I received a cute post this morning from Bubba Short saying "Only a True Southerner Can Show or Point Out the True Direction of 'Over Yonder'!" That is one of the truest statements I have ever heard.
Tommy and I were born and raised in the same little country town in Western Kentucky named Clinton. The location is about eleven miles as the crow flies from the Mississippi River. If a stranger stopped anyone to ask how to get to Missouri from Clinton, more than likely the directions would be " Nice to meet y'all. Let me think... just stay on Hwy.51 and go on out of town. Keep on goin' soon you all will pass Nicky's BBQ on the left hand side of the road. If you are hungry stop there. They have the best BBQ around. If not, just go on down the road until you reach Arlington. The restaurant on the right has the best catfish dinners for miles around. Plus 'Miz Jones' makes homemade pies to die for. You really need to stop there. If not, you will soon pass through Bardwell...keep going and when y'all come to Wickliffe... hang a left after the first stop light, and keep on goin'. Soon you all will reach a huge bridge that crosses the Mississippi River. After crossin' the bridge there's a stop sign... hang a left again and cross the second big bridge. Keep on goin' and Missouri's across that bridge...right over yonder." At least, that is pretty much how we would tell y'all how to get to Missouri.
Growing up Tommy and I were raised on the same euphemisms, all the exact country expressions and the same country slang. It was the normal way of talking then. Everyone I knew spoke the same language. We all knew where 'yonder' was and how to get there.
Then we moved to Missouri. Our first year here we were the delight of a lot of people. When purchasing a set of 'tires'...the whole service station came out to wait on us. Everyone wanted to hear us order tires. It was the same thing everywhere we went. Eating out took twice as long because everyone wanted us to repeat things twice...even Sonic.
As a rule people liked to listen to us talk. Well, most people did. I worked for a short time at a shoe factory where my accent and vocabulary did cause a few problems. I was in my early thirties and I was working with twenty something year old pot heads. We spoke two different kinds of English. We all got along great until we had to give each other directions. I seldom knew what they were talking about, however I did get an education on how to grow pot, information I have yet to need. It will probably come in handy in a short story to be written later. However...
One day I had a rack of shoes that needed to go to the other side of the factory. One of the guys I worked with volunteered to move the shoes for me. He wanted to know where exactly the shoes needed to go so I told him "over yonder". He stopped and looked at me and said, "Vicky, where in the hell is "yonder'? I looked at him kind of strange and said, "You don't know where 'yonder' is??? He started laughing and said, "I am pretty sure you are the only person in here who knows where 'yonder' is!" I took my own rack of shoes! If that kid didn't know where 'yonder' was, I sure wasn't gonna trust him with my days work...no tellin' where those shoes would end up:)
Years passed and although we still have our southern accents the speed we talk has picked up some. It is not as drawn out as it was when we lived in Georgia. My grandchildren give me a hard time concerning the way I drop my 'g's'. A good portion of the way I talk, unless I am on notice or best behavior, are words that usually end in 'ing'...end with 'n' period. I never notice unless someone mentions this to me.
I was spending the weekend with the kids a couple of years ago when I noticed Logan kept trying to get me to say the days of the week. Finally I asked him what was wrong with him? He started laughing and said, "It's not me...it's you". I wanted to know what on earth he meant by that. Right about then is when Jacy chimed in and told Logan, "Now Logan you know Nonnie is country and that is just the way she talks!" I am like "What are you two talking about?" About this time they both informed me that I do not pronounce the days of the week correctly. I did not know that!! Evidently, I end all my days with the letters 'Dee" instead of "Day". I say "Mondee, Tuesdee, Wednesdee" And truthfully they are right...so does Tommy. We had a big laugh and then I really laid it on thick. I told them some tall tales in my very best southern slang and stretched out accent. They could hardly understand what I was saying, however each one thought the story was hilarious.
Ten to one, if I asked Jacy and Logan where 'yonder' is...neither one of them would know. We are gonna have to work on that soon.
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