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Monday, September 18, 2006

Tales from the South

What's the deal with brunch? I mean, if it's a combination of breakfast and lunch, how come there's no lupper? Or linner?

Had dinner Sunday with the family. Or lunch, as the case may be. One time I said I was going to explain the whole lunch/dinner/supper thing and proper uses of each in the South.

It's not that difficult really. Lunch is always the meal in the middle of the day. Supper is always the last meal of the day. Dinner can refer to either, depending on day and circumstance.

Since we did eat at a sit-down restaurant Sunday, it may be called dinner. But can also still be called lunch. Had we just gone thru the drive-thru at McDonald's, that could only have been called lunch. You can't have dinner at McDonald's at 12 Noon. Make sense?

Likewise, if you're going out to a nice restaurant in the evening, you may say "I'm going out to dinner." Rather than "I'm going out to supper."

However, if your mother is cooking for the last meal of the day, it is more common to say, "Momma is cooking supper." If she's cooking lunch on Saturday or Sunday, it is more common to say, "Momma is cooking dinner." Got it? If you have further questions, you may ask them in the comments. Or, we could just call it linner.

My sister's husband got pulled over and given a warning for having the tint too dark on his truck. Is that just an Alabama thing? I'm not really sure. I don't do it, but a lot of people do.

Every small town and county around here seems to have a tint guy. He does it in his garage or under the shed out behind his house. And he usually has a nickname like Rock, or Peanut, or Bear. No one knows what his other job is, or if he even has one. And no one asks.

Driving to lunch, I passed a house with a hand-painted sign in the front yard that read: "Chickens 5 for $5." Is that a good price? I wonder if I could haggle and get a better price.

I miss haggling. We went to a high school football game a couple of weeks ago, and I talked the lady selling programs down from $3 to $2. That's something. I guess.

In other news, since marriage is so obviously imminent, I have been thinking about baby names lately. For my children, whenever I may have them. I've always liked my Dad's father's first name, Taylor, for a girl. However, my Dad's mother's name is Myrtle. And that just doesn't work.

But I found out at linner Sunday that her middle name was Sarina. I really like that and I thought it a cool name for someone born in the early 1900's. (Teddy Roosevelt. Mount Rushmore. Trustbusters. Represent!)

So I'm thinking if and when I have kids, I'll name the girl Taylor Sarina. And of course the boy will be named Seven. Pending approval of their mother.

"Smiling in the bright lights. Coming thru in stereo. When everybody loves you, you can never be lonely..."

32 comments:

  1. i think the Buddha ask him self the same question....

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  2. oops, i meant askED

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  3. Wanted to thank you for your amazingly accurate....

    And you're marrrying______?

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  4. I'm from the south, and we don't call lunch "dinner". It's lunch. Alabama must be weird. ;) But "dinner" and "supper" are used interchangably.

    Curious: Do you call it "soda" or "pop"? Ever had a "pack of nabs?"

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  5. Wait one second here buster...you cannot get married before me. It's not fair. I'm older, and have been waiting a lot longer.

    Taylor is a great name for a boy or girl. I live Seven too....I know it doesn't work into the Seinfeld episode, but I think it's a cool name regardless.

    And I never did understand the supper, dinner thing. I think it's that I rarely use the word supper. I just don't think that word has ever left my lips without bein prompted.

    We have window tinting here...but it's done in shops in the city you know when you're ridin low and dirty, cops on your butt. You know how it is.

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  6. I once had a little boy named Seven at a daycare I worked at. I swear he was Satan's Demon Number Seven. He was evil and only 3 years old!!
    Possible names here:
    Kylar Delaney or Riley Alyssa
    Jackson Zane or Zane Evan (but will call him Zane either way)

    And what does this phrase mean: "In other news, since marriage is pretty much imminent"? Is there something we should all know? There's going to be a Mrs. Bone? ;o)

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  7. AND, Lunch is usually called Dinner on Sunday b/c you had a big meal after church and didnt really eat supper that night. Again, it's a Southern thing b/c we're the Bible Belt...

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  8. Lux: I pose only the profound questions here :)

    Pia: Perhaps imminent was too strong a word :) Sort of like "inconceivable" in the Princess Bride. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

    Carmen: Well, Virginia is only borderline South :)

    Neither. We say coke. Or at worst, a soft drink. Although Soda would be a good name for a baby :)

    And I don't think I've ever heard of a pack of nabs. What's that?

    Carnealian: No worries. I was thinking imminent, as in the next fifty years. Surely.

    You really like Seven? I only put that because of the Seinfeld episode. I was sure no woman would ever approve that name. For a boy, I really like Luke, after Luke Spencer. And Bone Jr. of course.

    GroovieChick: I've always liked Alyssa. Did you get that from me?! And Jackson Zane. Please don't name your boy Evan. As someone who was once a seven year old boy, please :)

    There will be a Mrs. Bone one day. Hopefully.

    I always eat supper on Sunday night.

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  9. Great explanation of southern meals and it's the same here....at least with my family.

    I love your girl name....that is so pretty!

