Morning Folks 3/6/07

My daughter in law, Robin, sent me some Tennessee tidbits I thought I would share with you. It was coincidental that she would send them today since just yesterday my dental hygienist told me a story and I overheard a conversation at the Mall that I thought I would share with y'all.

Here are some of Robin's tidbits:

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED LIVING IN Tennessee:
Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
Onced and twiced are words.
It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.
People actually grow and eat okra.

Fixinto is one word.
There is no such thing as "lunch." There is only dinner and then there is supper.
Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it whenyou're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!
Backards and forwards means "I know everything about you."
DJeet? is actually a phrase meaning "Did you eat?"
You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is.You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.

YOU KNOW YOUR FROM Tennessee IF:
You measure distance in minutes.
You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
You install security lights on your house and garage and leave bothunlocked.
You only own four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and ketchup.
The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.

You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit "a little warm."
You know all four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer andChristmas.>> Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as"goin' Wal-martin" oroff to "Wally World.

A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop . . . it's a Coke,regardless of brand or flavor. Example: "What kinda coke you want?"

Fried catfish is the other white meat.

I left off the things she had listed about spiders and snakes because I just don't want to know about those things!

My new dental hygienist, Karen, is a recent transplant from Michigan via Florida. She and I were laughing about the language barrier for those of us not from these parts. She told me a story about her 5 year old who had been born in Florida and never seen snow or hail. So he was very excited to see hail one morning before he went to school. That day he told all his classmates about the hail he saw at home that morning. He was abruptly taken aside and reprimanded for using a curseword. Of course he had no idea what he had said that was wrong.

Then, yesterday in Penney's there was a woman my age with her daughter and her newborn baby. After learning that the baby was a month old, the sales clerk exclaimed that she was so tiny. The grandmother said, "She's a lot bigger now than when she was born. She was real little. But she is still small enough to swaller whole." I loved that!

So, I will be listening and trying to collect the more colorful colloquialisms to share with you Northerners.

I was watching Good Will Hunting last night. I had forgotten how melodious that Massachusetts accent is. It may be a small world, but there are times when it feels very big, indeed.

Have a great day.
Love,
Suz