Southern 101---Explanation of all things Southern

[ruth]

I was born and raised in smalltown, delta, Mississippi till I was 15 then moved to New Orleans for almost 35 years, then back to smalltown Miss.

In the movies New Orleans people are always shown hot and sweating, even inside, as if no one has air conditioning and there is ALWAYS a jazz funeral taking place outside, right behind the Mardi Gras parades.

They are also portrayed talking with a heavy southerin accent.

However, I lived in N.O. for 35 years and never saw a jazz funeral; Mardi Gras is only once a year; everyone has a/c; and NO ONE talks with a southern accent.

It was good to get back to deep south Miss. and I had to relearn and educate DH that yes, Sunday "dinner" meant the meal right after church. In N.O. it was breakfast, lunch and dinner - here in deep south - it's breakfast, dinner, supper.

I have a cajun sister-in-law who has a totally different terminology and accent. I still do a double take when she talks about crab or crawfish "balls" and have to remind myself she is saying "boils". As in "We're having a crab boil".

 

[SarahFair]

Quote:
Obviously from someone who didnt like their red headed step child lol

And I was just tellin my boyfriend yesterday its called Breakfast dinner THEN supper. He said no that dinner was just another word for supper.
I use dinner for lunch and supper. Just depends what comes out of my mouth first

 

[60ACRES]

and in the south, when you go turnin boards over so your chicks can eat the bugs,... make sure they aren't too close until you get it checked out....

was a copper-head, now it is a shovel-head.

 

[emmalynn]

I love being from the South. I never thought I had an accent or noticeable sayings until I started working with a bunch of Yankees. Thank goodness, I have finally converted them to sweet iced tea. Where do you think they grew up, in a barn? HA HA HA

I just get to be comic relief now at work, especially if I start talking about my family. For some reason it thickens the accent.

 

[cgjsmith]

I was raised in the south by a southern momma and a northern dad. I Went to Wisconsin to my grandparents one time to visit. We went to the restrunt and had to ask the waiter to repeat what he was saying and slow down with every word out of his mouth and had to order my food no less then 4 times before he understood what I wanted. When I married I married a good ol country boy who always had dinner with his granny. It took me years to remember that d (dinner) comes before s (supper). When I was a child and moved from Deep Miss. to Fl panhandle The friends I made there mad me say tol-let about a million times. Then I moved to Country TN and Picked up countryisms LOL But I tend to speak more southern then country. Some of the stuff I've seen on here though I've never heard of LOL. Though I do say reckon, and warsh, among other things. I find it comes out worse when I am on the phone with people in call centers. Most of the time the "guys" respond better when I turn on the charm LOL.
No one thought to mention southern tantrams. My mamaw could chew out a person in a way that the person wouldn't even know how insulted they should be until after they thought about it. ha ha. Crystal

 

[FrenchHen]

oh yes, southern tantrums.
Thou shalt not tick off a southern women. Most likely she shoots guns as well as she shoots of her mouth.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Of course, there are also the subtle distinctions between a "tad," a "tad bit" and a "tee-ninetsy bit" to squeeze in there, somewhere.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Quote:
Well that makes sense, my grandfather was never what you would call "politically correct". He had plenty of sayings that couldn't be repeated in mixed company - or any company for that matter!!

I always thought (DONT LAUGH!!) that it had to do with the stripe looking like a pole

Polecat: A chiefly nocturnal European carnivorous mammel of the weasel family that ejects a malodorous fluid to mark its territory and ward off enemies. Also called fitch.
I am guessing the term was brought with our ancestors of European decent.

 

[mom2chicksandpups]

Quote:
Well that makes sense, my grandfather was never what you would call "politically correct". He had plenty of sayings that couldn't be repeated in mixed company - or any company for that matter!!

I always thought (DONT LAUGH!!) that it had to do with the stripe looking like a pole

Polecat: A chiefly nocturnal European carnivorous mammel of the weasel family that ejects a malodorous fluid to mark its territory and ward off enemies. Also called fitch.
I am guessing the term was brought with our ancestors of European decent.

I didn't realize that pole cat had a racial meaning. My mom always called skunks pole cats, but I am sure she did not know this either.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

I use to tell my kids that if they didn't straighten up that I was "gonna jerk a knot in em" Thankfully they always straightened up.
There is also the time my "Pa kilt a bar".
I am a "GRITS" from GA, but transplanted in the north. My DH always wants to know where yonder is and makes fun of me when I say "I reckon". My in-laws think it's funny when I say oil.
We always called a skunk, pole cat.