OMH! Our family dodged THIS one............

[MariannNOVA]

I was just reading on AOL that folks on Ocracoke Island have been told to evacuate. Our family would have been on Ocracoke this week and somewhere in Corolla, Duck or Hatteras the next two weeks BUT we decided to go full speed ahead and finish lower level de-construction and renovations rather than take a three week vacation.

 

Good thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this (I know there is another thread out there about NC and Earl) - dh and I have evacuated before and it is not fun. We would have had three kids and a dog with us and that would certainly have been...........uh, interesting. ;)

 

DH and I comment every time we cross to OBX that an evacuation would be hmmmmmmm, not fun because of the inadequate evacuation routes.

 

And, I have newfound appreciation for that 'hurricane insurance' one can purchase when contracting for a rental.;)

[Denisemomof4]

I read about that today, too! I was telling ds how we just dodged it ourselves. Our vacation was SUPPOSED to happen THIS week, but we changed it to last week so I could be here for a very dear friend's last minute Jack and Jill party. She was my ONLY babysitter, hired as a teen, and now she's married and trying to get pregnant! She lives in OH now and she said the ONE person she wanted to make sure she saw out here was me. (doesn't she have GREAT taste in friends? What a smart young lady!:lol:) So we switched our weeks!

 

We left last Thursday. We would have had to cut our vacation short by a day to miss the hurricane.

 

Stay safe and keep us posted! :grouphug:

[Denisemomof4]

BTW, any history to the NAME Ocracoke? Who the heck would come up with a name like that?:confused::confused::confused:

[MariannNOVA]

BTW, any history to the NAME Ocracoke? Who the heck would come up with a name like that?:confused::confused::confused:

 

THIS is what I found (below). Truly, the best thing about Ocracoke now is that me and my family are not THERE.;)

 

 

A long barrier island off the eastern coast of North Carolina between Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The pirate Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was killed here in 1718. It is now a popular resort area.

 

Our Living Language Ocracoke is one of the Outer Banks barrier islands off the North Carolina coast. The island has a small town of about 650 year-round residents. The Ocracoke community, established in the early 1700s by people of British descent, has remained relatively isolated from the mainland for nearly three centuries. During this period of isolation, Ocracokers developed a unique dialect of American English that residents and outsiders often refer to as the brogue, perhaps because some of the oldest Ocracoke families have Irish and Scotch-Irish roots. Some of the Ocracoke brogue's more prominent features are retentions of older features of English that vanished from most mainland dialects long ago. For example, older Ocracokers say hit for it and a-huntin for hunting. Similarly, some Ocracoke words, such as mommuck ("to harass or bother") and quamish ("sick in the stomach"), date back to at least Shakespeare's day. But contrary to popular belief, Ocracoke English is not Elizabethan English preserved unchanged since the first English speakers came to the island. All languages and dialects change over time, even those far removed from the influence of outside language varieties. Pronunciations are particularly susceptible to change. Thus, some of the most familiar pronunciation features of the Ocracoke dialect probably do not date back to the community's earliest origins but are more likely innovations that developed around the turn of the 20th century. Its best-known feature is the pronunciation of the vowel sound in words like high and tide as similar to (oi), so that high tide sounds like (hoi toid). In fact, Ocracokers and neighboring islanders are often known as hoi toiders. In recent decades, Ocracokers have had increasing contact with outsiders as the island's traditional marine-based economy has become tourism-based. With this influx of mainlanders, the Ocracoke brogue is rapidly fading away. Nonetheless, because it allows islanders to distinguish themselves from tourists and new residentsand thus preserve their identityprominent features of the Ocracoke brogue may remain unaffected by contact with other speech communities.

[Denisemomof4]

THIS is what I found (below). Truly, the best thing about Ocracoke now is that me and my family are not THERE.;)

 

 

A long barrier island off the eastern coast of North Carolina between Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. The pirate Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was killed here in 1718. It is now a popular resort area.

 

Our Living Language Ocracoke is one of the Outer Banks barrier islands off the North Carolina coast. The island has a small town of about 650 year-round residents. The Ocracoke community, established in the early 1700s by people of British descent, has remained relatively isolated from the mainland for nearly three centuries. During this period of isolation, Ocracokers developed a unique dialect of American English that residents and outsiders often refer to as the brogue, perhaps because some of the oldest Ocracoke families have Irish and Scotch-Irish roots. Some of the Ocracoke brogue's more prominent features are retentions of older features of English that vanished from most mainland dialects long ago. For example, older Ocracokers say hit for it and a-huntin for hunting. Similarly, some Ocracoke words, such as mommuck ("to harass or bother") and quamish ("sick in the stomach"), date back to at least Shakespeare's day. But contrary to popular belief, Ocracoke English is not Elizabethan English preserved unchanged since the first English speakers came to the island. All languages and dialects change over time, even those far removed from the influence of outside language varieties. Pronunciations are particularly susceptible to change. Thus, some of the most familiar pronunciation features of the Ocracoke dialect probably do not date back to the community's earliest origins but are more likely innovations that developed around the turn of the 20th century. Its best-known feature is the pronunciation of the vowel sound in words like high and tide as similar to (oi), so that high tide sounds like (hoi toid). In fact, Ocracokers and neighboring islanders are often known as hoi toiders. In recent decades, Ocracokers have had increasing contact with outsiders as the island's traditional marine-based economy has become tourism-based. With this influx of mainlanders, the Ocracoke brogue is rapidly fading away. Nonetheless, because it allows islanders to distinguish themselves from tourists and new residentsand thus preserve their identityprominent features of the Ocracoke brogue may remain unaffected by contact with other speech communities.

 

VERY interesting. Thanks! My family would love to visit there. My boys LOVE to meet different people and would get a KICK out of the dialect. I hope it is preserved for generations to come.

 

Still, who the heck decided on such a weird name for an island? Why not name it Pepperpepsi or Rutabegarootbeer?:lol: Ok, lack of sleep = giddy.

[StaceyJeannette]

We are on the Outer Banks right now and it is just beautiful; last week I was worried we'd have to cancel our vacation, but was glad I had that travel insurance! We went to Ocracoke a few yrs. ago when we were here, I can't imagine waiting for the ferry when everyone was evacuating!

 

Maybe the name is an Indian name? I found a little more history about it here: http://www.ocracokeguide.com/history/, I copied a paragraph and pasted below:

 

 

Ocracoke Island history is rich and interesting and dates back centuries prior to the change and tourism of recent times.

A common Ocracoke history question from first-time visitors is “How do you pronounce the name of this place?” It seems people have been asking that for years. The earliest record of Ocracoke Island’s name, on a map made by English explorer John White in 1585, designates the inlet as “Wokokon.” Subsequent spellings include “Woccocock,” “Oakacock” and “Okercock.” The name derives from the Woccon tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the mainland tidewater and came to the island for seafood feasts in fair weather. The inlet, the island and the village now all carry the name Ocracoke, which, incidentally, is pronounced like the vegetable and the soft drink.