Heritage Notes – Gomin’, Warsh, and Subtitles
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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.
I am not southern, I was born & raised in Missouri (not even southern Mo ) Everyone says I talk “funny” I use words like you’ns, us’n, we’ns, ya’ll, hey, & howdy just to name a few I even call meringue on pies Calf slobber 🙂 and hush puppies are called Shut up dogs by me, If I can’t fry it or smother it in grease gravy I bet I won’t eat it lol I too come from a long line of hard workin self supplyin people and I don’t believe book smarts make you any smarter than someone with a lot of common sense.
I have been called hillbilly, and red necked and either way I proudly say I am a card carryin, in good standin redneck hillbilly. I was named after the movie “Gone with the wind” Melanie, but with the southern spellin Mellany. I went to Alabama once and the closer I got the more my way of “talkin” fit in 🙂 be proud of who you are and where you came from (Hairitage) If it weren’t for those before ya, you wouldn’t be who you are today!
For twelve and a half years I wrote a small Sunday column called “Julia’s Journal” in our local newspaper’s Lifestyle section.. I talked about growing up in the 40s and 50s in Athens, Al. I told about the day by day things in my life, my family and my area. One of my columns was about the phrases I grew up with in my personal life. I have saved all my columns for my grandchildren and one was dedicated to them. In it I tried to press upon them to know words and phrases, such as, “I reckon”, “I’m fixing to” or”toted”, or, “I hurt my foot so I’m favoring it”, meaning being careful of it, and several others I can’t recall at the moment. I don’t want them to be embarressed, but I want them to be able to use them without reproach, if they choose. I remember one of the girls in class making fun of me for saying okry instead of okra.You guessed it, I’ve never forgotten who she was and the nasty way she said it! But I never said okry again, either.
Thanks for the post! It brought back memories of my sweet mama. She would always say “quit messin’ and gomin'”. She said it was something her mother said and now I say it to my kids too. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone else use the word “gomin”.
Libby, i’m a good ole country girl too and i believe the phrase is messin’ and gummin’. i think it comes from gumming something up. as in a sticky mess.
Good to hear from my neighbors in East Tennessee. I live in a little town about 40 miles south of Knoxville, called Sweetwater. My little grandson comes in and says Mimi, have you got a surprise “fur” me? His mom just laughs, but now corrects him. He didn’t say it on Sunday. In New York City, I stopped a female cop to ask directions, she doubled over in the street laughing at me. Where are you from? she said. Glad I could make her day. Love old sayings and still use them. My son-in-law was in a restaurant when the waitress asked “How y’all doing dis ‘ening? (Hope I spelled that right.) He looked at my daughter and said, “what did she say?” I still say it to him just for fun.
Christy-I just wanted to say I am honored that you quoted me (and my Mom) in your website. My daughter asked if I thought Heaven had email so that her Mamaw would see it too. It brought tears to my eyes. Thanks so much 🙂
I love these post! Growing up, I bought into the lie that just because we talked a little different or did some things differently, we weren’t as good. Well, as I get older (and I’m only 22!) I know that is absolutely not the truth! I love my heritage! I love being a Southern girl. Like you, I don’t have to look too far for the perfect model. My grandmother was the kindest, smartest, strongest, best chocolate pie cookin’ lady I have ever met. A wonderful example of the true Southern gal!
I am a child of Southerner’s raised in the North (because of the Great Depression in the 30’s). My parents and my grandparents always said “good moanin’ for good morning. I still believe that y’all is a contraction for you all. I am thankful for my Scot/English/German heritage and my Southern upbringing. I have manners and I can cook with the best of them. My sweet tea is southern sweet and I roll out my dumplins when I make the crown of the South Chicken and Dumplins. I love Coconut cake with banana’s cut up in them m Brunswick Stew, Chicken Gumbo and cornbread crumbled in a glass of buttermilk.
Moreover, I have raised by Northern born children with the Southern graces I grew up with. The South lives on and on and on.
I may have been born in the North but I will die a southern dead Christ follower.
Oh, and pie crusts are better when made with lard!
Amen!!!