Submitted 10/25/09 23:22:52 by Linda from Charlotte, NC.

Q Rick, a news story posted on the Observer.com website at 5:19 on Sunday, October 25, contains the following quote: "They have been trying to get a hold of the home owner but have not had any luck." Get a hold of??? I'm a lifelong Southerner and well aware of our local colloquialisms, but I hope you will agree that such an expresion has no place in a "newspaper" story. This sort of thing happens relatively frequently in the Observer's online edition, and I, for one, find it inexcusable. Are all the proofreaders retired or dead?

Answered 10/30/09 18:00:21 by Rick Thames

A: Actually, Webster's appears to even be comfortable with "ahold." It actually lists the term and explains its usage in the way this person used it. Granted, I don't hear this usage much from my friends in Boston. But I'm not offended by it appearing in the newspaper, especially if we are quoting what someone actually said. I don't know that this colloquial expression added any context for the reader, but sometimes one will. You mention that you grew up in the South. It's also interesting to me that certain expressions stand out for a person who is not native to an area, but go largely unnoticed by others who have heard them all their lives. For example, when our family moved to Kansas 12 years ago, I was surprised to hear someone call a person he admired "ornery." Growing up in North Carolina, I knew only the dictionary's definition for that term: "cantankerous." But I met Kansans who used it affectionately, often for someone who was mischievious in an endearing way, as in a "rascal." Kansans got a laugh out of my Carolina colloquialisms, some of which I hadn't recognized living here. In tentatively suggesting a course of action, I sometimes begin by saying we "might could . . . ." For some reason, they thought just one word would do. What are your favorite colloquialisms? Which do you hope to never hear (or read in the Observer) again?