OT, Query, re "redd up"

Here in PA, people commonly use the words "redd up" or "redding up" to
mean cleaning up the mess and organizing things.

A friend of mine wonders if this is "Pennsylvania Dutch" but my
dictionary says it has been an English term since before the Battle of
Hastings.

Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? If it's common outside Pennsylvania, then it's
not "Pa Dutch."

Thanks. vince

On Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:53:09 -0500, vincent norris wrote:

Here in PA, people commonly use the words "redd up" or "redding up" to
mean cleaning up the mess and organizing things.

A friend of mine wonders if this is "Pennsylvania Dutch" but my
dictionary says it has been an English term since before the Battle of
Hastings.

Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? If it's common outside Pennsylvania, then it's
not "Pa Dutch."

Thanks. vince

I'd never heard the term, so I Googled it as "redd up." FWIW, the first
few hits seem to indicate it is in fact mainly Pennsylvanian (or
"Pittsburghese" even), but of Scottish/Irish origin via Middle English,
not Dutch, but ???

TC,
R

On Dec 30, 11:53*pm, vincent norris wrote:
Here in PA, people commonly use the words "redd up" or "redding up" to
mean cleaning up the mess and organizing things.

A friend of mine wonders if this is "Pennsylvania Dutch" but my
dictionary says it has been an English term since before the Battle of
Hastings.

Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? *If it's common outside Pennsylvania, then it's
not "Pa Dutch."

Thanks. *vince

A freind of my wife, who was originally from western PA, says she has
to "redd the house and spread the bed" when she refers to
housecleaning.

On Dec 31, 8:53*am, george9219 wrote:
On Dec 30, 11:53*pm, vincent norris wrote:

Here in PA, people commonly use the words "redd up" or "redding up" to
mean cleaning up the mess and organizing things.

A friend of mine wonders if this is "Pennsylvania Dutch" but my
dictionary says it has been an English term since before the Battle of
Hastings.

Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? *If it's common outside Pennsylvania, then it's
not "Pa Dutch."

Thanks. *vince

the only time i heared the word redd in North Carolina or Alabama it had something to do with fish eggs--Joe the Elder

On Dec 31, 9:06*am, wrote:
On Dec 31, 8:53*am, george9219 wrote:



On Dec 30, 11:53*pm, vincent norris wrote:

Here in PA, people commonly use the words "redd up" or "redding up" to
mean cleaning up the mess and organizing things.

A friend of mine wonders if this is "Pennsylvania Dutch" but my
dictionary says it has been an English term since before the Battle of
Hastings.

Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? *If it's common outside Pennsylvania, then it's
not "Pa Dutch."

Thanks. *vince

the only time i heared the word redd in North Carolina or Alabama it had something to do with fish eggs--Joe the Elder-
-

On Dec 30, 11:53*pm, vincent norris wrote:
Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? *

Can't help, except to tell you I've never heard it anywhere in
Maryland; nor during my 5 years in Philly. It seems like something
that would have been passed along orally, so I'm curious how it got
the double d in its spelling.

Joe F.

"While you don't mention exactly where you grew up, if your
grandmother routinely told you to "redd up" your room, there's a
statistical probability that either you were living in, or your
grandmother was from, Pennsylvania. "Redd up," meaning "to clear or
clean up," arrived in America with immigrants from Scotland and
northern England, and while Scots settled all over the eastern US, the
phrase seems to be most commonly heard today, for some reason, in
Pennsylvania.

The root of "redd" (which by itself means "to clear or clean") seems
to be a combination of the Middle English and Scots dialectical word
"redden" (meaning "to free or clear an area") with another Middle
English word, "reden," meaning "to rescue or free from." The same
tangle of roots gave us the word "rid," and is closely related to the
word "ready." And none of this, by the way, has anything to do with
the color "red."

from the Word Detective: http://www.word-detective.com/121800.html

Frank Reid

On Dec 31, 7:48*am, Frank Reid © 2008 wrote:
"While you don't mention exactly where you grew up, if your
grandmother routinely told you to "redd up" your room, there's a
statistical probability that either you were living in, or your
grandmother was from, Pennsylvania. "Redd up," meaning "to clear or
clean up," arrived in America with immigrants from Scotland and
northern England, and while Scots settled all over the eastern US, the
phrase seems to be most commonly heard today, for some reason, in
Pennsylvania.

The root of "redd" (which by itself means "to clear or clean") seems
to be a combination of the Middle English and Scots dialectical word
"redden" (meaning "to free or clear an area") with another Middle
English word, "reden," meaning "to rescue or free from." The same
tangle of roots gave us the word "rid," and is closely related to the
word "ready." And none of this, by the way, has anything to do with
the color "red."

from the Word Detective: *http://www.word-detective.com/121800.html

Frank Reid
reddup- to clean the nest.
http://www.metaglossary.com/results/?query=redd

Another link:

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/20...dy-or-not.html

I grew up outside Philadelphia and never heard it used around there.
However, I have family (both by blood & marriage) in the Lancaster
area (my wife was from Millersville) and hear it frequently among
them.

In article , vincent norris
writes
Here in PA, people commonly use the words "redd up" or "redding up" to
mean cleaning up the mess and organizing things.

A friend of mine wonders if this is "Pennsylvania Dutch" but my
dictionary says it has been an English term since before the Battle of
Hastings.

Would you guys who live up and down the Appalachians let me know if you
hear it where you live? If it's common outside Pennsylvania, then it's
not "Pa Dutch."

Thanks. vince

The word Redd is an ancient word meaning to get rid of . Note the
similarity between Redd and Rid !

When a salmon creats a redd it "clears" a site in order to lay its eggs.
--
Bill Grey