Hey Ya'll!

Originally Published 8/8/08 in the Upper Cumberland NOW!


Hey, Ya’ll!
(The Lowlander’s Guide to Speech in the Highlands)

Well, shoot! If we can’t laugh at ourselves, then who are we gonna laugh at? (Yes, I intentionally ended that sentence with a preposition. It’s done all the time here in the Upper Cumberland).
I love the way we talk here in Tennessee. I’m sure some of you do not. I not only love it, I embrace it. I’m proud of it. It’s who I am, and I don’t necessarily want to change it.
I thought I would take a moment here to let some of the newcomers know what some of our expressions mean and the correct pronunciation of some our most-used words here in the highlands. Those of you that have moved here from “up north” (and it’s all just “up north” to me, anything north of Louisville) from Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and those that have transplanted from Florida, I welcome you to our wonderful corner of the world. You may be a little perplexed by our speech, as we are by yours. Here’s your chance, if you want it, to try and understand us.
I’ve got a couple of music students from “up north”. They are two of the most genuinely nice people that I know. Well, one of them is actually originally from Southern Kentucky and then spent most of her life north. The other, Dale, is from Wisconsin. Dale loves our speech patterns. He gets a kick out of them. He tries, but just can’t master the accent.
From just my own observations, there are 3 distinct dialects in Tennessee. They are the same as the divisions of the state itself: East, Middle, and West. I spent the first 18 years of my life in East Tennessee, my husband is from West Tennessee, and I’ve lived here in Middle Tennessee for 30 years. I hadn’t really noticed the dialect differences until I went back to my first high school reunion and my friends from high school told me that they didn’t remember me being so “country” back in high school. My brother, who was also raised in Knoxville, and has also moved to the middle part of the state, has fallen into the same speech patterns that I use. Our family members tell us that we talk differently than we used to. I think this is just a nice way of telling us that we have gotten to be as country as turnip greens.
The whole problem with dialects and not speaking proper English is that stereotypes go along with them, and I guess that is the thought process behind this article. What I want to say most of all to the newcomers from other parts of the country is this: PLEASE DON’T MISTAKE MY ACCENT FOR STUPID. Most of us can lose the accent when and if we want. I hardly ever want to. I can carry on a reasonably intelligent conversation in spite of my dialect. The stereotype of southern accents being associated with being less than intelligent is probably due to movies and television shows that we have watched. We as southerners watched those, too, and laughed right along with you. We just didn’t make the mistake of thinking that all of the people from the hills were like the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies or the Darlin’s from Andy Griffith. We can no more say that all southerners are stupid than we can say that all “northerners” are know-it-alls.
This article is dedicated to those of you who are new to our area. Welcome to our little part of the world! This guide may help you get along better:
1. Ya’ll: It’s ya’ll, not you-all. (This is the one Dale has trouble with. He tries so hard to say it, but it always comes out “yoowall”. Sorry, Dale, I love ya, but you’ll have to keep trying.) This is also another word for “you’uns”.

2. Arya’ll, whenya’ll, and heya’ll: Whatever word you are saying before the word “ya’ll” should actually become part of the word. For instance, “are ya’ll” becomes “arya’ll”, and of course hey ya’ll becomes heya’ll.

3. Anya’ll: This one deserves it’s own number in the line-up. Anya’ll means have any of you. Ex: “Anya’ll” seen my car keys?”

4. “Fell off” means lost weight. When I shed a few pounds and my brother saw me, he said, “Well! You done fell off, haven’t you?”

5. Everwho: Whomever. I don’t know how that one got changed around, but I love it. It cracks me up.

6. Chance and Dance: Sometimes pronounced chaince, and daince. I don’t personally use this pronunciation, but everwho does, likes it that way.

7. Fixin’ to: If there were one phrase that I could take out my speech, it would be this one. Try as I may, I can’t seem to kick the habit. For those of you who don’t know, it means “getting ready to” or preparing to. Ex: “I’m fixin’ to go to town, do you want to go? This is your last chaince!”

8. Kindly: Kind of. Again, I don’t personally use this one, but my parents do. It drives my kids crazy when they say, “It’s kindly hot today!”

9. Aw right ten: (All right, then) It means okay, or I acknowledge what you’re saying. My friend Gail uses this one a lot. Once again, I embrace this language. It cracks me up. It makes me smile.

10. Land Sakes, Sakes Alive, Say they Law, and Good Golly Moses: These are exclamatory terms meaning wow, gee, or oh my goodness.

11. Poke: A sack. “Get me a poke to put these beans in.”

12. Tote: To carry. “I with you’d tote this poke of beans in for me”.

13. Reckon: “I reckon you’d better tote these beans if you know what’s good for you.”

14. Of a mornin’: In the morning. “I like to have my coffee on the porch of a mornin’”.

And some of my favorite expressions:
1. “It’ll make your tongue slap your brains out. This, of course, means that something tastes really good.
2. “Like a sore-tailed tom cat in a roomful of rockin’ chairs” which describes being worried.
3. “I love it like a hog loves slop”. Surely you can understand this one, ain’t you never raised no hogs?

Our mannerisms, like our speech patterns, are a little different than what you may be used to. For instance, when my car meets yours on the road, and I lift one finger off of the steering wheel, I’m just saying hello. Speaking of manners, when our children or we say “Ma’am” or “Sir”, we’re not sassing you. These are truly terms of respect. We were taught to address our elders in such a manner. Likewise, when our eyes meet in the aisle at the grocery store, and we smile at you? Please don’t worry; we’re not up to anything. We were taught to smile at strangers.
So, welcome to our part of the world. We’re glad you’re here, as long as you don’t insist that we do things your way. We’ve been doing them our way for years. It’s perhaps a slower pace than you may be accustomed. Enjoy! Take time to smell the honeysuckle, and come on up to the porch and “set a spell”. Oh, and those flying insects that came out in the spring about size of a hummingbird? Those were mayflies, not mosquitoes. See ya’ll!

(I welcome your comments, criticisms, and suggestions. You may contact me at phyllisbrown2008@gmail.com).