Fun With Vowels

Every once in a while, I forget that I'm pretty much a Southerner too, and I get tickled by Southified speech. (Like I'm so innocent of it - but no one's called me out on "fixin' to" in a long time - I wonder if I've stopped saying it?)

Last night, at the end of a story about something ridiculous, Travis (who has a slight drawl but not anything over-the-top or irritating) wrapped up with "I shit you not," but he suddenly went Southified, somehow managing to drawl it and chop it up at the same time: "Aihh. Shihhhh. Chew. Nawt." God help me, I thought it sounded so cute. Certain phrases just sound better in Southern, like the way Sarah F. says "Jesus" or how Mom makes a six-syllable greeting out of the word "hey."