We were playing Scrabble with our eight-year-old grandson when he happened on the word vum in the Scrabble Dictionary (which we encourage him to use as he plays because it’s good for his vocabulary). It said “interj.—used to express surprise,” and we all thought this was hilarious and went around saying “Vum!” for a while. Of course I then had to research it, and found a good AHD entry:
interj. New England
Used to express surprise.
[Alteration of vow.]
Regional Note: New Englanders sometimes express surprise by saying, “Well, I vum!” This odd-sounding word is in fact an alteration of the verb vow that goes back to the days of the American Revolution. It is also heard simply as “Vum!” or as a sort of past participle: “I’ll be vummed!” A Southern equivalent is swan or swanny, also meaning “swear”: “Now, I swanny!” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word swanny derives from the dialect of the north of England: I s’ wan ye, “I shall warrant ye.”
Now, they say “express,” present tense, but I live in New England and I find it hard to believe it’s been used in living memory. Of course, my incredulity means nothing. Anybody know whether this ludicrous lexeme is still in use?
Not a New Englander, so I can’t speak to current usage. But I think it appears in Holmes’ Wonderful One-Hoss Shay, and in a way that suggests it was archaic even then.
Maybe when they wrote “Used to express surprise” they meant that people used to say it.
Just kidding. By the way, a little googling reveals that the word occurs in Chapter 3 of Moby Dick.
I’m a southerner, so I can’t speak to the vum issue, but my grandmother, who will be 86 in a few months, has been known to say things like “I swan to goodness!” on occasion. However, her more usual “expression of surprise” is “I declare!” or some variation thereof.
I am a New Englander. I’ve never heard of “vum”.
As a child I spent many summers on the beaches of Maine, and was thus exposed to a good deal of New England English (Indeed, an American dialectologist I met as an adult told me that I have a hint of a New England phonology in my vowel system). The word “vum” is not one I have ever used myself, but I am certain I have heard it used: it definitely rings a bell.
I like Vum! too; it has a pleasing sound. To borrow a phrase from an earlier commenter, “Astonishingly fantastic several thanks” for bringing it to my attention.
Oliver Wendell Holmes “The One-Hoss Shay”:
But the Deacon swore (as deacons do,
With an “I dew vum,” or an “I tell yeou”)
It does indeed appear in Oliver Wendall Holmes One Horse Shay:
But the Deacon swore, (as Deacon’s do,
With an “I dew vum,” or an “I tell yeou,”
Never heard it myself while in New England, or anyplace else, for that matter.
But the Deacon swore, (as Deacon’s do,
With an “I dew vum,” or an “I tell yeou”)
By George, that rings a bell! I loved “The One-Hoss Shay” when I was a kid, and I remember that line; I can’t imagine what I thought “vum” meant, but I’m sure it amused me.
I’m a southerner, so I can’t speak to the vum issue, but my grandmother, who will be 86 in a few months, has been known to say things like “I swan to goodness!” on occasion.
Yes, I’m not sure I’ve actually heard anyone say “I swan,” but somehow it doesn’t feel quite as antique: I can imagine someone’s grandmother saying it.
The word “vum” is not one I have ever used myself, but I am certain I have heard it used: it definitely rings a bell.
So perhaps it’s not as dead and buried as I thought.
Never heard this in my 60 years in New England, both upcountry and city.
I’ve never heard of it (though my great grand mother did say “I swanny” often enough) – and I’ve been collecting archaic words and expressions for over 20 years now.
But I’m going to use it from now on! Vum!
COCA has exactly one hit for “vum,” which in context appears to be a typo or ocr-screwup for “yum.” For some reason this discussion makes me wonder to what extent anyone naturally uses the word “vim” outside the fixed phrase “vim and vigor.”
Interesting, I can’t say I’ve ever heard any of these expressions (I may have heard “I swanny” once or twice when I was very young, but that’s it, and I’m not even sure about that), though, they must be quite dated and out-of-use at this point.
Cheers,
Andrew
I’m sure I heard ‘I swan’ (not swanny) in a movie or two. Gone with the Wind?
‘I swan, Missy Scarlett’?
As a deacon from New England, I dew vum to embrace this wonderful old word in my speech!
I read old books a lot and have often read this expression in Joseph Lincoln books about the Cape, and others. I’ve never heard a living soul say it.
A college chant I vaguely remembered reading once and have now found online:
With a Ve Vi! and a Vo Vi!
And a Ve Vi Vo Vi Vum! Vum! Vum!
Go get a cat trap bigger than a rat trap Vum!
Go get a rat trap bigger than a cat trap,
Vum! Vum! Vum!
That is perhaps the weirdest college chant I’ve encountered, and on googling it I discovered you hadn’t done it justice. Here’s the whole thing (at least as given on this College of Emporia page):
The repeated invocation of the Church of England is particularly sinister. Those people, frankly, have no guardrails.
That’s doubtless why the college no longer exists.
For the record, the form used fas the name of the number/figure and for most kinds of counting is eins. Ein is masculine and only ever used when a noun follows.
I sort of know what you mean by masculine, but narrowly interpreted it is two thirds wrong in the little used but still quite effective little slogan, Ein —-, ein —–, ein -ü—-!
that’s practically Merz-level chanting! perhaps college sports would be better with more Ursonate.
(between “C of E”, “Stuart Hall”, and a rivalry with “the Normal”, i feel like the power of double entendres alone should have kept the school open)
@DM: I think some of it is that Americans who don’t speak German don’t perceive much difference between [nst͡s] and [nt͡s].
That’s doubtless why the college no longer exists.
Oh, fun! “Since Emporia had two colleges before 1900, the city was sometimes called the ‘Athens of Kansas.'”
The campus of Emporia University was sold to The Way International and used by them as a university (of sorts) for 15 years. I got to say, as American fundamentalist Christians go, they are fairly atypical in their beliefs.
The campus buildings still exist, but have been converted to various other uses.
as American fundamentalist Christians go, they are fairly atypical in their beliefs
Yes, their founder seems to have had an impressively maximalist take on the standard “all Christians prior to me since St Paul have got it wrong” trope.
On the other hand, the banging on about “power” and the sexual abuse stuff are pretty mainstream.
…yes, neuter too, but again only with a following noun.