James is from southwest Michigan, which was heavily settled by the Dutch. He grew up using the adjective logy, meaning “lethargic,” and was surprised to learn that friends from elsewhere didn’t know the word. He wonders if he knows the word specifically because it’s part of his Dutch heritage. Logy is a little less common in the American South, but its use doesn’t fall strictly along Dutch settlement patterns. A great source for Dutch contributions to English is the book Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages by Nicoline van der Sijs. (Bookshop.org|Amazon.com) This is part of a complete episode.
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