True Southerners

[jayce1066]

Originally Posted by jayce1066 View Post
"A car's foot-feed is the gas pedal.
A car's turtle-hull is the trunk"

"Never heard these, they must be region-specific."

Those are from SW Arkansas. I must admit that they were considered old-timey expressions by the 1960s.

I might add that "directly" was pronounced "DREK-lee" when used as "I'll be there directly."

 

[cloudy]

Those are from SW Arkansas. I must admit that they were considered old-timey expressions by the 1960s.

I might add that "directly" was pronounced "DREK-lee" when used as "I'll be there directly."

Ah, that explains it. I live in the true Heart of Dixie: Alabama.

 

[ThatSweetness]

Boy do I recognize myself and my family :

1. Only a true Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption, and that you don't "HAVE" them, --you "PITCH" them.

2. Only a true Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens,peas, beans, etc. make up "a mess."

3. Only a true Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."

4. Only a true Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is - as in: "Going to town, be back directly."

5. All true Southerners, even babies, know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl on the middle of the table.

6. All true Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.

7. Only a true Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. (If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin'!)

8. Only true Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be one mile or 20.

9. Only a true Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.

10. No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

11. A true Southerner knows that "fixin'" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.

2. Only a true Southerner knows that the term "booger" can be a resident of the nose, a descriptive, as in "that ol' booger," a first name or something that jumps out at you in the dark and scares you senseless.

13. Only true Southerners make friends while standing in lines. We don't do "queues", we do "lines," and when we're "in line," we talk to everybody!

14. Put 100 true Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.

15. True Southerners never refer to one person as "y'all."

16. True Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.

17. Every true Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that redeye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.

18. When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin' .. ," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!

19. Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it - we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.

20. And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say, "Bless her heart" and go your own way.


Well I knew my time in the south is what gave me the hankering for sweat tea but didn't realize that's where my love for banana puddin' came from!

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Isn't that a Northeast thing? I don't recall ever seeing it on the Left Coast though I have heard the name.

I've seen it in Maryland and Virginia.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I've seen it in Maryland and Virginia.

I checked my local BevMo. They carry it so tomorrow . . .

 

[Trinique_Fire]

I checked my local BevMo. They carry it so tomorrow . . .

It has more personality than root beer.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

It has more personality than root beer.

How about Vernor's Ginger Ale? That's has a lot more personality than Canada Dry!

 

[Trinique_Fire]

How about Vernor's Ginger Ale? That's has a lot more personality than Canada Dry!

I love Canada Dry, but I love Inca Kola more.

 

[bronzeage]

A true Southerner knows how much longer it will be when he is "fixing to get ready."

 

[trysail]

All good Southerners know that the only causes worth fighting for are losing ones.

For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it's going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn't need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago; or to anyone who ever sailed a skiff under a quilt sail, the moment in 1492 when somebody thought This is it: the absolute edge of no return, to turn back now and make home or sail irrevocably on and either find land or plunge over the world's roaring rim.
-William Faulkner
Intruder In The Dust

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

In college I wrote a paper asserting how the South won the war; I got an A for the paper.

The War was never about slavery cuz the War failed to free one slave; Dred Scott condemned blacks to slavery or denied them American citizenship. The 13th Amendment was what changed their status and liberated Southern planters from responsibility for slaves. After the 13th Amendment became law planters leased blacks 40 acres and a mule for 1/2 of the crop, and the planter no longer had to feed, clothe, shoe, house, or medicate black women, children, and old timers.

Blacks immediately went from 3/5th of a person to a whole person for Congressional representation. Overnight the South gained 1.5 million additional population and plenty more votes in Congress. Enough votes to get the Southern Pacific Railroad (the real cause of the War) Do the math.

And blacks became unpaid peasants for one more century.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

double post

 

[voluptuary_manque]

In college I wrote a paper asserting how the South won the war; I got an A for the paper.

The War was never about slavery cuz the War failed to free one slave; Dred Scott condemned blacks to slavery or denied them American citizenship. The 13th Amendment was what changed their status and liberated Southern planters from responsibility for slaves. After the 13th Amendment became law planters leased blacks 40 acres and a mule for 1/2 of the crop, and the planter no longer had to feed, clothe, shoe, house, or medicate black women, children, and old timers.

Blacks immediately went from 3/5th of a person to a whole person for Congressional representation. Overnight the South gained 1.5 million additional population and plenty more votes in Congress. Enough votes to get the Southern Pacific Railroad (the real cause of the War) Do the math.

And blacks became unpaid peasants for one more century.

