American English Conversation: Southern and Californian Accents Compared

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hi Renee thank you so much for meeting with me today hi Stefanie how are you? I'm good how are

you? good I'm good awesome well I want to quickly give everyone a background whose watching this

video because you're a YouTuber yes and my cousin sent me one of your videos and she was like look

Stephanie this is so cool and I adored this video it was uh teaching you some Southern slang yes of

course and I just got such a kick out of that video I actually rewatched it yesterday and I'm

like this video is so good um and I learned so much because you're where are you from?

Kentucky Western Kentucky wow Western Kentucky and you guys use words over there and phrases and

expressions that I have never heard in my life and I learned through your video sure yeah so there's

so many more too oh my goodness, so basically when my cousin um sent me this video I immediately

thought oh my gosh one day I would love to interview her on my channel, have a conversation,

because first of all my subscribers they're always asking for conversations with real native English

speakers like other native English speakers they want to hear how we speak in real life yes and

um, you know, a lot of my students say "I want to learn American English" and one of the things

I tell them is okay but choose a mentor and learn from you know one person if you're trying to sound

a specific way because the reality is we all sound kind of different yes we do, yes and people will

hear that as we're talking because you have a very strong accent or what I consider strong

but probably when you're listening to me you might think I have a strong accent too I don't,

I don't hear an accent in you but I have a very strong southern accent born and

raised in Kentucky wow, okay so we have a really fun uh conversation coming up I've

got a lot of questions for you we're going to talk about slang I'm gonna test you on

some Californian slang and we'll just roll with it yeah, this will be fun yes cool so

um really quick your name is Renee you're from Kentucky and what can you tell us

about yourself? so I'm gonna be 52 this year, I'm born and raised in Kentucky I'm a very

Southern Girl in the South we will call each other "redneck" I'm sure you've heard that term it's

just a slang term for in the South specifically Kentucky, Tennessee we live in the country

um I don't live in a big city and we're truly redneck so when people use this term over there

are they using it in an insulting way? 'cause I've I've used it just for fun in a joking way but I'm

also careful because I'm like what I wouldn't want to offend anybody by using it, do they find it

offensive? it depends on how you use it I guess redneck can be derogatory if somebody is doing

something really stupid they're didn't educate themselves they're doing things wrong and you say

"well you're doing it the redneck way" like that would be derogatory but we refer to each other

as Redneck because we're out in the country we drive trucks you know we're outside all the time

time I'm always barefoot so that is more you know the slang the southern that that is um a redneck

reference if you live in the south or in this part of the country and I just realized this, the

people listening might not know why it's called "red neck" now, do you know that? do you know

why? I don't know I don't know okay so I heard I don't know if this is right but it's because when

you're working out in the fields in the country you get sunburned on your neck and you get a red

neck that would absolutely make sense because guys who work outside, construction workers,

my husband is always outside when he takes off his T-shirt this is white and your neck is red yes

that's absolutely makes sense and because because we you know there's a lot of white people in the

U.S we get really red if we spend too much time in the sun you are right yes okay so, okay, so

really quick how would you describe your southern accent? my Southern accent is not as strong as as

it could be I will talk to other Southerners and I really hear their southern drawl I'm middle ground

southern accent I guess and when you hear me you said you don't really hear an accent first of

all why do you think that is? because we do sound different we do speak differently a little we do

speak very differently oh I can tell Northerners have an accent Southerners very south like

Louisiana they have their own accent I can hear the the Midwest but once you get out to California

and like Washington State I don't really hear an accent in those folks so that's you right? aren't

you in California? yeah yeah yeah I don't hear I don't hear an accent at all so my take on this why

I think this happens is it has to do with exposure the more you've been exposed to something the

more normal it sounds because the more familiar you are with it it's like my mom has an accent

um because she's not a native English speaker but growing up people would say oh I hear your

mom's accent I'd be like what accent? like to me she sounded totally normal because I was so

exposed to her it like I couldn't hear an accent at all so I think that's what happens because I

know I do have an accent but when we think about Hollywood and all of the films and TV shows that

come out of Hollywood and if everybody's sounding like me then everybody's used to that so it's kind

of like standard in a way and then if someone has an accent that's outside of that suddenly

it's an accent because it sounds different does that make sense? absolutely and you don't hear

many Southern accents in Hollywood or in a movie not at all no so anytime I'm out or traveling and

