Welcome to the South

Have you ever noticed that in most of the movies and television shows set in the South there is a guy named Bubba? Do people outside of the South think that is a common Southern nickname? If you do, you are so confused. I've lived in the South my whole life (I'm not quite 50 years old) and I've yet to met a man named or nicknamed Bubba. Mama told me after reading this that she knew a man whose nickname was Bubba. My mama will be 74 on her next birthday - notice she only meet one guy called Bubba. It's not a common nickname. I think having a character named Bubba in nearly every movie set in the South comes from some misunderstanding. Bubba is a term of affection for boys. If you have a son or two or a brother, instead of calling him by his name every time, sometimes you call him bubba. It is like using the nickname buddy. The feminine version is Sissy and if you are ticked off at her, you call her Missy.

A friend of mine from Chicago mentioned that the phrase "I'll holler at you later," confused her when she first moved to Tennessee. For those of you who haven't figured it out, it doesn't mean that you are going be yelled at sometime in the future; it just means we'll talk to you later. This brings to mind other words or phrases Southerners use they may be confusing. For instance, we use the word pretty interchangeable with very; some of you may have noticed me using it in my comments. We know how to use very, but pretty... well it just sounds better doesn't it? "I reckon" is commonly used when a Southerner is saying "I ought to." For example "I reckon I should be going" means "I ought to be going now." Another common word we use is "fixing," this translates to "starting" or "getting ready to." For example "I'm fixing to get up and go fix supper" means "I'm getting ready to get up and go start the evening meal."

Yonder is a word that confuses a lot of outsiders. Yonder isn't a fixed location or direction; to get a clue where yonder is when a Southerner is talking look where he/she is pointing or nodding or looking - that is where yonder is located. Sometimes we'll help you out by saying "up yonder," "down yonder," or "over yonder," so the word before yonder can be a clue also. A friend asked me once what does "torned up" mean? Here is how I explained it, "If your mother is all torned up about Bubba's behavior. Then that means she is pretty upset with the way Bubba (her son) is behaving. An old Southern country phrase is "I swan" or "I swanee," it may sound strange, but it is just a polite version of "I swear." A Southerner's use of "directly" has caused confusion amongst those of you who aren't from around here. If someone says they are going to do something "directly," it doesn't mean right away. Directly means that they are planning sometime in the future to get around to doing it. Just to confuse you further, it can mean I'm going to do it now, it just depends on the speaker's intend.

Before I go, I should mention that Southerners drop the "g" whenever the word ends with "ing." We do know that the folks who make the dictionaries say we should be using those gs, but it isn't done that way down here.

Note: if you want to read parts 1-4 click on the link below:
Part 1 Topics covered: small talk, accents and pronunciation.

Part 6 Topics covered: "bless your heart," speed of ordinary transactions, "not from around here."

Part 7: Topics covered: Meat and three, "Sir" and "Ma'am," dead relatives and Decoration Day.