Okay, I’ve been trying to learn Southern for a while now. Trust me, it's a real language unto itself.
I really thought I had been making some
progress.
It was easier to understand my
neighbors, I was having to repeat myself less often.
However, twice in the last week I was
reminded that I’m not from here and maybe I’ll never fit in.
The first instance was at a pizza place.
I placed my order which included the
ingredient green olives.
The pizza
arrived with green peppers.
Uhm, now in
what universe does olives and peppers sound even remotely similar?
When I pointed out the mistake, the waitress
stated, “Well, you're rather hard to understand.”
Of course she said this in her thick Southern
drawl which I was supposed to interpret with no problems.
Fine, moving on with life with peppers not
olives.
The second time, I was having a
conversation with someone who also isn’t from here.
Someone else overheard the conversation and
later asked me what language we were speaking.
Well, duh, English.
How did he
not know what non-accented English sounds like?
Has he only heard Southern?
I
almost asked him if he knew all of the states in the U.S. or if he was one of
those from around here who couldn’t name half of them.
However, I decided not to shame him further.
Yet, how can I be the one in wrong in either
of these cases?
I’m the one trying to do
something new, be different, learn, grow.
So do I give up trying to fit in?
Do I just chalk this up to lesson learned, some people are never going
to understand me no matter what I do?
No, I think I need to find another angle to approach the problem.
What exactly that is I don’t know at the
moment.
Still wish I could find an interpretation
app for Southern…
Okay, I’ve been trying to learn Southern for a while now. Trust me, it's a real language unto itself. I really thought I had been making some
progress. It was easier to understand my
neighbors, I was having to repeat myself less often. However, twice in the last week I was
reminded that I’m not from here and maybe I’ll never fit in. The first instance was at a pizza place. I placed my order which included the
ingredient green olives. The pizza
arrived with green peppers. Uhm, now in
what universe does olives and peppers sound even remotely similar? When I pointed out the mistake, the waitress
stated, “Well, you're rather hard to understand.” Of course she said this in her thick Southern
drawl which I was supposed to interpret with no problems. Fine, moving on with life with peppers not
olives. The second time, I was having a
conversation with someone who also isn’t from here. Someone else overheard the conversation and
later asked me what language we were speaking.
Well, duh, English. How did he
not know what non-accented English sounds like?
Has he only heard Southern? I
almost asked him if he knew all of the states in the U.S. or if he was one of
those from around here who couldn’t name half of them. However, I decided not to shame him further. Yet, how can I be the one in wrong in either
of these cases? I’m the one trying to do
something new, be different, learn, grow.
So do I give up trying to fit in?
Do I just chalk this up to lesson learned, some people are never going
to understand me no matter what I do?
No, I think I need to find another angle to approach the problem. What exactly that is I don’t know at the
moment. Still wish I could find an interpretation
app for Southern…
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