|
MercTech -> RE: Southernisms (11/6/2010 6:41:37 AM)
|
I think the use of Mamaw, or Papaw (meemaw and peepaw or even grandma, or grandpaw to some) as an honorific or epithed is a holdover from the Spanish colonial days in the dialect. It can be a term of respect to an elderly person who has survived to pass on wisdom or an epithen for that "ornery old coot". There are a lot of twists of phrase in Southern dialect that can be clear if you realize it comes from a mix of the languages of the Scots and Irish settlers mixing with the Spanish and French colonials with a seasoning of Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw.
Now I have a theory as to the origin of the Southern accent. When it come down to it, when the temperature and humidity are coming to the finish line, neck and neck, for a new guiness record; "Ya just cain't tawlk no faster"
Grits... are a side dish, a breakfast food, or something to put under a meat dish. If it could go with potatoes, it can go with grits. Google "Grits and Grillades" for a wonderful dinner entree. (Medalions of pork loin smothered in a tangy barbecue sauce served on a bed of fresh grits.) And try "fried grits" if you ever get a chance. You use the congealed leftover grits from breakfast with chopped onion and sweet peppers to make patties.. rather like a potato kuegel in the end product.
Now, a good sucker bet for the Northern transplants is getting water out of the air. If you put a good fluffy washcloth in the freezer overnight, and the humidity is above 95%, you can wave it around in the air outside and wring out a quarter cup of water. This is a good revenge for the high latitude Yankee sucker bet for not being able to pour a cup of hot coffee from shoulder height into a 3 foot diameter circle in the snow. (You have to have 30 below and a slight wind for this trick. The coffee will freeze and blow away before it hits the ground. It cost me $20 to learn that one.)
A true southerner knows the difference in a huckleberry and a blueberry (They don't in the Pacific Northwest. They call blueberries "huckleberries" when the actual huckleberry isn't even the same genus.)
A true southerner knows what a scupperong is and knows you do not put scuppernong wine in a metal or ceramic container or drink it with false teeth in. (purple dentures really do look hilarious. Also, scuppernong wine will really really really clean your system out. But, scuppernong jelly is to die for.)
I miss sassafras. Since they started using defoliants on rural dirt roadsides instead of trimming the wayside it is almost impossible to find in the wild.
If you ever hear the term "Spanish Coast" or "French Coast" it is an old old term for the Gulf Coast. East of the Pearl River was Spanish territory (Mobile, Pensacola, etc) and West of the Pearl River was French Territory (New Orleans, Lake Ponchartrain, Beumont, Lafayette)
Hominy... grits.... If you soak hard corn in a lye solution it puffs up. This is a chemical reaction that frees up nutrients that would otherwise be indigestible. This is the same method used to make masa flour for tortillas. If you eat simple ground corn (maize to be clear for the Euro-peeps reading) you miss all the vitamins you could be getting and run the risk of a deficiency disease called "Pelligra". Wheat doesn't grow well in a southern climate and corn was the staple grain until cheap transportation made wheat flour readily available. You ate either grits or oatmeal every day or ran the risk of getting the Pelligra. Also, a lye soak is a very good easy way to make easily storable hard shell corn edible without having to spend a lot of time grinding.
I grew up in a part of the south were Edinburgh, Bremen, and Moscow were within ten miles of each other. I find it interesting to look at the local dialects, family names, and place names that originated in the immigrant influx in the 1830s. And I marvel at how much history is left behind when the inhabitants don't know why their towns were named things like DeKalb and Kosciusko. My own ancestry traces back to a land grant given in the "Mississippi Territory" in lieu of back pay from the War of 1812. All that remains of that land grant is a rather large cemetary bearing the family name with grave markers dateing back to 1815.
I've rambled enough, I'll quit boring everyone....
Stefan
|
|
|
|
