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 live in Middle TN. When I was a teenager ,I was a waitress for awhile. One night a couple came in and was seated, I went to ask what they wanted. The lady let me know real fast that she could not understand a single word I was saying and she wanted another waitress. So I guess my southern accent is pretty strong,but that’s ok with me. I like myself just the way I am.
Oh this choked me up a little when I read it. So many sweet memories. Aunt Ruby used to advise us to “play pretty now!” It seems every aunt and uncle (all 20 of them!), mom and daddy (deddy), Grandma Wagoner, great aunts and more, had unique sayings that I am thankful to still hear in my mind. And speaking of Aunt Ruby, we went to town one Saturday and my sister, cousin and I giggled at a lady with curlers in her hair. Aunt Ruby was ashamed and then of course, so were we. She said, “That lady is just making sure her hair is pretty for church tomorrow!” She always, always thought the best of everyone.
Side note, I heard once that Southerners are the only once who speak in ‘direction’ and when you think about it, is so true. Everything is over there, up there, down there, etc. I challenge any Southerner to give directions without using up, down, or over!
Lastly, I love your sweet Mama 🙂 Is she a Wagoner??
What terrific comments. I was born and raised in southern Ohio,(60 + years) but my parents were both born and raised in southern Ky. I don’t have a southern accent, (I think) but, my husband says as soon as I cross the bridge from Cincinnati to Ky I definitely start with the southern accent like my parents. LOL Proud to be of southern heritage !!!!!!!
My grandma stopped speaking french and denied her indian-ness at 12 yrs old when her family moved to BC because of people teasing her for being a dirty halfbreed, etc etc. She changed her name to Grace instead of Blanche. It was only after her death that we realized she had been half indian, instead of the connection being one in her distant ancestry as she had always made it sound.
It saddens me that I lost huge parts of my heritage because of her fear of such ignorant people’s opinions. So I say wear your ‘southerness’ proudly. Don’t deny your grandchildren their heriage just because of someone else’s selfish standards and notions of what is right.
I asked a “Yankee” friend for a pallet for the baby and she had no ideal what I was talking about. She said ” you tell me what it is and I will see”. For any other Yankees out there a pallet is a quilt or blanket folded and put on the floor.
We were always amusing each other. I had black eye peas soaking one morning while I was keeping her son. I asked him what he wanted for lunch and he told ” I don’t know but I am NOT eating those seeds!”
Bonnie, this made me laugh out loud!!
Thanks everyone for all the positive comments! I really appreciate it a lot
We are all proud of our ancestors and love hearing your stories too.
I hope you all have a wonderful day and remember “mama loves y’all!
I recall my hubby’s sweet grandma from Georgia and some of the sayings
she would come out with. I still use “I swannee” and some people take a
double take when they hear it, but I feel like I’m remembering a grand lady
when I say it… love the old sayings…. 🙂