JF
Jan Freeman
@janfreeman.bsky.social
Mostly retired editor/writer/Boston Globe language columnist; author of centenary edition of Ambrose Bierce's "Write It Right" (Walker, 2009), whose subtitle is too long for this space. Not the Massachusetts poet who shares my name.
159 followers91 following239 posts
Just so we're not spreading a myth, this is just is a local language claim, not a factual thing. The verb "barbecue" dates to 1661 in English (OED) and predates the noun by almost 40 years.
I went to a barbecue to barbecue on the big wood barbecue some good ole barbecue ribs.... Which of course were indeed slow smoked, not barbecued.
My post is meant in good humor. It's a thing in NC not to use the word as a verb, and the quote from our governor reflects that tradition.
JF
Jan Freeman
@janfreeman.bsky.social
Mostly retired editor/writer/Boston Globe language columnist; author of centenary edition of Ambrose Bierce's "Write It Right" (Walker, 2009), whose subtitle is too long for this space. Not the Massachusetts poet who shares my name.
159 followers91 following239 posts