DonnaC:

My grandmother lived in a small town in the anthracite coal region of PA.  They ate hamburgs, too.  They also ate dippy eggs (over easy - you can dip your toast into the yolk).  If company was expected, you straightened the house and if you left a room, you outened the lights.

I forgot dippy eggs! I still straighten the house! Grandma wore "undergutchies!"

Marilyn - I was just starting to write back when the phone rang - my cousin, the chipped ham fan! Then the power went out, so it was a great time to get out and visit with the neighbors. Anyway - our friends' dad worked at the Iron City Brewery for years. Back in the old days, beer was part of their benefits package. We had an Isaly's right around the corner growing up. It is funny to see Klondike bars in the store now, without the Isaly's name on them. But now that you've brought them up, I am sort of craving one!

CWP:

Grandma wore "undergutchies!"

 

My Grandma wore gotchies.  And housecoats.  And if you went out in bad weather a babushka (a scarf over your head).

Wow, this has been a hoot and a half to read...........and to think it started with People in OK and Texas!!!!    I've lived in SC for a long time.......but sometimes I'll still say WATA (as in water)  like a Longislander (all one word!!!).     This really has been a fun site to read.    Now I have to share something really funny with y'all............

My husband is Indian (as from India) and when we first met...........he used to say M.C. Donalds........and for a while I didn't know what he was talking about........then he said you know where you get burgers and fries.......I laughed soooo hard and really didn't want to correct him and tell him it's pronounced McDonalds!!!!   After being married 6 years his accent still makes me think twice when he says something.   

Let's keep this thread/posting going

Love and peace.............Anne Marie

Hey Anna!  I like chicory too!  As long as I know about it before I take the first 'gulp'!  Yikes!  I'd love to hear some more of your 'Cajunisms' if you're up to it!  My Mama-In-Law was snatched from Ville Platte by my charming Daddy-In-Law back in the early fifties.  I just adore her and am very enchanted with the culture!  I especially love the videos of their trips down there.  I've never been to Louisiana, so I gobble up anything I can get!

PS - just out of curiosity, I entered 'chicory' in the search engine and came up with "0 matches found", but thanks for the idea!  I'll be tryin it out once in awhile!

Hey Anne Marie,

This is a great thread to keep going.  Brings back so many memories.  When my sister's kids were small they would say, let's go to Mickey Dee's for  McDonalds.

Mimi

Michelle, the contact was Geraci (last name), but he's on the old contacts now. 

I'm about 40 miles south of Ville Platte.  My Mom used to (and still does) say "ice box" instead of refrigerator.  My grandparents spoke French more than English, but I can't speak it very well. 

When someone brings you home you ask them if they want to "get down" meaning get out of the car and come inside.  (my husband doesn't like that one).  It's "fixin' to" rain, we're "fixin' to" leave.  My husband has yet to utter the word "Y'all".  He simply refuses to say it.  We call our teachers "Miss" Dena, "Miss" Monica whether they're married or not and no matter how old they are.  No teacher gets called Mrs. anything, our principal is even Miss Myra!  Godmothers are "Nanny" and Godfathers are "Parrain".   And plenty of other french words that I can't spell.

Fortunately there's a big push to bring French back to Louisiana.  Some restaurants and cafes have French Immersions tables where you sit and listen to/speak French.  And lots of young French bands.  The food is terrific but sometimes it's best to not ask what's inside.    Festivals International and Festivals Acadiens are two relatively new local French festivals.

Oh, my brother-in-law went to Jr. College in Oklahoma and they actually thought he lived in a house on piers in the water!   

Hi Anna,

Ohhh, I can see why your hubby doesn't like the phrase "get down".  In New York, it has a whole different meaning.

Anne Marie:

...  like a Longislander (all one word!!!).    

 

I remember my 7th grade English teacher told us he was from "LonGUYland." Poor guy! He was livin' in a land of dropped gs! And with tweenagers, no less.

 I love listening to people talk in Louisiana. I'm from the South, so not all of it is new to me, but the rhythms of speech are lovely and unique. And the friendliness! Don't get me started. I was in the emergency room in Raceland for a minor injury and ended up making friends with the family next to me.

I'm glad to know the "Miss So-and-So" tradition continues. My  father's first grade teacher was Miss Lucy; I knew her all my life and that's just who she was! I guess she had a last name, but I doubt I ever heard it used. It's such a wonderful combination of friendliness and respect.

Great about the French language resurgence, too. This thread is fun!

Pam 

 

Gran, I've lived in Oklahoma all my life and heard (and uttered!) many of the same sayings you mentioned. 

I remember a trip to Maryland and Virginia when I was 12 years old and a ride on a riverboat at Mt. Vernon.  There was a boy flirting with me as we stood at the rail.  I commented, "This water is dirty as all get out."  He said, "It's what?" That was the first time I realized how differently folks talked across the country. 

I grew up eating breakfast, dinner, and supper.  And we sat on a devan, not a couch or sofa.  In our house we called cereal breakfast food.

When I am giving spelling tests at school I often find myself explaining to the students the difference between how a word is pronounced other places compared to the Okie version.  Ha!

Don't know where this comes from but on week nights the big meal of the day was called dinner but on Sunday evening we had supper because we had Sunday dinner in the afternoon - the big meal of the day usually with company.

What color comes to mind when someone says gravy?  To me gravy was brown - made with meat and slathered all over potatoes.  Till I met my husband's family who promptly corrected me and said 'gravy' was red and poured all over pasta!!!!

And of course biscuits n' gravy is another color entiriely and eaten at a totally different meal!!  Oh the confusion - not to mention discussions in the kitchen!!  I sure am getting hungry just thinking about it.  Time for the veggie platter!!

Ann 

  

Ann,

I am really getting hungry now.  Growing up, our most common gravy was "milk gravy" which was served over homemade biscuits for brunch or supper.  That was some larupping eating.  My mother's biscuits were kind of "sticky" inside rather than those airy tall kind.

Gran

I'd always thought of gravy as brown, also, til I moved to Philadelphia. I learned all about red gravy there!

Hey Anna!  My Mama-In-Law's first language was French and she learned English later. I've heard a lot of words and phrases that are commonly used amongst her kids although they do not 'speak' French.  As far as food, she does re-create many of your yummy dishes here, but she substitutes the 'mystery ingredients'.  And in the music world, I know that Tab Benoit is getting known up here.  Last year, Husband & I got to hang out with him after a concert in Denver.

The first time I heard "get down" the way you mean it was in New Mexico in 1977.  My brother & I pulled up to the house of some new friends and they hollered it from the porch several times because they thought that look on our faces meant we couldn't hear them.  Finally someone came out to the car and asked, "Don't you want to get down?".  We felt like burning rubber . . . who in the world would be asking a brother & sister that?!  Of course we got it figured out and we still laugh about it today, as a matter of fact, it's meaning has changed here also to mean the same, 'get out and come in', but I don't think the old timers have caught on.  I'm anxious to get back from work to catch-up on the rest of this thread.  It has been sooo coool.