Terry Southern (was "The nefarious 'they'")

[Wilson Gray]

A fascinating anecdote! Thanks for posting it!

-Wilson

On 9/27/05, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Terry Southern (was "The nefarious 'they'")
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>
> Here's a passage worth memorizing.  It pertains to a number of social and sociolinguistic issues.
>
> From "Twirling at Ole Miss," by Terry Southern (Esquire, Feb.1963) :
>
> [Southern, raised in rural Texas, fears that his now refined and cosmopolitan speech might alienate Mississippians during a journalistic visit to Ole Miss.]
>
> "Would reverting to the Texas twang and callowness of my youth suffice to see me through ?
>
> "Arriving in Oxford then, on a hot midday in July,...I stepped off in front of the old Colonial Hotel and meandered across the sleepy square toward the only sign of life at hand--the proverbial row of shirt-sleeved men sitting on benches in front of the county courthouse, a sort of permanent jury.
>
> " 'Howdy,' I say, striking an easy stance, smiling friendly-like, ' whar the school ? '
>
> "The nearest regard me in narrow surmise : they are quick to spot the stranger here, but a bit slow to cotton.  One turns to another.
>
> " 'What's that he say, Ed ?'
>
> "Big Ed shifts his wad, sluices a long spurt of juice into the dust, gazes at it reflectively before fixing me again with gun-blue-cold eyes.
>
> " 'Reckon you mean, " Whar the school *at* ?" , don't you, *stranger* ? ' "
>
> JL
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--
-Wilson Gray