Now spit.
Spit? You must have me confused with someone else.:
I reckon it’s an older usage, nowadays commonly associated (not necessarily correctly) with less-educated people: Rural people; pioneers in the Old West; Appalachian hillbillies; etc.
It was also commonly used with the meaning “to figure” or “to compute” or doing arithmetic. Parents living out on the prairie learnt their chillun their letters and figures: They taught them reading, writing, and reckoning. They used Sears Mail-Order Catalogs as the textbooks for all of these subject. (That’s true, I’ve read.)
Steinbeck uses “reckon” a lot in Grapes of Wrath both to mean “I figure” or “The way I see it” and also meaning to do arithmetic.
This. To reckon is to judge or estimate. To preface a statement with “I reckon” is to tag that statement as the opinion of the speaker (rather than any sort of fact).
“A * to be reckoned with” tags the * as a thing about which you will need to do some thinking; the * is not something you can dismiss or ignore without consequence.
A reckoning is an act or instance of judgment reconciling.
Once dictionaries were cited, I reckon most of y’all are clueless about the conversational use of the term in the American South. American South means Texas and states east, excluding Florida for purposes of this reply.
“I reckon” is used daily; equivalents would be ‘I think’, ‘in my opinion’ or ‘if you are asking me’. A simple shorthand for saying ‘This is what I think’ which was widely understood.
Just a geographical colloquialism.
You think dictionaries don’t document conversational uses?
I think these meaning are captured pretty well by the OED. Here are the full entries for the two senses I alluded to in my previous post:
But that colloquial usage of the word (“I reckon”) is perfectly consistent with the dictionary meaning of the word. If you know the dictionary meaning of the word, then the colloquial expression is not at all confusing.
Once again, I failed to notice that this thread was in GQ whilst failing to remember I am not good with humor.
My sincere apologies to psychonaut, Machine Elf, and anyone else who suffered my drivel.
Just to add some clarity (and redirect thread away from who the ‘who uses it’ tangent) the podcast I hear it in most often is reporting tech news. Often the phrase is used when offering an opinion on a just-stated fact. I’ve also heard in in those news segments where they interview a man/woman on the street about a current issue.
I’m not disparaging the phrase or people who use it (re-read the OP I only described the accent as “southern” and “country/southern”). On the contrary, I was impressed at the idea of a phrase for positively marking a statement as personal opinion without diminishing or discrediting the opinion (all the similar phrases I could think of at the time, including “I think” generally have connotations of uncertainty).
I have heard it used in shows about or set in Australia (e.g. Bondi Vet), but had forgotten about that.
In my inexpert opinion, “reckon” is avoided by US English speakers who speak higher-prestige dialects, and not often used by UK English speakers who speak lower-prestige dialects.
I prefer to declare dramatically, “There shall be a reckoning!” I also curl my arm toward me while clenching a quivering fist. Then I calmly present my opinion.
I would reverse that for the UK. “Reckon” sounds right to me in a Scots/Irish/Cockney etc accent, but not so much in RP/Toffy-nosed Queens English
Interesting. When I think of my British friends that use the word “reckon,” they seem to be posh, London or Oxbridge types. I was even watching an episode of Would I Lie to You with David Mitchell on it, and he used the word “reckon,” and I reckon he’s got a fairly upper class accent, no? (Also, I do note that he was linked to earlier in the thread, but this context was not in the tone of a character or sketch, just spontaneous speech.) I’m not British, though, but I definitely picked up the words from people with a public school education.
I Guess
I Reckon
I Calculate
I have heard all three of these used to indicate how much thought the speaker has given the point he is speaking about.
“I guess it’s time to go” – The speaker thinks it time to leave, probably based on information obvious to everyone, i.e. , drinks are finished, and the host spent his last $20 to settle the bill.
“I reckon it’s time to go” – The speaker thinks it time to leave, more likely based on information he has observed, but maybe not everyone has, i.e. , bill paid, drinks finished, and he sees the bartender starting to mop behind the bar.
“I calculate it’s time to go” – The speaker thinks it time to leave, after thorough consideration of available information, i.e. , the bill is paid, drinks are finished, and a large, boisterous group a couple of tables over are beginning to throw bottles and he sees the bartender making a phone call before reaching behind the bar and pulling out a large stick (or is that a gun?).
A guy could be talked out of an “I guess” fairly easily, say his second cousin announcing the next round is on him. To talk him out of an “I reckon” would take a bit more, say the second cousin says the bartender is dating his sister and they can stay all night, if they want to. To get around the “I calculate” takes a quite bit more, perhaps something like the second cousin having the superpower to turn the entire group invisible.
This is just based on my gut feel from living in the UK - mostly if I was hearing posh oxbridge types it would be in some kind of formal presenter-ish role, where more slack/informal speech like ‘I reckon’ wouldn’t fit so well.
I’m open to the possibility that just everyone was using it and I didn’t notice 'cos it all sounded normal to me, though
When I reckon’ something, I’ve figgered it out pret’ near, not down to a gnat’s ass.
In my experience (17 years living in Indonesia and traveling through most of SE Asia), it’s not that uncommon to hear SE Asians who speak English as a second language say “I reckon.” It sounded quaint to me at first, but after I worked with a lot of Australians for a while it started to sound more natural to me.
‘I reckon so.’
‘Well,* I* reckon not.’
‘Agree to disagree?’
‘I reckon.’
Chinny reckon.
OB :dubious: