Tips for traveling in the South

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
101

rack,

You remember a long time ago, Democrat used to be an afternoon paper. But I think that was before JRS was hired and the war began. BTW, you do know that JRS is dead don’t ya?

Mommajesus and I went to Fayetteville this past weekend. Just a little time away from babyjesus and to celebrate our anniversary. It was 105[sup]o[/sup] both Sunday and Monday, but we had a good time anyway.

Where ya work CP?

Me, I work in the Donaghey Building. I was born and raised in Malvern and met rack at Hendrix. Been around Little Rock ever since.

102

Just thought I’d weigh in on the matters at hand. Figgered y’all might be interested to hear what a real Southerner has to say. I was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama (the heart of the Heart of Dixie, if you will.)

[ul]
[li]Corn bread should never, ever be sweet. Likewise, it should not be made in a muffin pan. It is a nearly sacred dish that should be made in a heavy iron skillet, preferably that has been oil-seasoned since your great grandmother was a little girl.[/li][li]“Tea” only refers to the sweetened, iced variety. In fact, I can’t say I’m familiar with any other kind. :)[/li][li]There are a thousand different types of barbecue sauce, but the term “barbecue” always refers to a very specific type of food; either pulled (or shredded) pork, or smoked ribs. That’s all. No chicken, no beef, no turkey. Pork. As I said, there are a thousand different sauces, but it is well known that the vinegar-based, pepper laced sauces and dry rubs of the Alabama/Mississippi/West Tennessee area are far superior to any other type. :slight_smile: (I’m hungry now)[/li][li]Grits are not sweet. To suggest otherwise is heresy. :)[/li][li]“Coke” not only refers yo Co-Cola, but any other type of soft drink as well.[/li][li]I never knew what the hell “soul food” was until I visited a friend in Chicago. He took me to his favorite soul food place, claiming that I’d love the food. I did, but only because it was the same home cooking I’d eaten for the first 25 years of my life.[/li][li]It is a duty taught by Southern mothers to open a door for a lady or a man. It’s just good manners. If you receive a nasty expression from the beneficiary of said gesture (as I often did when living in DC,) you simply smile and motion them through anyway.[/li][li]Finally, it ain’t summer unless the temperature is over 95 degrees, the humidity is over 95%, and you have to rescue your cat from the Cessna-sized mosquitos.[/li][/ul]

I love the South. :slight_smile:

::settles back on a big ol’ porch with a mint julep and a peach::

103

On the door thing. Heck Yes! I was in New Yawk about 14 years ago, and held the door for a lady up there, and she looked and me like I was Charles Manson or something. I just smiled and waved her on.

Oh,and southern ladies might have the sweetest of accents, but beware, some of them also have the worst tempers. My mom is a wonderful woman, but she’s got a temper to cower anyone.

104

All this talk of authentic Southern breakfasts and no one has mentioned sorghum syrup???

(Am I the only one who still eats the stuff?)

In my youth, I would have a couple of biscuits with “sawmill gravy” (sausage gravy), and then a couple with butter and sorghum syrup. Nowadays, it’s getting hard to find the stuff (though I believe they still have a full-blown sorghum festival in Blairsville, GA…)

105

Saint: amen to the volatile temper thing. Check out my lil’ story about this very thing in this thread. :smiley:

106

I will chime in here as being born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, before I rummage around in your list…
[ul]
[li]Corn bread should never, ever be sweet. Likewise, it should not be made in a muffin pan. It is a nearly sacred dish that should be made in a heavy iron skillet, preferably that has been oil-seasoned since your great grandmother was a little girl.[/li]
This is, apparently, true, although I’ve never liked cornbread. My boss gave me a recipe for it that required I go and buy an iron skillet. I looked at her funny, but she was serious.

[li]“Tea” only refers to the sweetened, iced variety. In fact, I can’t say I’m familiar with any other kind. :)[/li]
I have never been in a restaurant that did not have the option of unsweetened tea, and in fact have been in several that didn’t have sweet tea. But unsweetened tea is just bad, why order iced tea at all if you don’t want the sweet kind?

[li]There are a thousand different types of barbecue sauce, but the term “barbecue” always refers to a very specific type of food; either pulled (or shredded) pork, or smoked ribs. That’s all. No chicken, no beef, no turkey. Pork. As I said, there are a thousand different sauces, but it is well known that the vinegar-based, pepper laced sauces and dry rubs of the Alabama/Mississippi/West Tennessee area are far superior to any other type. :slight_smile: (I’m hungry now)[/li]
I grew up on shredded beef barbeque, and I don’t think I will ever try the pork kind. Ick.

[li]Grits are not sweet. To suggest otherwise is heresy. :)[/li]
Absolutely true. Grits are best with lots of butter, bacon bits, and moderately salted. Plain grits might as well be boat caulk for all the flavor they have.

[li]“Coke” not only refers yo Co-Cola, but any other type of soft drink as well.[/li]
I have never had someone ask me “what kind” of Coke, if that’s what I order. They either bring me a Coke, or they ask me if Pepsi is OK. If I want a Mountain Dew or a Cherry Coke, I ask for them by name. But, yes, in the upper generations of my family, it is pronounced “co-cola.”

[li]Finally, it ain’t summer unless the temperature is over 95 degrees, the humidity is over 95%, and you have to rescue your cat from the Cessna-sized mosquitos.[/li]
True, but if it even appears as if it might snow or freeze over, every school in the state will close.
[/ul]

107

Jean: Y’all up in Atlanta are probably a bit more…cosmopolitan than we provincials. I was being facetious about the tea thing, but I maintain that BBQ is pork. Seriously good stuff, that. Don’t knock it till you try it! :slight_smile:

108

**

Yeah. I buy it for my dad anytime I find it. Usually not too hard to find.

**

And the only way to do that right is to swirl the sorghum and butter together first before you put it on the biscuits.

109

I’m employed where I don’t want 'em to know I post at work!
:slight_smile:

110

I left the south almost 30 yrs ago for points west and beyond. The saying “…we learned him how to do that!” instead of …“we taught him” etc. etc., just rings in my ears now. Never heard it anywhere else, ‘cept some yankee makin’ fun of the southerner, or tellin’ a southern oriented joke.

PS: What ever happened to pickled peaches. Grew up with a storm cellar full of 'em and now I can’t find any???

I’s good to be back, see y’all 'round.

bb

“The handwritin’ is on the floor!”

111

You back in the South now? Welcome!

You can still get pickled peaches, and man, are they gooooooood! The best I’ve ever had come from not far from here…Chilton County.

112

What makes you think they don’t already know?

113

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Dire Wolf *
**A Yankee by birth, I have been living in Huntsville, AL for 5 years now. (and no, I will never say y’all, fixin’ ta, tear it up, big ol’, etc.)

I’m a Yankee by birth, educated in Ohio. I have a journalism degree with a minor in English. However, I have been living in the Deep South for at least 8 years.

I was working in South Carolina once, in an industrial setting. The manager had just finished telling the crew that we were out of safety glasses and not to ask for any, since they were on back-order.

Not even an hour later, someone came to me and asked for safety glasses. I whipped around, doing my best Exorcist impression and blurted out, “Now, ya’ll know we ain’t got none o’ them left!” He ducked his tail between his legs and ran away.

I, however, immediately clapped my hands over my mouth in horror. Dear Goddess, what has happened to my grammar since I moved down HERE?

How do I sleep at night? I’ve decided that I’m now Bi-lingual. I can speak English and Southern… fluently.

Never say never, my friend. You may find yourself, due to unforseen circumstances, blurting out – in your best Southern drawl – such grammatical atrocities! It could happen…

114

I’ve never had any. I’d like some homemade watermelon pickles. The store bought ones just aren’t as good as I remember.

115

God bless you, Dogzilla. God bless you.

:slight_smile:

116

Obviously a contraction of ‘you all’.
Could a Non-Southerner, being addressed by a Southern think that “y’all” meant “you” when it may have been intended to mean “Those of you residing North of the Mason-Dixon Line”?

