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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThe Southern dialect (or is it?) command "Do!" Anyone familiar with it?
For example, a mother might say to a kid, "Nancy, do!"
It means: be sensible, behave, shape up, etc.
CurtEastPoint
(18,552 posts)Now, Southern would be 'Don't be ugly.'
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)bamademo
(2,193 posts)and I grew up in Alabama.
klook
(12,134 posts)Ain't never heard that'n.
My grandmother might have said something more like, "Sayrah Elizabeth, you get yourself back in this house this instant! Don't make me cut a switch!"
alarimer
(16,245 posts)As in, "She tries so hard. Bless her heart."
Around here, "right many" means a lot (I think).
Also I've heard "fixin' to" as in, "I'm fixin' to whup you upside your head."
MrsBrady
(4,187 posts)is subsituted a lot for other words.
fix dinner: cook or make
i'll fix it for you: repair, cook, make
get my hair fixed: done, colored, styled
the list goes on...lol
nolabear
(41,915 posts)You can also say "I lit a candle on him", and in fact that's what's done. And yeah, it's still done.
MrsBrady
(4,187 posts)although not lately, I've used and heard
I'll fix you....meant both seriously and as a joke...but I guess NO does have it's own thing with the voodo context.
What's funny is I was just thinking that...
while I've certainly heard 'in a fix'...I don't think that's used much...lol
I think we like to use it as a verb.
WolverineDG
(22,298 posts)"fixing to start"
Fixing to walk, fixing to go to bed, etc
but I have never heard "do" either.
MrsBrady
(4,187 posts)you are correct...lol
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)MrsBrady
(4,187 posts)fixens...
side dishes and/or condiments...
I guess it's a noun here...lol
ashling
(25,771 posts)about to
and I even use that one all the time.
I'm fixin to get ready.
I'm fixin to eat.
etc
lol
MrsBrady
(4,187 posts)both sides my of family are all over Texas and Oklahoma (1880s to present) then arkansas and alabama (pre and post civil war) before TX and OK.
never heard that used like that.
knock it off
straighten up
get to gettin'
and variations on what the poster klook said
or no words used at all and you'd just get the look
mzteris
(16,232 posts)Never heard that one. . . .
Central and South Georgia
Southern Alabama - both east and west sides of state
Kentucky (ok not really southern)
South Carolina - Charleston
North Carolina - RDU area
All my "people" were/are Deep South. Never heard that one.
It was when you heard your middle name tacked on to your first one that meant business - whatever the previous command may have been.
nolabear
(41,915 posts)MrsBrady
(4,187 posts)was a bad sign
I know that one.
raccoon
(31,092 posts)Maybe it's obsolete. My mother wasn't from Lowcountry so she didn't say it, but I heard it from friends' mothers.
nolabear
(41,915 posts)Way different colloquialisms for different areas, and some ubiquitous. That one I've never heard though, and I pretty much cover MS, LA, AL and the Carolinas. Oh, and some GA. LOL! Relatives...
raccoon
(31,092 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)nolabear
(41,915 posts)EVERY Southern town has one, I think!
MADem
(135,425 posts)The reference there, I think, was more "morning dew" than Mountain Dew!
nolabear
(41,915 posts)At least it was when I was a girl and it was the only pun I'd ever seen. I got better.
MADem
(135,425 posts)rrneck
(17,671 posts)Moondog
(4,833 posts)As other posters have noted, however, this can be highly regional.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)I was born and now live in Florida, grew up in Texas and have lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and Maryland.
I did think it was funny once when I heard a frustrated mother at a shoe store yell at her recalcitrant kid to "Put your shoes off your feet!" - he didn't wanna try on new shoes and wouldn't take his shoes off.
Arkansas Granny
(31,483 posts)It's a new one on me.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)and formerly lived in South Florida, and also spent some time in Alabama. I have never heard that in any of the Southern states.
Behind the Aegis
(53,833 posts)I have lived in TN, KY, NC, SC, GA, VA, FL, and NOLA and I have never heard such a command.
ileus
(15,396 posts)and for sure never heard it before.
Ghost in the Machine
(14,912 posts)..... ever, heard this term used. I've lived mainly in South Florida & East Tennessee, but lived 10 years in Georgia, a year in South Carolina and a year in North Carolina.
One of the strangest things I ever encountered was while living in S.C., in a small burg outside of Darlington. One of the LOWEST cut-downs you could call a man there was to call him a "Rascal"! Them there was fightin' words! Worse than being called a lowlife, scum sucking, goat fucking, baby-raping piece of shit.
As for "Do!".. never heard it anywhere....
Peace,
Ghost
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)raccoon
(31,092 posts)just this one clan used that expression.
Who knows?
MrYikes
(720 posts)there may be a connection brought forward in time.
Still Blue in PDX
(1,999 posts)bike man
(620 posts)"Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try"
In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)Jeff R
(322 posts)Never heard it, drove over the road for more than 3 decades and ran as much in the south as anywhere. Lived below the Mason-Dixon line for most of my adult life. Not a term I am familiar with.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)word DO ... as in
Please, DO go into town and pick up the dry cleaning.
Please, DO scratch my back.
that type of phrasing ... yes, I am familiar with that.
however,did not realize that to be "southern"
derby378
(30,252 posts)It was a dare from Simon Legree to one of Tom's former masters when he threatened to bring in the law. In this context, it sounded like "Bring them on" to me.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)derby378
(30,252 posts)...I was talking about the original book.
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)edited to include link:
http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Harriet_Beecher_Stowe/Uncle_Toms_Cabin/