That’s just what Georgians think.
It’s called an “ink pin” to distinguish it from, say, a hair pin.
I think the key, Abby, is capitalization. Texas might be in the south, but it’s not part of the South, is what they mean. I think.
racinchikki, I understand what your advisor is thinking, but I assure you people in Texas and Louisiana consider themselves Southerners. Sho’nuff.
IMHO, some of these twangy sayings are reffering to the “hill’s” people of West Virginia/appalachian.
When I think of the south I see a pretty little southern bell, with the true southern accent. I think alot is confussed with southern and appalachian, in fact if I were from the south I’d probably be outraged at the fact someone could mistake my dialect with that of a hillbilly
In the movie Driving Miss Daisy, they talk about “mashing the elevator button”, and I wondered whether anyone really said that. Then I moved for awhile to Wilmington, North Carolina, and they really do, although I always got the image of someone hitting the elevator panel with a big mallet.
This being the SDMB and all, I should amend that to many people in Texas and Louisiana consider themselves Southerners.
:eek:
We do not! Trust me, no Texan actually considers himself a Southerner. Perhaps southerner as to be distiguished from Yankees, but wholly different from the Southerners found Louisiana eastward.
<ahem>
On the contrary, there are some who do, quite proudly I might add.
A friend from Georgia that was staying at a cabin up here called me one day, excitedly telling me all about the “wuffs on my ruff”.
It took me about fifteen minutes to figure out he was talking about wolves on his roof. (They weren’t wolves, for those who care…semi-feral dogs.)
I find it rather peculiar that there’s this notion of “the true southern accent.” Georgia’s is different from Alabama’s is different from Mississippi’s and so forth. You should see a Bostoner get all riled when someone likens his accent to a New Yorker’s by refering to “the northern accent”. 
One of the girls I work with asked me if I have a Northern accent. I busted out laughing. “Honey, believe me, if I did you’d know it.” Then I proceeded to launch into my best Boston accent (took me years to perfect it, I’m from a suburb of Boston that has NO native accent at all), which earned me a bewildered look. Turns out she didn’t think my Bostonian sounded Northern at all. 
From what I’ve heard, Texas is Texas. Y’know, like a Republic all its own?
War of the Northern Aggression is probably a Deep South thing. Don’t hear it much in TN, except maybe in Chattanooga, which is on the GA border. Actually, don’t hear it much at all anymore.
What’s South? It depends on where you are when you ask.
I had a friend from Maryland who claimed to be from The South. Talked like a Yankee to my ears. Then again, someone from Montgomery probably doesn’t consider Nashville “South.”
I spent a lot of years in Knoxville, which has always suffered an identity crisis. It was a Union city for 95% of The War of the Southern Rebellion, but don’t tell that to some folks around there. Knoxville’s really more Appalachian than anything, but “Appalachia” is hazily defined. I consider the Southern Appalachins to be The Great Smoky Mountains. If you’re within an hour’s drive of the Smokies, you’re in the Southern Appalachians. IMHO, of course. YMMV.
BTW, the reason it’s an “ink pen” is because “pen” is pronounced “pin” in most of the South. So we throw in the “ink” to differentiate it from other types of “pins.”
Yeah, wannabe Southerners who don’t realize being the incredible historical differences between There and Here thus making Texas non-Southern::
Was not part of the actual Confederacy that fought the Union, though they did send soldiers and such.
Was peopled by a completely different stock of folk who never intended to be a part of the Union or Confederacy [read: did not want to be in the North or the South], and were more concerned with fighting Mexicans than fighting Yankees.
Was not home to massive planations and hundreds of scores of slaves. There were slaves here, but not anywhere near the numbers there were in the South.
Ringo, when you changed your name, did you also drop the manny?
But following up on your post, I’d argue that parts of Texas are, indeed, part of “Thuh South” (e.g., Tyler, Longview, Texarkana, Beaumont, Houston, maybe as far west as Waco and Dallas), but other parts would more correctly be considered a part of the western high plains (along with Oklahoma, Kansas, eastern Colorado, et al.; e.g., Amarillo, Lubbock, Abeline, maybe Wichita Falls, maybe Fort Worth, maybe as far south as San Angelo), and still other parts are best considered part of “The West” (Trans-Pecos Texas, mostly, but maybe as far east as San Angelo). Central Texas is it’s own thing, and south of San Antonio has much more in common with Mexico than Dixie!
Per my previous paragraph, I consider myself a West Texan, but I’ll still answer… it’s cuz yankees mispronounce [ink] pen as {pehn} instead of the correct {pin}, which happens to be homonymous with [hair] pin (to borrow Ringo’s examples). Thus, it’s merely a clarifier!
Well, duh. ::smacks forehead:: I prolly should’ve been able to figure that one out on my own. Thanks, Ringo, TN*hippie, and Pantellerite.
As to variations of accents…hell, yes, they vary a lot! Or used to, anyway. I used to be able to tell what part of TN someone was from, but it’s getting harder, what with the homogenization and all. Still, the old accents hold up well in rural areas where families stay in the same place for generations.
How well one detects the differences depends on what you’re used to hearing, of course. As a kid, I listened to a pal from Boston and a pal from Chicago making fun of the way each other talked. They both just sounded like Yankees to me.
See my amended statement above.
Within the (you are correct TN*hippie) old republic, accents vary quite a bit. My college girlfriend was from deep in the woods of East Texas, and whenever I get up to Tyler my head swims with a sort of warm fuzzy reminiscence, but they don’t sound like I do (especially after a couple of drinks). And I sound more like our neighbors just across the Sabine (who, incidentally, do not sound like the denizens of Newaw’lins) than someone from out Pantellerite’s way.
Yeah, manny wore out for me - it was starting to invade RL.
I’ve been pondering whether Texas is part of the South or the West for a while, and just never got around to starting a thread about it. My roommate from North Carolina doesn’t think it’s part of the South and I’m inclined to agree. I once read a guide to historical places that lumped Texas in with the Midwest.
My grandfather also says “mash” for push. The youngest person I’ve heard say that was a teacher in her forties or fifties.
Gee thanks, it’s high time someone decided to fight the ignorance that is me. After all, it has been over a month since someone on the SDMB resorted to subtle insults when they disagreed with me rather than continue in friendly polite conversation.
::: Glances at the map one more time, once again noticing that Texas is in fact center SOUTH of the continental US. :::
This whole “Is Texas part of the South?” thing reminds me of two things:
- a hijack
- the reaction people from the north country give me when I say I’m from upstate New York, when actually I am from Albany, which - while further upstate than NYC or Poughkeepsie - apparently isn’t far enough upstate to pacify some people who live north of Saratoga or wherever.