she said it better than I ever could

[kaigou]

Trying to Write the Southern Accent

I believe the number of Southerners with writeable accents is declining. Writing Southernese is as much about the arrangement of words and word choice as it is the sound. You don't have to underscore a character's southern-ness by dropping g's and throwing in a bunch of Populist apostrophes after n's--as in, I'm fixin' to go ridin' with Billy Bob. If the character hasn't earned it, or you aren't masterful, the phonetic hand-holding tortures readers--the economic use of y'all or original word arrangement (like a double modal) will do in most cases.

Reminds me of the fact that most of the Georgia side of my family would use the expression "losing my religion," which became suddenly very popular due to some no-name Georgia band. *cough* Except that when that song came out, I was living in New England, and it seemed no one had the least clue was the phrase meant; they seemed to take the song as some kind of atheist anthem or something.

The phrase actually means "hopping mad," of a level so great you've started cussing. Possibly a blue streak of cussing, even. Though I can't recall any of my father's family ever actually losing their religion; they were more like to say, "I was near to losing my religion," meaning it was only through supreme force of will that they refrained from saying exactly what was on their mind, with colorful extras.

(It doesn't always mean angry, though. My grandfather often came near to losing his religion anytime he slammed his thumb in the workshop. Extreme pain that makes you want to yell out loud suffices, in other words.)

Comments

[leorising]

D'oh! I had no idea that's what that phrase meant. Now that you explain it, it makes total sense, is very Southern, and very clever besides. This Northerner says, "Bless your little pea-pickin' heart." :D

[kaigou]

It's cotton-picking. And careful, because you only bless hearts if you're trying to soften an insult. Like, "dumb as a box of bricks, bless her heart." And cotton-picking actually has connotations of being good-for-nothing, or worthless. "I wouldn't take your cotton-picking flowers if you were the last man on earth," being one example.

Actually, Southernisms are filled with ways to insult someone without sounding like you're insulting them. It's a very euphemistic manner of speaking, which is probably just one more thing on the list that bothers Yankees about Southerners. Along with saying "yes'm" and "no-sir" which seemed to make every Yankee I met very suspicious, like good manners means you're up to no good. Heh.

[eftychia]

I've also heard, "Well bless his heart," used without an (explicit) accompanying negative comment, as if to say, "I'm thinking of an insult, but I don't need to speak it." Or maybe, "I'm too polite to say, 'what an asshole' aloud." I'm not sure how far into what regions this extends; I've heard it from (a) Virginians, (b) Marylanders from parts of the state that have rather southern-ish accents (we do say "y'all" here, and in some parts of the state that's singular with "all y'all" being the plural), and (c) folks with southern accents that I couldn't place, so I'm not sure which parts of the south they were from.

[kaigou]

as if to say, "I'm thinking of an insult, but I don't need to speak it."

*snort* oh, yeah.

I think it's more like a class thing, to use that phrase. I've heard it all over the South, from mountains of Maryland down to Florida and west into Lousiana... but it's also something I've only ever heard from city/suburb folk. The rural relatives I've known, I can't think of ever hearing any of them soften an insult (or imply an insult) with such a phrase. Especially the Georgia/Tennessee branches of the family (we're getting into Southern Appalachia now), where if he's as dumb as a box of rocks, they're likely to say so*, and then laugh.

They have other ways of softening things, but that phrase isn't really it. Though I do recall every now and then, one of that part of the family calling someone "precious," which was pretty much the highest compliment possible.

My more-city and higher-educated parts of extended family, though, they used "bless his heart" a great deal. And had rules about what glove-colors to where when, and how long gloves must be. Etc.

*this impression may not be helped by the fact that there were at least two nurses in my father's family, and apparently all the younger women of their generation picked up their no-nonsense nursing ways. Lots of great-aunts and great-great-aunts who could bark your name at fifty paces and stop you sharp in your tracks. Strange, they did it to my grandfather and great-uncles, too...

[leorising]

Mom was from Indiana and always said "pea-picking", and the phrase was not unfamiliar to my childhood friends straight from Kentucky. It may not be Deep South (or from the particular region you're acquainted with,) but to someone born & raised in Detroit, it ain't home, either.

As far as the "bless his..." business, I'm acquainted with the Deep South usage, but thanks for pointing it out again. I was using it with you as a joke, which was evidently, well, non-evident. I routinely use the phrase when I mean to actually bless someone, as I did with the LIEAP counselor the other day when she gave me $250 instead of $125 for my energy bills this winter. Since I'm in the Pacific NW the regional meaning is not expected, and it's taken at face value.

I don't think I'd ever try to write a regional character with whom I am not familiar, just for these reasons. I wouldn't be able to make hir talk right and make it sound natural.

Sorry I went so awry. No insult was intended, though, ma'am. (I also routinely use good manners (there's that semi-Southern Indiana mom again,) and in Portland they don't expect sarcasm. I love this town for reasons just like that.)

[kaigou]

No offense taken. I was being mostly tongue-in-cheek myself, since we've corresponded enough that I figured I could be fairly sure where you were coming from. And I have heard pea-picking (and no, I've never heard it as an offensive thing, jsut as a descriptor), but my head was wandering and I realized that I'd never realized before that "cotton-picking" has those connotations. Not that I use the phrase all that much myself, but sheesh, I mean, talk about taking the negative of "who does it" and making the descriptive phrase into a negative as well, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, people outisde the south are amazingly unprepared for Southern types of sarcasm. It's at least some relief with TSA, to smile while telling them what you really think. Sort of.

[leorising]

As a coda, I'm finding the "losing my religion" explanation to be a handy Fun Fact To Know & Tell. Great kaffee klatch material -- no one else around here knows the true facts, either. Thanks! :D

[kathmandu]

Okay, we need to talk. You keep using 'Yankee' as a generic term for Northerners, and it isn't. Yankee is a particular ethnic subtype of New Englander: Anglo with a particular set of cultural values. Those Boston Italians and Portuguese you talked about in a previous post? Not Yankee. Please stop taking my ethnic identity in vain. Thank you.

[kaigou]

No problem, I'll stop. I was just using it as it's used where I grew up, which is basically as a generic term that means "someone who is not from the South." It wasn't meant in offense, nor was it something (least, to the best of my experience) that's used to distinguish between different types of non-Southerners. In other words, just as anyone south of the Mason-Dixon line is ostensibly a "southerner" (but not necessarily so), anyone north of it is "yankee" (and as I'm well aware, not necessarily so). I guess you could say it's a geographic shorthand, but I understand if it's something you see as an ethnic shorthand.

I just ask that in return, you understand that as a Southerner, all not-raised-here (or alternately, all raised-up-there) are default as Yankees, regardless of ethnic, religious, or other differentiations. That it's not meant as offense when a Southerner uses it: it's meant to distinguish one's geographic origins. Basically, it's casually synonymous with "northerner". I say that only so you're aware in future that it's not meant as a slander in any way, if you come across it being used elsewhere.

[kathmandu]

I do understand, and thank you for your understanding. It was clear to me you didn't mean it as offense. It's just, two things: one, it grates my nerves to hear all this non-Yankee behavior attributed to my tribe; and two, these comparisons of regional/cultural differences in manners and speech and so on are interesting, but misattributing things only obscures the patterns.