[Rathbone]

I wouldn’t mind at all helping with the flavor. However, I left Southeast Alabama the Year before Chase Taylor was born. I do visit every year and have a bunch of kin folk in the area.

Originally Posted by Icelander

If Chase Taylor's mother is Betty Taylor, should she have a middle name and would it be something like Betty May, Betty Lynn, Betty Lu, etc., or should it rather be her mother's maiden's name? And is Kinsella acceptable for Betty's maiden name?

Most of the women I knew had a middle name. But it easily could go either way. All the names you listed would be pretty common. Anne is another name I saw used with Betty.

Kinsella would be acceptable but it would be extremely rare. It is a name that I have never heard until now. But given it’s origins that I just looked at it would fit, but it would be noticed as being a bit out of the usual.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Where would Luverne kids drive to go on dates in the 90s? I mean, movies or restaurants beyond the selection available in a town with less than 3,000 people? What's the local 'big city', i.e. the place where you drove for a fun day trip or to have a nice evening?

The ‘local’ big city would be Montgomery (State Capital and 3rd largest city in state). It is 50 miles away with a travel time of around 60 minutes – give or take. Troy (@18,000 population) is about 20 miles away and is home of Troy State University (became Troy University in 2005).

Originally Posted by Icelander

Would an aggressively anti-intellectual small-time criminal, barroom-brawler and former high school jock like Cory Earl Taylor, Chase's father, still be a fan of college football? Considering that he hates people with college degrees, fancy jobs or who use long words, it seems weird, but on the other hand, Cory Earl would love any excuse for violent tribalism and day-time drinking.

Chase Taylor is a die-hard Tide fan, but I'm vaciliating between having his father not care about college football or being a die-hard Auburn fan and Chase having become a 'Bama fan in reaction.

I know that from Luverne, the Trojans are the nearest college football team with any reputation, but from what I can tell, the Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide are orders of magnitude more popular all over Alabama than the less storied teams of other universities, even if these may be more local.

I’d say Cory Earl Taylor would most likely be a “fan” of College Football. It boils down to the excuse you mention. It gives him far too many opportunities to start/provoke trouble. Since he was a high school jock it also lets him brag about what he could have done in Football if it was not for those ‘fancy’ College People.

I’d favor the father being a die-hard fan of Auburn. That would definitely ratchet up the home conflict.

The Trojans are not that followed even now, but in the 1980s and 1990s they were a 2nd Tier Football program. They did not move to Division I until 2005 and even then the big two far overshadow them. Even if someone is a fan of the Trojans they may still be a big fan of Alabama or Auburn.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Also, if Chase Taylor loves his mother's cooking and Alabama food in general, what kind of food would he seek out while on military bases and/or in a big city on the East Coast? How can he put a 'Bama touch to the kind of food that he might prepare for himself during adventures, like sandwiches?

What are some candies, snacks or other fast food that someone who grew up in Crenshaw County in the 80s and 90s might especially like?

Well, the main one he’d seek out probably would be grits. He’d also look for a lot of the stereotypical Southern Food. A lot of this is categorized as Soul Food today. The most likely pies he would have seen as a child would be Pecan or Apple.

Sanwiches – Humm --- Bologna, Ham – each could have cheese added, BaconLettuceTomato (BLT), and Peanut Butter and Jelly.

As far as I remember and have seen the Candies are pretty much the Standard Main line ones.

Luverne is in Peanut country so he would have seen Boiled Peanuts and Parched Peanuts and might have developed a taste for boiled. On Labor Day one of the Local Groups (JayCees?) sells bags of Boiled peanuts in Downtown Luverne to Raise Money. I bought some one year when I passed through Luverne headin back to Texas. In my day Boiled and Parched Peanuts were sold by the FFA in the Stands at High School football games. Not sure if that was still being done in the 90s. .

Originally Posted by Icelander

If you've got hints about flow, diction, slang terms, sayings, exclamations, weird colloquialisms or other things that might make his dialogue better, please share.

Frankly, I figured that Luverne looked to be close enough to Northern Florida so that sounding like the guards or Warden in Cool Hand Luke wasn't too far off. Not that I can tell the difference between a Mobile drawl, a Montgomery drawl, a Tallahassee drawl or even the Van Zants in Lynyrd Skynyrd, who are from Jacksonville and probably sound nothing like real Southerners to locals.

If Taylor's drawl is exaggerated or his diction excessively idiosyncratic, it's because even to other Southern people, Chase Taylor is supposed to sound like the kind of rural redneck who lives way outside of town and eats snakes or squirrel for dinner every night. On the plus side, people who find country good ole' boys with a lazy drawl and friendly grin an attractive stereotype** are probaby on Taylor like kittens on catnip.

Taylor also doesn't swear much***, which I figure might not be as weird for an American as it would be for a modern Icelander, but is still probably pretty rare among military men (or in prison). What would a good Southern Baptist boy who takes his momma's admonishments against bad language seriously say instead of more typical swear-words when he gets heated?

I’ll share hints as they occur to me.

A lot of people in/from that part of Alabama (including me) have been know to refer to that part of Florida south of Alabama as ‘Lower Alabama’ and or ‘LA’, because as you say, they are very similar.

I heard that type of drawl growing up and it is still very much alive and well.

And you are correct; swearing is not that common in that area. I still don’t swear much. Don’t really remember what I substituted. Frak, I might use nowadays. Then if I slipped a Da** or Sh** might slip out.