“Down in the Holler: A Lesson in Ozarks Folk Speech” is the topic for April’s Legacies & Lunch program.

The words heap, poke, and middlin’ have suprising origins. Learn about the history of the Ozark dialect with Susan Young during the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies’ Legacies and Lunch program on Wednesday, April 3, at noon in the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock Street.

Young’s presentation will look at how Ozark dialect was influenced by 16^th century England as well as Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Words used by Chaucer  and Shakespeare are still alive today in the Ozarks. Young serves as Outreach Coordinaor at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale. She is a fifth-generation Ozarker.

The Butler Center’s Legacies & Lunch program is free and open to the public and supported in part by the Arkansas Humanities Council. Attendees are invited to bring a sack lunch; drinks and dessert will be provided.

The Butler Center for Arkansas Studies is a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). It was founded in 1997 to promote the study and appreciation of Arkansas history and culture. The Butler Center’s research collections, art galleries, and offices are located in the Arkansas Studies Institute building at 401 President Clinton Ave. on the campus of the CALS Main Library.

For more information, call 918-3029.