A Few Texanisms

My last post regarding Texas weather seemed to interest many people, so I thought I would share a bit more.

Groundhog Day doesn’t mean squat in Texas. We have prairie dogs and armadillos that thumb their noses at ole Phil. All the beginning of February means in Texas is that we have about six more weeks of unpredictable weather that leads into another two months of unpredictable weather. And then it gets (predictably) hot.

One important detail when writing about Texas weather–NEVER let your Texas characters complain about rain. EVER. Texas know that we are starving for rain from June through September. When we do get rain during those months, it’s only a temporary relief thanks to the humidity. It’s unpleasant when all your body parts glue themselves together, and your eyebrows sweat. Air conditioning is a must, but it can only do so much. But if you want to torture your characters, have their AC or their electricity go out on the hottest day of the year and it’s on a weekend. They will love you for it.

Y’all = You all, may be singular or plural, eg. “Y’all comin’ to the barbeque?”

All y’all or Y’all all= all of you, collective y’all, eg. “Y’all all better get on outta here!” (rough translation “Get off the grass!”)

Y’all’ve = you all have, y’all have, eg. “Y’all’ve got too much time on your hands.”

Y’all’ve’d = you all have had (pronounced y’all olived), eg “Y’all’ve’d too much time on your hands.”

Whole ‘nuther – a whole other, another, eg. “Y’all’ve got a whole ‘nuther thing coming.”

Bless your/his/her/their heart = multiple meanings determined by tone of voice, inflection, facial expressions, and reference material. I should probably save this for it’s own post.

That outta give you a few things to work with for the time being. In the meantime, Casa Seitz is trying to stay healthy–without much success. We keep passing around the crud. Mi esposo is down with it at the moment. The cough that preceded the plague was almost as deadly. He coughed so hard, he fell back and crashed through our glass shower door. At midnight thirty, Myrtle the Younger and I were cleaning up glass and bandaging his multiple lacerations, including one on the back of his head. Fun times. Fortunately, he’s got a hard head.

Later,

T