"I'm from up North.....North Carolina that is" (Part 1 ?)

Early this fall I took a trip to the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg Md. I was surprised to see friends from NC I have met over the years I have spent in Fire, Rescue and EMS also there taking classes, it was kind of like having a little bit of good ol' North Carolina up there with me. I also saw some folks that where there from other parts of the country that I have met in classes I have taken up there. That is one of the great things about taking classes of that caliber in different parts of the country, meeting people with common interest and goals from around the country, or world even. At dinner one night I was talking to some of my new friends from pretty much all over the US about their Fire, Rescue and EMS services and the impact of networking with other professionals helps because it shows us that we all have similar problems and together we can find answers to some of those problems. Then it happened, it always does, we started talking about the regions of the country we are from and they bring up my accent and say something like, "Joe we could at tell where you are from when you opened your mouth the first time." 

In most classes that I have attended you have to stand up and tell who you are, what you do , and where you are from. I have started telling people, "If you can't tell by my accent, I am from up North......... North Carolina that is...." I do this to make an attempt to break the ice with people and to pick at myself a bit to show that I try not to take myself too serious. This brings me to the point of this rambling mess. People always comment on my true, honest and no frills way of speaking.

 God saw fit for me to to be born in the Southeastern part of NC. I take great pride in that fact. I also take pride in the fact that we have our own way of speaking in the south. If you listen carefully you can tell where some one is from in NC just by their accent or subtle changes in dialect. People from the eastern part of the state say things a bit different than people from the western part of the state. Most of us born and raised in NC have similar accents but to us it is as obvious as the preference in the sauce we like on our Bar B Que pork. (You pretty much have to be from NC to know that there is a difference, Tomato based in the west and vinegar and peppers in the east.)

I have often told people that I know proper English, I just chose not to use it. I prefer to use the honest and sometimes quite humorous little southern sayings that I grew up with. I use words and praises like, "fixen to" meaning I am about to do something. I like the little sayings to describe things, people or situations, for example, "she was mad as a wet settin' hen" or "I'm finer than a frog hair split three ways." Meaning "she was pretty angry" and "I am doing fine, how are you?" I think this way of speaking is like playing Jazz, you should only do it if you know how. Some one "trying" to talk with a southern accent hurts my ears, and you can always tell because non-southerners keep using the word "ya'll" in the singular. No true southerner would ever use the word "ya'll" unless they were referring to more than one person.

As you may have read in another post of mine, I know that people often hear a Southern accent and equate it with ignorance. Those of you that live here and love it here know this is far from the truth. Just look at the internationally known medical centers and centers for higher learning UNC, Duke, Wake Forrest just to name a few here in NC. Not all southern folk are dumb redneck hillbillies some are pretty smart and quite literate (eg.Welty, Williams, Faulkner). The slower drawn out NC accent is just a reflection to a slower and simpler time.

I guess we just need to be proud of where are from as well as proud of who we are. If you are from New England or the Midwest or out on the West Coast you should be proud of it and embrace how being from there has helped shape you to be. This is probably the first of a few blogs about being raised in NC and the south in general. If you like what you are reading, leave a comment.