Read my first Faulkner (Sartoris) and found the language rich, after initial problems with the parts of written negro-dialect. I've never picked up my dictionary as often as with this book, but I enjoyed the language and style greatly, specially the second half.

hominy
supine
usquebaugh
surcease
effigy
heterodox

Don't know if the words are food for conversation, but who knows?

Or either drink, one.

Did you find out what each of these words means?

Hominy! Can't get near the stuff. When in boarding school it was served without surcease.
Today I would need buckets of usquebaugh to even swallow it! Of course that would be a
very heterodox method of having breakfast, leaving me supine for the rest of the day. I know
there are those on this site ready to hang me in effigy for such an attempt at humor.
(But truthfully I hate hominy for the reason given.)

truthfully I hate hominy

Having grown up in California, I've only encountered hominy in pozole, a Mexican soup, (and the masa in tamales). I liked it. The only corn product served in our family was polenta.

Usquebaugh, whence whisk(e)y, is Gaelic for 'water of life', which exists in a Latin version as acua vitae.

See?

zmejhzd:Usquebaugh. As I looked this one up I found the Irish origin. Seems like it stuck in the South, at least in Faulkner's days. Any specific difference between hominy and polenta as far as you know?

Seems like it stuck in the South, at least in Faulkner's days.

I think that Faulkner just knew the etymology of the word. (I could be wrong, just saying.)

Any specific difference between hominy and polenta as far as you know?

Yes. Polenta, at least post-New-World-discovery, is made from untreated, ground, dried corn (maize). Hominy is corn (maize) that has first been treated by soaking in lye-water (link).

An American English dictionary indicates that polenta is of Italian origin and was a much made from cornmeal.

Generic hominy is a product of dry milling in which the husk, the outer hard layer is separated from the inner softer starchy layers which are then sometimes boiled. In the American South, however, the husk was removed by soaking kernels of corn in lye-water (sodium hydroxide). After the husk was removed, the kernels of corn, swollen in size, would be boiled.

Hominy grits are a product of dry milling that progresses beyond the removal of the husk. The grits are then boiled to be eaten as a soft cereal. Usually, in the American South, they were "back in the days" flavored with bacon or fatback drippings and pepper and salt. Today, they are sometimes still flavored with drippings; but usually with butter or oleomargarine.

May I throw in a little anecdote. Early in the existence of the Presbyterian Church in America, it was invited by several of its sister Reformed denominations to hold its annual national assembly concurrently at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. To accomodate the Southerners (the PCA being primaily a denomination found then in the American South) the dining commons offered grits on the breakfast menu. I don't know how long it was prepared; but the product did not come out quite to the Southerners taste. A few years later, a second concurrent assembly was held. The editor and publisher of the Presbyterian Journal, the Reverend Dr. G. Aiken Taylor, offered to teach the cook staff at Calvin how to prepare grits Southern style and even brought sufficient grits from North Carolina with him to supply the commissioners for a week of meetings. These were much better received. In the American South, in restaurants serving family style meals, grits is (are) as ubiquitous as potatoes, although generally limited to breakfast meals.

hereticodox: radical physicians.

Yes I did look them all up, but f.i. the grit thing only became clear after I saw zmj's wiki page. It may be very true that this word is pedantically used and not really the then currently used word for whiskey. Much in the book is about rethorics and vainglory (good word) anyway, so it fits in. And Javanluke giving them a different setting, that also clarifies.

I know that the Carolinas got a lot of highland Scots settlers after the Jacobite rebellion, Bonny Prince Charlie and all that. There were even newspapers printed in Gaelic in the Carolinas for some time after the mid 18th century. I don't know if the Scots got as far as Mississippi though.

Virginia
The five largest reported ancestry groups in Virginia are: African (19.6%), German (11.7%), unspecified American (11.4%), English (11.1%), and Irish (9.8%).
South Carolina
The five largest ancestry groups in South Carolina are African American (29.5%), American (13.9%), English (8.4%), German (8.4%) and Irish (7.9%).

