Ah've jest spent fahv days in Georgia, en now it's goan take me two weeks to git shed of this southern accent agin.
Whahl it wuz good ta see mah family and friends agin, Ah always have to spend some tahm ta lose the drawl after Ah've bin there a spell.
Ah have to stop makin' two syllables out of one-syllable words agin (a doe-er is somethin' ya shut ta keep the draft out), Ah've got ta quit makin' mah "I" sounds as if the doctor has jest tol' me to open wahd, en even at mah best, Ah've never quaht got rid of mah tindincy ta make "en" and "in" sounds ahdentical (which is why we southerners have a tindincy to come up with colorful phrases like "ink pin" so that we can distinguish that item from a "straight pin").
It's hard not to pick the accent back up agin, since most of mah family can tawk the ears off a two-headed billy goat (Ah got to remember to stop usin' them colorful phrases, too), but it's dayum nigh impossible to stop oncet it's back in mah head.
So as soon as Ah'm able to communicate agin without bein' a laughin' stock, Ah'll post somethin' about our trip down south, although it wadn't as bad as the one LiLu had up north.
Ah hope ya'll had a good holiday, whutever that maht've looked lahk, en Ah hope yer New Year's collards and peas are tastier than briars are to a mule.
And bah the way, if yer not southern, don't trah to put own a southern drawl. It jest makes ya sound stoopid.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Dayum
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22 comments:
Believe me, after spending merely 6 hours (on two different days) in airports and on planes flying into and out of South Carolina, this entry sounded perfectly normal to me. This one woman waiting next to me for a flight, her accent was so deep south, I swear it was like traveling a little too far backwards through time.
Thankfully, my family doesn't really have a southern accent, but having grown up in Atlanta it isn't hard for me to pick it up when immersed in the culture.
My wife still gives me grief because, on her first trip down south to meet my family, a woman a peach stand referred to me as "Shug". She still calls me "shug" if I start to get a little too, um, regional.
Ah heerd thayat!
(and welcome back...)
It's good that we have some method of acknowledging when someone says something, isn't it? Thanks.
Yew done been in jawjuh? Kewl!
Did ya'll not read whut Ah said about that southern drawl thing?
You ... for..got ... to ... put ... the ... pauses ... tween ... the ... words.
For work (in the old days) I used to talk to people all over the country. It was funny listening to someone from New York City complain (at 90 mph) about how slow southerners talk.
During my first year of college in South Carolina, it took the entire school year before I could finally understand every word that my classmates were saying. When ah kayum back to DC for the summer ah was horrified to discover thet ah hayud somehow peeked up thayut accint mahself - and it took me all summer to lose it. I couldn't believe how southern I sounded all of a sudden. My friends were all quite amused.
Mike - Actually, I tend to speak rather fast, especially for a southerner. I do put in the occasional pause to try to choose my words correctly, at which point people from up north feel compelled to try to fill in the missing words for me.
Cyndy - It's contagious, ain't it? The same thing used to happen to me when I'd spend a weekend at Scottish Highland Games. Suddenly I'd have a brogue. A pretty bad one, I suspect.
I'm speechless. When you're back to talking normal again, come find me. By then, I may have found mah voice agin... Oh my God. It's contagious!
Aaaaaaaaaah! Is this what you Southerners mean by "The South Will Rise Again"? 'Cause if it is, I'm movin' to Caa'nada, doncha know, eh?
And to think that at one time in our nation's history we were only a few votes shy of speaking German...
I just feel like writing "y'all come back now, ya hear."
I have pretty much lost my RI accent completely, but give me a few beers and an afternoon with my friend Bawstin and I completely misplace the letter r.
DC - Nah, that ain't what we meant. Since Virginia is just barely south, I ain't a-goin' to Canady. Too cold, doncha know.
Sean - Wheeeeee dawgies!
Lem - For all the R's that Bostonians drop, they make up for them by adding them to other places where they don't belong. I recall a shuttle driver at Logan Airport telling us all one day that the next stop was for Nahthwest, Delter and U.S. Ayah.
Most of my family is from Decatur, Ga. When I was very young, I thought the actual name of the town was "Decato" or Decatoe" because my maternal grandmother called potatoes "Pa-tay-turs" and pillows "Pillers." I assumed the pronunciation of Decatur was just her accent. Imagine my embarrassment when I saw it written on a map for the first time. *grins*
I also grew up in Decatur. Small world. Cairo, GA, is a small town that everyone knows is pronounced Kay-Ro, and Houston, GA, is pronounced "Hoos-chen" because, as it was once explained to me, it's not in Texas. Neither the pronunciation nor the explanation made any sense to me, but that was all I got.
In college, people used to tell me I had a southern accent when I was drinking. Then they'd ask where I was from. Imagine their surprise when I said outside of Philly.
I'm pretty sure they just didn't know what they were talking about.
Liebchen - I guess that all depends on how far outside of Philly you were. Technically, I grew up outside of Philly too.
If I so much as call one of my Carolina girls on the phone, it is Game Over. I will rock the drawl for the next couple days, ya heer that, y'all?
LiLu - It's surprising, given the stigma that so many people attach to a southern accent, that so many people pick it up so easily.
Pah!
I don't have an accent, at all!
Fiona - You're so fortunate to have the ability to make yourself understood so easily. You have no idea what it's like.
This is how I talk when I go back home to Texas! Hey there, you Superior Scribbler, you! Melissa B., The Scholastic Scribe, here, checking in with fellow Scribblers! BTW, I've got a couple of things on my mind today. First off, don't forget Sx3 tomorrow...it's a stitch! And I've got a pretty good chance of snagging a superior blog award...thanking you in advance for your support!
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