The beauty of Southern dialect...

I majored in English at THE University of North Carolina. Go Heels! (It's March. I have to say that or I could get a nasty rash from suppressing the sentiment.)

In my time at Chapel Hill, I was blessed to have Connie Eble as my grammar instructor for a couple of different classes. What I loved most about her class was that she taught grammar from a linguist's perspective. Now if you don't know what a linguist's perspective is, the short explanation is that they observe and report language without pronouncing the superiority of one form over another. As a matter of fact, you give a linguist a dialect and they just revel in the ins and outs of things like vocabulary and syntax and idiom. It makes them absolutely giddy.

One of the greatest exercises I have EVER encountered in an English classroom -- graduate, undergraduate or secondary-- was the Shibboleth exercise we did when we began our unit on usage. I fell in love with language on that day.

Three other things from Connie Eble's class that stuck in my brain and became part of my personal language philosophy are as follows:

1. English is essentially a Germanic language, although we have borrowed nearly 50% of our vocabulary from Latin. Yet, in all our academic brilliance, we have decided to define our language structure by the rules that govern the Romance languages. Basically, our method of diagramming sentences is the linguistic equivalent of putting square pegs into round holes. No wonder so many people hate doing it.

2. English grammar is helpful but not essential in writing. Writing is like driving a car. You can drive a car and get exactly where you want to go every time and never have a clue how the engine works. But if you want to drive a race car for maximum performance or if you're car breaks down and you don't want to be stranded forever, it behooves you to understand how the engine works. So it is with language. If you want to use the language well, you need to know how to maximize its performance. And certainly if your writing breaks down and can't communicate to your reader, you need to know how to fix it.

3. Who sets the rules of grammar? Well...? OK, think about who taught YOU the rules of the language. Your English teacher. Your English professor. Maybe a journalist here or there. Basically, the "safe-keepers" of the English language are English instructors. They write books about what's right and what's not. Woo Hoo! I can feel the surge of power coursing through my veins.

Now where on Earth was I going with this post? Oh yes... the beauty of Southern dialect... Before I sat under Dr. Eble's instruction, I had a distinct feeling that there was a right and wrong way of doing things. If I did wrong, there would be red. If I did right, there would be an "A."

Having a linguist teach language, I became aware for the first time of the beauty of language in the vernacular. The speech of the native speaker. The glory of dialect. My dialect is Southern American English. I never really appreciated SAE before that moment. Now, it's a treasure.

Some of my favorite SAE sayings:

1. "fixing to" - indicating preparation for an impending course of action. I am fixing to get up and go cook dinner.

2. "might could" - a double modal that is MOST helpful in indicating potential without certainty. I might could cook dinner a little better if I actually went to the grocery store and bought food.

3. "y'all" - properly used as the collective/plural second person pronoun. Y'all need to come over and eat dinner with us after church on Sunday.

4. "won't" - Unique to certain parts of the South, won't is a substitute for the first person singular form or the verb to be. Q: Who ate the last piece of sweet potato pie? A: It won't me.

5. "Bless your heart" - That one is very complex. Here's a nice summary of it. It could possibly be the ultimate Southern Shibboleth.

Down on Granddaddy's farm - Part 2...

Well... life on the farm is kinda laid back...

("Thank God I'm a Country Boy," by John Denver)

There she is, folks. The famed farm truck. Granddaddy has a truck parked near the end of the LONG driveway. It hasn't been moved in quite a while. This picture was taken three or so years ago, so I'm sure it's even more impressive today. If you'll look real close, you'll see a tree growing out of the hood area.

Down on Granddaddy's farm - Part 1...

This is Granddaddy. Granddaddy lives on a farm. Granddaddy has quite a sense of humor.

Granddaddy has a hen named Agnes.
Granddaddy has an old stove on his front porch.
Granddaddy has an old frying pan that he doesn't use anymore.
Granddaddy has some straw.

Now... Agnes has a new nest.

And Granddaddy can cross "eggs" off the grocery list.

Birth of an [sub]Urban Legend...

e-mealz rock!

My friend Dorothy and I were chatting one Sunday morning a few weeks ago. I love our chats. I can't ever remember having a throw-away conversation with her. There's always a nugget of Truth or encouragement or inspiration deposited into the treasure chest when we talk. Usually they are parenting or marriage nuggets, but this time there was a homemaking nugget that has transformed our family's dinnertime.

