Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Recipe for Laughter, November 6, 2007
Openly whimsical and lighthearted, D.G. Blankenship's Okietalk is equally sophisticated and informative, filled with good humor, good recipes, good advice and good ol' American folklore and wisdom. Okietalk guides the reader on a humorous romp through those uniquely southern terms and phrases that represent Mr. Blankenship's cultural roots. These colloquialisms are first explained, then used in sentences or anecdotes that make the reader chuckle with joy or laugh out loud. But more than that, and before the end of the first page, Mr. Blankenship begins to display his keen talent for the culinary arts, something that he uses throughout the book with simple American home recipes from an era not quite forgotten through the ubiquitous presence of frozen and prepared foods. By the end of the second page, Mr. Blankenship has introduced us to an extensive and in-depth knowledge of American history, which is exhibited on almost every page of the book with levity and authority. These accounts are written as if Dave, the name he acknowledges on the flyleaf, is chatting with you in your living room. By the third page he gives us his first example of Southern poetry (referred to as `poitry'). Frequently quoting icons of American literature, culture and political thought, the likes of O. Henry, Mark Twain and Davie Crockett, Okietalk is truly a delightful book, filled with stories, jokes and tales, perfectly suited for a few moments of light review or an evening of cheery reading.
Only a minor disappointment: "Tickle" is defined as "To please (`If it suits you, then it tickles me plum to death.')" Unfortunately, "plum" is not defined. Maybe in the next edition?
Alan Mount
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Facts, fancies and fun, November 24, 2006
This combination dictionary, cookbook and hodgepodge of quotes, jokes, facts, fancies, and oddities provided hours of very entertaining reading, often leaving me laughing out loud. I learned how "crazy like a fox" removes fleas, got a belly laugh and "swizzled" when I read the old farmer's reaction to seeing his first "big city" elevator, found several great quotes such as Cordell Hull noting "Never insult the alligator until after you've crossed the river," and more bizarre facts about cooking than I could count. I recommend this to anyone who needs to unwind with some well-thought out American humor.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Food for Humor, May 10, 2005
This is a book that just happens--well, not quite by accident--to be informative as well as humorous. The author, David Blankenship, is apparently a student of American history who,in his reading, has managed to build an impressive treasury of Americana; specifically, the sayings of that large region Blankenship, for his own purposes, calls "Oklahoma," a region some of his ancestors knew quite well.
If humor alone isn't a sufficient reason for reading the book, and it is, there is yet another: its unique marriage of humor and the culinary arts. When reading Okietalk, one can only assume that Blankenship enjoys eating and cooking as much as he enjoys collecting evidence of American humor. Certainly in Oakietalk the one flavors the other. I even thought, when turning the pages (and food is not my "thing") that the recipes alone justified my modest investment of time and money. As Julie Childs used to say about her food, so one can say about Okietalk, Bon appetit!
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