It’s in the Drawl Y’all

Everyone who is anyone knows that Southerners have a specific way of talking. It’s slow as molasses and so drawn out, you may catch a cat nap before a sentence is complete. Some may find it annoying or strange, but most people I know can find a comfort in the relaxed way we annunciate our words.

Now, there’s of course the stereotypical “y’all” (which sounds more like yawall where I’m from), “bless your heart”, and “I’ll be” that Southerners use on the fly at any given time. One of the first times I noticed I was the odd man out with my pronunciation was when I visited Pittsburgh, Pennysylvania. I was extremely confused when I went to Primanti Bros for one of their famous sandwiches when the guy behind the counter greeted me with, “How yinz guys doing today?” I didn’t know how to answer. It was like he was speaking German to me. Thankfully, my then boyfriend/now husband was with me and explained “yinz” replaced “y’all” up there. I was appalled.

Right after college, a few of my friends moved up to New York City. I’ll never forget when my girlfriend, Abby, called me up and put me on the phone to speak with her new coworkers in the fashion industry. She had gotten in a discussion with them about how Southerners talk, and I guess she figured my accent was extremely thick, so she called me to let them listen. The friendly coworkers passed around the phone in disbelief at the thick southern drawl on the other end of the phone while I heard hootin and hollerin in the background. They couldn’t believe how I spoke, and I took it as a compliment…obviously.

One of my favorite words to use was introduced to me during my freshman year at Ole Miss by the fabulous and oh-so-funny Leslie from Okalona, Mississippi. Anytime she would describe someone’s hilarious or concerning drunken behavior, a particularly bad hairstyle or outfit choice, or a dish that was not too appetizing, she used one simple word: Rurnt. If you are not aware, the definition of rurnt in the urban dictionary is “spoiled, not any good, wasted; ruined… with a country, southern, and pretty traditional accent; the ultimate downfall.” Rurnt quickly became a staple in our friend group’s vocabulary.

At a recent girls dinner/ baby sprinkle, a fellow friend of mine who also went to college with me and has a similar vocabulary, was discussing something that was rurnt. Lindsey and I hemmed and hawed about how rurnt the situation was that we were talking about, and the other girls at the table looked at us like we each had two heads.

“What are you saying to each other?” one questioned.

Lindsey and I confusingly looked at one another. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“That word-Are you saying rurnt? Or turnt? Or ruined?”

Lindsey and I fell out laughing, and proceeded to explain to the rest of the girls what it meant if something or someone was rurnt. Now, they are all Southerners, but it was then we realized that rurnt may possibly be a Mississippi thing and had not reached Nashville. With that dinner we had officially brought it further north to our friends, and now the women are in a group text message under the title RURNT.

I can’t discuss how Southerners speak without referencing my family from Taylorsville, Mississippi- a one stoplight town where all my male relatives just so happened to be the volunteer firefighters. My grandmother lived on a plot of land with a large cane-pole fishing pond in the back. My childhood memories are filled with uncles, cousins, aunts, grandparents, and whoever was in the house at the time discussing a place that they reckoned was “over yonder.” I just assumed yonder was somewhere near the beloved fishing hole because they always seemed to look out the back windows toward the field when talking about whatever it was that was “over yonder.” I never truly understood where “over yonder” was, but I knew it was a place that was spoken about a lot in our family.

I also confused my New Jersey mother-in-law years back with the words I choose. We had been in the kitchen discussing something, and I casually referenced having a type of food in the refrigerator to “eat on”. She gave me a strange look and responded, “Eat on?”

“Yeah. Like a honey baked ham or a pork tenderloin. You’re most likely going to have left overs so you just keep it in the fridge to eat on or make sandwiches during the week. You’ve never heard of that?”

She laughed out loud and assured me she had never heard of the phrase, but now she knew what it was thanks to my quick description.

Now that I’m a mother, I love to pass along my good old fashioned southern sayings or words to my children. The top three in my repertoire would have to be “doohickey”, “catawampus”, and “hifalutin”. I constantly find myself referring to my children’s things as “doohickeys” or tell them to brush their hair because it’s looking all “catawampus”. And I sure as hell am trying my best to make sure they don’t end up thinking they are too “hifalutin” and better than anyone else as they grow up in the busy, fast paced city that Nashville is. I wouldn’t want them to forget their down to earth roots.

Another phrase I absolutely love would be referring to someone or something as “useless as a screen door on a submarine.” Doesn’t that make you laugh just thinking about it? One thing I love about Southerners is we’ll sugar coat words even if they’re negative to soften the blow it could give. We’d never won’t to hurt someone’s feelings… bless their heart.

Finally, one of my all-time favorite phrases that we Southerners will use is the classic “that dog won’t hunt.” If you’re not familiar with it, it simply means an idea will not work. Now isn’t that saying just about as country as a turnip green? And, if you ask me, there is nothing more southern or better then a good old hunting dog.

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