I talk to people they always have a reaction to my accent but definitely when I'm I'm at home in

Kentucky I will just typically encounter people who have very stronger Southern drawl than I do,

so I would call myself middle ground for sure yeah got it and quick question do you ever change your

accent depending on what you're doing and who you're with? like can you turn it on or off

or make it stronger or less strong depending on the situation you're in, who you're talking to? I

never thought about that before but yes I think I can I don't think I do it intentionally but um if

I am in, like we go to Chicago or New York City and I can tell that by people's reaction to me,

by my accent, they're like whoa I can definitely dial it down if I need to but with, when I'm home

when I'm with my family and my friends and we all get you know yapping and talking definitely

the southern drawl comes out so um in a business setting because I worked in a corporate world for

23 years, definitely if I was talking to people that were not from here I could pronounce my words

more clearly and not use some of the slang terms and yeah so I can turn it off and on just not I

don't do that all the time yeah well I actually think this is something a lot of people do without

realizing it I know I do it too even though I have you know my accent if I'm around a bunch of people

that speak like you I tend to start saying "y'all" more you know? and just like those things that I

hear everybody else doing around me and I think I don't remember what this is called but basically

it comes from like the human need to be part of a group right? and to not totally stand out and my

husband does this, he's a native Spanish speaker, when he's with a bunch of Mexicans start suddenly

his his accent starts changing and I'm like hey what are you doing? uh but it's you know I think

it's normal actually my oldest daughter lives in Milwaukee and she always tells me that when she

comes home she doesn't really hear my accent just you know talking to me on the phone but when she

comes home and she's with the family and we're all talking her accent starts to come back out

and then when she goes back to Milwaukee she loses a little bit so even this morning I said something

and she's like Mom that was so country it's like I guess that you know it's yeah so for those who

don't know where is Milwaukee? it's in Wisconsin Wisconsin and do you think they have a different

accent over there or is it more like mine or or what do you think? Milwaukee's about an hour

north of Chicago so they would speak very similar to folks that live in Chicago so big city accent

not necessarily a drawl, just not Southern at all yeah I have a feeling some people are watching

this going "what?" like "people have different accents in the U.S?" because gosh yes yeah and

but when people are learning a language and they think American English they think it's just one

kind but it's not and we'll actually get into that later because we're going to compare our accents I

have a little exercise we're gonna do for that yes um but okay so let's teach everyone some

Southern slang so the first one we already talked a little bit about it it's "y'all" what is this?

y'all is short for you all some people will say you guys hey you we take you all and we make it

one word y'all we just draw it out that way so we I can say y'all for any reference yeah talking to

you know my husband y'all doesn't have to be a lot of people it could be one person

you know? oh really? oh yeah y'all come on over come on in how are y'all hey y'all you just, it

is how you address anyone or any group of people so do you ever address your husband as y'all?

that's not a name I give him but I well it's kind of hard to explain but like do you use y'all just

really just talking to one person once in a while? sometimes I can be like what are y'all

doing? but really I'm talking to him you know what I mean? oh that okay I haven't heard that

before that is interesting I know that I do use y'all not on a regular basis but I think I tend

to use it when it's like I don't want to say when like an attitude is kicking in or something but I

remember one time it was like one in the morning and my husband and my nephew they were playing

video games or something and suddenly I was just like y'all need to go to bed it is late

I was like where did that come from? I don't know but I do use it but not like I have to get

to a level to use it if that makes sense whereas for you it's probably just normal it is in every

every day every sentence thing yeah that is so funny yeah okay this next one I loved "Johnny

up" never heard it in my life never? Johnny up is to be spontaneous you didn't plan you didn't

make preparations you just up and do something so let's just say my husband will be in the living

room at night he will just out of the clear blue say let's go get ice cream so we'll just Johnny

up and get ice cream but like it's just we just you just do it there's absolutely no planning you

just Johnny up and do something and probably no idea how this term started right? I have no idea

that is so funny I don't know I like I literally I've heard a lot of Southern slang but this one