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  10. Lunch, dinner, supper . . . It all translates the same with my family. Let's eat! Although, we don't use supper as often, it's mostly a Sunday night thing.

    In Texas, I have heard of people getting pulled over for their tint being too dark but I thought that was an urban legend. Like the guy who woke up in the bath tub in Mexico with his kidneys gone.

    My name for a girl is Harper. I always loved it and Harper Lee is one of my favorite author. If I have a red headed (it could happen) girl child I'd love the middle name to be Rue. I also like names children can grow in to, like Nora (my grandmother's name) or hotpinksox. I hate names like Traci, Stacie, Casey. And all the different crazy spellings. Boys names are harder for me. I like the name Shepherd but I dated a Shep so that seems weird. Plus Shep sounds like the kid who either gets beat up everyday or is the most popular kid in school. I can't take the risk.

    I just re-read my last paragraph, I think I have thought about this too much. I need a serious relationship or an adoption form before I think about this again.

    So did you hear the song?

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  11. I like the name Seven... but I'm curious why it's obvious that would be the name you'd chose for your son?

    What if you have two boys? Will the second be named Eight? (Alright, I'm just being silly here...)

    We tint our windows too dark here, too (just ask Arlene...) but we've got some pretty decent shops that do the work.

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  12. Alright, I'm finding it a little disturbing that you mentioned imminent marriage right after talking about going to a high school football game. C'mon now, we're trying to dispel those kinds of Southern stereotypes. :)

    It's a little different 'round here. Some call lunch 'supper,' but dinner can also be called 'supper.' I just cut through the mess, and say "I'm goin' to eat."

    I have friends that received tickets for having too dark tinting. It's pretty prevalent around here. That and measuring the decibel level of mufflers. Apparently our police officers are very bored.

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  13. is marriage immenient because of something in particular or because of age? and the name? beautiful!

    linner just sounds... unappetizing. ;)

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  14. From Websters Dictionary

    Lunch: A meal eaten at mid-day.

    Dinner: The Main Meal of the Day.

    Supper: The evening meal.

    So technically Dinner can be eaten at any time during the day if it is the main meal. And this isn't just a Southern thing, however many folks from the rest of the country have normally had their main meal at Supper time and therefore it was Dinner time.

    Get it?

    as for children's names...I really don't like surnames used as first names. It's how we got this whole messed up thing of not knowing if the child is a boy or girl from seeing their name on paper.
    When we were expecting...DH had wanted to give our child all these weird names. He suggested Cheyenne Wyoming (because that's where we lived at the time) and Buffy as possible girl names. I'm not sure if he did that just to upset me, or if he really wanted to give a child that name. Since the obiviously had no idea how to name a child, I decided that he could pick the middle name and I would pick the first name...funny we didn't argue about the boy's name. That was Matthew Douglas...but our family gave us a ton of grief about that as the family tradition was to name the son with the father's first name as the middle name.
    In the end the family was quite pleased with the name we chose although my FIL kept adding "anna" to her name.
    Now that he's gone, I like the name.

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  15. RedNeckGirl: Thanks. I guess how we refer to meals would depend a lot on family.

    Hotpinksox: That's pretty much how I would decide on a boy's name. Whether or not I thought it would lead to him repeatedly getting beat up in school or not :)

    Blondie: As I mentioned in my response to Carnealian above, Luke and Bone Jr :)

    Oh, and Seven is from a Seinfeld episode. Not surprisingly.

    Big Man: Your first paragraph had me laughing out loud here at work. I kinda like when people have tinted windows. It means they have to roll down their windows if they want me to see them flipping me off.

    Ms Sizzle: Just age. And the law of averages. Surely :)

    Thanks. And I'm saving these comments for when I present this name to my wife someday :)

    Renee: Yes, but there's more to it than that. I'm trying to supply the intricacies that Webster glosses over.

    Seems like there are lots of girls in Alabama being named Cheyenne or Dakota. And lots of boys named Dallas.

    I thought about Sienna. But it sounded too much like a crayon.

    I like Anna.

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  16. Not to blow you off on the bunny raising info, but the house rabbit society does a much better job at explaining things than I ever could... www.rabbit.org They've got all sorts of good stuff and funny bunny stories too.

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  17. Weird - I just posted the name of my first born. It was after food. Lunch, if you will.

    Also, spell check suggested I change firstborn to frostbite. Not so sure about that?

    And I agree with your definitions, coming from Alabama, but even now after living in Georgia (and now Tennessee). (Sorry Carmen - Virginia is SO not the South).

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  18. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  19. Oh, someone else likes Harper. I love Harper, because Harper Lee. But then, her first name was Nelle, so that could always be a possibility. You're brave to put your name choices out here. I always fear that someone will still mine or say "My best friend's boyfriend's brother was named Bone and he once shot someone. He was crazy. I'd never name my child Bone" etc.

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  20. So first I fuck up my comment and then I post anonymously. Awesome.

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  21. You are a very interesting character. I came across your blog through Sizzle... it's been a fun read so far!

