Thursday, March 3, 2011

Say What? One Southern Woman's Foray into the Digital World of Urban Dialect.

I remember when I first joined the Facebook community a little over two years ago.  I was confused by it at first, like most people are, but after playing with it for a few days I had it down pat.  Yes, I was a natural. Before I knew it, I was posting statuses, throwing snowballs at people, poking, and even decorating my apartment in YoVille.  Everything was just peachy until... wait a minute. What does "LOL" mean?  What in the world? OK. I was lost.

You see, I am not a gadget person. Shoot, y'all.  I didn't even receive my first text until just a few months ago (thanks, Bek!).  So needless to say, I did not speak text.  I was, however, pretty darn good at figuring it out.  And it's a good thing, too. These strange, little acronyms were popping up all over the place!  After seeing "LOL" before/after something funny, I finally figured out that it meant "laughing out loud."  More acronyms followed: rotfl, ttyl, omg and countless others.  Because of my active imagination and uncanny ability to figure things out, I've been able to slowly integrate myself into the arena of digital conversation.

But last week there was a little road block in my progress. A hiccup, if you will.  "SMH."  What?  Just when I thought I was up to speed...  Yeah, folks. This one REALLY had me shaking my head, which turned out to be kind of appropriate because that's what it means: shaking my head. Or as a friend pointed out, "scratching my head." 

I reached out to my friends for help (in the form of a status update) to confirm my latest find.  Yes!  Correct again.  In the process of resolving my latest quandary, my wonderful friend put a bug in my ear about a website: urban dictionary.com.  Hmmm.  Interesting.

After a visit to this website I found that it was indeed fun, sassy and very enlightening.  But in the end it left me wanting.  "What?" you may ask...  Well, I'll tell you.  Why let the city slickers have all the fun?  We country folk have something to say, too!  I hereby declare that we are in need of a rural dictionary.com.  Let the southerners get together and start setting some trends of our own!

Let's start with SMH.  I submit to you this replacement: BHH.  Just think about it.  Instead of "shaking our heads" at folks for wearing hot pink spandex pants (2 sizes too small) to Wal-Mart, or for getting our order wrong at McDonald's or for just being plain stupid we could BHH: Bless his/her heart.  Now you know how we southerners like to bless some hearts.  "She's as dumb as a bag of rocks, BHH."  See how that works?

Ok. Let's try another one.  Instead of using LOL everytime we turn around we could say: TFRT- "that's funny right there."  Example: Christina Aguilera almost fell off the stage at the Grammy's, TFRT."

Good gracious, the possibilities are endless!  Here are a few more nuggets for ya.  Take them and use them at your leisure and PLEASE, PLEASE add some more to my list!  Come on y'all.  I know you got it in ya!


* DWN- do what, now?

*YR- ya reckon?

*IF2- I'm fixin' to

*NYD- No you di'int!

*WIBJB- Well, I'll be John Brown!

And finally, SYM- slap your mama. Example: "Those biscuits were SYM good!"

God Bless you, friends and...

YCBNH- y'all come back now, hear?

13 comments:

  1. Oh Martha, I can see that I am going to enjoy your blog very much.
    Be sure to stop by mine as well.
    HAYL (Holler At Ya Later)
    M

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  2. Thank you, Melissa! You have a blog, too? WIBJB! I'm gonna find it right now.

    HAYL, girl!

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  3. I don't know if this is text but it's funny check this out:
    MRDucks
    MRNot
    OSAR-CMWangs
    LIB!MRDucks!

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  4. That is SO funny that you would say that because I thought about that joke when I was writing this! LIB is definitely southern-text. Thanks for reading! You are so funny, girl.

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  5. I LOVE it!! I know I can add some, I just have to think about what we say all the time. :D Until then, I'll enjoy and start using these!! Haha!

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  6. Well...TFRT!!!! You know I say that all the time!! We Southerners DO have a voice in the world!! I can't BELIEVE that we are pressed down so much like we are!!
    CAAB= Cute As A Button....Best describes our Southern gals, DYT?? Don't Ya Think??

    TTYL= Talk Ta Ya'll Later!!

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  7. Thank you, Rambler! Use them generously. We may start a revolution! I'm looking forward to hearing yours, too. :)

    DC! I adore those! I say, "Cute a a button" all the time. I love DYT, too. This list is just getting better and better.

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  8. Thank you! You just made me smile, too. Thank you for reading my silliness. :)

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  9. BYH--Bless your heart. ♥ Thank you!

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  10. Good job there, Baby! You're CAAB.

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