Sticky, Sweet, & A Little Overdressed

38 Responses to “Another great Southernism”

38 Responses to “Another great Southernism”

1. dragontdc Posted: Jan 1st, 2001 at 12:00 am

   1 Reply to this comment.

2. knekkebjoern Posted: Jan 1st, 2001 at 12:00 am

   2 Reply to this comment.

3. tn_tiger Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 12:01 pm

   3 ” ‘Preciatecha’ “ Reply to this comment.

4. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 12:06 pm

   4 Yes, you’re right, I should have mentioned that the spelling I used above is only for clarity’s sake. I have only ever heard anyone say it the way you spelled it. Reply to this comment.

5. red_frog Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 12:19 pm

   5 Ah sure do appreciate it. (This is not me being snarky, this is something, through having a Southern-by-birth father and coming up on 20 years in VA, that I actually say.) Reply to this comment.

6. littleface Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 12:27 pm

   6 Some of favorite “Southern-isms” : “Well, I be dog!”: translation- I am so surprised by that! “stob”: translation - a short, thick stick. “muchoblige”: translation - thank you very much. (see also: ” ‘preciatecha’ “ Reply to this comment.

7. tesseract26 Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 1:44 pm

   7 I love “fixin’ to” - about to perform an action. As in, “I’m fixin’ to g’eat some barbecue.” Reply to this comment.

8. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 2:42 pm

   8 The first one just doesn’t read right without the quasi-phonetic spelling: “wellAH beDOWG” and said with a first rising and then falling intonation. “Stob”?! I haven’t run across that one. That’s funny. I’ve heard the other two, though. Reply to this comment.

9. qe2 Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 3:00 pm

   9 My sister says this all the time. Along with what I find to be the single most confusing Southernism: “I wouldn’t care to” used in the positive, to mean “I wouldn’t mind”. “I wouldn’t care to set the table if you’re making dinner.” WHA? Reply to this comment.

10. radiostace Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 3:47 pm

    10 HA! I’ll just stick to using my Canuck slang, like “eh”. Reply to this comment.

11. thatkellygirl Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 4:09 pm

    11 I’m amused that the things that I’ve said all of my life are oddities to others. I’m proud to know it. (and yes, that’s another one. “I’m proud ta know ya” has been heard upon occasion. Reply to this comment.

12. knekkebjoern Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 4:45 pm

    12 Way down south we say ‘no mames cabron!’. Reply to this comment.

13. tn_tiger Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 5:58 pm

    13 My dad will say “might could” and “might should” Is “low and behold?” Southern. It has a rythm to it, kind of like “wellAH beDOWG” When I was really little, I thought people were saying “low in the hole”. Reply to this comment.

14. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:13 pm

    14 I didn’t realize you were from such an enlightened area. Reply to this comment.

15. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:14 pm

    15 Ah yes, the double modal. I hear it at work all the time. I’ve even had to fight the instinct to begin using it from time to time. I don’t think “lo and behold” is a Southern thing, but “low in the hole” is funny. Reply to this comment.

16. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:16 pm

    16 Ah sure would like to hear you say it. Reply to this comment.

17. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:17 pm

    17 Yeah, that’s a good one, but I was already familiar with that expression in the Frozen North as a Black English expression, so the only thing that sounds funny about it down here is hearing white people say it. Reply to this comment.

18. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:18 pm

    18 Wow, that’s one I haven’t heard. That is confusing. WAY confusing. Huh. Reply to this comment.

19. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:19 pm

    19 Y’all really do say that a lot, eh? Reply to this comment.

20. kateo Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 7:23 pm

    20 “Proud to know ya,” yep, I’ve heard that. And they’re not so much oddities as they are fun little discoveries. When we moved down here two years ago, I learned quickly that prospering here would be a matter of learning the culture and the language — and I regard it with the same curiosity as I would any language I’m trying to learn. (Except that it’s a dialect, not a language, but you know what I mean. ) Reply to this comment.

21. littleface Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 8:48 pm

    21 The first time I heard the word “stob,” a friend of my dad’s was explaining how his wife hurt her foot: “We’s out walking, and she done went and stepped on a stob!” Oh damn! I can’t believe I forgot “yawn’to?” (do you want to?) and “yart’not” (you ought not.) Reply to this comment.

22. dragontdc Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 9:28 pm

    22 Stob is just the way the word “stub” is pronounced. Reply to this comment.

23. dragontdc Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 9:43 pm

    23 It’s not just another way to say “thank you”. In the South, “thank you” can mean anything from “I’m acknowledging what you did but still want to see your guts wrapped around an outhouse” to “I’m impressed with your generosity and wish I was more like you”. Southern courtesy has turned the words into a sort of neutral shield. It’s the bare minimum acknowledgement. “Preciatechya” has a different nuance. It acknowledges a favor, and implies at the minimum that one sees the person being thanked as being worthy of some praise and at the most it implies the possibility that the person being thanked can claim a minor debt of gratitude (politely never requested, of course). “Preciatechya” is much less common than “I ‘preciate it”, which focuses the praise on the act without reflecting on the character of the person who did it. “Much Obliged” Means that there is a standing debt of gratitude. It’s usually tacit that if given this praise that it would be rude to presume upon it for a return favor, but it definitely opens the door. If this seems a lot more subtle and complex than you were expecting from us “Southern Hicks”, you’re right. Stereotyping masks the subtleties of a culture. Southern culture is based on a blend of self-sufficiency and mutual assistance, with complex social dynamics more like a feudal society than an egalitarian one. Reply to this comment.