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  22. Let's see, I say dinner for supper. I say pop for soda. I have had a pack of nabs before. Obviously I have lived in the south at some point and indeed I briefly did (NC).

    And alot of people have tinted windows here. Which brings me to my own sordid story. TBC let his brother's GF (not his wife, his GF) tint the windows on his old Chevy truck and she couldn't start or finish (or middle for that matter) the job without downing a 6-pack to 'steady her nerves'. And she did a crappy job to boot and we don't possess that pickup anymore. Where the heck do I live again???? Oh yeah, OKLAHOMA!!

    crazy huh?

    And yes, we should have linner or lupper, though I'm voting for linner.

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  23. Renee: Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for when I move into a place where I can have pets.

    Tenacious: So you're basing your firstborns name on food? That'd be like me naming mine after something off Seinfeld. Crazy :)

    Heather/Anonymous: Do I have to reply to both comments separately? :)

    It's OK. I know you're secretly just trying to give me more comments.

    Bob: Thanks for stopping by. Ms. Sizzle had an amazing post today.

    Circe: Yeah, I would have some reservations about letting someone like that tint my windows.

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  24. We tossed around baby names forever. Carlotta's name changed a million times. Abigail, Maya, then just Gail, then Nicole (not my idea, I hated that name). Middle names I had fun with, Angelisa was my favorite. We ended up just waiting till she was born to decide for sure. The chairman, I wanted to name William after my Grandfather in law. I loved that man. If a child does come our way again, I'd choose that. The chairman was named after a role Frank Sinatra played that his birth father also played in a production (actors, sheesh). I wanted to name my next daughter Grace (family name) but it was taken by my other side of the family. (She is really cute and it fits her well).

    I really like Sarina and Taylor. Now that they have names, you can even write them letters before they're born. I did that with both of my kids.

    Yep, we have a tinter here, He works from his garage. He does window graphics in town though. No shady intentions or position. Dinner is more formal for us than supper. My grandparents call lunch dinner, and that confuses the heck out of me. They once thought I was standing them up because I didn't show until 4. They had everything put away and everything.

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  25. I'm from the Northwest so the dinner/supper thing is odd to me. Ever since I moved to Oklahoma I've had a few words that I make a conscious effort not to use...supper being one of them. Others include words like ya'll and fixin'. I have this fear of becoming "southern" and I make every effort to avoid it. I don't know why that is.

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  26. I grew up in the south...LA (the state) and DH still has fun picking on my "sayins"... such as "fixin" He'll ask me what I'm fixing. Or I'll say put that up and he'll ask how high. After all this time I just roll my eyes at him. I should really pick on his sayings. Of course that might get me in trouble as he gets them all from his mom and if she says it, I might be tempted to say something to her also. Don't need an in-law war.

    But all this southern talk is fun... I grew up calling it Soda.

    There was a "Yankee or Rebel?" quiz that I took once. It was pretty cute. http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/yankeetest.html I think that I scored a 51% Rebel last time.

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  27. Dorothy: I really like Abigail. And Grace is always a good choice, I think.

    Glad to know there are independent tinters all over :)

    Xinh: I hope Taylor doesn't get over-popular before I have a girl.

    You make a valid point. But, I still say you can't have dinner at McDonald's for the middle of the day meal. It's an outrage :)

    Krista: Well, I've never! I'm fixin' to come up there and turn you into a genuine Southerner ;-)

    Renee: The Southern talk is fun. I agree :) Probably should have made the supper/dinner/lunch thing a separate post by itself.

    I imagine I'll score a very high percentage on your little quiz there. Maybe I can climb out the window and get someone to take it for me.

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  28. I have done the supper/dinner thing too. Mom is cooking supper, but you go out to dinner.

    When I lived in Texas, I had to learn some lingo, like "cha'eat?'" which is "Did you eat?" And the Texans there called me a "yankee". Initially I didn't understand why they called me a yankee...I was from the midwest, NOT the east, like New York and what not. But apparently a yankee is anyone who is not originally from Texas.

    But I moved back to the midwest and to this day, even after being home for almost 10 years, I still say "ya'll" and "cha'eat?"

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  29. I have done the supper/dinner thing too. Mom is cooking supper, but you go out to dinner.

    When I lived in Texas, I had to learn some lingo, like "cha'eat?'" which is "Did you eat?" And the Texans there called me a "yankee". Initially I didn't understand why they called me a yankee...I was from the midwest, NOT the east, like New York and what not. But apparently a yankee is anyone who is not originally from Texas.

    But I moved back to the midwest and to this day, even after being home for almost 10 years, I still say "ya'll" and "cha'eat?"

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  30. Ok, not sure why my comment was posted twice...that's weird. And of course this makes a 3rd comment. Sorry. :)

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  31. On the weekends, we eat breakfast and lunch time, and then we'll have dinner. But sometimes, if we eat at around 3 or 4 then I'll tell the kids it's linner. We've been using that forever.

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  32. Chickadee: That's OK. Never apologize for posting three comments :)

    Lass: I never heard of linner. Until it was mentioned in a Seinfeld. I do prefer it to lupper though. For sure.

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