How To Say Anything To a Southerner

[Carol Dee]

And that was kind of a long winded story, but East or West or North or South
we are all just people and friends are just waiting to be made.

Hello Friend, thanks for the story. Sound like you may very well have made a new friend.

 

[Nyboy]

friendly always gets bigger tip.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

As a Texan and a Southerner, I have the double whammy of accents. I write and sound reasonably intelligent, use correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. I open my mouth and all bets are off. Slow drawl, incorrect grammar, drop the "g" in words ending with ing. My speech is peppered with colloquialisms pertinent to the area, plus a lot of crap I make up on the spot.

Nyboy, your friend is on his way to being converted. His life will never be the same. You see, as a group, Southerners are friendly, caring and we overlook idiots from up north. LOL Bless his lil' ol' peapickin' heart.

If he is saying bless your heart, it is obvious that phrase has been uttered to him. Bless your heart can be used as an euphemism to politely replace more inflammatory words such as "You are dumber than a box of rocks." Or, "look up the dictionary defination of stupid and you'll find your name." Bless your heart is delivered with a smile that the unknowing doesn't understand the meaning of. Hahaha.... sure miss those smileys ....

Bless your heart can also spring from genuine caring for one's well being. Bless your heart can mean just that. Bless your heart can mean deepest sympathy.

Nyboy if your friend is being rude or obnoxious, followed by a smirking Bless your heart..... even a Southerner can run dry on patience and politeness. Somebody's gonna smack him up side th' head with a stupid stick.

Now is all that clear as mud? LOL

Speaking of Southern grammar reminds me of a funny story. I used to know an English teacher of Southern extraction who would often get very mad if you used the word "Y'all" to him instead of "you". The reason however had nothing to do with a belief people were trying to make fun of him. He just thought that, as "Y'all" is a contraction of "all of you", it needed to be treated as the second person plural, not singular, and so should not be used if addressing him alone ( as he would put it, "What y'all, there's just me here." He also had problems with students using "thee" and "thou" in old timey writing as if they were interchangeable with "you" Technically, "thee" and "thou" are the second person informal, to the second person formal "you". It's basically like the difference between tu and usted in Spanish) "You" means you don't know the person intimately, or are being respectful, "thou/thee" means you are close*


*And never say "ye", it's not a real word. That's an eth, not a y.

 

[Smart Red]

Ya'll know I been using it right, eh?

 

[Smart Red]

Learned something new again! Love this site! Now I know an eth from a y. Lucky I still have my two front teeth.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Good, now go and practice your thorns too (that's the other old dropped letter, the soft "th"). Or make sure you know your long "s"'s so you don't make this mistake

 

[Smart Red]

 

[Nyboy]

Maybe this should go in joke thread but ! What is the difference between Northern and Southern girls when making love ? Northern girls say yes you can , Southern girls say yes y'all can .

 

[Jared77]

There was a time when southern gals could say whatever they want cause I couldn't hear them over the thundering in my ears.

Y'all know how to grow 'em if ya know what I mean.

 

[Smart Red]

The thundering was in your ears? Interesting in theory, impractical in practice. Must have been too close to the airport.