Regional Dialects/Odd Sayings

[oneTVslave]

I think it is hysterical when actors in the movies or on tv try to do a Southern accent and come off sounding like Scarlett O'Hara. For the most part, nobody down here talks like that, except maybe really old people.

My old roomate, Heather, used to tell a story about when part of her house caught on fire and her mother kept yelling, "Heathuh, Heathuh, gra-ub your jooolreeey!"

[Google]

 

[aifan4life]

Originally Posted by KymberlyAnn

Can't forget "I reckon"

Oh no, can't forget that! Thats a big one in East TN!

[Lotuslander]

Originally Posted by queenb

Lotus, there are at least four different types of "southern" just in Georgia! You could pretty much divide the state into thirds horizontally from north to south to get three, and then figure that more rural folks have a slightly to extremely different one.
In South Carolina there are at least three, including, on the barrier islands, a different form of English called Gullah or Geechee, spoken by descendants of slaves from West Africa, which is sadly dying out, though they are trying to keep it alive.
I know Tennesee mountain people also sound different from West Tennesseans.
In one state (North Carolina I think but I'm not sure) there are some mountain people who speak a dialect that sounds almost like Elizabethan English!
In other words, there are a zillion "southern" accents that usually depend on where the primary settlers of that region are from. Sometimes I can identify them, and sometimes I can't. I have noticed that in the larger cities many of the teens and 20 year olds do try to sound more like the Hollywood types, and sometimes it sounds really weird!

So did Darrah on Survivor have the typical Georgian accent, as I could barely understand what her and Tom were saying half the time, and do southerners have a hard time understanding northerners, does it work in reverse?

[queenb]

Originally Posted by Lotuslander

So did Darrah on Survivor have the typical Georgian accent, as I could barely understand what her and Tom were saying half the time, and do southerners have a hard time understanding northerners, does it work in reverse?

Alot of rural people in North Georgia do sound like Darrah, and Tom sounds like he's from Tennessee. But I think Tom was also playing it up some; he sounds more like a really drunk Tennessean, and I also think part of the time he was playing around, not saying words at all because he knew he was confusing everyone.
But, yes if I go somewhere in the North where they have really heavy accents, it can be pretty comical both ways! This isn't as much of a problem in the cities where people have moved in from all over the place and the accents aren't as strong anymore. If you were to visit Atlanta, Charlotte, or another larger city, you probably wouldn't have any trouble understanding the language. The problem would occur 50 miles out of town, where "the real Southerners" are!

[Boredom]

Originally Posted by queenb

Lotus, there are at least four different types of "southern" just in Georgia! You could pretty much divide the state into thirds horizontally from north to south to get three, and then figure that more rural folks have a slightly to extremely different one.

In Western NC, there are at least three different accents - rural southern, city southern (a little bit softer), and mountain (which is an entirely different breed of southern, and southern and mountain sound very, very little alike). The sayings in all three are a little bit different, as well, even though the city southern is similar to rural southern. Also, it seems to me that the southern accent changes from state to state, as a city southern in NC sounds nothing like a city southern in Alabama

[Muduh]

Originally Posted by oneTVslave

I think it is hysterical when actors in the movies or on tv try to do a Southern accent and come off sounding like Scarlett O'Hara. For the most part, nobody down here talks like that, except maybe really old people.

My old roomate, Heather, used to tell a story about when part of her house caught on fire and her mother kept yelling, "Heathuh, Heathuh, gra-ub your jooolreeey!"

This incident happened about twenty years ago. My husband and I still mention it occasionally. We were in Service Merchandise around Christmas time. Two old Southern ladies came in, butted ahead of everyone and one asked about a toy called a Zoomer Boomer. She said the words several times and then her friend piped up in her wealthy, fake, southern accent and asked "Juoast (just) what iahs(is) a zoomah boomah?

[Lotuslander]

About the soft drinks being coke, even if it's 7-up, would that have anything to do in the way in which Pepsi was marketed in the South 70 or so years ago? I remember seeing a documentary about the history of coke, and I seem to re-call that in the early years Pepsi was more a southern black men's beverage, and the southern whites in general drank Coke?

[CantGetNuf]

I work in an assisted living facility in Alabama. My residents have some pretty funny sayings. If they're planning on having a good time "We'll tear up hell and half of Georgia." or "If we can't have any fun we'll take our paper dolls and go home."
My Californian brother recently went to West Virginia to do a job. He said they say things like "We need some "drinkin" beer." or "These chips need some "dippin" sauce." It wasn't just beer or sauce. It had to have a verb with it.

[queenb]

CantGetNuf, you do mean West By-God Virginia dont you?
Lotus, I might be approaching getting old, but I don't know how Pepsi was percieved 70 Years ago! But that could be true. I just know that when I was growing up, I always heard, "Git Co-Cola, it's made in Atlanta." Although you did see some Royal Crown too. I know they had Pepsi in the stores, but when I was a kid I don't recall anyone white or black mentioning it as something they might buy, it was always Coke. I do know they sold Yoo-Hoo back then too because I got my tongue stuck in a bottle of it one time--but that's a story for another day!

[Lotuslander]

I think the American South is fascinating, I really want to visit there some day. My best friend was in Atlanta, Savannah etc, last summer, and he loved Savannah, and other areas around there.