Uniquely Alabama: Speaking The State's Language

"Uniquely Alabama" is an occasional series where Patch tries to find the answers to questions about life in Alabama. Have a question about the Yellowhammer State that needs answering? Send it to michael.seale@patch.com.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A colleague of mine here at Patch several weeks ago posed the question to all of us across the Patch footprint — that is to say, throughout the country — and asked us how we pronounce the word "pecan."

There were some who said "puh-KAHN" (the correct answer, by the way), some who said "PEE-cann," others who said "PEE-kahn," and then even some who said "peh-CANN." Well, it got me thinking about unique dialects in the country, and then got my mind on a pet peeve of mine: the complete misunderstanding by the rest of the country of how we speak in Alabama.

If you live here in Alabama, I'm sure you've cringed as much as I have at Hollywood depictions of the "Alabama accent," which is always some kind of blend between Foghorn Leghorn and Forrest Gump for men, and a mash of Scarlett O'Hara and Aunt Bee for women.

I have lived in this state my entire life, and never have I heard anyone speak the way movies or television shows set in Alabama think we speak.

But what really is the "Alabama language?"

First, let's get one major misconception out of the way. "Y'all," which is a contraction of "you all," is plural. Never in any circumstance would "y'all" be used to address one person. I'm not sure where that misconception came from, but I tend to blame "The Beverly Hillbillies" for that one.

In essence, if I were asking a group of people what they want for dinner, I would ask, "What do y'all want for dinner?" If I am asking one person, I would say, "What do you want for dinner?"

Now that we have that covered, let's talk food and drink. Any fizzy soft drink is a "coke." If all I have is Mountain Dew in my fridge, and I am asking a house guest if they want one, I am asking, "You want a coke?" Grabbing a Dr. Pepper from the gas station? You're grabbing a coke. Want a Diet Sprite? You want a coke. And that's lower- case because you're not always getting a Coke, as in a Coca-Cola.

Cooking meat over an open flame? That's a cook-out. Not a barbecue. Barbecue is what you eat after using fire and smoke to cook meat (as I covered in a previous edition of "Uniquely Alabama"), not what you do to produce what you're eating. I might invite folks over to a cook-out on Labor Day (which could mean I am grilling burgers or hot dogs or steaks or something). If I invited them over for a barbecue, they would assume I ordered or cooked smoked meat and I am inviting them to come eat it with me. Make sense?

The word "fix," can mean to mend something, which is the traditional meaning of the word, as in "I fixed the broken gutters." But it can also mean to "prepare." If I am about to go somewhere, I might very well say, "I'm fixing to go out for the evening." I may also say, "I'm fixing some eggs and pancakes for breakfast." That doesn't mean I am repairing some broken eggs. It means I am making them, preparing them or cooking them.

Oh, and the use of "ma'am" and "sir" is taught to Alabama kids from birth to address those older than they are. It is not just for a person in authority. My mother lived in Rhode Island for a few years when she was a kid after having lived in Alabama, and she said whenever she addressed a woman as "ma'am" that person was taken aback.

There are a bevy of specific terms I could cover, which could form a separate dictionary, but those are some of the common ones.

As far as dialect is concerned, accents vary in Alabama depending on where in the state you may be. For instance, in north Alabama at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains, many one-syllable words get stretched out to two-syllable words. In south Alabama, sometimes two words get condensed into one. Let me explain.

Someone from, say, Muscle Shoals might say they are washing their hair by stating, "I'm washing my 'hay-arr.'" Someone from Daphne, when asking if "you want to" head to the store, might say, "Y'onna go shoppin'?"

In Montgomery, someone saying they are going to read the newspaper before eating the last meal of the day might say, "I'm gonna read the pay-puh before suppah." And that is said as slowly as humanly possible, by the way.

Folks tend to talk slower in north and central Alabama than they do in south Alabama for sure. Not sure why, but they do. I blame the humidity, which is far worse in Mobile than it is in Hunstville.

There exist so many intricacies in the Alabama language, which unbeknownst to those outside the South, aren't the same as those in Tennessee or Georgia or Mississippi. However, the rest of the country seems to think there is a blanket accent and vernacular that is used throughout the South. Which just isn't so.

I hope that clears some things up. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm fixin' to grab me a coke and sit down and write some news articles. 'Preshiate your time.