Do You Speak Southern? (knowing what certain phrases mean)

[3catwoman3]

108. 75% for this Yankee...

born of midwestern parents and raised in western upstate NY.

I remember "pot liquor" from The Yearling, and the author's phrase "That's a toad strangler of a rain." There was also something about "...a hound'll suck eggs" when Penny Baxter and the Forresters were discussing dogs - it didn't sound complimentary.

When we moved to Rochester NY, my new friends there laughed at me because I turned lights "awn," and they turned them "ahn."

Some years ago, when getting ready to do an ear recheck on a little boy I frequently treated for ear infections, he pointed to his ear when I picked up my otoscope. We started playing the "Where's your nose, where's your tummy" game, and he was getting them all until I asked "Where are your eyes" No response. I asked again, and again, nothing. His mom, who was from one of the Carolinas, looked at him and said, "Why Bradley, where are your 'aahhs.' " He got it immediately. I was fascinated that my pronunciation sounded so different to him that he didn't know what I had said.