24. dragontdc Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 10:01 pm

    24 That’s because saying “He doesn’t care” means “he’s not opposed to it”. Thus, “I wouldn’t care to set the table if (and that’s an important ‘if’. This phrase only works with a condition) you’re making dinner” means “I’m not opposed to setting the table if you’re making dinner”. The response, if one wishes them to do it, is simply “Please”, or “If you don’t mind”. Again, this reflects the importance of social hierarchy and interpersonal diplomacy in Southern culture. It’s all organized to avoid offense and acknowledge the other person’s status as an equal. Think of two neighboring feudal duchesses and you’ll see the forms are almost identical to that level of courtesy. If one wished to express displeasure or enforce dominance, the phrases would be much different. Reply to this comment.

25. dragontdc Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 10:12 pm

    25 But it doesn’t just mean “I’m about to do X”. It means “I’m preparing to do something (even if it’s just mental preparation). Using this phrase implies that there is still time for intercession or interruption without hard conflict. If a Southern man says “I’m fixin’ to go to town” and someone says “But the chores ain’t done”, the man might change his mind or argue or put conditions on his going to town, and would not “lose face” because, after all, he just said he was “fixin’ to”. However, if a man says “I’m goin’ to town” and someone objects, then the objector finds himself in direct opposition to the man’s will, and the man also (in cases of extreme opposition) can be said to have “given his word” about what he was doing, making it really just a fact that hadn’t happened yet, and lending the weight of personal honor to his determination. Contradicting a Southerner’s plainly stated word can get ugly, very quickly. Reply to this comment.

26. dragontdc Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 10:16 pm

    26 You realize that the addition of the word “might” means that the person is admitting that there is some uncertainty and is not closed to correction. It can also be used to soften a declaration when speaking to someone you should socially defer to. If used to someone who should defer to you, it is considered a warm and friendly manner of speech, because you could have been more forceful but chose not to be. Reply to this comment.

27. knekkebjoern Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 10:19 pm

    27 We do have electricity and a few lightbulbs. Votive candles too and when necessary we burn witches and such. Reply to this comment.

28. dragontdc Posted: Feb 14th, 2005 at 10:26 pm

    28 It occurred to me that in order to understand Southern language, one needs to know where this social phenomenon of “universal assumed gentry” comes from. Dr. Simonds said in A Student’s History of American Literature (1902) Following the execution of Charles I, and the establishment of the Puritan Protectorate, hundreds of the exiled Cavaliers migrated to Virginia with their families and traditions. These new colonists stamped the character of the dominion that was to be. The best blood of England was thus infused into the new enterprise, and the spirit of the South was determined. In 1650, the population of Virginia was 15,000; twenty years later, it was 40,000. This was just the first quotable mention that came up on Google. Other sources will confirm the influx of exiled Cavaliers into the Southern colonies. Reply to this comment.

29. kateo Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 5:33 am

    29 If this seems a lot more subtle and complex than you were expecting from us “Southern Hicks”, you’re right. Stereotyping masks the subtleties of a culture. Excuse me? Who the hell are you and what are you doing busting my chops in my journal over something I’m absolutely not about? Get over yourself, and kindly leave me alone. Reply to this comment.

30. kateo Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 5:37 am

    30 And goats? How do they fit into the equation? (Besides sexually, of course.) Reply to this comment.

31. carrie_apple Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 7:37 am

    31 Tell them for giving their valuable input. Reply to this comment.

32. knekkebjoern Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 8:30 am

    32 Why would you want a goat? Other than sexually that is. I don’t get it. They don’t burn too good. On the other hand they like to spoon afterwards and never expect you to call back. Reply to this comment.

33. knekkebjoern Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 8:32 am

    33 Burn the Witch!!! Reply to this comment.

34. kateo Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 10:10 am

    34 Indeed. Reply to this comment.

35. kateo Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 10:11 am

    35 Is this another of your quaint customs, or am I stereotyping? Wouldn’t want to mask the subtleties of your culture. Reply to this comment.

36. knekkebjoern Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 10:16 am

    36 It’s more of a pastime that’s making a huge comeback. I think someone’s trying to organize a Witch Burning League and they are just waiting for the paperwork to go through. I don’t have much time to do it right now, but I did buy a brand new pitchfork and will try to get out there on weekends… need to get some exercise. Reply to this comment.

37. littleface Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 1:06 pm

    37 My favorite usage of “stob” is in Sling Blade, when Carl says, “Hey, boy. Whatcha doin’ diggin’ with that stob?” stobstobstob. I think I could say it all day… Reply to this comment.

38. dragontdc Posted: Feb 15th, 2005 at 1:25 pm

    38 When you take it out of the rest and lay it out like that, it does look like I’m “busting your chops”. It wasn’t intended that way. I meant it as a wry humorous nod and failed miserably by using the personal “you” when I should have said “one”, because I certainly didn’t mean you specifically. I was speaking rhetorically and screwed up and made it sound personal. I do apologize. I don’t think you really care who I am, though I hope you will accept that I have a background in communications psychology, and that percieved chop-busting aside, I was making a serious attempt at explaining the “Southernisms” that were mentioned in your journal. And I’ve been following your journal for a while. I have no idea where I encountered you first, or why I added you to my friends list. This being the case, and having brought your displeasure down upon myself, I will wish you a happy and prosperous future and cease following your journal. Reply to this comment.

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