Splitting soogans
A year or two ago I ran across something (a flyer? billboard? website?) full of fake-Western drawl: "podnah" and "share a wigwam." It seemed so incongruous that I put it in my notebook, waiting for the ultimate incongruity with which to pair it in a spoof article. Recently I found that pairing, and the result is my latest Writers on the Range piece, running here on Tidepool.
I enjoyed playing with a couple of contrasts. One was the directness of cowboy drawl and the unctuousness of upscale-hotel customer service. Another was the increasing luxury of tourism, as opposed to the rustic life of the real-life ranch hand.
Another was that drawl itself. Where did it come from? Writing in the 1910s, Caroline Lockhart never used "podnah." She liked "soogans" but I don't recall ever seeing "wigwam" either. Seems to me this exaggerated dialect arose not from real cowboys but Hopalong Cassidy and bad '50s dude ranches.
Did I write this story in anger at a new threat to Western civilization? Heavens no, there's plenty of historical perspective. After all, "Howdy podnah" didn't have much to do with a 50s-era motel either, but it was slapped on because the tourists knew the West from their movies. The only thing new is that as tourism becomes increasingly luxurious, the contrast to a bunkhouse-sleepin', bean-eatin', rarely-showerin' cowboy becomes more acute.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks.ccom
I enjoyed playing with a couple of contrasts. One was the directness of cowboy drawl and the unctuousness of upscale-hotel customer service. Another was the increasing luxury of tourism, as opposed to the rustic life of the real-life ranch hand.
Another was that drawl itself. Where did it come from? Writing in the 1910s, Caroline Lockhart never used "podnah." She liked "soogans" but I don't recall ever seeing "wigwam" either. Seems to me this exaggerated dialect arose not from real cowboys but Hopalong Cassidy and bad '50s dude ranches.
Did I write this story in anger at a new threat to Western civilization? Heavens no, there's plenty of historical perspective. After all, "Howdy podnah" didn't have much to do with a 50s-era motel either, but it was slapped on because the tourists knew the West from their movies. The only thing new is that as tourism becomes increasingly luxurious, the contrast to a bunkhouse-sleepin', bean-eatin', rarely-showerin' cowboy becomes more acute.
I'm always interested in feedback, via info at johnclaytonbooks.ccom
