Semper Ubi Sub Ubi
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Jenny:
August 11th, 2009 at 10:21 am
As I’m reading all the way through this, I can’t wait for you to finish with a current pop-culture reference in HBO’s True Blood: The lead character is named Sookie and her best friend is named Tara. Sookie is white and Tara is black. Tara makes a comment in the pilot episode about how cruel it is for a southern black girl to be named Tara, but no one ever mentions the irony of a pretty white girl being named Sookie, except that it’s an unusual name.
words1:
August 11th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
You’re right — I should have thrown that in, but the column was already too long (for newspapers). Sookie and Sukey are forms of Susan, so they’re unrelated to “sukey jump” as far as I know. I haven’t read the books on which the HBO series is based, so maybe that Tara/Sookie inversion is a deliberate cultural reference.
By the way, stay away from the Wikipedia page on Sookie Stackhouse — it’s full of spoilers.
Bill is a schlub. I like Eric. And Lafayette, who seems to be regaining his flair.
Best line of the season: Eric to small child: “Don’t you like vampires, little girl?”
OwenKL:
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 am
Your article made me think of two things. Like you, I’d never heard of “sukey jump” before, but I recall “Aunt Sukey” being a name for a mule (Li’l Abner, I think, or Snuffy Smith, or maybe just some folksong).
And the sound us urban kids used to enjoy shouting at the tops of our lungs, the hog-calling cry of “SUUU-EEEEE, pig-pig-pig”.
~ Sil in Corea:
November 14th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I have Welsh friends who frequently use the word “chooks” to mean “chickens,” and the term “chooky-boots” as an affectionate nickname. As I’m an old farm-gal, I visualized the boots that you leave outside the house after collecting the eggs, because their soles are smeared with fecal matter. (Ewwh!) Slightly off the topic, I know. My apologies!
Harold Kercher:
December 13th, 2011 at 10:40 pm
I grew up on a dairy farm in Oregon. We would yell ‘Sookie! Sookie! Sookie!’ to call the cows in for milking. This was in the 1950’s. Whether is was just a noise or a name, I can not attest to. I got the habit from my father who grew up on a farm in S. Dakota in the 1920’s. Just a similar thread I thought I’d share.
Eric lerche:
February 14th, 2012 at 6:35 am
According to liner notes to ‘Leadbelly sings for children’ (SmithsionFolkeways (SFW CD 45047) by Jeff Place, Leadbelly started playing to Sukey Jumps in his teens and became to prefer the guitar on the cost of his ‘windjammer’.
Spencer:
April 26th, 2017 at 2:33 pm
The term is used in the early 90s Disney movie “Perfect Harmony” and it’s referred basically as a jam with musicians.
William:
May 9th, 2019 at 11:38 am
I found this term in a 1976 publication of The Devils Music: A History of the Blues when reading the chapter on Lead Belly. Once I googled the term, I found this info. Thank you for post this. Your info filled in the gaps my book left out. .
Sophie:
December 1st, 2020 at 10:36 pm
My Grandaddy and I always yelled “Sookie, sookie, soooo” to call the cattle in. Later in life I’ve gotten in multiple arguments about the correct pronunciation of Sookie. In my opinion, if it’s used as the cow call of Sookie Soooo, then it’s said Soo-kee, with the first syllable said like the woman’s name Sue. Then, once the cow comes up and is nuzzling your hand and all that, you affectionately talk to it somewhere along the lines of “hey, there, sook cow,” in which “sook” rhymes with cook. (This is from a Tennessee perspective.) Any other opinions?
Alonzo:
January 10th, 2022 at 1:52 pm
I know nothing about the etymology of “sukey”, but I see people referring to livestock calls. Something to consider as a possible factor is the use of the hog call “Sooey”, which is not at all a modern invention. It dates back to the days of ancient Rome, as that’s how the Latin word “Sui!!!”–meaning “Pigs!!”—is pronounced. When hog farmers (I was one once) call hogs with “Sooey” or “Sweeee”, they’re speaking perfectly good Latin, whether they know it or not.