The Southern Thread (how to talk to Southerners)

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So, since it seems to be the thing to do, I thought I'd make one about how to talk to and flirt with Southern guys and gals.

Of course there are the old jokes (that are sometimes true) like the Southern mating call "Ya'll, I'm drunk!"

The Southern man's pick up line "Get in the truck"

When the Southern man doesn't really like you that much "Wait in the truck"

The Southern man trying to impress a girl "What you think of my truck/gun/dog?"

The typical Redneck second date "Carry me up to the beer store"

The Redneck break up "My ex/baby mama/baby daddy/husband/wife is getting out of prison next week....."

No, for real though. Those were just jokes, based on people I actually know and situations in the past that I've been in. So, how is dating and romance in the South different from the rest of the country/world?

Get in the truck and I'll tell ya.

I'm a Southerner, born 20 miles south of London in North Kent, and I certainly don't recognise myself here!
Am I missing something?

LOL, the Southern US. That includes Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, the Florida panhandle, All of Georgia except Atlanta, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and some parts of Southern Virginia. Maybe some parts of West Virginia too.

"Ya'll" is supposed to be spelled "Y'all".

I'm from Arkansas, lived in Mississippi for a year, and now live in Louisiana, and I've never heard any of these expressions before.

Well hot dern, I done got turd uf dem foreign folk thinkin' they Southerners, my word. Wull, on dat thar topic on hand, when a prutty yung lady cross my eye, I jus tell um', "Hey woman! I'm bout' head on over that thar Golden Corral, an' my booth got room for two, got a big ol' hunk of tater salad waitin' for ya"



Lol I've lived in the Deep South all my life...I seriously can't wait to move away and finally be free of it!



In my opinion, it's extremely difficult. For one, there's so many people who are basically identical, culturally. Just a high school education, favorite past times are hunting/drinking/mud riding, no real ambitions, content to just live in a quaint country town for the rest of their lives. I'm not trying to offend anyone from the south, I'm from there too, but in my experience people like this make up such a large subset of the population that unless you fit in with them, trying to either find friends or date can be like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm personally about as far from a redneck as they come.

In my experience, in small towns in the south like where I live, you basically have the same occurrence in most of them. They're populated by either people over 60 or kids under 18. Everyone who isn't really in to all the country stuff leaves asap as soon as they hit 18, and the ones who stay typically end up shacking up with a "baby-mama" and having a couple kids. Most people who aren't required to stay in the town, simply don't, and it is really difficult to find younger people in the 20-35 age range.

OOM tried to explain to me what southerner love was some time ago.

Apparently "it has a lot to do with the jackson song from Johny Cash and that Carter child".

She brought up some other songs to teach me but I m not sure if I can find them now

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-f2y1QC_yg
Apparently this is " a sad motherf****ng song too" and y´all should read faulkner, welty or jackson

Ya gotta love dem moonshine-swillin' rednecks!

Your anthropological threads are amusing

Charles Allbright's Southern Technology definitions.

Log On,that's nothin' but making the fireplace hotter,Log Off,never mind,it's just right.
Download:"Son,get the far wood offin' the truck."
Floppy disc:What you get from unloadin' far wood too fast.
Chip:Whatcha eat watchin' tv.
Micro Chip:Down in the bottom of the bag.
Laptop:Where the kitty sleeps.
Modem:Whatcha done to the hay fields
Hard Drive:Getton' back home on the winter time.
Random Access Memory:What fails you when your wife asks how much the new rifle cost.


Medical Dictionary of the South

Artery...The study of paintings
Bacteria...the back door of the cafeteria
Bowel a letter like... a, e ,i,o,u
Cesarean section...a neighbor hood in Rome
CAT scan...searching for kitty
Colic...a sheepdog
D&C...where Washington is
Dilate....to live long
Enema...not a friend
Fester...quicker
Genital...not a Jew
GI series....a soldier football game
Hangnail...a coat hook
Impotent....distinguished,well known
Labor pain....getting hurt at work
Medical staff...a doctor's cane
Morbid...a higher offer
Nitrates....cheaper than day rates
Node...was aware of
Outpatient...a person who fainted
Pap smear...a fatherhood test
Pelvis...a cousin of Elvis...
Postoperative...a letter carrier
Recovery room...a place to do upholstery
Rectum...dang near killed him
Seizure..a Roman emperor
Tablet...a small table
Terminal illness...getting sick at the airport
Tumor...more than one
Urine...opposite of you're out
Varicose....nearby
Vein...conceited

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iinxXoot724&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]
Invite someone to a rat killin'.

I remember reading a book, back in the 70s, called "jimmy carter's America- a dictionary of southern speak" - which listed some northern and southern definitions of words, and one such word was the word "smear" -

northern definition- a stain spread by contact friction.
southern definition- one's organ of hearing. for example- "what's that unduh mah hay-uh? whah, that's SMEAR!"
ta-dum-dum.

I am born and raised Southern girl from Texas, my aunt and uncle have lived in Florida (and one of my cousins) for close to 30 years and I have a cousin that has rotated between Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. I have lots of family in Missouri and Texas. I am Very Southern.

The original post looks like a bunch of non-sense that silly yanks think about the South. Nothing near reality.

For the most part dating and courtship and what not in the South is rather conservative as a whole, with a greater expectations to stick to traditional gender roles, men are expected to be chivalrous but with a hint of machismo. Guys are expected to initiate, open doors, pull back chairs, and pay. Female initiation is ok sometimes but generally frowned upon. This makes it harder for those who do not fit exactly within expected gender roles. Most people do not critisize you if you do not fit the expected box, but getting a date is much harder.

Oh, and regardless of proper grammar, it is ya'll. Ya'll can be both singular and plural.

In speech I have a drawl, or twang. I use non-traditional contractions. This is normal down here but I stick out in other places. As a general rule even though spoken grammar in casual situations is not correct and conforms to a colloquial dialect there is a strong emphasis on education. I have been thought to be ill-educated or not smart because of my speech and that is something that many of my friends and family have when we go up North or to other countries. So if you go talking to a person from the South to date, or just talking to them do not assume that they are not smart because they speak differently in the same language and have an odd fascination with trucks and sports (especially football).

There are lots of small towns with very little to do. I like the laid back environment in them, I am from small town rural Texas. There is lots of hunting, and gun carrying. DO NOT INSULT GUNS around the South. The rodeo and horses and oil are also big, as is agriculture in general.

Dress is more casual. Jeans go with everything, even to super nice events (some metropolitan areas are different).

ChrisP, I am sorry this is confusing. In the USA there is a strong cultural split of North/South that stems back to our Cival War in the 1860's. The split is mostly along what was the Mason-Dixon line which was put in place to decide where slavery would be legal.

There is some bad racism in different parts but mostly in the older generations. Most people I know are very non-racial. But there is lots of support for state's rights. Many people who do not agree with slavery at all still like the Confederate flag. It is rather odd.

Those examples were humor, as I said in my OP. I was born and raised in Bham, lived in the DC Metro area for a year and now live in a small rural Alabama town. So, no Yankee here.

By waving a gospel.