Bless Your Heart

southern twang 101

peppermint tina has inspired me. she’s peppering her blog with hawaiian phrases and that made me think about how even though we’re all one country it’s almost as if we have lots of different languages (aside from the obvious different languages like spanish etc.) in that each part of the country can have it’s own dialect complete with sayings and phrases. for instance: up in the northeast in maine and those parts they say “wicked”. “man that movie was wicked good.” so i thought since i’m a southern girl living in the south that i’d provide some sayings periodically. some of it i’m sure i use in my regular speech & writing and don’t even realize it. but since i’ve married a midwestern minnesota boy i’ve become more aware. he says rut beer and I say rewt beer for example. but it’s more than just pronunciation. i’ll start with the basics:

ya’ll i’m sure everyone knows this one. it basically means you all. you can also make it plural with ya’ll’s.

fixin as in “i’m fixin to go to the store.” you’re really just getting ready to do something.

bless your heart this one is tricky. sometimes it’s said in compassion or pity. “bless her heart, she’s had a rough time.” other times it’s a thinly veiled way to say something that’s not so nice, but in a nice way. “bless your heart, that dress just isn’t your color is it?”

that’s all for now. i’d love to hear about sayings in other parts of the country. what do they say where you live?