Comments by researcher

  • A noun or verb used in the US Gulf Coast states which means a "close friend" or "to be a close friend with someone" or "to act friendly towards someone'. The word is from the Choctaw verb ittibaphishili - to nurse together as brothers. The word is described in DARE - Dictionary of Regional American English.

    http://dare.wisc.edu/DARENEWS71.pdf

    See also an article, which I haven't read, in American Speech 75.4, Winter 2000 - Bobbasheely

    by Joan Houston Hall.

    June 27, 2009