I’m in Alabama, and I never hear “y’all” used in the singular. We do use “coke” as a generic term for soft drinks, but in a restaurant we’d order the specific drink.
To me, “sweet tea” is cold tea that was pre-sweetened with sugar while it was hot. It’s a specific beverage you order, as opposed to “unsweet tea” which you can sweeten as you prefer. That spoon resting beside your tea glass is a clue for the waiter, so he won’t top off your glass with sweet tea.
I have honestly heard y’all contracted with both all and will (Texas).
“a’y’all’ll” which means “all of you all will”
It should be noted that iced tea varies quite a bit from place to place. Some restaurants make it much more bitter (more teabags/longer steep) and of course the amount of sugar varies a lot.
I think generally restaurants make sweeter tea than people do at home, similar to how restaurants tend to cook with more salt, butter, etc. Fast food places especially. Sometimes my parents get a half gallon of tea from Bojangles and dilute it 2-3 times to reach the desired sweetness.
Growing up in central NC I never heard “what kind of coke.” Most everyone who doesn’t want tea wants Coca-Cola or water, or Pepsi if they don’t have Coke.
I think I swallowed my tongue…
The “ol”+consonant becomes “oh”+consonant is not even just a Southern phenomenon. Look up the pronunciation of “folk” in the dictionary. Or “yolk.” The former doesn’t even have an “l” pronunciation listed.
Now that we’ve settled the sweet tea problem, what’s this thing where people in the south put peanuts in their soda. I swear this stuff is made up just to do yankee profiling.
I think it’s like salting your beer. Keeps the head up.
A friend of mine in college had a professor that put peanuts in his cok…soda while he lectured.
Any chance you are from middle TN? Because I was born in Memphis and moved to East TN later and I have heard the generic term “coke” many many times. Not so much the last 10-20 years, I think word is getting out that it confuses people.
Yeah it freaks the yankees out, but what you get are sweet coke tasting peanuts.
Even as a recent convert to green tea (which I make sweet with 1-1/4 cups of Splenda to a gallon of tea), I don’t understand how this thread ever made it past this post.
Q. F. Blinding T.
The concept of unsweetened tea has entered southern culture. Sweetened tea is still the default but you can get an unsweetened tea if you ask for one. But there was a time when ordering an unsweetened tea meant you’d get tea with the normal amount of sugar in it - they considered that unsweetened because they hadn’t added any extra sugar.
Unsweetened tea with sugar in it? Nope. Not in the South.
ETA: The concept of unsweetened tea has always been around in the South, since many, many Southern women are on a diet.
Anything other than brewed tea is an abomination should not be allowed to be called “tea” at all. That crap you get out of a can or bottle or at all fast food and most other restaurants (at least up here in Yankee land)is something other than iced tea. I don’t know what it is but i know what it ain’t. One gallon water, nine tea bags 1 - 1 1/2 cups of sugar and FRESH LEMON wedges.
I’m just sayin’.
I wasn’t making it up. I’ve ordered unsweetened tea and had sweetened tea served to me. And the explanation given to me was what I said - “Oh, I thought you meant you didn’t want any extra sugar.” For some people, a request for tea without sugar was as unfathomable as a request for tea without water.
It was an isolated incident, then. More likely, there was a serious misunderstanding.
Unsweetened iced tea was available in the South before Sweet Tea became commonplace.
Daaaaa-um. I thought I liked my tea strong.
I don’t doubt this, but “unsweet” has been around forever in the south. It is not a recent introduction as you seem to suggest.
I do six tea bags to a half gallon. And run water over the bags (through the teamaker) twice, no dilution. Then add sugar.
Yeah, when I heard it, it sounded like “co drank”.