Dakota Diction
In the little town where I grew up,
instead of “yes,” we all said, “Yup!”
When we removed a soda top,
what we drank was called a “pop.”
When we drove off the road a bit,
we went into the “barrow pit.”
The mud was “gumbo”–rich and thick––
and every creek was called a “crick.”
Breakfast was never labeled brunch,
and “dinner” was what we called lunch.
Therefore, at night, our picker-upper
was never dinner. It was “supper.”
Highway patrolmen were all “cops,”
and their cars were “cherry tops.”
On movie nights, we saw the “show”
for just ten cents–which we called “dough.”
We told stray dogs that they should “git,”
and when they scampered off a bit,
the place where they commenced to wander
was what we labeled “over yonder.”
I fear it’s not spectacular,
this prairie states vernacular;
and because our listeners never balked,
we thought it was how all folks talked!
Non-Regional Diction:Write using regional slang, your dialect, or in your accent.https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/non-regional-diction/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
I love this! Perfect rhyme, I like that! As you did the list of words, it almost invariably jibed with my own vocabulary. I’m an Ohioan, but I guess I picked up my own ways of speech through my travels and places I’ve lived. Drinking “pop” is usually the first speech-ism I think of…we still say pop but some of us (family) say “soda.”
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You are right I’ve been living in North Dakota for the past 20 years and I’ve to get use to those words, now I say pop instead of soda….yup!
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Ha…I was from South Dakota. At first I thought, “There is no dialect in S.D.” Then I started trying to think of words that were pronounced or used differently and finally had enough for a poem. Do they say barrow pit in N.D.?
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Judy, I enjoyed how you put our growing up dialect into perspective. Rita J
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Hi Rita! Did I miss any????
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You’ve written a winner. When I was in the service I heard it all. Water was werder. Oil was oral. You folks was you’ens or youseguys, or ya’ll.
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Where were you? Guess it doesn’t matter as the servicemen were from all over. I love werder and oral! Ha. I forgot to include “warsh” for wash.
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YOU TALK MY LANGUAGE SISTA……..
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Ha.
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Not only is recalling this vocabulary from our memories tough but you added rhyme to the challenge. This is great!
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Well bite my tongue
Talked like that when I was young
Just a minute that’s not true.
By doggies, I still do!
Judy you hit that one out of the park!
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Thanks, Leland..Can you think of any I missed?
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N’ you cain’t hep it–Ya gotta rhyme, too!
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You have weaved the words from S.D. dialect together to create this wonderful verse. It rhymes so well as usual. You are a genius !
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Ah Soul n Spirit. How you raise my spirits!
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Sounds like an episode of Longmire 🙂
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Sounds quite normal to me!
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That was wonderful!!! LOVED it! You’re such a master at this, Judy.
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A friend since the first grade just saw it and validated it, so guess it was authentic, at least. I’m sure I missed some like “Cryminetly” and ‘Dad-gum-it!”
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Love love love this! I forgot about “crick” (I’m from Ohio.) 😉
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The other thing I realized that I still say is “yore” instead of “you-err” for your or you’re. Perhaps everyone does, but it started bothering me when I was playing Mexican Train with a friend and kept saying, “Yore turn!” when I was finished playing.
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Really amazing as you showed me your world very nicely!
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Thanks for the pingback, Murdo Girl!!! I feel kind of backgroundless since you have claimed the title of Murdo girl exclusively for yourself. I’m thinking of becoming Murdo Toddler! Guess Murdo Teen is a possibility, as well. Time overlap but no title usurping
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Does anyone know the identity of these two men? The photo was taken in the parking lot of the truck stop near the cemetery in Murdo a little over a year ago.
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