[at-l] Southern Guidance

[TRich@FDIC.gov (Rich, Timothy D.)]

No, as far as I know that saying's a Southern original.  As a traveling bank
examiner, I covered much of Alabama, East Tennessee, central FL and south LA
(that's Louisiana, not Lower Alabama).  Every small town had "the best BBQ
around".  Heard several expressions about heading off to eat, including
"Let's go slop the hogs", "Let's go tie on the feed bag", but my favorite
11:30 a.m. call to arms was "Let's beat the pulpwooders" to the local
buffet.

Two guys I worked with each tipped the scale in the 275-300+ range.  Upon
entering a local buffet, howls went up from a table of local,
coffee-drinking old codgers as one proclaimed, "let the games begin!"

Floridians losing their accents depend on where you are.  Get away from the
coast and head north.  You won't know when you cross the AL or GA line.  I
spent a week in high school at a baseball camp in Perry, FL.  The locals
there even sounded funny to this Alabama boy, and that takes a good bit.
They also don't take kindly to an outsider spending time with the girls
there, either.  Food for thought, Feelhicks.

Take Care,

Tim

-----Original Message-----
From: William Neal [mailto:nealb@midlandstech.com]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 1:46 PM
To: Rich, Timothy D.; AT-Mailing list (E-mail)
Subject: RE: [at-l] Southern Guidance


The first time I heard the first was from a Yankee.  You shur y'all
Southern?  You shur y'all not living someplace like Florida who've been
losing their accents since the 1920s?

I remember visiting my cousins down in Florida years ago.  Both sides of the
family are deep-dyed Southern.  Mama's family (she was their great-aunt)
have lived in Lancaster county, SC since before it was an official county.
But all my cousins (I kept wishing they were kissing cousins) spoke with
Northern accent.  And I use to be bad about picking up accents when I went
anywhere.  When I got back, I'd sound like a d*** Yankee! ;-/

But Southerners are known for shortening anything that keeps them from their
vittals.  One of my cousins from SC was a Baptist minister, we always asked
him to say the blessing. "God bless this food and this family. Amen."  We
finally got him to shorten it to "God bless this food. Amen."

William, The Southern Bread Turtle

-----Original Message-----
From: Rich, Timothy D. [mailto:TRich@FDIC.gov]
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 7:36 AM
To: 'at-l@mailman.backcountry.net'
Subject: [at-l] Southern Guidance


Good Morning,

We Southerners are notorious for adding syllables where they don't exist,
but when food is involved we contract.  Example:

"D'jeat yet?" (Did you eat yet?)
"uh-uh"
"Y'onto?" (Do you want to?)
"uh-huh"

Or the time tested dinner call: 'squeat! (Let's go eat!)

Take Care,

Tim