Kentucky! Ah, Yes! Dad and I had a similar experience in a café just south of the Tennessee border, way back when. We sat down, ordered some coffee and rolls, and the waitress brought them to us... and didn't leave. And didn't leave, and didn't leave! "This is fine, thank you," Dad said.
"Y'all talk funny!" she replied. There weren't any other customers in the café at that mid-morning hour, so she didn't feel any obligation to leave. "I guess you haven't met many Northerners before," I observed. "Don't you have a TV? "
Well, it turned out she did have a set, but her recreational watching consisted of one show. "The Dukes of Hazard." That's a very hillbilly program about the Duke family, which has a still up in the hills and makes "Mountain Dew" by the Jug. Then they get in their sooped up station wagon - the kind with the imitation wood sidings - and drive like the Devil was chasing them through the mountain byways! I got to see the show once, when I visited a former coworker from California, who had since moved in with her husband's mountain folks.
I'm not surprised that your server called you "Hon" - it could have been "Darling", too.
We get so used to our regional section of the USA that we sometimes lose track of how "local" our lifestyles may be! I remember on one of our APHC/HAL cruises, that there were some Texans aboard. It seemed as if every time we "Yankees" were in the dining room, "The Eyes of Texas" were upon us! That was just one of the many pluses of cruising The Prairie Home Companion way! It seemed to me sometimes, with one Texan group in particular, that if we began eating with our forks in our right hand, they'd switch theirs to to their lefts - just to be different! It was as if they still belonged to the Lone Star Republic - definitely not just one of the many stars on the Stars and Stripes forever!
I'm glad that so many of us got chances to meet other Prairie Homers in person! I can understand that HAL operating conditions may have changed in the mean time, but I certainly have wonderful memories of what it was like - Cruising with thousands of like-minded folks - "Americans" - or not - of many stripes!
I laughed out loud, hon, especially about why you ordered biscuits and gravy—spot on! As a native Tennessean and a Democrat (yes, we exist), I need a sense of humor and a “hon” every now and then myself—and some biscuits and gravy.
After a 5 year sojourn in Canada where I was rarely if ever honeyed I get a great sense of home being back in the south where I get honeyed, sweetied, and occasionally darlinged. I go home every time and tell my wife of 39 years in hopes of making her jealous, but she just pats my hand and says, "They were just being nice to the old man." i don't care! It just makes me happy!
We two Okies, which I only realized was a slur about 40 years ago when a woman in California insisted that I was British because I didn’t seem like a dumb Okie, sent our two kids to college in Northfield, one to Carleton, the other to St Olaf for eight years. Although we found much to appreciate there, we were always happy when we got far enough south to be addressed with a term of endearment like hon.
I love reading your work because it reinforces the good beauty in life and that we don’t have to judge things as good and bad all the time, but can live in the beauty of the moment and bask in a real endearment. Thank you!
I'm glad you enjoyed your time here in Kentucky. We try to be friendly and welcoming. If your biscuits and gravy were bland, perhaps they needed a pinch of salt. I know; it isn't good for you, but if you only do it once or twice a year, it should be okay. But please don't remind everyone that Mitch is from Kentucky. Some of us would like to forget that.
Transgentrification! What a wonderful word! And your quote from Ecclesiastes brought me to tears. As one who has been on both sides of the apron, Thanks, Hon!
We (my wife and I) have enjoyed much of your material for years. Your piece about “that woman in Kentucky” has made us rethink. Your reference to “weight person” is misogynistic. This is not funny. I am unsubscribing, and hope that future posts can be more respectful.
I remember the first time I was called "sir" by a young lady who served me lunch. I was a young Navy Ensign who came into .Navy OCS fresh out of my college in the backwoods of Texas. Now I'm an 80-year-old ex Naval officer, ex college prof, ex everything. It all depends on age, sex, and point of view. Pass the biscuits, just don't worry about Hun or Sir.
That was a refreshing column. I like biscuits and gravy once in a great while. There are a couple of lady checkers at our grocery store who call people Honey or Hon (or is it Hun?) or some other mildly affectionate term, and I am always a bit taken aback. At first I wondered if it was someone I’d dated years ago, but then I thought, No, they certainly wouldn’t be calling me anything affectionate, more like a B— word or some other alphabetical substitute. I guess it’s ok, and maybe — did you say this? — it’s the only term of endearment the recipient will hear all day, so God bless those Hon ladies.
B & G is better if you cut the biscuits open and let the gravy soak in a bit.
BTW: How is Minneapolis today? I spent 6 years of my education there and it was a very BEAUTIFUL city!--Museums, galleries & shopping, college & pro sports, completely safe--most of the cab drivers (& some deputies) were taking college or grad school classes.
Graduates who couldn't find a good job right away just signed up for another 'Fellowship'--to stay in Mpls--and kept job hunting.
The news of Minneapolis has been dreary--and tragic--such a once-beautiful city.
Honestly, still enjoying the image of the cheerful young woman you described dealing with TSA staff -in spite of her struggles-at the airport. :-) Today's letter adds to the glow. Thanks Garrison!
I fantasized for years that I would retire to a small town with a good book store and a diner that I could walk to where the wait person would ask, "Can I warm that up for you, hon?" Now it appears that we will never leave our home on the outskirts of town, but it has a new room, a library, which could hold a hospital bed, and my wife calls me love. Cue the long fade.
