[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Need help with Southern dialect (American)

[Tonya Minton]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...>
wrote:
>
> Hi, Potioncat and anyone else from below the Mason-Dixon line. I'm editing
a book in which the narrator speaks a rural Southern dialect. I need to know
when to use "done" with the past tense, as in "I done made the bed." Is
"done" equivalent to "had" ("I had made the bed"--past perfect tense
indicating a previously completed action in contrast to simple past tense,
"I made the bed")? Or does it emphasize that something has been done ("I
done already made the bed")? (I remember once hearing someone in North
Carolina say, "It done been settled," meaning "it has already been
settled.") Are both these uses correct? Am I missing some other use of
"done" in this dialect? I appreciate any help you can give me.
>
> Please don't respond unless you're a bona fide American Southerner.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Carol, who recalls numerous other colorful Southernisms but unfortunately
none that can help me with this particular problem
>

onlygoofy now:

I was born & raised in rural middle GA. Admittedly, I lean to the
Southernisms when I visit home and pick up where I left off. I have used the
phrase "It's done been settled!" but when I tested the bed phrase it came
out as "I already done made the bed." Don't know if that helps or confuses
things more. Grammar is not my strong suit and usually only realize I've
slipped into "Southern" when I get a funny look from someone!
Jenn


NOW Tonya --

Jen says "I already done made the bed"  I would also say.... "I  was fixin
to make the bed" or "I used to could make the bed before I broke my leg."

Hope that helps,
Tonya
(Happily a southern transplant)


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