There is no mention of Scots or Irish in Missisipi, but I guess usquebaugh is more a 'book word ' in this case. Anyway, I've seen William Faulkner was a prolific writer so I'll be happy to drain a few more books from the library.

Now that I've seen it I'm not sure I would like it. The look of it reminds of a childhood torture called 'gortepap' which was a breakfast cereal consisting of peeled barley kernels cooked in buttermilk with sugar syrup. Nay!

No matter the content of the usquebaugh I still gag on hominy
no matter how they are cooked nor with what they are mixed.
I sure would not want to claim ownership of their invention or
concoction.

Adding to usquebaugh and aqua vitae, AKA Akvavit we also have the brandy eau de vie. In a related story, the Russian word vodka is the diminutive of the word for water, voda.

The Carolinas also got a lot of Scots from western New York and Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War. There are Presbyterian churches across the Carolinas that were founded in the middle 1700s. One such near Charlotte is Coddle Creek Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church which celebrated its 265th anniversary last year. And, yes, "Missippi" has quite a goodly number of Scots. Most of the originals came from the Carolinas to settle land-grants received as their pay for service in the Revolutionary War. I've been asked to preach at Philadelphus Presbyterian Church in rural Wayne County, Mississippi, late in the Summer for its annual home-coming service. Its fellowship hall, which is constructed from logs salvaged from the congregation's first church building built in the late 1700s is called "Scotland Hall."

Of all the 'waters' mentioned here whiskey is the only one that has a color.

Growing up in Kentucky I might well have eaten grits but my parents hated both grits and hominy. Later when I moved to North Carolina I discovered I like grits, once I tried a staple dish down that way, shrimp and grits.

whiskey is the only one that has a color

There's a Danish akvavit (aka snaps) called Aalborgs Jubilæum (link) which has some colour to it.

So I was wrong. Indeed: "Akvavit, like vodka, is distilled from either grain or potatoes. It is flavoured with herbs such as caraway seeds, anise, dill, fennel, coriander, or “grains of paradise.” The Danish distillery Aalborg makes an akvavit distilled with amber."
It is not just the jubilee. I read all the akvavitter have a more or less light golden color.

I read all the akvavitter have a more or less light golden color.

Yes, Jubilæum is simply darker than the other kinds of akvavit.

Good for you. I know some foods in childhood I detested, now I relish. But neither grits nor hominy
in childhood nor now.

And I understand that no whiskey can be called 'bourbon' unless it comes from Kentucy. Interesting
since that was the name of the rulers of France back in the monarchy.

Specifically from Bourbon County, Kentucky, if my understanding is correct. ICLIU.

Edit: IDLIU and, nope. Not necessarily in Bourbon County, not even Kentucky although most is made in Kentucky. Plenty of other requirements, though.

What is your statistical source?

What is meant by American?

What distinguishs an African from an African-American?

Some 40 years ago, I lived in South Carolina for four years. Today I live in North Carolina. In the interim, I have lived in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. [And, before South Carolina, there were residencies in Texas, Illinois, California and Japan.]

In the USA, the census is conducted each decade. Therefore, the statistical data applies technically only to the last year of each decade (2000, 1990, 1980, 1970, 1960, 1950, 1940, 1930, etc.) Also, the data depends also upon the questions asked. Before the origin of the predecessor of IBM, the census was only a literal head count. After "IBM," up to 240 different statistical datum could be obtained.

My ancestors can be traced to England, Scotland, Ulster (Northern Ireland), Germany, France and Switzerland.

How would that affect your statistics for South Carolina? Mississippi?

They are not my statistics . The source is Wiki pages Virginia and South Carolina. With American in this context I can only think of Native Americans. Also called Indians.

Interesting since that was the name of the rulers of France back in the monarchy.

The current king of Spain, Juan Carlos, belongs to the House of Bourbon-Orléans. The last king of France, Louis Philippe, is technically of the House of Orléans (a cadet branch of the Bourbons). The main pretenders to the thrones of France and Spain today, are: don Luis Alfonso Gonzalo Víctor Manuel Marco de Borbón y Martínez-Bordiú (aka Louis XX) and don Sixto Enrique de Borbón-Parma y Borbón-Busset. FWIW, the last monarch of France was of the House of Bonaparte, Emperor Napoléon III. And, one of the claimants to the head of the House of Bonaparte is Jean-Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Napoléon (aka Prince Napoléon) who is also a descendant of the House of Bourbon.

