Quote:
Originally Posted by moldymaltquaffer
It's been over a decade since I lived down that way, so I've forgotten many of the little eccentricities and phrasings. But I want to play them to the hilt with my character in an upcoming game.
Anybody want to help jog my memory?
Overview:
My intent is that the character will come across as "too dumb to fool", with that being a deliberately false impression. Much like it often is in real life. ;) I lost count of all the times I saw someone hamming up the role of a country bumpkin taking an outsider to the cleaners.
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Some entertaining examples, please?
I think it would've been nice if the responders had noted their state or former geographic area they were commenting on, to help give one an idea of what customs exist where.
It's not just a matter of "the South" having different areas/culture, but the generational thing also affects some of the customs. Some customs(relating to food particularly) have and are fading away.
For instance, I'm in SE Oklahoma, the closest mall is an hour away in Sherman, Texas. And many of my elders(now dead) had more pronounced Southern culture than I'll ever have. Several had a fondness for "mountain oysters". Given my disgust at the idea of eating cow/sheep/whatever balls, I can assure you most in my age group have left "mountain oysters" behind on yesterday's dinner plates.
I've read stories about RC and moon pies being a "southern working man's lunch" in days past, but it has disappeared as a regular, widespread staple by my time. We have RC, and moon pies, sure. But this notion surrounding the combination is gone.
There does seem almost a church on every corner as some have noted, but perhaps not the exact same culture mentioned..I don't know how often I've been asked "So what church do you go to?" by strangers, but I'm betting it's almost non-existent.
BBQ is not necessarily pork. It's often beef, in fact. I prefer it. But it can be anything.
People DO seem to covet living in the country around here. I do not share their enthusiasm.
We are always "fixin'" to do something, a habit left over from our Scotch-Irish ancestors, judging by "Albion's Seed". Apparently "cute" is one of these Scotch-Irish legacies as well.
Blue Bell is the best ice cream in the country!..or so the commercials say, and in doing a taste comparison with even their simple vanilla flavor, it's much better than even local rip off competitors("Blue Bunny").
Peach cobbler is indeed a favorite. And other cobblers, and apple pie, but peach and perhaps blackberry seem to be supreme. Also, coconut pie. They tend to like pineapple on dessert things as well. I thought "what is it with southerners and pineapple?!" Pecan pie is great, especially with some cool whip. That's peh-khan, not pee-kann. We like our pumpkin pie in the fall too.
Watermelon is REALLY popular in SE Oklahoma as well. Two places in town are selling some right now. Fried chicken. The old timers used to sit on the porch and chat in the evening, before(and even after) TV came along. This is part of that "old generation" thing though. In fact, I've noticed some of the racial stereotypes I'd hear about black people often sounded very familiar to my majority-white experience. I kept wondering where all these stereotypes/slurs(having to do with "porches") came from, yankee whites? Because white southerners loved all this fried chicken and watermelon business the most, it seemed. *Spits a seed out and goes back inside*
July 4 and Memorial Day are both big days, but the 4th is bigger for sure.
I'm not sure where TShiggins is from or how many Southern states he's been to, but much of his post applies in my experience.
No one says "ahnt", but a few say "aint". Mamaw/Papaw aren't unheard of. Almost nothing doesn't go with cornbread. And some of the oldtimers did enjoy crumbling cornbread up in milk, especially buttermilk(throws up). Squash is popular, and you need plenty of black eyed peas on New Year's Day. We like our Mason jars for canning and drinking out of. The old timers liked the poke salad, but I've never had any.
Pinto beans and cornbread are a staple here, stemming from the Depression era and just poor people in general, like my forebears growing up in the sixties(I'm 32). My Grandma/Mom would cook them for several hours with some ham hock and butter mixed in. Butter up some cornbread, add in some raw onion on the side, and I'm set. Some have told me they'll eat a slice of tomato with it, though I haven't seen it myself. We call them "Red beans" around here, though I've noticed that moniker isn't common. Apparently people use that name for Kidney beans instead? Granted, cooked Pinto beans are brown and Kidney ARE red, but it can be confusing when one is raised to speak of them a certain way.
My mother moved to Canada and said "oh my God, they don't know how to cook red beans and taters up here!".
The gravy comments from several posters are ALL correct! An Aussie friend(who had moved and married a Texan, they both wound up in Indiana) told me "you ruin it". "What?" "Everything, you people put gravy on EVERYTHING!". She's right, too. Bring on the biscuits and gravy! And the Chicken Fried Steak'n'gravy while you're at it..
Common threats include water moccasins/cotton mouths, rattlers, and copperheads. Poison ivy/oak, etc.
Sometimes when it rains in the summer, it will cool down..if you're lucky. It's very humid here and the rain sometimes just makes it worse. I was going into work the other evening walking next to this dude from Cali/Hawaii, and it was funny...it had rained earlier and was still unbearable, he says "I swear...Oklahoma and the equator..are the only places on Earth where it can rain and still be hot as s***!!". I'm sure these aren't the only places, and I greatly dislike humidity and the Southern sun.