i speak southern
I’m a New Yorker, born and raised. A total Yankee. And then I up and moved to rural Africa.
I’ve certainly gotten used to small-town country living, but I still chuckle (with a disbelieving shake of my head) as I drive by fields of hay bales, herds of naked sheep, or rogue cows on my way to buy groceries. The irony of my life never ceases to surprise me.
And now, here I am, spending an extended period of time in America. And even more shocking than this indoor girl moving to Africa, is this Yankee taking up residence in the dirty south. No offense intended. Alas, I find myself living in Hotlanta.
And my brother Andrew finds it a bit comical.
Just yesterday, he was teasing me about living in the south. Joking about southern accents, he blurted out a phrase that’s at the heart of a Ronzino family joke—“Djoo-waaanna-sukka?” And I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory.
When I was in high school, we drove to Georgia to visit friends who live in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains. Needless to say, everywhere we went, we stuck out like the loud Italian New Yorkers we are. (“Oh yeah, you blend.”)
One day we stopped in some little country store in some little country town. The shop owner was a bubbly old woman in a floral dress, her long hair tied up in a bun. Andrew looked up at her with a polite smile when she approached him. He was only, I don’t know, maybe 8 or 9 years old at the time.
“Djoo-waaanna-sukka?” she asked.
Andrew just stared at her, wide-eyed.
“Djoo-waaanna-sukka?” she asked again.
Andrew’s forced smile got even bigger. He had no idea what she was saying.
The woman was probably getting a little flustered, but of course her southern hospitality wouldn’t let her show her annoyance. Bless her heart. She patted Andrew’s cheek and mumbled something about how cute he was. And then she asked again.
“Djoo-waaanna-sukka?”
Andrew glanced over at mom and dad for assistance, but they looked just as confused as he did. Clearly, it was time for me to step in and help.
“Andrew, she’s asking if you want a lollipop.”
“Oohhhhh! Yes please,” Andrew responded, with a “Why didn’t she just say that?!” look on his face. The woman promptly handed him a sucker lollipop.
We had a good laugh about it on the phone yesterday. And then Andrew ended with, “I guess you’ll do okay down there. You always knew how to understand Southern.”
Best Ronzino road trip ever!
I love that story! I was so confused, I had no clue what she was saying! Thanks, Beece, for setting me straight!
Love you!
@gritandglory says:
happy 24th, bean!
Thanks, Beece!
@danielleH says:
what a great story!
i was laughing and smiling the whole time :)
@moweezle says:
That was just great!!!! Being a yankee too, its difficult for me to grasp the southern accent sometimes, and if its super strong, just forget it. Soon you’ll be saying, “ya’ll”. hehehe
@gritandglory says:
i recently lost a bet on the spelling of y’all vs. ya’ll.
i still think it should be y’all. grrr.
@bernardshuford says:
Y’all is spelled y’all. That has nothing to do with the South. That has to do with the ignorant. I’m as Southern as a confederate flag (a thing I despise, by the way) and as redneck as a Ford truck, but y’all is short for “you all” and is WRITTEN as “y’all”. I don’t care what dim bulb attempts to tell you otherwise. Geesh. Stupid is stupid, even in the South.
:)
I’m smiling.
@gritandglory says:
see. that’s what i think, too. you+all=y’all.
google and a myriad of southerners agree, though, that it’s actually a combination of ya+all, making it = ya’ll.
it just looks so wrong to me.
Hahaha! That was soo funny! About the third time you wrote it, I got it! “She’s asking if you want a lolliPOP!” I’m loving the mental! We love going down south..about the time we pass the Ohio River I start in with the accent! Though it’s badly done and definitely WA Y more pronounced than a real accent would be ;D! Actually I do it when we head west too…hmmm……I’m sensing a pattern! :D Road trip=accent! I think I just like accents no matter what! I’m very excited to see though, what your New Yorka accent blended with Afrikanns with a little of the dirty south thrown in, is gonna sound like :D An accent all your own, unique in every way, a perfect fit to the amazing life you’ve lived! Love you!
@gritandglory says:
i love what you said there at the end. how my third culture accent reflects my third culture life. so true.
@chrystieecole says:
This is too stinkin funny! Love it!
I totally speak southern, even if my accent is gone. And I’m learning to speak MandyRin. Why is it that my southern accent only appears when I’ve stumbling over Chinese words? Heh.
This totally reminds me of a time I was at an Au Bon Pain. I’ve lived a lot of places, I consider myself pretty good at being able to figure out thick accents. But for the LIFE of me, I couldn’t understand what the employee was asking me as she was preparing my sandwich. Three times I said, “Excuse me?” I was so embarrassed and confused, I just started saying yes to whatever I thought she was asking!
Oh…….. and it was at the ATLANTA airport!!!
That’s too cute! :)
very funny! brought back a memory from 6th grade. my parents were born and raised in New England. I was born there too but moved to Oregon when I was 9 months old. to make a long story short, we moved back to Maine when I was in 6th grade. my teacher had a very strong new england accent and my first day was a spelling test (lucky me, huh?! :)!!). spelling was one of my strongest subject back then but i failed the test miserably because I could NOT understand a word he said!
@gritandglory says:
oh shame!
@gritandglory says:
and i never knew you grew up in maine!
i only lived there for 5 years then we moved back to oregon.
HA! This made me laugh…
I was just reading this and laughing not yet to the part where you explained what the lady was talking about and Daniel was like “what are you laughing about?” and I said “I don’t know yet”….
I love you!!!!!! You really are sometimes the best part of my day! Thank you for that.
@gritandglory says:
“you really are sometimes the best part of my day!”
that was the highlight of my day right there. thank you!
@coloraturajoy says:
“bless her heart” hahahaha! spoken so well. :)
@gritandglory says:
why, thank you…
@cassgirl says:
I gotta ask you a question: I’m from the west coast and you all know we don’t have accents.
But has your accent changed since you moved to GA?
@gritandglory says:
i hope not!