Author Topic: Messages From The Heartland  (Read 2119759 times)

Offline David In Indy

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #240 on: October 09, 2006, 11:33:44 pm »
Current Weather in Indianapolis: Clear and Mild    Temp: 66 F (19 C)
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I placed a catalog order over the phone today. I decided to start my Christmas shopping a little early this year. As I was reading off my address to the guy taking my order, he acted surprised when I told him I lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. He said, "do you really live in Indiana"? I told him I most certainly did. He told me he thought I was a Southerner! What? No. I live in Indiana and it is in the North. He was making fun of my accent I think. My accent? What accent?

We Hoosiers do have a funny way of saying certain things. I caught myself doing just that very thing later when I called in my pain pill refill at the pharmacy. I told the pharmacist I "needed to get a refill on my pain pill subscription". Yeah. I said "subscription" instead of "prescription". The pharmacist new perfectly well what I meant. After all, he is a Hoosier too.

Here in Indiana, we often say "DEEshes" instead of dishes, "FEESH" instead of fish, "POOsh" instead of push, and even "subscription" instead of "prescription".

We even say "y'all" instead of you all.

I was reading a book about Indiana a few weeks ago, and I came across something funny. Well, I thought it was funny. Here is what it said:

"How do Hooisers sound when they talk? There is a Hoosier accent,  surely, and to an outsider it can seem suspiciously Southern, but this is due more to its rhythms and trace words than its pronounciation or tone. The way Hoosiers speak English depends to a considrable extent on patterns developed in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in western Virginia and the Carolinas. These areas provided the greatest number of pioneers who came over the mountains to the Ohio River Valley seeking new land in Kentucky and Indiana.

The way many Hoosiers talk today is full of words which show this kinship. They still use a "skillet" for fixing breakfast, see a "snakefeeder" hoovering on the waters of a "crick" and are likely to have "roasting ears" for dinner. All of these terms have Southern origins. Yet there are boundary lines within the state. North of Indianapolis, on the way to Fort Wayne, one will probably hear the bone from a chicken's breast called a "wishbone". Below Indianapolis it is likely to be called a "pulleybone". In general, the farther north one lives in Indiana, the more Hooisers begin to sound like people living in Chicago or Detroit; the farther south, the more like Louisville or Paducah. In between, the typical Hoosier will still put an "r" in the first syllable of "Washington" and say "whenever" when he means simply "when". For the most part it's "bucket" rather than "pail", but "bag" rather than "sack' or "poke".

(Later, the book goes on to explain how the early Hoosier settlers sounded when they spoke}

" Eggleston (while writing his book "The Hoosier Schoolmaster") listened to how Hoosiers talk and wrote it down in a quasi-phonetic way. "It takes a right smart man to be a schoolmaster in Flat Crick in the winter. Howsumderever, ef you think you kin trust your hide in Flat Crick school-house I ha'n't got no bjection". Eggleston's ear for such speech patterns produced one unexpected result. Cultivated Hoosiers of the day were horrified at the book's success in the East and immediately appropriated considerable amounts of money to the state's schools. For a time, in the 1800's, Indiana's per student expenditure for secondary education was among the highest in the nation".
(Text taken from "Indiana" by Darryl Jones and Jared Carter. Published by Graphics Arts Center Publishing Co.)

So you see? There IS a reason we talk the way we do!

Now, it's time to take in the "warsh", put the "deeshes" in the machine, and go get my "subscription" at the drug store. I'll be back directly, so don't y'all worry none, ya hear?   :D

Edit: Spelling errors suck!   ;)


« Last Edit: October 10, 2006, 01:16:47 am by David925 »
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Offline Arad-3

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #241 on: October 09, 2006, 11:46:42 pm »
Here in Indiana, we often say "DEEshes" instead of dishes, "FEESH" instead of fish, and "POOsh" instead of push. And we even say "subscription" instead of "prescription". Qoute by David925

That's so funny David.  I don't think people relize that they even have accents. I always think the other people do, but we here in central NY speak normal. Then when we go out of state. people ask "are you from NY?"  And they are usually the ones with the accents.
 
Are my making any sense here? ???
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injest

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #242 on: October 09, 2006, 11:50:26 pm »
all that talk about the accents is very interesting...but lets cut to the chase...


what did you get us???

you know...for Christmas...from the catalogue?


Offline David In Indy

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #243 on: October 10, 2006, 12:45:02 am »
Here in Indiana, we often say "DEEshes" instead of dishes, "FEESH" instead of fish, and "POOsh" instead of push. And we even say "subscription" instead of "prescription". Qoute by David925

That's so funny David.  I don't think people relize that they even have accents. I always think the other people do, but we here in central NY speak normal. Then when we go out of state. people ask "are you from NY?"  And they are usually the ones with the accents.
 
Are my making any sense here? ???

You all do have accents up there in New York!

