drawls

i miss the way southerners say certain words.

when i was getting a backcountry permit, the ranger asked me what kind of vehicle to register for trailhead parking.

'it's, uh, a honda cb500...'

he paused and looked up at me from the computer, an eyebrow raised. 'you rode your mow-der-sah-kull here? from pittsburgh?'

'yep.'

'what an edvaynchur,' he said, laughing as he punched in my license plate.

i once asked someone where he was from, and he said, 'booooone, nath kehlahnuh.'

it's a soft drawl i'll slip back into in certain contexts, like i'm pretending that the three years i spent after i was born in north georgia had any effect on my linguistic habits.

but i always say, 'hey, y'all,' when i'm addressing a room of people i hardly know.

19 June 2018 01:14