Wednesday, May 20

Ya’ll ain’t from around here, are you?

I’ve been asked that many times since I moved here to Birmingham, Alabama. Just yesterday a lady asked me if I was from Ohio. Well I did grow up in Ohio but spent the majority of my life in the Florida. Florida is NOT the south. It may be well south of Alabama, but it is definitely not the SOUTH!

I have really been trying to fit in here but I guess I still don’t talk the talk. They speak a different language here. Somehow everyone seems to know I’m just a damn Yankee. Some things don’t change. Not here anyway.

I have met some really refined southern ladies who have such beauty and grace. They are so classy, well dressed and well spoken. I can imagine them sitting on a veranda sipping mint juleps in the summertime wearing big hats and long beautiful dresses. To me, they are the true southerners.

The girls I work with however, seems to come from a another place. When they get together I hear these phrases everyday. If I put some of those phrases into a little conversation this is how it would go -

“Where you at? I’m fixin’ to go mix up a mess of fish. Ya’ll can come on if you want. No, not now, this evening. (anytime after 12 noon) Ya’ll can bring the young-uns too ifin you like. If they don’t behave I’ll hafta holler at them. Tell them to say Yes m’amm and No sir if they know what’s good for them.

We’ll have a good time just a piddlin’. If Johnny comes I’ll be madder than a wet hen. He don’t know a rat’s behind from a hole in the ground. I used to could like him but I liked to died when he tried to gimme some sugar that day… you remember doncha?

Now ya’ll be careful, ya here? You member how to git here? Just take that turn right after the big hill, you’ll see the sign where the old Chevy dealer usta be. My daddy got all his cars from that place, sad to see it gone… anyways, ya’ll come on. Kiss that baby for me. I can’t wait to pinch those fat little legs and get me some sugar! Momma loves her sugar…

Oh, and granny’s making her tater salad and slaw so we’ll have plenty to eat. Aunt Jessie’s bringin’ her peach cobbler too. Sure hope Jimmy don’t eat it all fore you git here. Hurry on now. We’ll be waitin’!

Be careful now sweetie, ya here?”

They always say “be careful.” I’m not really sure what it is they want me to be careful about but they always say that. Everyone is a “sweetie", a “darlin” and “precious.” Kinda makes you feel loved, don’t it?

welcome

Well, just bless your little heart sweetheart!

5 comments:

  1. This made me laugh because I sho-do understand this...every word of it! I've lived in Florida my whole life and although I don't speak like this...at least not all the time...there are plenty of people in Florida who do. For anybody who doesn't think Florida is "the south," ya'll should hear my husband's Florida country-boy accent! :D

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  2. Thanks! A decoupage would look great too! I just don't have the skills to do that. I can't wait to see yours! Have a great day! Vanessa

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  3. Oh, how I laughed at this one! Perfection in the way you depicted those folks!
    Brenda

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  4. Thank you Kathi! Thanks for your comment, sweet comments are always welcome! Thank you! Have a lovely day! Vanessa

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  5. Oh my, that's country "southern speak"...we have a similar dialect in Texas..but I notice that we are infiltrating the nation...you hear ya'll all over the place. BUT, the one thing that most of them don't get is "bless your heart". It can say so many things...and in so many ways. Apparently College Dude used it in speaking to one of his college profs...who knew the 'other meaning'. He says he got a really dirty look ;D Then there was the prof last year who was pretty much clueless to anything...he said it to her weekly and she THANKED HIM!

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