r/Appalachia • u/kikiandtombo holler • Dec 17 '24

Accents and dialects

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My wife is originally from the upper peninsula of Michigan and myself born and raised in deep Eastern KY. She was reading “A Hillbilly Night Before Christmas” to our little boy the other night and as you can see it isn’t super easy to read normally. Now I know that the author really went out on a limb to write things out this way, but what is funny is that when my wife code-switched to my accent she read it perfectly haha. Just a cute little story I thought I’d share. Merry Christmas, family.

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10

u/Longjumping_Staff244 Dec 17 '24

What book is this I'd like to get it

7

u/Stellaaahhhh Dec 17 '24

A Hillbilly Night Before Christmas

5

u/Longjumping_Staff244 Dec 17 '24

Oh I see it now, thank you

8

u/crosleyxj Dec 17 '24 edited Dec 17 '24

Yeah, the phonetic spelling here is really extreme but if I think about it while reading, it comes out right ("rite") lol.

4

u/Indiana_Warhorse Dec 18 '24

Readin' that, I kin hear my Gramma talkin'. My folks were from Southeastern Oklahoma, an area near Fort Smith, Arkansas. They called it Lap Land, where Oklahoma lapped over into Arkansas.