Welcome to the South

It's time to discuss the proper use of the term "y'all," it is short for "you all." In other words we are addressing two more people when we use the word "y'all." While I'm writing this article, If I needed to address you the public, I would write "y'all," because I'm assuming (okay hoping) that a bunch of people will be reading it. If I were writing to my friend that lives alone, I would write "you." I hope editors are reading this and taking note, because I get real irritated when a character is talking to one person and uses the word "y'all." I slam that sucker shut and get another one to read. If you want to hear a room full of Southerners snigger and snort, then play a movie that makes this mistake.

In the South, we call our parents by informal titles such as mama and daddy. It's what we do. And no amount of grief from outsiders is going to change that. To our Southern ears, addressing our parents as mother and father sounds cold, unfeeling and makes us feel that the speaker doesn't really care for their parents. Using the words mother and father is putting a barrier between parent and child. Me, I love my mama and that's why I call her mama. Same goes for my daddy, I loved him. He was my daddy not just a father. We are divided in what we call our Grandparents. Some of the common names for grandmothers are: Granny, Gran, Big Mama, Meemaw, or Maw. I can't think of that many for grandfathers, just Grandpa, Big Daddy, or Pawpaw.

If you are going to live in the South, then you have to know we can't drive when there is snow involved. Make that we shouldn't drive when there is snow, because we don't know what we are doing and end up causing the most god-awful traffic jams you'll ever been in. Most of the South doesn't get snow all that often, here in Middle Tennessee we can get an inch or two every third winter. Part of a problem is that our city/county officials do not feel the need and/or don't have the money to buy equipment and supplies for the few days it snows. It isn't uncommon to find that there isn't enough salt to cover the bridges much less all the roads in the city. Country roads are rarely salted; drive at your own risk. The best thing to do is stay home. It doesn't matter if you come from a place that has snow up to your armpits six months of the year; it is near to impossible to avoid getting into a wreck. Before I go, I feel I must let you in on an important Southern tradition - if you want to fit in go to the grocery store when the weather man says it may snow. It's what we do, whether we need anything or not.

More Welcome to the South articles:

Part 1: What you can expect when visiting the South and meeting southerners for the first time. Topics covered: small talk, accents and pronunciation.

Part 4: What you can expect to happen in different settings while you are in the South: Topics covered: family, food and a popular Southern joke.

Part 5: What you can expect to happen in different settings while you are in the South: Topics covered: Bubba, and common Southern wording/phrases.

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