Kentucky! Ah, Yes! Dad and I had a similar experience in a café just south of the Tennessee border, way back when. We sat down, ordered some coffee and rolls, and the waitress brought them to us... and didn't leave. And didn't leave, and didn't leave! "This is fine, thank you," Dad said.
"Y'all talk funny!" she replied. There weren't any other customers in the café at that mid-morning hour, so she didn't feel any obligation to leave. "I guess you haven't met many Northerners before," I observed. "Don't you have a TV? "
Well, it turned out she did have a set, but her recreational watching consisted of one show. "The Dukes of Hazard." That's a very hillbilly program about the Duke family, which has a still up in the hills and makes "Mountain Dew" by the Jug. Then they get in their sooped up station wagon - the kind with the imitation wood sidings - and drive like the Devil was chasing them through the mountain byways! I got to see the show once, when I visited a former coworker from California, who had since moved in with her husband's mountain folks.
I'm not surprised that your server called you "Hon" - it could have been "Darling", too.
We get so used to our regional section of the USA that we sometimes lose track of how "local" our lifestyles may be! I remember on one of our APHC/HAL cruises, that there were some Texans aboard. It seemed as if every time we "Yankees" were in the dining room, "The Eyes of Texas" were upon us! That was just one of the many pluses of cruising The Prairie Home Companion way! It seemed to me sometimes, with one Texan group in particular, that if we began eating with our forks in our right hand, they'd switch theirs to to their lefts - just to be different! It was as if they still belonged to the Lone Star Republic - definitely not just one of the many stars on the Stars and Stripes forever!
I'm glad that so many of us got chances to meet other Prairie Homers in person! I can understand that HAL operating conditions may have changed in the mean time, but I certainly have wonderful memories of what it was like - Cruising with thousands of like-minded folks - "Americans" - or not - of many stripes!
I laughed out loud, hon, especially about why you ordered biscuits and gravy—spot on! As a native Tennessean and a Democrat (yes, we exist), I need a sense of humor and a “hon” every now and then myself—and some biscuits and gravy.
After a 5 year sojourn in Canada where I was rarely if ever honeyed I get a great sense of home being back in the south where I get honeyed, sweetied, and occasionally darlinged. I go home every time and tell my wife of 39 years in hopes of making her jealous, but she just pats my hand and says, "They were just being nice to the old man." i don't care! It just makes me happy!
We two Okies, which I only realized was a slur about 40 years ago when a woman in California insisted that I was British because I didn’t seem like a dumb Okie, sent our two kids to college in Northfield, one to Carleton, the other to St Olaf for eight years. Although we found much to appreciate there, we were always happy when we got far enough south to be addressed with a term of endearment like hon.
I love reading your work because it reinforces the good beauty in life and that we don’t have to judge things as good and bad all the time, but can live in the beauty of the moment and bask in a real endearment. Thank you!
I'm glad you enjoyed your time here in Kentucky. We try to be friendly and welcoming. If your biscuits and gravy were bland, perhaps they needed a pinch of salt. I know; it isn't good for you, but if you only do it once or twice a year, it should be okay. But please don't remind everyone that Mitch is from Kentucky. Some of us would like to forget that.
Lovely piece, pookie.
Transgentrification! What a wonderful word! And your quote from Ecclesiastes brought me to tears. As one who has been on both sides of the apron, Thanks, Hon!
Dear Garrison-
We (my wife and I) have enjoyed much of your material for years. Your piece about “that woman in Kentucky” has made us rethink. Your reference to “weight person” is misogynistic. This is not funny. I am unsubscribing, and hope that future posts can be more respectful.
I remember the first time I was called "sir" by a young lady who served me lunch. I was a young Navy Ensign who came into .Navy OCS fresh out of my college in the backwoods of Texas. Now I'm an 80-year-old ex Naval officer, ex college prof, ex everything. It all depends on age, sex, and point of view. Pass the biscuits, just don't worry about Hun or Sir.
That was a refreshing column. I like biscuits and gravy once in a great while. There are a couple of lady checkers at our grocery store who call people Honey or Hon (or is it Hun?) or some other mildly affectionate term, and I am always a bit taken aback. At first I wondered if it was someone I’d dated years ago, but then I thought, No, they certainly wouldn’t be calling me anything affectionate, more like a B— word or some other alphabetical substitute. I guess it’s ok, and maybe — did you say this? — it’s the only term of endearment the recipient will hear all day, so God bless those Hon ladies.
B & G is better if you cut the biscuits open and let the gravy soak in a bit.
BTW: How is Minneapolis today? I spent 6 years of my education there and it was a very BEAUTIFUL city!--Museums, galleries & shopping, college & pro sports, completely safe--most of the cab drivers (& some deputies) were taking college or grad school classes.
Graduates who couldn't find a good job right away just signed up for another 'Fellowship'--to stay in Mpls--and kept job hunting.
The news of Minneapolis has been dreary--and tragic--such a once-beautiful city.
Honestly, still enjoying the image of the cheerful young woman you described dealing with TSA staff -in spite of her struggles-at the airport. :-) Today's letter adds to the glow. Thanks Garrison!
I finally figured out that it was the delicious blueberries mixed in with my meusli that was making me fart so much ...
I got fired by a restaurant where I addressed the diners as hon. They said it was inappropriate to be too friendly.
I fantasized for years that I would retire to a small town with a good book store and a diner that I could walk to where the wait person would ask, "Can I warm that up for you, hon?" Now it appears that we will never leave our home on the outskirts of town, but it has a new room, a library, which could hold a hospital bed, and my wife calls me love. Cue the long fade.