But I love New York/East Coast/New England accents!  :D
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Offline David In Indy

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #244 on: October 10, 2006, 12:50:28 am »
all that talk about the accents is very interesting...but lets cut to the chase...


what did you get us???

you know...for Christmas...from the catalogue?




Well Jess.... I ordered you one of these....



Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting



 
:D :D :D :D :D :D


But the little coffin it sleeps in will be shipped to you separately. I guess he'll just have to sleep with you until it arrives.   ;)
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mvansand76

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #245 on: October 10, 2006, 07:38:18 am »

Well Jess.... I ordered you one of these....



Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting



 
:D :D :D :D :D :D


But the little coffin it sleeps in will be shipped to you separately. I guess he'll just have to sleep with you until it arrives.   ;)

God, David, you ARE killing me, I thought we had gotten rid of that THING from HELL?

mvansand76

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #246 on: October 10, 2006, 07:58:04 am »
Hey, I have a subject to divert your attention from that dog from hell to... hayfever...

 >:(

Well, here goes, talking about hayfever starts with talking about the weather, and talking about the weather is something that Dutch people like very much...We've had a really unusual summer here in Holland, July was the hottest month ever with three heatwaves in a row, August was the wettest month ever and September was the warmest September ever. Now it's October and I am still showing serious signs of hayfever, which means a runny nose, itchy and watery eyes and a sore throat. I really had wished that in October this would all be over, but then I heard in the news that the hayfever season for a lot of people now extends into October because of the hot summers and mild autumns, and the cause of all this trouble is one little plant, Ambrosia. This is a foreign plant for Holland, it comes from North America of all places! It has become domesticated (is that what you call it?) in Holland and this means that my personal hayfever seasons now stretches from April to the end of October. Yeehaw! 7 months of sneezing....

So, to all you North-Americans out there, thanks for the Ambrosia!!!

 ;)

 


Offline dly64

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #247 on: October 10, 2006, 10:02:47 am »
Here in Indiana, we often say "DEEshes" instead of dishes, "FEESH" instead of fish, "POOsh" instead of push, and even "subscription" instead of "prescription".

We even say "y'all" instead of you all.

Then there is the word "water" ...we say it to rhyme with "hotter" instead of "daughter".

Now ... I have to admit, I don't use the y'all thing. I always say "you guys".

And, BTW, "soda" is "pop" in Indiana. You ask for a soda and you'll probably get some blank stares. Get it right, folks!  :laugh:
Diane

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Offline David In Indy

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #248 on: October 10, 2006, 06:58:04 pm »
Then there is the word "water" ...we say it to rhyme with "hotter" instead of "daughter".

Now ... I have to admit, I don't use the y'all thing. I always say "you guys".

And, BTW, "soda" is "pop" in Indiana. You ask for a soda and you'll probably get some blank stares. Get it right, folks!  :laugh:


Yeah Diane. There are SOME Hoosiers who don't say y'all. I think many Hoosiers don't even realize they say it. It just slips out.

And you are correct about the pop. I have also heard many Hoosiers (myself included) call it Coke (as in Coca Cola). It doesn't matter if they are referring to Coke, Pepsi, RC, or generic pop. They always say "coke" or "pop". I know they sell Pepsi here in Indiana,  but I never see anyone drinking it. I drink Coke, my friends drink Coke, my family drinks Coke.

Now down in Cincinnati, it is the complete opposite. They drink Pepsi down there, and everyone calls pop (soda) a "peps" (short for Pepsi, I guess).

We say Coke, they say Peps, but what we really mean is soda.

Soda Pop.

A can of carbonated sugar water!
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Offline David In Indy

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Re: Messages From The Heartland
« Reply #249 on: October 10, 2006, 07:03:50 pm »
Hey, I have a subject to divert your attention from that dog from hell to... hayfever...

 >:(

Well, here goes, talking about hayfever starts with talking about the weather, and talking about the weather is something that Dutch people like very much...We've had a really unusual summer here in Holland, July was the hottest month ever with three heatwaves in a row, August was the wettest month ever and September was the warmest September ever. Now it's October and I am still showing serious signs of hayfever, which means a runny nose, itchy and watery eyes and a sore throat. I really had wished that in October this would all be over, but then I heard in the news that the hayfever season for a lot of people now extends into October because of the hot summers and mild autumns, and the cause of all this trouble is one little plant, Ambrosia. This is a foreign plant for Holland, it comes from North America of all places! It has become domesticated (is that what you call it?) in Holland and this means that my personal hayfever seasons now stretches from April to the end of October. Yeehaw! 7 months of sneezing....

So, to all you North-Americans out there, thanks for the Ambrosia!!!

 ;)

 


Melissa, I had to look up "Ambrosia" on the Internet. I wasn't quite sure what it was.

Now I know.

Oh Yeah. It's a nasty little devil too. We call it ragweed here in North America, and it makes millions of people miserable every year.

We would be happy to send you some more if you want us to!   ;)

« Last Edit: October 10, 2006, 07:14:24 pm by David925 »
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