How to Translate Northern to Southern Talk
Learning How to Speak Southern
With this change I thought it would be a good time to update and prepare people for an easy move by teaching them southern speak.
First things first, you must pick a NASCAR driver before moving to a southern state. It's a must. And one very important point to keep in mind is to for Dale Jr. instead of Jeff Gordon. People in the south are very passionate about Jr. and they will let you know it. With this hint in your back pocket you will be all set to move south and start learning southern speak.
Here we go:
Pop (Northern) - Soda (Southern) Don't ask for a pop when down south because you will either get an odd look from the person serving you or you will get a pop in the arm. Soda seems to be the preferred choice for ordering a soft drink in the south, but one could also use the word coke. If you order a coke be sure to follow up with the type of coke you want. For instance make sure to follow it up with Sprite or 7-up or root beer.
Cart (Northern) - Buggy (Southern) Up north we referred to them as shopping carts, but in the south they are called Buggies. Those wonderful four wheeled, steel baskets that all of us love to drive through the grocery store are referred to as a "buggy" in the south. I just can't seem to stop smirking every time someone asks me if I have anything left in my buggy.
You guys (Northern) - Ya'll (Southern) When talking to a group of people we in the south will say, "ya'll have a great weekend." As much as I hate to say it does make more sense we talking to a group of women and men. And ya'll just has the perfect southern twang to it.
Accident (Northern) - Crash (Southern) You will never hear about an accident on the morning news down here in the south. When two cars collide it is called a crash and rightfully so. People in the south love to drive fast and pretend they are Jr. and it usually isn't an accident that they crash. Sometimes it will be referred to as a wreck, but that just depends on what area of the south they are from.
Parents (Northern) - Folks (Southern) When talking about one's parents people in the south will usually refer to them as their folks. This is another one of the words that has a great southern twang to it. I still prefer to call my folks, parents.
Poor thing (Northern) - Bless Her/His Heart (Southern) I love this one. Bless her heart is a wonderful way to say you feel sorry for someone. To me it has a wonderful blessing quality to it that makes it irresistible. And if it is said with a southern accent it has a magical quality to it.
Okay (Northern) - Yes Mame/Sir (Southern) You can usually tell when a person in the south was brought up in the south. When spoken to they will always reply with an ending of "yes sir or mame".
Ms. Crabtree (Northern) - Ms. Angie (Southern) In the south children will address their elders with Ms. or Mr. followed by the persons first name. It may seem odd a first, but after you hear it a few times you will find it more personal like I did.
These are just a few translations to help one when visiting or moving to the south. Best of luck ya'll and be sure to visit.
Published by DrDesigns
Since 1984 I've been working as a Product Design Specialist in the automotive industry. At home I'm a husband and father of two that enjoys writing and working with polymer clay. I also enjoy working with 3d... View profile
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12 Comments
Post a Commentto be honest i find this rude, just because your in one part of the south dont mean that you can just go around sayin this is how it is in the south, we say yes mam' and yes sir out of respect, not all of us do that. and the nascar thing not all of us like nascar. i dont. and u say its ya'll no hunny its yawl, and i dont call my mom and dad my folks, i call them momma and daddy, and the soda thing i've never heard someone say i want a soda, we say i want a coke or a pib but most the time its sweet tea, and if yawl honestly wanna know somethin u need to know in the south is that its not ice tea all our tea has ice in it.. and its not cream of wheat its grits, its not a way things are done its the way we are. and we say bless your heart, and god bless not because it has the southern charm its because we mean bless your heart and god bless,
so before you go around and say this is how things are know what the reasons are and get your facts right before you so makin a blog.
we say down younder if the place we wanna go is just a mile away or 50 miles away
if we are fixin' to go down to the beach we will ya im fixin' to go to the beach y'ALLL wanna come unsted of sayin' im going to the beach do you guys want to come
how do you say "see ya later" in southern talk
We never say "soda". It's a coke. Everything around here is a coke. lol. And I've always lived in Mississippi. It's been like that since I was a kid. If it's a dr. pepper you want, it's coke.
"want something to drink?"
"sure, what do you have?"
"um, coke and water"
"what kind of coke?"
"dr pepper, coke, mt dew"
I grew up in east Tennessee. I never in my life heard anyone call a soft drink a soda. Nor were all soft drinks called a coke. Soft drinks were called a "bottle of pop".
I agree with MNS. I live in South Carolina and I am not really a fan of NASCAR at all. I live right beside Darlington Speedway and its really only a big deal if they come here. I can't even think of many people that do like NASCAR here. Don't assume we're all straight outta the Mayberrys either. IT kills me when the news will go pick out the most hick person they can find and get them to do an interview. It's funny, even to southerners, but its not how about 85% of us are. And ya'll is def the plural form of you all.
I was born in NC and have never liked nascar and never will. So, if moving down south, it is not safe to assume that every southern LOVES or even likes nascar. In fact I dont think it is safe to assume any of those stereotypical ideas of what people in the south are like. Granted they are out there, but just like northerns dont want to be categorized as rude, loud, abnoxious, we dont want to be labeled either. Ya'll have a great day!!
Acutaully I live in Tennessee and we call everything coke too. You know, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, all of it. But Ya'll definitly isn't singular. We use it as a group of people. That wouldn't make sense singular because it stands for "you all". But other than that, it looks like this is all about right. Just don't forget about the sweet tea :)
Y'all is more than one person - you had that right, but some other things are not quite right. Soft drinks are cokes - all of them. I've got a series I've written called Newcomer's Guide to the South that explains a lot of stuff to nonSoutherners. (I was born and raised in the South and haven't lived anywhere else). I'm up to 8 parts as of today. To get started go to: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/443308/guide_for_folks_new_to_the_south_part.html.
By the way "bless his/her heart" doesn't quite mean "poor thing." I explain that term in part 6.