Southern English

[Bob77064]

I remember the manual chokes and when the automatic chokes came out.

 

[smstonypoint]

Or you turned the key on, then pushed a button to activate the starter.

Haven't I seen TV ads for modern (high-end) cars that have starter buttons?

Steve

 

[jinman]

My old memory is slipping. I had so many with the dimmer switch on the floor, upper left side, of course, that I'm not sure anymore which ones; maybe my '89 F250 was the last one. And how many remember (or even knew of) cars with manual transmissions that had the starter switch under the clutch pedal; just turn the key on, press the clutch all the way to the floor and that engaged the starter.

I believe it was a Buick automatic that my oldest brother had with the starter button below the accelerator pedal. You could start with the key switch, but also you could press the accelerator pedal to the floorboard with the transmission in park or neutral and the engine would start.

How many remember cars without blinkers. There were add-on blinker switches that clamped to the steering column with a big paddle switch. Many of the older cars/pickups had add-on horn buttons too. When I took driver's ed in 1963, it was a requirement to learn how to use hand signals for left turn, right turn, and stop and demonstrate those to the license examiner. I took my license exam in a standard shift car. I went around one corner by first slowing and downshifting, but failed to completely take my foot off the clutch. That cost me a 10 point deduction. Luckily, I passed the rest of the test with flying colors.

How about vacuum operated windshield wipers that quit when you accelerated and vacuum dropped? Many cars had vacuum operated wipers before the advent of electrical ones. The funny thing is that most wiper blades were so bad you didn't gain a lot by having wipers.

Of course, all advancements weren't really advancements at all. Elimination of running boards angered a lot of people.

 

[PMA]

How about the old three on the column and you had to stop to get in 1st gear. I learned to drive in a Ford Ranchero

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[bcp]

Anyone here ever have a car with a real trunk?


1931 Studebaker President | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Bruce

 

[Bird]

Yep, Jim, I've driven Buicks with the accelerator starter. And my parents' 1948 Oldsmobile 76 that Dad bought in 1952 was the first car I remember with the add on turn signals, and then in the late 50s, I've even installed those on a car for a customer of my Dad's auto parts store. I took drivers ed in early 1956 in a new manual transmission Ford sedan that was loaned to the school for the school year. So, yep, had to do the hand signals. And I, too, hated those vacuum operated wipers.

How about the old three on the column and you had to stop to get in 1st gear. I learned to drive in a Ford Ranchero

The non-synchromesh first gear was the norm for many years. Of course when I started on the police department we had Ford sedans in 1964 and synchromesh first was relatively new. The rumor I heard was that Ford developed that synchromesh first gear because Dallas police officers tore up too many transmissions before that.:laughing: I can neither confirm nor refute that rumor, but I do know that Ford used the Dallas police cars for many of their experiments. In fact, the 1963 and 64 sedans were all black, but they had different colored steering wheels; some red, some black, some white, some blue. When officers turned to get out of the cars, the cocking thumb on their revolvers scratched up the steering wheels pretty severely so Ford was testing different plastics for steering wheels. And under the hood you might find different colored distributor caps, or painted top tank on the radiator, etc.

So "3 on the tree" was the only kind of police sedan I drove the first 3 years; no automatics, no power steering, no power brakes until the 1968 models. Then 1969 was the first automatics.

 

[Bird]

Anyone here ever have a car with a real trunk?


1931 Studebaker President | Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Bruce

Now there's something I've no experience with.:laughing:

 

[PMA]

I started in 1977 and we had pretty much everything but FM radio and power windows. We had Pontic Lemans, Fords and a few Plymouth Furys.

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[Barry N]

Back to the OP:
y'all = you (can be one person)
all y'all - everybody
guf swimp = tasty crustaceans caught in the ...Guf.
ben-yay = type of pastry confection
Hide'n =whupp'n

 

[smilinjak]

I understand you perfectly Gunny, what about; TOBOGGAN, a stocking hat,.....not a sled. BROGANS, most any lace up work boot. HARD ROAD-usually asphalt or black top, not dirt, mud,or gravels. GALLUS- the suspenders on bib overalls.

