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• druther •

Pronunciation: drê-dhêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: (Slang) Choice, preference.

Notes: Today's word is a whimsical bit of local color that has spread across the US. It is generally used in the plural, almost exclusively in the set phrase, "If I had my druthers . . ." meaning, "If I had a choice in the matter." There is some question of whether this is a real English word or just a nonce word, a word used for a short period of time for a particular reason only to vanish as quickly and as mysteriously as it arose.

In Play: If the word really is in the language, we may as well use it like any other word: "Don't wish you didn't have to work here—you might get your druther." If you don't like that, stick with the plural: "When it comes to alternatives to this job, I have very few druthers." If you don't like either, the word hasn't become an established word for you, so don't use it. However you feel about it, this word is notably slangy and should be used only in very informal, chatty situations.

Word History: This word is a gift from the US South to the English-speaking public. It was clipped from the phrase '(I)'d rather' in a dialect of the southeastern United States, where rather is pronounced [rêdhêr] instead of [rædhêr]. Rather is a product of now defunct rathe "soon, early", so it originally followed the pattern of "I'd sooner . . .", which also introduced a preference of the speaker. No one knows where rathe came from. We find traces of it in other Germanic languages, but not in any language outside Germanic. (Paul Levinson got his druther today when he suggested we circulate this funny little Good Word rather than any other we might choose.)

My mother used to use it: "if I had my druthers...". So its
been around over half a century in this neck of the woods.
And she had to have picked it up somewhere.

This reminds me of one of my daughter's words "nother" she's 45 now and still uses it.

M. Portmanteau Bailey

you bet!
I still catch myself saying a childhood no-no: "unelse"
for unless. Have no idea where I picked it up.

First I heard unelse, but I kinda like it. I may give it a test drive or two.

Not unelse you want some double-takes from people.

I've never heard unelse, but I've heard less'n. You have to catch the context to know the speaker's not saying lesson.

With two boys sharing a room, our second house had a third bedroom that at one point became a junk room. We didn't know how to label it, so we referred to it as another room or the other room, which got melded into the nother room.

I'm sorry I haven't weighed in on druther until now. It is, of course, ubiquitous here in the hinterlands. I fail to get my druthers in many cases. "She who must be obeyed" [Rumpole of the Old Bailey's favorite reference to his better half] frequently vetoes my druthers, often for "my own good." BTW my better half is not from the hinterlands but must sometimes reluctantly share them with me.