Tuesday, March 22, 2005

i've never even tried grits

i've had so many conversations about why people say the things they do. why we pronounce things like we do, how we say certain phrases, and what they mean, and why the region where we live or were raised makes such a huge difference. i was inspired to think about it again from a post i read on jeff's blog today.

when i first moved in with ashley, i found myself constantly wondering what she was talking about. there were numerous circumstances where i would have to tell her i had no idea what she was talking about. we used to joke around and say that i couldn't understand her at all because i'm a city girl and she's a country girl. but the truth is, i was born and raised in a city with no more than 40,000 people. that's not exactly big city. it's still amazing to me that we grew up living an hour and a half away from each other, but we talk so differently.

so i've decided to write down a few of the words or phrases that have made me feel like a northerner. these are things that i don't say, but many of my friends or people i've met do. some of them i had never heard until recently and even then i had to ask about them. i'm sure there are some of you out there who know exactly what i'm talking about.

words
fixin' to (meaning: getting ready to)
ya'll (meaning: you all)
ain't
vienna sausages (pronounced: vy-annies)
florida (pronounced: flarda)
hankerin' (meaning: craving)
high-falutin (meaning: high class)
bout to (meaning: about to)
ain'tcha (meaning: aren't you)
warsh (meaning: wash)
betwixt (meaning: between)
you-uns (meaning: you (plural))
taters (meaning: potatoes)
wuter (meaning: water)

phrases
was it any count? (meaning: was it any good?)
gussied up (meaning: dressed up)
how in the sam hill? (meaning: how in the world)
i gotta pee like a race horse. (meaning: i have to pee)
hunker down. (meaning: duck down)
sure as God made 'em. (meaning: yes, i'm sure)
pitched a fit and fell into it (meaning: threw a tantrum)
nekkid as a jaybird. (meaning: naked)
slow as molasses. (meaning: slow)
looks like he got beat with an ugly stick. (meaning: he's ugly)
easy as nailin' jello to the wall. (meaning: not easy)

words that are pronounced different
pie
ice
bye
lie (or any word with a long i sound)
pool

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

pole cat = skunk

Anonymous said...

pulpit - poolpit? - word that's said differently... :) that one was for you, jeremy!

Anonymous said...

how in the world could i have forgotten that? that was one of the biggest amazements of 2004!!!!
i think it's actually pool pit. there's definitely a space between the words...that's why it was so confusing.

Anonymous said...

I could add some words, but I'll refrain.

Having not been raised in KY all my life, I've noticed a couple different ways to say things.

Anonymous said...

weird - tonight in theology we talked about grits - not sure how it came up - but the discussion turned to grits... weird... and everyone was talking about how they liked their grits - it kind of grossed me out - i've never tried them either - but maybe i don't want to... sick... but strange that it would come up on the same day that it was your post title... (swell twighlight zone theme song...)

Anonymous said...

jeff, i want to hear...please share.

robyn...that is weird. they served grits at camp and people thought i was weird because i'd never had them. they said there was no way i was from the south...sometimes...i wish it were true. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Robin for reminding everyone about the poolpit! Actually I have almost gotten out of that, I catch myself say pulpit but I don't want to I want to say poolpit. And hey they are vyenies or however you want to spell it. DON'T LET AMY FOOL YOU, SHE IS MORE COUNTRY THAN SHE LETS ON

emily said...

I think I could add some more too, but I may come back and post more than I am thinking of right now. Tonight I went to Subway to get a sandwhich the girl said well pronounced whale instead of well, as in expression to wow I can't believe that happened. I think I have always said welt, instead of well. I know there are more, I have many of these.

As for the grits, the summer I lived in east TN our house parents were from South Georgia, I guess those folks eat grits all the time. But we or at least I was made to eat grits, I guess that's a staple of Georgia food in Swainsboro. I think Grits are very gross, every Cracker Barrell experience, have to refrain from those Grits

Anonymous said...

Well, any word that ends in "ow" ie: window, yellow.. I've heard those as windah or winder.

Oil is said wrong... I don't even know how to spell it like i hear it.

Funniest phrase: "raise down the window"

"fixin" drives me crazy.

And everything is not coke.

Anonymous said...

Amy...I have cracked up reading this blog and the comments. I will have to come back when I have more time to comment. I've just been laughing and laughing and thinking back to you, Jeremy, and I sitting in our apartment with Jeremy and I talking and you having no idea what we were saying. You were always in amazement that the things you made fun of one of us for saying, the other one said too!! HA Jeremy Atwood, I love VI-AIN-EES (I in vi is long and ain is like aim only with ain)...he knows what I'm talking about!! (robin, i say pool pit like him too...scary huh?)

Jeff Baynham, I'm surprised you ever spoke to me at all...I mean I say everything you hate to hear and I love UK!! :( HA

Will reply more later...I'm FIXIN' to go to bed! Gnite!

Anonymous said...

ash,
i'm laughing soooo hard. that night you and jeremy were talking about stuff, i was cracking up and i was in tears.

and add the night ben and shea were there talking about small towns and it's even funnier.

i love jesse hicks!!!

speaking of shea, where has that girl been? if you're reading this...i need your comments! i know you have plenty to add.

Anonymous said...

Ashley and AMy I totally forgot about that night until I read this. Amy probably would have understood us better if we were speaking spanish or something. What fun times sitting around talking redneck and then having to translate for amy. Or better yet when I would walk in the door Amy would ask me if I knew what a certain word mean that Ashley had said. But I think we rubbed off on her some.

Anonymous said...

Two words my dad says which drives my mom crazy: chur=chair and
bat tree = battery

emily said...

jeremy you stole my word...I was thinking of bat tree as well.

another one, that has been used frequently at my granny's house is the phrase plum up...for example, the couch is plum up against the wall.

at work we got one of those forwards this week that has all the southern sayings on it,which has made me listen and observe vocabulary of language the last couple of days. this morning I guarntee(sp?) that I have heard "well, bless their hearts", at least three times.

emily said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

my grandma used to say - "go back yonder and grab a chair" - yonder is a good non-distinct discriptive word...

Anonymous said...

"Jeff Baynham, I'm surprised you ever spoke to me at all...I mean I say everything you hate to hear and I love UK!! :( HA"

I am hoping Scott is working on you... Go dawgs!! haha

Anonymous said...

well if any of you know my brother, then you have experienced a parital extent of the country lingo I accustomed to, because my father is twice as bad!

maybe it is a small town thing, because I know that Emily, Jeremy, and Ashley are all form small towns like me.

But I have definitely heard of "nabs" in fact thats all my mom calls them. Everything in my house is called a "coke". For example my mom might ask, "would you like a coke?" If the answer is yes, then she would clarify what kind of "coke"?

I am also accustomed to:
Fixin'
washin'
winda (window)
'baccer or 'bacco or 'bacca (tobacco)

I know how much a "mess" of beans is
I've seen people "pitch a fit"
I know about how long "directly" as in "I am going to town, I'll be back directly"
When my dad says he is eating "dinner" he means lunch. The night time meal is "supper"

I could go on and on! But I am fixin' to eat dinner!

Amy said...

this post just keeps cracking me up. i was talking with brooke the other night telling her a story that i think i need to post. in that discussion i thought of a lot of other words that people say differently.

fustrated for frustrated
sirup or searup for syrup
carmel or caramel
yella for yellow
skoo for school
purdy for pretty
drawer pronounced "draw r"
figger for figure
you uns
cain't
yonder
brithches

Anonymous said...

i went to walmart tonight and i thought of another one...
some people call carts buggies.