It's A Southern Thing

Below the Mason Dixie Line everything is coke. Even Pepsi is called Coke. But a Coke is a Coke,except when it  isn't. And if it isn't, you're probably somewhere in the South. In a seemingly homogeneous  place like the United States, there's still nothing standard about what people in different parts of the country call soft drinks. In the South, it's Coke — or coke, to be generic — even if you're really asking for a Pepsi. In Minnesota, it's pop, in Arizona, it's soda.

In Northern states, iced tea is served with a box of sugar packets but in the south sweet tea reigns as the queen. It is made by adding sugar to bags of black tea brewing in hot water while the mixture is still hot. The tea is served ice-cold and plain but may also be flavored, traditionally with raspberry, lemon or mint.

Southern accents over time have developed their own vocabulary. Here’s a sampling of words only Southerners say

Y’all: it’s never “you guys” but “y’all”. We’ll know you’re a Yankee, or that your parents were Yankees, if you say “you guys”.

Fixin’ to: used to let your compatriot know what’s up. As in “I’m fixin’ to make me a drink”

Pocketbook: girls from the deep South’s middle-o’-nowhere areas are known to call it this instead of a purse.

Mash: Southerners don’t push things, they mash ‘em. So you don’t “push” buttons, you “mash” them.

Might Could: a polite way of presenting your options

Caddywompus a.k.a. caddywonked: a more fun way to say sideways

Access Road a.k.a. Main Road: If the D.O.T. is working on the highway, there’s only one road to get back on your route again and it’s via an “access road” or “main road”. Southerners do not call interstates “freeways” but “highways”.

Sweeper: as in run the sweeper referring to the vacuum cleaner

Changer or Clicker: you want me to pass you what? A remote control? That thing is called the changer or the clicker. 

Yankee: anyone from the North. Even if you’re from Washington D.C., you’re a borderline Yankee. 

DRYER SHEETS can cut your bathroom cleaning time in half. It makes mirrors and bath fixtures sparkle and cuts right through soap scum on bathtub.Use the sheets to get sticky dust right off of furniture, blinds and baseboards. It can clean up cook tops and greasy cupboards quickly. Soak paintbrushes in warm water with a dryer sheet and watch the paint come right off. Try cleaning dead, icky bugs from the car with a dryer sheet . Wipe pet hair off of clothes and furniture with a sheet. And carry a few dryer sheets with you when walking to keep the mosquitoes off.