You see, I hate cooking. By hate I don't mean prefer-not-to-do-it. I mean with-the-white-hot-passion-of-a-thousand-suns. Nothing shoots down my "happy"more than hunting down recipes and shopping for ingredients and then cooking the meal only to have at least one person in the family go, "Ew... is THAT what we're having for dinner?" Sigh...

So when Dorothy casually mentioned that she's been doing e-mealz, she had my attention in a major way.

On e-mealz.com, two amazingly brave women have founded a system that puts together menus for those of us too busy/tired/clueless to do it for ourselves. They base the meal plans on size... serves 2 or serves 6-ish. On diet... low carb, low fat, points plan, regular everyday healthy eating. On stores ... Kroger, Wal-Mart, Aldi and any store (around here, but also Ralph's and Publix in other parts of the country). Once you subscribe, you can print the meal plan you choose, complete with recipes and cooking instructions. And you also get the shopping list, divided nicely according to the different sections of the grocery store (meat, produce, bakery, frozen foods, dairy, etc). They even remind you of the staples you need to have on hand. If you choose a particular store, the menus are planned according to that store's specials. Family plans average anywhere from $70-$85 per week. Meals for two are significantly less. It depends a lot on where you shop and whether you subscribe to a plan that follows the specials.

A three-month subscription is only $15.00. That's just $1.25 per week. Or $5.00 a month. Both Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard recommend e-mealz.com to their listeners. And now we are recommending it to our friends! I can't even begin to tell you how many women there are where I work now who are walking around with the web address written on post-its. I'm telling everybody!

We've finally gotten our grocery budget under control. We've successfully avoided fast food. Not one night have we defaulted and gone to Mickey D's or Chick-fil-A or Pizza Hut. I haven't over- or under-bought at the grocery store. We usually have one serving left over, which means the portion sizes are accurate, as we have five in our lovely little family. Jimmy usually eats the leftover portion for lunch the next day, while I have my soup and salad. And you know what? Now... I sorta kinda don't mind cooking anymore. e-mealz rock!

You find things in the strangest places...

I was on wral.com. I clicked the link to astory about Anoop Desai. It had a link to the "American Idol" page.

On the"American Idol" page, there was a news feed that said something about voting for Chris Sligh. Chris Sligh? I really liked him Season Whatever-it-was. I actually ordered the Half-Past Forever CD, which is really good, by the way.

Anyways... I clicked the link to see why I'd be voting for Chris Sligh. Of course there was yet ANOTHER link to SEE if with my own eyes. Y'all are never going to guess where THAT link led. Never...

I imma gonna tell ya. It was a link to the voting page for Gospel Music Channel's Dove Awards. Big Chris is up for the New Artist of the Year Award. The fans are determining the winner for that and for the Artist of the Year. I voted for Chris for New Artist. Guess who got my vote for Artist of the Year. Just guess. Those of you who know me well can probably guess without ever going to the page! :)

Here's a video about the making of Chris Sligh's music video for "Arise":

HELP!!!

In case you didn't know... I am on the editorial team of the Women's Ministry newsletter at our church. This issue we are talking about stewardship. I need help!!! (Not with stewardship... with this "ideas" piece. OK... I actually probably DO need help with stewardship, but that's not what I'm getting at here.)

I need examples of what women are doing to better use their family's resources during these tough economic times. Coupon clipping? Giving up certain luxuries? Shopping at consignment sales or Goodwill. Re-using/re-purposing old stuff. ANYTHING!

If you would please, please, please help me I would be ever-so grateful!!! You can post it as a comment here, if you'd like. Or you are welcome to email them to me, too.

Thanks y'all!!!

Pink Elephant...

Recently a friend said, "Hey, check out this blog. You'll like it."

So I checked it out.

And I liked it. This chick makes me think.

I've been WAAAYYY too apathetic. I don't like the direction our country is headed in. I don't like the logical conclusion of the economic policies I see floating around. I think the stimulus plan ... ok ALL the stimulus planS ... are a HUGE mistake! I believe we are quickly creating an entire nation of people who will sit in a Superdome for days, enduring hurricanes and squalid living conditions because they do not know how to take care of themselves. I cannot fathom that the kind, most loving thing we can do is to make as many people as possible dependent on government.

I am tired of quietly trying not to offend others with my political views. You see... here's the thing: way too many of us Christians have fallen for the secular humanist worldview's line of thinking that everyone should determine Truth for him/herself. You know what? You can pick and choose YOUR truth. But nothing changes THE Truth. Or the consequences of rejecting it.

I am not a political blogger. Not in the least. But I'm hoping that the Pink Elephant Pundit will keep right on blogging. And holding me accountable. And making me think.