No doubt it depended on which plantation a slave labored, but I'm willing to accept that for a good many of them the transition to share-cropper was a nasty step downward. If it hadn't been, the mass migration to the northern midwestern factories to power the auto industry probably would have never happened. I'd like to see someone do (if it hasn't already been done) an economic analysis of the change in status of the planter class as a whole from the Antebellum to the Post-war period.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

No doubt it depended on which plantation a slave labored, but I'm willing to accept that for a good many of them the transition to share-cropper was a nasty step downward. If it hadn't been, the mass migration to the northern midwestern factories to power the auto industry probably would have never happened. I'd like to see someone do (if it hasn't already been done) an economic analysis of the change in status of the planter class as a whole from the Antebellum to the Post-war period.

My family records reveal that all of the slaves were emancipated prior to hostilities erupting. My 3rd great-grandfather represented his county at the secession convention, opposed disunion, and immediately emancipated his slaves...his brother-in-law did the same.

My ancestor's will was probated in late 1864, at that time he owned 3 plantations and had $50,000 in US Currency; his 1861 will indicated he owned 3 plantations and had debts totaling $10,000; so he made money during the war. His executor kept meticulous records so we know how every penny was spent from 1862-1864. I suspect that his cotton went from Tallahassee to Nassau or Havana courtesy of the US Navy. Unlike his neighbors, he had a mere $50 of Confederate bonds; his estate was very healthy at the end of the war.

The family prospered after the War and increased its influence; by 1920 the family included the chief judge of the Florida Supreme Court, the President of the Florida Senate, the President of the University of Florida, and a few state representatives. Lotsa lawyers!

My 4th great-grandfather (Florida's arch-thief, according to one historian) bought 100,000 acres of land from the Spanish circa 1821, and the family traded it to the US Government for 100,000 acres of land at Miami (Fort Dallas) about 1880. They later sold the land to Northern farmers. By 1940 all the money and land and influence was gone; the grandchildren pissed it away.

THIS IS SOUTHWOOD PLANTATION where my 3rd great-grandmother and 4th great-grandparents are buried. The present house was built in 1865 and trucked to Southwood after the original house burned in 1913.

http://www.golfcoursehome.net/doc/communities/Community-Southwood.htm

THE COLUMNS, my 4th great grandfather built it in 1830, its the oldest structure in Tallahassee
http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/display/0594e7cd-e952-4b93-96b6-73d2b4c0087f.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/The_Columns.png

THE RUINS OF 'VERDURA' built 1832 at Tallahassee by my 4th great grandfather. It burned in 1882.
http://www.sptimes.com/News/052701/photos/travel-VERDURA.jpg

 

[bronzeage]

All good Southerners know that the only causes worth fighting for are losing ones.

We really need to get over that one.

 

[trysail]

All good Southerners know that the only causes worth fighting for are losing ones.

We really need to get over that one.

It's a not insubstantial part of what makes "The South," the South. "Character," adherence to principles, devotion to duty and a willingness to stand up for what one believes— regardless of the consequences— are what many believe are part of what distinguishes the South.

For many, the character of R. E. Lee continues to embody all that is worthy of emulation.



_____________________________
"I am fond of independence... It is that feeling that prompts me to come up strictly to the requirements of law and regulations. I wish neither to seek nor receive indulgence from anyone. I wish to feel under obligation to no one."

-Robert E. Lee
(from a letter dated June 22, 1851 to his son, Custis)



______________________________
Shortly after returning to Richmond following the surrender at Appomatox, Robert E. Lee was approached on the street by a young mother with her son in tow. She asked Lee what she should teach her son.

"Madam, teach him that he must deny himself."

-Robert E. Lee

 

[bronzeage]

It's a not insubstantial part of what makes "The South," the South. "Character," adherence to principles, devotion to duty and a willingness to stand up for what one believes— regardless of the consequences— are what many believe are part of what distinguishs the South.

For many, the character of R. E. Lee continues to embody all that is worthy of emulation.



_____________________________
"I am fond of independence... It is that feeling that prompts me to come up strictly to the requirements of law and regulations. I wish neither to seek nor receive indulgence from anyone. I wish to feel under obligation to no one."

-Robert E. Lee
(from a letter dated June 22, 1851 to his son, Custis)



______________________________
Shortly after returning to Richmond following the surrender at Appomatox, Robert E. Lee was approached on the street by a young mother with her son in tow. She asked Lee what she should teach her son.

"Madam, teach him that he must deny himself."

-Robert E. Lee

Bobby Lee was a fine fellow. If he thought the Confederacy was a losing cause, he would not have taken the job. Even if military victory was not likely, a political victory could have been force by the Confederacy, up to a point.

The problem with losing causes is that one gets their ass kicked and a lot of the people who follow you die for no good reason.

There is a difference between a hopeless cause and a losing cause. The difference between the Alamo and Gettysburg is that the Alamo was a losing cause, and Gettysburg was hopeless.

We can grant all the nobility due to our great grandfathers, but in hindsight, the War Between the States was a stupid idea and we would all be better off if it never happened. Even when devoted to duty and standing up for what one believes, it is possible to dead ass wrong.