Lessons in Southern English...for all y'all!

My pleh-sha, Darlin'!

"How's your Momma?"

 

Mama 'nem is finer 'n frog hair!

 

Well, bless thar hearts!

 

More Southern English

Hunky Dory

Pronunciation: Hun-kee Dor-ee
Function: Adjective
(1) Just fine (2) Copasetic (3) Emphatic form of OK (4) Situation under control (5) Warm fuzzies

Example:
Fer a short while things got really scary at breakfast this morning, then when we realized we wuz in Jawja, where they always give ye grits fer breakfast, so we knowed everything wuz Hunky Dory!

 

awl:

noun--the amber-colored liquid used to lubricate car motor parts. "That old Ford was great, but she shore did use a lot of awl."

 

:rofl :rofl

 

Well Ron we have all kinds of language here in cattle country. It's hilarious to speak to easterners who claim we have an accent while they don't recognise that they add the letter r to the end of words that don't have them there and drop the r at the end of words that do! Two examples; bettuh(better)and cuber(cuba). See what I mean?

Okay, I don't have a certain word(well one)but a phrase. I hear this from people from south of the mason dixon and Oklahoma. "Cain't just anybody" translation; not just anyone. The word I remember catching my attention the most was "onliest". Example. "He was the onliest(only) one that could hever talk sense inta that idjet(idiot)."

Basically we have more of a drawl out here. It's not nearly so pronounced as true Southerners but everone from back east thinks it is a southern accent. As some have pointed out, there are many derivatives of a "southern" accent. I assure you the genteel drawl of eldery Virginians is nearly as aristocratic as the drawn out words of southern Englishmen. Very refined those Virginians. Think the Baldwin sisters of the original Walton's movie from the early 70's.

Oh another thing for those that don't know. When you live west of the Missouri river, you are a WESTERNER by god. Not a midwesterner, not from the heartland(lordy am I tired of that word), not from the 'southcentral' as I've heard it described. Okay, enough hijacking. Great topic and keep those zingers coming. A hearty laugh is good medicine.

Todd

 

Todd...my Texas friend,

You hit the nail right on the head! Yeah, I like to call it the 'East Tennessee' dialect we speak here wheres I am. Fortunately we split our state into three distinct geographic regions: East, Middle and West. We don't really see the need fer all the extra letters that lots of words have, therefore we do indeed drop a few letter ever now 'n then. And...we add one or two wheres we see fit.

Another neat thing about East Tennessee English is that our syllibication is totally different that anywheres else in the country [don't know if you've ever noticed or not]. Fer instance....Webster apparently didn't understand that most of the words he calls one syllable are actually to be pronounced with at least two syllables, at least in the south. He should have at least given alternate pronunciations.

Take the word 'plate'. Correct east Tennessee pronunciation is paa-late. Course everbody know that one. Another culinary miscue, 'bread', is rightly pronounced baa-ray-ud [quickly]. Pass the baa-ray-ud paa-late. Now see how easy that is? And the list goes on and on.

This is a subject I will speak on in more detail in the future, as it is one of my favorite topics fer good ole' fashion fat chewin' while swingin' on my front porch.

And the accent thang, most nobody ever knows wheres I'm frum, 'til I tell 'em east Tennessee. I just say to people that ain't frum around here [ferners], "I bet you can't tell wheres I'm frum." Nearly all of 'em just looks at me with a dumb look fer a minute and sez, "uh...no I wouldn't have a clue." "Why I'm frum right here," I say! They shore look surprised.

Well, enough ramblin' fer now. I gotta' go do some more potty doctorin'.

 

Ron! Texas? Tejas? Texican? No sir-ree. Kansas City, on the Kansas side. See that's another thing most people don't know. There are two Kansas Cities. If you're east of the mighty Mo' you're in Misery, uh Missouri. If you live on the western side of the river you're in Ks. The proper side!

Truly we have a large assortment of accents and dialects out here. With a huge influx of hispanics in the last 10-15 years you can hear different "spanish" accents througout K.C. Many of the old Mexican families who have been here for a long time can barely speak the spanish dialect many of these newcomers use. Especially if they were from southern mexico. You will also hear everything from a deep southern accent here to scots, irish, and english depending on the foreign enrollment at university. I catch myself picking up other accents and words if I work around them for a few weeks or months.

