From Jenny at A Call To Wings, quoting a book she's reading at present:
During World War II, for example, three German submariners escaped from Camp Crossville, Tennessee. Their flight took them to an Appalachian cabin, where they stopped for a drink of water. The mountain granny told them to "git." When they ignored her, she promptly shot them dead. The sheriff came, and scolded her for shooting helpless prisoners. Granny burst into tears, and said that she would not have done it if she had known they were Germans. The exasperated sheriff asked what in "tarnation" she thought she was shooting at. "Why," she replied, "I thought they was Yankees."
Probably figured they were some of them pesky Pennsylvania Dutch Yankees . . .
Peter
And now we know why I don't go to Eastern Kentucky without my native Kentuckian wife. 10 years living here and I still don't have the twang when I speak.
ReplyDeleteI'm a mere 48 years old. My grandfathers fought for General Sterling Price, and rode with some neighbors from NE Missouri for a time (during that Great Unpleasantness). I have an ancestor buried in Arlington National Cemetery that fought for the Army of Northern Virginia. I kid you not, I didn't know damn yankee was two words until I was almost 16. (And I still eschew $50 dollar bills, even in change.)
ReplyDeleteJust sayin......
HAD they been locals, they would have understood that when someone that looks like they were carved from a nearby tree emerges from what is evidently their property and tells you to "git", you GIT.
ReplyDeleteLR is correct... period... :-)
ReplyDeleteNot much different in the backwoods of West Virginia, either, as far as attitude towards the yankees goes.
ReplyDeleteMy brother worked out in the boonies of WV for a time, and had some funny--and some downright scary--stories to tell about the locals. If it weren't for the fact that he was there to repair or replace their satellite recievers, I don't doubt for a minute he might have ended up in a similar outcome. As it was, they barely tolerated his presence on their land, because he was there to make the TV work again.