondo. Cioè, di darsi una regolata.




EFC


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## ikester

I'm curious about what the family had planned after lunch -- in Oklahoma, where I grew up, "putting a bottom in/to one's stomach" meant eating a decent meal before drinking alcohol to keep oneself from getting sick or getting drunk too fast.


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## longplay

Hi, Ikester. We are looking for an equivalent italian phrase. Any suggestion? Thanks.

"mangiare un boccone, tanto per chiudere lo stomaco"?


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## london calling

ikester said:


> I'm curious about what the family had planned after lunch -- in Oklahoma, where I grew up, "putting a bottom in/to one's stomach" meant eating a decent meal before drinking alcohol to keep oneself from getting sick or getting drunk too fast.


So in your part of the world it means "to line your stomach", as we say in the UK (not necessarily before drinking alcohol though: it could mean you have to line your stomach before taking a pill).

However, you say _a decent meal_, so Tim's guess regards the original sentence was right, I think: the mother's telling her kids to fill their stomachs.


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## curiosone

Ciao a tutti 
Looks like I'm the only Kentuckian here (on my Daddy's side, I descend from the Martins of the song about those "lusty mountain boys" )  so "Ah reckon Ah'll jest set a spell, and see what Ah cain't recollect fer youall." (By the way, in Kentucky we don't say "ya'll", which belongs to the Deep South).  

Regarding the phrase in question: "You' uns put a bottom to your stomach", "you' uns" doesn't necessarily refer only to "young ones" but simply to all those present.  Another way of saying it might be "you people" (tho' it sounds more formal to my ears).  

As far as "putting a bottom to your stomach" is concerned, it has absolutely nothing to do with "darsi una regola."  I suppose in "normal" English the mother could have said "eat up!" - but "eat up" has a different meaning in Appalachian "dialect" (e.g.: "She was et up with cancer").  Think of hungry people having a "bottomless hunger" or a "bottomless pit in their stomachs," or a hole to fill up (as has already been suggested here - please forgive me if  I don't give credit to those who have already said this).  Another way of saying "put a bottom to your stomachs" might be "take the edge off your hunger" (what my Irish-American New England mum used to call "hitting the spot.").  "Lining your stomach" also gives an idea, but there is no presumption of having moonshine after dinner!

And now that I've attempted to translate "mountain talk" into English, I guess my translation (into Italian) would be something like:  "Sedetevi e mettetevi qualcosa in pancia."

_My Italian husband (who is "pasta-dipendente") says pasta puts a sort of "strato sul fondo" in his stomach, after which he can survive._


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## london calling

Oh good, Curio! You've put us out of our misery!


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## MartiniDry

*I*o direi che si potrebbe tradurre con l'italiano "fare il fondo allo stomaco", ovvero mettere sotto i denti qualche cosa di sostanzioso, o altrimenti "mettete qualcosa nello stomaco" potrebbe andare...


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## mflcs

Many thanks, Curiosone!  Now we know.


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## AlabamaBoy

I second Curio's interpretation. My mom's folks were mountaineers from Kentucky.


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## london calling

AlabamaBoy said:


> I second Curio's interpretation. My mom's folks were mountaineers from Kentucky.


Mountaineers? Is that Kentucky-talk as well, for people who live up in the mountains?


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## Clacson

qualcuno può usare i simboli fonetici per la pronuncia di " 'uns" ? grazie


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## joanvillafane

Hi Clacson - I'm not from Kentucky  but I'm pretty sure it's just a simple schwa - "you 'uns" probably sounds more or less like "you ones" but the "uns" is unstressed.  yu:*ənz  

*


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## Clacson

thank you, joanvillafane


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