Being a Southern Belle at a school in the North, Norwich University, sometimes there is a language barrier. Researchers say that Southern dialect is form of language that comes from the first settlers that settled the land. I first encountered this language barrier with my roommate and platoon at school. Sometimes they would make fun of my accent and I would have to give definitions for some of the things I said, so this is a guide to understanding the South. I have just grown up hearing them and started using them that way. Here is a list of phrases or words that I learned not everybody knows:

1. "I am up a creek without a paddle"

This phrase basically means that you have got yourself into some deep trouble and you don't know have any solution or any idea to a solution that could possibly make anything better. A person would use this in a conversation when saying something like: "That situation, put me up a creek without a paddle."

2. "Buggie"

A buggie is known as a shopping cart, like from Wal-mart or a grocery store. A person would use this in a sentence in saying, "I am going to go get a buggie".

3. "Bless your heart"

This is normally known as a bad thing, like a petty gesture towards someone. This is a southern way of being unfriendly towards someone but still seem nice.

4. "It is hotter than a whore in church" or "I am sweating worse than a whore in church"

This phrase although seems rude, it is very common to say. It's meaning comes from the church judgement on promiscuous girls during the puritan era. The phrase is simply an over exaggeration of someone being hot.

5. "Dag nabit"

This is normally said in place of cursing so as not to offend anyone around you. Its normally put in place of "damn it".

6."Over yonder" or "down yonder"

This phrase is normally said when referring to where an object is or where to go to find something. However, this phrase does not refer to specific place or space and is often mistaken.

7. "Let's go to the Piggly Wiggly"

A Piggly Wiggly is a grocery store, very similar to Walmart and can only be found in the South. They are fun and little enjoyable stores to shop in. This phrase would most likely be used when wanting to go shopping at a Piggly Wiggly.

These are just a few things that should help while trying to interpret the South. It seems almost amazing that we can live in the same country and not understand how people just a few miles North or South of us can live.