Heritage Notes – Gomin’, Warsh, and Subtitles
Today I’m proud to bring you Mama’s third installment of Heritage Hints and Notes. I know you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. We’d love to hear from you in the comments below and be sure to check out her other Heritage posts by clicking here. Gratefully, Christy
I come from a long line of proud, hard-working country people, and despite what you might see on television from time to time or hear about ever now and then, we country people are definitely not stupid or ignorant. My ancestors may have talked differently from others but they were soft spoken gentle people.
A while back, I happened upon a documentary on Appalachian people. I try not to call Christy when these are on because more often than not they subtitle folks as they talk and nothing gets her riled faster than seeing Southerners subtitled…
This particular documentary really stood out to me, though, because I recognized a lot of phrases used by my grandparents, phrases that I’m often corrected on nowadays because folks simply don’t understand them. As it turns out, the words make perfect sense (and always have), it’s just that they were somewhat foreig – what things were called in England and Scotland years earlier and passed down generation by generation.
A prime example is a phrase I’ve heard all of my life. My grandmother (Lela) always complained that we kids were “A messin’ and a gomin’ ”. I always wondered what “goming” was. A man on the documentary explained that goming was making a real mess or being messy. Brings to mind how we were always in the kitchen fixing us a snack and leaving a mess behind-“goming”.
My grandmother “toted stuff in a paper poke”. Translated that means carrying things in a paper sack. Times were hard and my grandmother carefully folded her used paper pokes to be reused whenever she got any. They were reused until they were soft and floppy. Unknowingly she was practicing saving the earth. Country folk recycled long before it was popular. Every now and then I toss a plastic throwaway container in the trash and I can’t help but pause to think of how my grandmother would have loved and cherished something as simple as a plastic container.
Country people rose with the dawn, worked the fields all day, raised all their own food, and preserved it to feed their families through the winter. They made every piece of clothing their family had and even recycled outgrown clothing into clothes for younger children or quilts to provide warmth on long winter nights. Nothing was wasted. Every scrap, thread, and piece of string was valued and saved.
I am often corrected for saying “warsh” instead of wash. Christy tells me that her kids have told her she is supposed to pronounce her father’s title “Da-dee” instead of “Deh-dee”. We aren’t supposed to say ain’t, pokes, “coo-pun” instead of q-pon and the likes. Often, I am torn between using what I know as proper grammar and holding on to the speech and values of my beloved ancestors. It feels as if I am turning my back on them if I change my ways. On the other hand, if I don’t I am perceived as backwards or uneducated. Many a Southerner (or folks from any region with a specific dialect for that matter) struggle with these same feelings.
From my ancestors, I have learned values, how to work hard, and integrity that no school could ever teach. Just like Northerners speak differently, so do I and I will continue to do so. I am proud to be from great loving hardworking stock. I can never turn my back on my heritage but I will try to tone down the “ain’t” at school assemblies for my grandkids as long as they’ll sit and listen to my stories of the people they come from – I figure that is a fair trade off. It is my hope to pass on the integrity with which my ancestors lived every day. I may sound more like them than future generations will, but I only hope I can be half the person that they were.
When asking my Mother what should I do in a sticky situation, she would answer…
“In your heart of hearts you already know the answer. You just have to listen to your heart.”
~Advice from Dawn Tierney’s mother that Dawn submitted on our Give a Penny Page.
Greetings from The Old Dominion state. I speak Southern, whereas I say that there’s a “Si-reen” on the “Am-bu-LANCE”. and though raised in the same area, my Mama sounded more Northern, saying “oot” instead of “au-awt” for the word “out”. My husband’s family spoke what they called “country”, saying “hit” for it and things like “funny turned” and “run-an-go”. I’m pushin’ 60, but I’ve always talked this way. My sister lives in San Diego and she tries so hard to tone it down some, but when we are together out there, no one can understand us at all. Plus they think we’re cute. Fun article. Thanks and have a great day.
That “Oot” is a special Virginia dialect- common in communities with a strong Scots heritage.
“Oot” is as Old Virginia as you can get 🙂
I’ve lived all over Virginia in 42 years (but born in Georgia) – NoVa has little accent now but when I was a child once in a while you’d run into a native northern Virginian (anywheres north of Fredericksburg) and you’d hear “Oot”.
(If you think back to watching The Waltons, when Earl Hamner narrated at the beginning of the show, you could *hear it* in his voice.)
Then I married a native Richmonder and some of his family say “Oot”.
Then I moved to the southern VA mountain foothills- near Lynchburg, and have heard a handful say “Oot” and “hoose” (house) it’s very subtle- not strong like a native Scot would say it- more like “Ha-oose”.
But in living all over the place I have heard a lot of variations in the thickness of the dialects and all are beautiful. 🙂 the more rural the thicker-and that is part of why I love livin’ in the sticks! 🙂
It’s rare to hear Oot and hoose today… 🙁
We need to keep that alive.
On another note, I had grandparents in Wisconsin and my German grampa would say Crik, and a number of the other sayings I’ve read on here today.
Of course, he was a farm boy, so maybe some of this linguistic stuff has more to do with rural upbringin’ than simply being blessed by God to be a Southerner.
You might be a Southerner if you pronounce “crayons” as “Crowns” =D
Merry Christmas, y’all!
I always called my Daddy “Deh-dee” too. Thought I was the only one!
me, too!!!
my deddy would not let us call him anything but that and if we ever did he would correct us. Miss him !
What on earth would be the benefit of all of us speaking the same way?? How boring would that be??! I am Canadian and lived in the U.S. for 33 years and everyone always said “Oh, you are Canadian”, and now that I have been back in Canada for 10 years, people still say,”Oh you are American!”…so speak the way you speak and keep writing the way you write as BOTH are WONDERFUL!
Besides that, you raised a warm, wonderful, creative, loving, sharing daughter…so THERE!!
Warm regards from chilly Canada,
Debbe
Love, love, love this story…
I have a heavy hillbilly accent which it has taken me years to cultivate. I like it because when you talk like me, people think you’re stupid.
That would be your first mistake.
I am a Southern lady who happens to be living in Maine. I feel as if I am a missionary to the Yankees helping them eat some tasty foods, learn some folk wisdom and enjoy a slow, easy way of living. I still use all the sayings I learned while living in Arkansas and Texas. You can take the girl out of the South but you can’t take the South out of the girl. I am proud that I am a GRIT! A girl raised in Texas. Keep reminding us, Christy.
I love all these posts, brings back so many memories of my family. My Mama, Daddy and Mother in law are all gone, but their sayings are still in my heart. I also use the word “kyarn” , but if it is something really awful I add a y to the end and it is now kyarny. I am glad to know how to spell it. God bless you all.