Writing Southern Style by Debra H. Goldstein
I am a transplanted Yankee. Although I am proud of my northern roots, I’ve come to love the language and cadence of the south. Being honest, despite loving the writings of many southern authors, I must admit my adoption of the “Southern Style” took me a while.
My first trial as a litigator in the south for the U.S. Department of Labor took place in Mississippi. The day before I was leaving Alabama for the trial, one of my colleagues very seriously asked: “Can you do a bit of Magnolia Lady?”
Sadly, I had to explain to him that I was still working on the difference between y’all and ya’ll. For those who don’t know, y’all is the correct contraction, but it doesn’t always come naturally to northern ears.
Soon though, I learned there were phrases, like “Bless Your Heart,” which when said with a smile were delightfully wicked. Other southern cultural phrases that I learned to work into my daily interactions include: “madder than a wet hen,” “if I had my druthers,” “I’m all tore up,” “hush your mouth,” and “fixin to.” The origins of each of these and many other cultural phrases is the stuff for another blog.
But, for today, let me tell you the biggest difference of how northern and southern authors tell a fairy tale (with thanks to an unsigned internet meme). The northerner begins by saying, “Once upon a time. . .” The southerner gets right to the point: “Y’all ain’t gonna believe this . . .”
Do you have any favorite cultural phrases?
Some of your southernism, I learned as an upstate New York boy -- "madder than a wet hen" and "If I had my druthers." The one take took me the longest to get my head around was:
ReplyDeleteY'all want a coke?"
"Yes, please."
"What kind?"
:Diet Pepsi, if you have it."
(Where coke means soda pop -- or tonic, if you're from New England)
In the South, "them would be fightin' words" ... you are either for Coca Cola or Pepsi (sort of like Alabama vs. Auburn).
DeleteI love regional phrases. Here are my favorite southernisms...
ReplyDeleteShe's too big for her britches.
She's like whiskey in a teacup.
He's preachin' to the choir.
Fish or cut bait.
Love these!
DeleteYou didn't tell us what a "Magnolia Lady" is, although I have my suspicions. A lot of those expressions are very common among my West Virginia relatives, who preface most plans with "The good Lord wilin' and the crick don't rise..."
ReplyDeleteBut my fairy tales do start with "Once upon a time, far away and long ago..."
Magnolia Lady is a southern charmer who speaks slowly and lets her delicate nature come through -- think Scarlett O'Hara before the war and Tara's burning.
DeleteI remember visiting my mother's family in Michigan when I was a little girl, being amazed that people there called soda "pop" and a frappe a "sundae."
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteI was told once that if you're addressing a group of people in the South, y'all is not sufficient. It must be "all y'all." LOL
ReplyDeleteDepends.....but if you say ... all you all,, you give yourself away as a stupid northerner.
DeleteAfter fifteen years in Atlanta, here are mine: dad gum! I'm fixin' to
ReplyDeletesweeten up the bathroom; bless your heart; Sugar or Baby as terms of endearment;
Now that I'm in Atlanta, I will need to incorporate some of these into my way of speaking.
DeleteAs a Texas who lived most of her life in the Midwest, I can empathize. Too many southernisms to list. I can coach you, if you'd like.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Texas, it was well known in the office thatif the CEO ended a sentence with "mah friend", the person being addressed was anything but.
ReplyDeleteSo funny! I'm all over anything that begins with, "Y'all ain't gonna believe this!"
ReplyDeleteSome of what I hear comes from the friends of my small town born husband who never moved away: phrases like, "I'm fixin' to (do something). And " It's rainin'' harder than a cow peein' on a flat rock!"
ReplyDelete"I'll be back dreckly." When my mom said that, my six-year-old California cousin asked me how long dreckly was. I shrugged—I’d never thought about it. Cousin said it probably meant ten minutes. Sounded about right. In my teens, I decided the word must be a mangling of “directly.” But a British blogger who read a piece I wrote about Southernisms I grew up hearing said it’s Cornish slang meaning “at an unspecified time in the future.” A webpage about Cornish slang says it could mean tomorrow, next week, or next year, but not very soon. When my mom used it, it might mean ten minutes, a couple of hours, or “a little while,” but never tomorrow. Both Flannery O’Connor and Margaret Mitchell spell it “terrectly,” which, according to something I read, somewhere, means “presently,” anything from “later today to next year.” Which loops back to “dreckly.”
ReplyDeleteOne comment about blessing hearts: I keep reading that the phrase is always used sarcastically, but the meaning depends on context. Sincere: “I was up all night with the baby; bless his heart, he’s teething.” Well, I guess that could have an edge to it. To convey irony, I prefer, “Bless his pointy little head.” I don’t know whether it’s Southern, but it gets the job done.
Thank you for this post. I love Southernisms. – A reader from small-town Central Texas, on the Southern side, before the West begins