I can't see pumpkins without remembering when I was recovering from the runaway car accident caused when I stopped to pickup a pumpkin from the garden.
I was telling the PT in the nursing home/rehab center how it happened:
"So I wanted to get a pumpkin for the front porch-" I began, and she burst out laughing.
"PUMPkin," she chortled. "Pump-kin. You ain't from here, are you?"
Curses! I'd learned to say tater for potato and mater for tomato and baccer for tobacco, but the local pronunciation punkin hadn't quite sunk in.
No matter. The therapist treated me very well, despite my status as a foreigner, excuse me, furriner.
7 comments:
So they really say tater and mater in public, like in a grocery store?
The grocery store advertises tomatoes and potatoes but local folks still refer to them in the vernacular. And on my shopping list, I generally write MATERS.
Runaway car? Didn't it want to stop for the pumpkin? You've got to tell the rest of the story.
The story is here: https://vickilanemysteries.blogspot.com/2016/10/quel-bummer.html
And you've written wonderful dialog of the mountain folk in your books! I can't believe that was 10 years ago!
Thank you. I'll go read it.
Wow! You were lucky that it wasn't a funeral for you.
By the way, I didn't recognize any of the commenters on that post. Where did they go 10 years ago?
Post a Comment