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.
Nice article written by your mama. Love hearing southern dialect although it did take me a while to figure out that
“Yallcomebacknahyaheh” was not one word. 🙂
“Yallcomebacknahyaheh” was sometimes ended with “whenyacanstalonga”
Even though I grew up all over the place due to my Daddy’s job in the oil business and I have not lived in my home state since I was 3 years old, I am still a Mississippi girl (let’s all sing it now!) and I love all that goes with being a southern woman. When Mother and Daddy moved back home 20 years ago, I was excited to get to start spending time in Mississippi again. Just wondering, though, does anyone else’s mama say, “I swanee?” That one still makes me laugh! Usually accompanied us getting fussed at.
My grandmommy used the expression “I swanee”. Yes, she was usually at her wit’s end to say such a thing! I haven’t heard it in years. Thanks for the memory.
Oh Christy! I can so relate to your mother’s views on “Southern speak.” I was born in south Georgia, and the country folks there, where my mother was from, had their own way of talking. My kin folks grew up and farmed for a living, just like your mother’s people did. Although I now live in northeast Georgia, I still hold dear the words and phrases that I learned as a child from those dear, sweet folks. I still use some of them and when I run across someone else who grew up in that area, I know exactly what they are talking about when they speak and recognize the area they are from immediately. Please thank your sweet mama for the post today. I loved reading every word of it!
I loved the article. I always smile when our song leader sings, ” are you “warshed” in the blood”. Oh, he know the difference in the words, but it sure sounds good to hear him sing this old hymn.
I still catch myself saying “warshrag” for a washcloth and talking about the the warshing machine .SE Ohio sort of is the beginning of Appalachia and I am very proud to be a hillbilly.
As a transplanted Bostonian who has lived in the south for 30 years, I have held on to my accent and proud of it. I drive my cah to the mahket to buy chowdah and lobstah for supper. I am a proud Bostonian and proud that I have lived in the South for 30 years – I am, hopefully, a compliation of all things good from these two areas.
Yay, Jane! It’s a blessing to be able to pick up the good from wherever you are!
I love hearing the old sayings, and wish I had written down more of them that my grandparents used; they were from Kentucky, and now that I’m in Alabama, I don’t hear the ones they used much at all. I must confess that I occasionally drive my “northern” husband absoutely nuts with “fixin’ to” , “mess of” ie mess of peas, and the ever-present coo-pon! 🙂
Thank you so much for this post. I have been thinking a bunch about this…My hubby is Military…so we move quiet often. I have been told I have a little Southern accent, however, I feel I have let it go..because I didnt want to be seen as ignorant,reading your post makes me so proud to be Southern.