Beth Morgan spoke at Mesilla Valley Writers about oral histories the other day and mentioned capturing colloquialisms. That brought to mind Montgomery, Alabama, in the late 1960s. My wife and I were newly married kids from Massachusetts, and Gunter Air Force Base outside of Montgomery was my first duty station. We lived off-base for a while, and one day I walked to a local mom and pop store looking for a loaf of bread. Not finding any, I asked a clerk, who couldn’t understand me. Then I explained somehow, maybe saying it was for sandwiches, and she said, “Oh, you want BRAYud!”
Another time I came home from that same store, and my landlady asked me what I bought.
“I just bought a pen,” I said.
“What kinda pen, Bob? A fryin’ pen?”
“No, something to write letters with.”
“Oh,” she said, “a writin’ pen!”
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My mother and father were friends with another couple, one in which the wife came from rural Kentucky. Whenever she was offered more food at dinner, she would respond, "No, I've dined sufficient."
I guess I've always remembered that because my brother was three or four at the time, and he heard it as, "No, I'm dying sufficient."
Once time when I was traveling through the South, I marveled at one waitress who took about 15 seconds to say "ice cream" and it sounded like "Ahhhh screyam" or something like that. It took me a minute...
This is hilarious. Will it find its way into one of your novels.
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