Southern Talk Radio

While I was driving into Shreveport on Thursday morning, I was treated to a delightful "tradio" show where people call in selling or wanting to buy stuff. The host was a young woman whose accent was so pronounced but fit in well with her audience. Every sentence was full of expanded one syllable words that stretched easily into two, sometimes three syllables. For instance;

dog - daw-awg
hound - how-und
call - caw-awl
well - way-ell

Toss in some of the questions and requests from the audience asked and you had great entertainment. A few of the excerpts...

"I need some concrete blocks. Does anyone have some for sell?" (Why yes, they have these cute fun places called HARDWARE STORES where they sell them quite inexpensively.)

"I have a Ford truck that is smoking but its still moving forward. I'll take $150 for it"

"That fellow that had the smoking Ford truck, did he say how much it was smoking?"

"I've got a welling machine I want to sell. It's one of them Miller welling machines that you can move around (you mean a portable WELDING machine?) and there was this young man who came and looked at it a few weeks ago but I didn't want to sell it then, but know that I want to sell it if he will just come back I'll let him have first crack at it." (Hmm, I'm sure everyone in Shreveport listens only to this radio show so the young man will definitely get the message).

Toss in the host's annoying rise in pitch at the end of each multiple syllable word and you really have a treat to help keep you awake on the highway. I have to admit I was tempted to call in and offer free English diction lessons but wasn't sure how to pronounce it properly in Louisianian so the folks would understand it.

My favorite line from the host...

"Oh-kay, we huh-ave blue tic puh-up-pees for suh-ale. Ah thank thu-ay are how-unds. If you wah-unt one, puh-leese caw-ull 555-5555..."

Oh-ka-ay, thu-at is e-nu-uff of thu-at.