I called it a "toeboggan", that was the way we said it in western North Carolina ( Nothcalina), was a stocking hat. Imagine my surprise when I heard the Olympics were going to have toboggan races and they came out with sleds and helmets, not a toboggan to be seen. Galluses were any suspenders, wide for work narrow for Sunday. Slippers were low cut dress shoes. I had to learn a new language when I came to the northwest.

Smilinjak

 

[Barry N]

Oh, I plumb forgot - while I never reached a "Bar the door, Katie" level warning, I do recall "I just might have to go out back and cut me a hickry switch" if I persisted in whatever miscreant way at that time. Worked very well, as I had a strong imagination of what that meant!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Oh, I plumb forgot - while I never reached a "Bar the door, Katie" level warning, I do recall "I just might have to go out back and cut me

a hickry switch

" if I persisted in whatever miscreant way at that time. Worked very well, as I had a strong imagination of what that meant!

Here'bouts, that was know as a dose of "Hickory tea".

 

[Daver1963]

Oh, I plumb forgot - while I never reached a "Bar the door, Katie" level warning, I do recall "I just might have to go out back and cut me a hickry switch" if I persisted in whatever miscreant way at that time. Worked very well, as I had a strong imagination of what that meant!

I grew up in the South, but my mother was English and even after many years in the South she never uttered the phrase "go cut me a switch." However, she was very fast with flip-flops, sandals, and flyswatters!
She never totally lost her English accent even after 40+ years in the South, but she (of course) did pick up certain phrases, which spoken with an English accent sounded a little funny. Imagine, if you can, us sitting around talking about some local miscreant troublemakers and my mother with that accent saying "they're nothing but poor white trash."
Quite astonishing for me and a little bit funny.

 

[brin]

Gas Pedal is the " Foot Feed "...." Furinuh " means...and here's why...." A comin' up a storm' etc...just too many...

 

[jinman]

Though it may not have been strictly southern English, "chewing the fat" and/or "chewing the rag" were common expressions for long mindless conversations. Of course, really uninformed conversations about topics were people just "flappin' their gums" or "battin' their gums." Also "flappin' their jaws" was a similar common idiom. They all meant that you were spending time gabbing, a very common southern pastime.

 

[k0ua]

Though it may not have been strictly southern English, "chewing the fat" and/or "chewing the rag" were common expressions for long mindless conversations. Of course, really uninformed conversations about topics were people just "flappin' their gums" or "battin' their gums." Also "flappin' their jaws" was a similar common idiom. They all meant that you were spending time gabbing, a very common southern pastime.

Interesting. a "ragchew" is a common Amateur Radio term still in common usage all over the world today, meaning a contact with another Amateur Radio operator, conducted in a friendly manner where both participants spend some amount of time talking about any common interests. Not all, Amateur Radio contacts are ragchews, especially contacts between operators in different countries where there may be some language barriers when the topic deviates from Amateur Radio. More regional contacts between operators with a common heritage are often "ragchews".

James K0UA

 

[Gunny]

Some of he wife's family were in this weekend visiting (from the mountains in Eastern KY). I guess I've been around them long enough that it just quit registering on me, but this weekend I noticed that they don't/can't say "it", it's always "hit".

"Hit'll be a long drive home. Hit's been awhile, etc"

 

[IslandTractor]

I've always loved the polite sarcastic put down "Isn't that precious" best delivered by a smiling matronly syrupy sweet Southern lady. You never can be sure whether she is being straight or sarcastic. Brilliant way to be snarky but maintain a civil air.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Some of he wife's family were in this weekend visiting (from the mountains in Eastern KY). I guess I've been around them long enough that it just quit registering on me, but this weekend I noticed that they don't/can't say "it", it's always "hit".

"Hit'll be a long drive home. Hit's been awhile, etc"

My Grandad, whose folks were from Bowling Green, used that term. He also said "fit" for "fought", and "Hain't" for "Ain't".

 

[PMA]

A haint down here is ghost. My granddaddy said it all the time.

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