Dawn's Blog

It may not be Korea, but I’ve been really fortunate to have some cool cultural experiences here in the South.

I’m a big fan of grits. We have them for breakfast here about 3 times a week in the cafeteria. But that just wasn’t enough, so I bought some quick grits to eat on the weekends, and some syrup to go with it.  I also got to eat some delicious boiled peanuts for the first time that one of the girls bought from a stand down the road. Oh, and black-eyed peas.

I’ve also been studying the local dialects of the native (or not-so-native) people. Interestingly, the degree of people’s “southern drawl” varies a lot from person to person, even among people who grew up in the same town. I will keep researching the various factors that go into this phenomena.

My greatest cultural accomplishment has been being able to determine the correct use of the terms “y’all” versus “all y’all”. At first glance, both seem to mean the same thing, and at first I didn’t understand  why an extra “all” had to be added to a word that was already plural. But I can now pick out the subtle differences in connotation and, in an effort to immerse myself in the culture and language, use these phrases whenever applicable.