Accent Modification

I have a confession y'all...

Sometimes, around certain company...I change my accent.  Yes, I know.  It really is against everything I preach but it has been pointed out by others (namely my wife) that I do it.  I'm aware, but not really ashamed.  No matter what I do I'll always have a bit of an accent.  It shows my roots and my heritage.  Sometimes I do it because to some people in some parts of town find a drawl like mine hard to understand.  Sometimes I do it to show that the perception of people from my neck of the woods isn't always true.  Sometimes I just want to sound a little classier normal.  It's not like I'm a 14 year old girl sporting some generic/fake British accent; I'm not pretending to be someone else, just something different.  It's like putting on nice clothes before meeting important people.  

Other times when I'm around old high school friends I notice my accent is stronger.  It also seems to happen when I'm out and about and someone makes mention of my Southern heritage or talk about how they think I live in the meth capital of the greater Birmingham area.  

Do you change your accent up depending on the situation?  Has someone else pointed out that you inadvertently do it?  Let us know in the comments.

Southern Word of the Week - Hot Mess

(adj.) I know she thought she looked good, but she looked like a hot mess.
(adj.) After partying last night I feel like a hot mess.
(adj.) You can't spell hot mess without me.

Is it Southern?  I have no idea, but I've heard it a lot lately.  Bascially a hot mess is something that went awry somewhere whether it be the way someone looks, feels or acts.  The final example listed above came from a friend and I thought it would be the perfect t-shirt at one of those stores that has all the t-shirts at the beach or whatever. 

So make sure you aren't a hot mess, but also be sure you know what a hot mess looks like because you know you want to point them out to your friends.

Southern Word of the Week - Eat Up

ex. (adverb?) That boy is just eat up with stupid, bless his heart.
ex. (adverb?) She is eat up with meanness.  She don't never say nothin' good about nobody.

Eat up is something you use when the person you are talking about is basically just inundated with whatever affliction you put after it.  You can also get eat up with mosquitoes or ticks, but for the most part being eat up is how you diagnose someone elses shortcomings.

A rant about cooking and food and other slightly related things

I have talked with far too many people, women in particular, that mention their shortcomings in cooking.  And I'm not trying to be sexist saying, "they aren't cooking for their husbands and food should be on the table at 6pm sharp, and dessert better be involved."  I'm just kind of shocked by what seems to be a lack of cooking happening in homes.  I also mentioned to a friend that I was stoked about making biscuits for my wife's birthday earlier this month; her response, "You know those come in a can, right?"  I will say she wasn't from the South and may not fully understand the taste, mouth feel and satisfaction a homemade buttermilk biscuit means to a Southerner but come on!  I love cooking dang near anything and I just happen to have a great biscuit recipe that gives me a sense of accomplishment every time I pull a batch out of the oven.

Food is just too easy.  We have everything served to us as we ask for it nowadays.  Fast food, television, music, nearly everything we used to have to go out and buy that took time and effort to prepare for is now ready for us to consume, throw out or toss aside.  If my dad wanted music he had to go to a record store.  Not only that but he had to go into town for it!  If you want fried chicken KFC can have a bucket ready for you in minutes.  No need to marinate, batter or fry your own.

Am I the pot calling the kettle black?  Yes, I am but I also make a conscious effort to do more cooking from scratch and learn the way things were done.  I'm the kind of guy that watches food shows and wants to attempt cooking it rather than watching it for the food porn others do.  You don't have to wish you could make that from scratch, you can!  The recipes are on the internet waiting for you to dive in a tackle them!

Southern Word of the Week - Hissy Fit

Hissy fit: a temper tantrum. 

(n.) Nadene is gonna throw a hissy fit when she finds out you got bleach spots on her new dress
(n.) That kid laid down in the floor of the T G & Y and had a hissy fit like you've never seen! 

Kids often throw hissy fits, and often it applies to adults that become unreasonable when faced with a certain set of facts.  There is a time and a place for hissy fits, but they occur far more frequently than they should.  You can also just have a hissy, which is practically the same.

Southern Word of the Week - Tag

The registration plate for your automobile
(n.) Did you go to the courthouse to get your tags yet?

I asked one guy from New Jersey about his tags once.  He didn't know if I was talking about something you wear (i.e. credentials, press pass, etc.), or what.  Then I said, "No, a car tag."  He still had no idea.  He thought he was supposed to put something in the rental car.  I explained that it went on the back of a car and he said, "Oh, you mean my plates."  I honestly had no idea that anyone would not know what I was talking about when I mentioned a car tag.  Just another reminder of how wonderfully different the language is in different regions of the United States.