Here's a few more; oncet-pronounced wunst. Example; I tried sassin' my old man just oncet(once). He whupped my ass(prounounced with a long a sound)good. Twicet. Same as above. For some reason southern folks(and a bunch around here)add the letter t to the end of these words. Here's some more. Kmark and Walmark. Don't ask me where the t was lost and the k added but there it is. Chimley(chimney)is another I hear a lot. Keep those definitions coming.

Todd

 

Are you shore you ain't one o' my neighbors? Dang shore sound like one of 'em! Maybe I'll see ya at the Walmark.

I visited the great state of Misery about ten years ago. St. Louis to be exact. Fer a country boy, that place is like goin' to a show. Yes sir, experienced my first subway ride there...and hopefully my last! They's a lot to look at out there...and sweetie really liked the shoppin'...and that special River Boat down by the arches.

Somehows I didn't ketch that you'uz from the big KC. Never been there.

Welcome to the Shave Den...the friendliest place to talk shaving you've ever tried. I tried it oncet or twicet and that wuz all she wrote. Amazin', they still let me hang around here.

 

More Southern English

Orta

Pronunciation: Or-ta
Function: Prepositional Verb
(1) Should have (2) In my opinion (3) Emphatic form of should (4) Ought. Usually followed by advice, both solicited and unsolicited. Sometimes means what should have happened if things had went right.

Examples:
Bubba, you orta git rid o' that scruffy old beard and start shavin' that purty face again.

"I Would've Wrote You A Letter, But I Couldn't Spell Yuck" orta make me a top 10 country song.

 

More Southern English

'Baccer

Pronunciation: Back-er

Function: Noun
(1) Tobacco (2) Snuff (3) Chewing tobacco (4) The tobacco plant. An alternate slang variant is "backy", which is generally preceeded by the word "wacky", thus giving us the street name of "wacky backy", or as some more refined folk would say, "weed."

Function: Verb
(1) Instructions to go into a reverse motion (2) Directions given to the driver to drive backward.

Examples:
Officer, this really is 'baccer...you know...Prince Albert in a can. I'm not the kind of guy who smokes that wacky backy.

I know wacky backy when I see it son...now get out o' that pickup truck before ya' baccer into my squad car.

 

Ron, we are truly not worthy. Fine work, my friend!

 

Issy said to add.... down here when they say "bless you child", it's southern for "must suck ta be you"

Of course, I could barely understand his accent.... ;-)

 

Accent?? What in tarnation are you talkin' about woman? The boy's from North Carolina, for cryin' out loud! North Carolinians are just across the mountain frum us. I've been over there a time or two and they talk a whole lot like us. Accent??? Schzaam! :rofl

Granted we don't have the monotone 'midwest news anchor' enunciation of the English language, but we've got flavor baby! Language with flavor...that's what Southern English is all about. Ah yes, the beauty of the Southern drawl...only thing sweeter is Southern Sweet Tea!

 

All y'all dun make my stomach grumble wit talkun grits n' red eye gravy. Round these heyr parts we call grits, "polenta."

 

More Lessons In Southern English

Bless Your Heart

Definition: One of the Southern Beatitudes. Commonly used by all true southerners to express one's pity, sympathy or sorrow to someone who is experiencing hard times and difficult situations.

Example: Bless your heart child...ain't nobody deserves bein' married to a man that's dumb as a bucket o' rocks.

Alternate Usage: A phrase which, when uttered prior to an otherwise offensive statement, makes it perfectly legal and acceptable to say anything [inappropriate or otherwise] about anybody. One of the beautys of livin' in the South.

Examples: Bless her old heart...she's uglier than a lard bucket full o' armpits.
Bless his heart...sometimes I think that boy must be hopped up on goof balls.

 

One of my favorites! Nice one, Ron!

STILL more Southern English:

directly (or sometimes pronounced "dreckly"): adverb: used to convey a sense of time or immediacy. Soon.

Example: "Oh, he might be a few minutes late, but I 'spect he'll be along directly."

 

I reckon that there's just about one of my favorite ways of tellin' people when I'm gonna' be there. In the plumbing business everybody that calls is in a terrible hurry to get ya' there just 'cause water's runnin' out the front door. Imagine!

I just tell 'em I'll be there dreckly! That pretty much means sometime today. That's what we call our 'appointment window'. Works for me!

 

Yet AGAIN more lessons in Southern English:

Shudenoughta: Should not. Example: "You shudenoughta have hit Joe in th' mouth. Now he's gonna whup yore backside for shore."