Big Stupid Tommy's Southern Translation Service

Here's a link to that story about the guy, Terry Wallis, who was basically comatose for the past couple of decades who suddenly began to speak recently. And he wasn't entirely comatose. He was responsive and alert, I guess, for a few years.

But he did suddenly begin speaking.

What I would like to draw your attention to in the story is the quote from the boy's mother, Angilee, about about a third of the way through the story.

In the story, Terry has just spoken when asked a question by the nurse. Here's Angilee's quote:

"He just said, 'Mom,'" Angilee said. "I like to fell over."

You know, I've heard the phrase "I like to fell over" a couple of times in my life, and I think I've even seen in a story, probably by James Agee or Flannery O'Connor. For the unwashed, it is simply an expression of surprise.

I will admit that it did take me a half a second to let my mind reconcile the writing style of the news story's writer with Angilee's speech patterns.

And don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to ridicule Terry's mother. She talks like just about everybody in Riceville, Tennessee talks. It's what I've grown up with.

It's just odd for me to try to switch codes like that, especially in a news story. I don't know that it was the best quote that CNN could have used for the story, especially in this day where Southern still equals Not as Smart in the eyes of many.

Here's a boring story:

I was in a Grammar class in my third or fourth year of school at MTSU. And I opined in a paper that Southern English was just as viable a language as Black English/Ebonics. I wasn't bashing Ebonics, necessarily. I truly felt (and still do) that if Ebonics is getting credit as a lingual pattern, then Southern English should likewise be studied as such. I had quotes and sources and citations and everything to back me up.

However. Not only did I not get a good grade on the paper, when I went to discuss the grade with the professor, whose pet cause was Ebonics, I got a pretty good dressing down. Apparently, she thought I was trying to insult her by associating her vaunted Black English with the low speak of us Southerners.

Ultimately, I've decided that I like Anglilee's quote. Even if I like to fell down when I saw it.

Also, Terry, the kid who was comatose, has become a bit of a horndog in his time under.