Southern Confusion

Though I have always considered myself as a southern girl, I am coming to the realization that there are different levels of southern-ness. Especially in regards to the pronunciation of words. I am writing this, not to make fun of any of our friends we have made while down here in the deeper south, but to share with you our funny misinterpretations and the confusion that happens from them.

Some of you have heard our first experience of confusion. This real life event happened a few weeks after we had moved here. After worship service and Bible class, we all piled into the van. One of us asked the kids what they were taught during Bible class. M-G looked a little confused, but E replied, "We learned about a woman who was swallowed by a whale."

Dana and I looked at each other with a "HUH?!!?" expression on our faces and I asked, "Do you mean JONAH and the whale?"

"No. Not Jonah, MOM!!!! This was a new story about a woman. It was a really confusing story." M-G, our quickly-growing-up daughter said.

"I do not know the story about a woman with a whale. Was this in the Old Testament...before Jesus?" Dana and I are wondering what story did we forget from childhood...is this one of those stories that we heard and just forgot? This is all really new to us!!!

"No," laughter from the kids. "Jesus saw a woman with a whale and he saved her!!!"

"Do you mean, " Dana asks, trying not to laugh, "the woman at the well?" The kids began to argue with us, very adamantly, that the teacher did not say "well", but "whale". After a little explaining, and retelling of the story, the kids learned that in this deeper part of the south "whale" and "well" are pronounced the same, and both as a two syllable word (Way-yull).

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This past Wednesday night, the kids learned a new song (for them it is new, for Dana and I, an old one) called, "I'm a Hard Fightin' Soldier.." This was a fun song to sing and I loved the tune as a kid. It is not my fav. song now, but...we'll leave that for some later discussion---maybe. :)

For those of you who do not know the words, here is how I remember them:

I'm a hard-fightin' soldier and I'm on the--
battlefield (repeat 2 more times)
And I'm bringin' souls to Jesus by the service (or spirit) that I yield.

I've (or You've) gotta: walk right and talk right and sing right and pray right
On the---battlefield (repeat 2 more times),
"cause I'm (or you're) bringin' souls to Jesus by the service that I(or you) yield.

Well...E was singing this and when he got to the second verse he sang, "I've got a horse ride..a tall ride...a---"

He never finished the song because Dana and I were laughing so hard. Trying to tell him that it isn't a "Horse ride" didn't help---his logic? "It IS a horse ride...that's how I'm bringin' souls to Jesus, daddy!!"
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After dinner Dana asked E where his plate was. Our boy said, "Over day-yur." We have really been working with him on pronouncing his "th" sound, but this habit, like his thumb-sucking, is a hard one to break. Dana said, "The word is th-th-th-there, not dare...there is no such word as dare---(moment of reflection)---oops!! Well, there is such a word, but we do not really use it very much." Dana began to explain to him what the word meant, but:

"I know how it is used, dad...I hear it all the time. People say, 'Oh, dare.' ...
(long pause as he watches our faces show bewilderment) ... like when someone does something like ride a bike or something, people say that."

Daylight begins to glimmer now...I ask him, "You mean when you tell someone that you might have dropped your drink and then they reply, 'Oh, dare'?" E, with his eyes real big and serious, nods his head yes and I begin to laugh. "What they are really saying, E, is 'Oh, dear!' We are living further south than where we were, and things are pronounced differently. When someone says, 'Oh, day-yur!' they really mean, 'Oh, dear!'."