117

Kentucky is so in the South, according to just about any Yankee. I don’t know how many undeniable Southerners would claim us. It isn’t clear-cut–we are, after all, nestled between Ohio (definitely not South) and Tennessee (definitely South), and we were a border state during the Civil War.

I would say that most of Kentucky is in the South, the exceptions being a divot around Louisville (which is actually in Indiana) and Covington (which is actually the south half of Cincinnati, and thus in Ohio). It seems that every time Louisville tries to look Southern–such as in the airport during the Derby–it ends up doing a very bad job.

Now, for the classic Southern debates:

Tea–this is a fight in which I have no dog. I like my tea somewhere between Yankee plain and Rebel supersaturated. My girlfriend thinks that if you don’t go into a diabetic coma after the first sip, it’s not sweet enough. (She can be quite sanctimonious about it, too.)

Cornbread–Southern cornbread is neither sweet, yellow, nor muffin-shaped. It is white and cooked in a cast-iron skillet, and served as a “pone”. You will, occasionally, find it made in a fancy little cast-iron pan with holes shaped like ears of corn. (Don’t get me wrong, sweet cornbread is good–it’s just a different dish.)

Grits–if there’s one thing that separates KY from the true South, it’s the sparse availability of grits. They just detract from the biscuits and gravy, really. (BTW, I never once heard the term “sawmill gravy” outside Cracker Barrel. You rarely even hear it qualified as “sausage gravy”. It’s either “gravy” or it’s “red-eye gravy”, which is a concoction made with country ham drippings and coffee grounds that will make you want to slap somebody.)

(BTW, if you don’t know the difference between ham and country ham, you’ve wasted your time on Earth up to this point.)

Sorghum–there is a Sorghum Festival in West Liberty, KY every fall. You can go to just about any decent-sized gathering during the summer in KY, and someone will be selling sorghum.

Language–I agree that the y’all=singular thing probably stems from its use as “you and yours”. If I ask how y’all are doing, I’m inquiring about your family or cronies as well. If I say I’m coming over to y’all’s house, I’m referring to all the people who live in the house. Such usages are masked in Yankee English by the fact that “you” can be used both ways.

The true measure of the Southern tongue is in swear words. How many syllables do they have? If the answer is >1, you’re probably dealing with a Southerner. Shee-it. Day-um. Hey-ul. (Note: if the number of syllables is three or more, you may be dealing with a Texan.)

Dr. J

118

Actually, red-eye gravy is pretty tasty. Yes, it’s made with fried ham grease and coffee. But, when you ask for gravy on your bicuits (Knoxville and southward) you’ll invariably get sausage gravy (sometimes called sawmill gravy). It’s simply country sausage grease and crumbles, flour, and milk (cream if you’re high-falutin’). It should be thick as paste. Smother some buttermilk biscuits in this divine concoction and you are eating breakfast of the gods. Just don’t tell your heart&arteries, as the cholesteral level must be astronomical.

Peace,
Tn*hippie

119

My Father delighted in telling his in laws when they were critical of AR not being Southern “Tennessee is as close to the Mason-Dixon line as you can come and still be Southern of it”.

I have seen only yellow cornbread. My paternal Grandmother however hailed from Illinois, G-d bless her. (Ya’ll ain’t gonna go tell nobody, are ya?)

I dunno. My favorite is “DUMB motherf----r”, implying that what is important is that the individual is dumb, not that he has relations with his mother. This may not be regional. :slight_smile:

120

I am so impressed with DoctorJ’s knowledge that I deem him an Honorary Southerner.

Sure, we use sorghum on biscuits…it’s kind of an alternative to pancakes or waffles. But for the main breakfast dish, it’s biscuits and gravy (sausage, that is).

Oh, and I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned Chow Chow. This stuff is excellent on just about anything. Yes, it should be the HOT variety. For the handicapped & ignorant (read: Yankees), it is a pickled mixture of shredded cabbage, green tomatoes, onions, hot peppers, vinegar, sugar, sometimes corn, and whatever that secret ingredient was that granny threw in. Pure heaven. Comparable to Kim Chee.

Peace,
TN*hippie