In 1964 princes Irene of the Netherlands denounced her rights in second line to the throne to marry without consent the Roman-Catholic Carlos-Hugo de Bourbon-Parma, one of the then pretenders to the Spanish throne.He was the leader of the Carlists. He lost his game of thrones to the Orléans branch.
Wasn't there a Bourbon Steet in New Orleans?

Bourbon Street. Very famous.

I am relatively interested in monarchical stuff like this. Where did you get it, zm???

Where did you get it?

Mainly off the internet. A while back, before work took over my working life and my private one, too, I started research for a blog that would follow all of the defunct royal houses in Europe (and environs) and some of the pretenders to those same thrones, whether unoccupied at present or not. I started with Wikipedia (not just the anglophone version), cross checking with Google (mainly to look into matters genealogical), etc. My favorite is still the various Stuartine (actually Jacobite) pretenders to the throne. Matters are complicated by the fact that the last actual Jacobite pretender (link), Henry Benedict Stuart, aka Henry IX, was a Roman Catholic cardinal and had no offspring. So, he willed the throne of England, Scotland, and France to the House of Savoy. Later the dukes, earlier the counts, of Savoy became the Kings of the newly united Italy. The current Jacobite pretender is the Wittelsbach scion Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern, aka Francis II of England (link).

Talk about your wee, wee, German Lairdie.

[quote=BranShea]In 1964 princes Irene of the Netherlands denounced her rights in second line to the throne to marry without consent the Roman-Catholic Carlos-Hugo de Bourbon-Parma, one of the then pretenders to the Spanish throne.He was the leader of the Carlists. He lost his game of thrones to the Orléans branch.
Wasn't there a Bourbon Steet in New Orleans? {/quote]

There also was a Bourbon Street in Charlotte until recently. A new rapid transit rail system essentially eradicated it except for a very small cul de sac. I've not been past the intersection of late, so I don't know if it is still named Bourbon or not.

so I don't know if it is still named Bourbon or not.

According to Google Maps, it's still there (link).

Thanks, but I moved to Jefferson : the Snopeses' salient tale: The Town, The Mansion. I'm much impressed by this great literature I never knew of till now.
So I want to place right here for free two handcopied fragments for your pleasure or displeasure.

CHARLES MALLISON

[And even if he located them ten minutes later and dragged
her- "Drug," I said.
"-back, the-What?" he said.
"Drug." I said. "You said 'dragged'."
Ratliff looked at me a while. "For ten years now, whenever he would stop talking his-self long enough that is, and for five years of them I been listening to you too, trying to learn-teach myself to say words right. And, jest when I call myself about to learn and I begin to feel good over it, here you come, of all people, correcting me back to what I been trying for ten years to forget."
"I'm sorry, "I said. "I didn' t mean it that way. It's because I like the way you say it. When you say it, 'taken' sounds a heap more took then just 'took', just like 'drug' sounds a heap more dragged than just 'dragged'.
"And not jest you neither," Ratliff said. "your uncle too:
me saying 'dragged' and him saying 'drug' and me saying 'dragged' and him saying 'drug' again, until at last he would say, 'In a free country like this, why aint I got as much right as you to use your drug for my dragged as you got to use my dragged for your drug?' "]

GAVIN STEVENS

[ Because remember, he (Flem Snopes) didn't merely know that banks could be robbed ( vise his cousin Byron which he had witnessed himself), he believed, it was the tenet of his very being, that they were constantly looted; that the normal condition of a bank was a steady and decorous embezzlement, its solvency an impregnable illusion like the reputation of a woman who everybody knows has none yet which is intact and invulnerable because of etc....

..... Because that- the looting of them- was the reason for banks, the only reason why anybody would go to the trouble and expense of organising one and keeping it running.]

(love the banking parts seen in the light of ect.)