Texas Thangs Hard To Translate (high school, car, teacher)

[love roses]

I had someone tell me last week they'd make me a mess of greens. My sisters neighbor likes to cook them and always make so much she has to share them. I can't cook them for anything so she said next time she cooks up a mess o' greens, she'd give me some

That burn your hiney good one brings back some memories I tell my daughter that one too.

[TexasReb]

How 'bout "tend to""

Translation to our yankee friends: Short for "I will attend to." A verbal phrase meaning that one will give attention to a matter or situation which needs correction, but can wait for the time being.

Example: The wife hollers outside at her husband, who is busy replacing a battery on the car, that a fuse has blown in the house. He hollers back "I'm busy...I'll 'tend to it later..."

Can also be a threat to children acting up. "You kids better quieten down, NOW, or I'll 'tend to y'all later..."

[blueskies49]

Hey, TexasReb, you just listed several Texas thangs!

"hollers"
"hollers at"
"quieten down"

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

Hey, TexasReb, you just listed several Texas thangs!

"hollers"
"hollers at"
"quieten down"

I guess I did, sis!

Hey, where the heck you been lately? Missed you around the place, hon!

[blueskies49]

I've been posting the last 2 or 3 days but don't get to consistently anymore. Sometimes I'll do it all in a rush, then later I won't have time.

But I'm still around! Glad to see you are, too!

[NOTAM]

i have used a term that i picked up in my years in North Texas...."throwed off", as in "he's a bit throwed off, aint he?"....meaning, crazy, not right in the head, loony, etc...
now here in Central Texas, many have not heard that term (mind you, i live in a military town, so many are transplants, but i have even had local folks tell me they have not heard of that term before)....

[claddagh07]

I live in extreme southern illinois and so far reading what all ya'll have posted, i've realized that we say most of the stuff you've mentioned. but I was wondering do texans or people in other areas use yuns(like ya'll), because i have a friend who moved here from new mexico and I asked her over the phone, "where yuns at?" and she didn't understand me at all.

[blueskies49]

No, Texans don't use "yuns". Texas and most of the rest of the South use "y'all". You may say some of the stuff we do because the extreme south area of your state, as well as other states like Ohio and Indiana that border Southern states, have a Southern influence and in fact, probably have southern ancestors. My mother-in-law is from extreme southern Indiana where her family sounds half Southern and half yankee. Her family says "yuns" but she says "y'all" because she's been in Texas for 50 years.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by claddagh07

I live in extreme southern illinois and so far reading what all ya'll have posted, i've realized that we say most of the stuff you've mentioned. but I was wondering do texans or people in other areas use yuns(like ya'll), because i have a friend who moved here from new mexico and I asked her over the phone, "where yuns at?" and she didn't understand me at all.

Here is a good "map" of a dialect survey which asks the question of "what term do "you" use to refer to a group of two or more people?"

Dialect Survey Results

"You all" or the contraction "Y'all" (red and yellow on the map) is most common in the South...and in fact, almost stands out as a regionalism. "You'uns"? My own guess/opinion is that it is sorta -- in terms of widespread usage -- "concentrated" in rural areas of the "mountain South."

That is to say, most Texans/Southerners RECOGNIZE it...but it is not in the mainstream idiom. If that makes sense!

[claddagh07]

Thanks for your help and the survey link. I've always been fascinated by accents. One of the main things I try to remember about different areas I visit is how the locals talked.