I was like and is this something just in your family or does like everybody know it there where

you live and use it I don't think most people around here have heard that one yeah okay it's not

a family thing now we do have some family slang terms um some terms I use on my YouTube channel

which is funny because I have one terminology that I use all the time that my subscribers

from all over the world now say it and I actually printed shirts with it on there one time a couple

years ago share it with us so there's a story behind it if you're taking a nap like you can

see my dog behind me on the couch well can you? yeah it looked like a pillow but I see it now he

is "taking a Judy" J-U-D-Y taking a Judy and years ago my mother-in-law fell asleep in church and my

sister-in-law was with her and my mother's name is Judy my sister-in-law took a photo of her and this

was on Christmas Eve and she sent it out to all of the family because we're getting ready to get

together she sent us the photo of Judy sleeping in church and somehow or another it just became

"take a Judy" and it's caught on so everybody now refers to taking a nap as taking a Judy well that

is a really great example of how slang starts and how these terminologies come about because

if another if enough people start saying this who knows in 10 years maybe people around the

world are going to be talking about taking a Judy and it will be something you have started

yes absolutely yes that is so cool okay and then the next one, again, I love I want to start using

this this one is "draggin' booty" what is draggin' booty? you're tired you're exhausted you have no

energy you are dragging your behind, draggin' booty, like if you just you know worked super

hard and you're tired or draggin' booty doesn't necessarily have to be a physical tiredness it can

be you know you put a lot of effort into a project and you're at the end and you're just dragging

booty to get to the end so it can be mentally it can be physically but you're just dragging

your behind you're worn out you're tired does this also mean like you're going slow? yeah sure yeah

draggin' booty draggin' booty I love it okay and then the last one this is also another good one

um like the South I'm convinced now has so much great slang that we need to get exposed to here

where we live because it would be so fun to use these uh phrases that we can't really use because

nobody knows but you know I think I'm gonna start using it and I'll explain to my family what it

means they'll start using it okay the next one is "having a comin' apart" having a comin' apart,

you just are upset you don't understand you just are all worked up about things you've heard having

a tissy you've heard that? yeah I've heard that you're having a comin' apart you're just

coming apart about something I mean it can be anything so yeah having a comin' apart yeah

like a like an emotional breakdown or a mental breakdown or something like that yeah anything

okay or you know you could be in the middle of doing something and it's not going right and

you're just all worked up about it that's havin' a comin' apart it can be big it can be small it's

just having a comin' apart that is so fun okay um could write a book with slang terms and maybe

you should yeah because these are really fun so now I want to test you on some Californian slang

and I kind of roll my eyes at this because I was like do we even have Californian slang? I had to

Google it because I was like I don't know what kind of slang do we have and then I got these

terms from like a list on Google but I don't even know if it's true Californian slang you

might know it you might I'll be shocked if you don't know it let's just put it that way okay

so do you know what it means to put someone on blast? does it mean you're talking about them?

yes kind of yes so when you put someone on blast it means to embarrass someone in public so let's

say um you know like Judy fell asleep in church and you guys put her on blast by sending that

photo to the whole family you put Judy on blast and then this whole thing came came to be about

taking a Judy that's putting someone on blast so have you heard this before? I've heard that but

apparently I didn't know what it meant okay and so you probably don't really use it right? no yeah

because if you don't know what something means obviously it's really difficult to use it that's

something I teach in one of my vocabulary uh or in my vocabulary course so yes I actually use this

all the time so I guess we can confirm that maybe this is Californian slang apparently yes yeah yeah

I'll be like oh he totally put me on blast like he shared that piece of information with you know

everybody over there and it's almost like throwing somebody under the bus too oh you know that one's

a common we know that one yes okay the next one is "butthurt" I've heard that it means you um

somebody hurt your feelings yeah when someone gets upset over a small thing and maybe they're like

pouting or they're upset about it but you feel like they shouldn't be upset about that right?

so he's over in the corner all butthurt because I I don't know or you could say Judy's in the corner

butthurt because I I sent the picture like it's no big deal but Judy's over there butthurt you

know? so my poor mother-in-law sorry sorry Judy sorry yeah oh she would love it she would love it

oh man so yeah so you don't use butthurt then? no okay that's another one I've been using that one

for years no I see, I would I would probably say in that scenario he's over there in the corner

havin' a comin' apart because blah blah blah yeah and you know the other thing we could consider too

is that slang sometimes is like generational like there might be things that people in Kentucky use

that are my age that I also use or that you're using that younger people aren't using because

I know that that's how words come into existence too like sure there's so much new slang out there

that I don't even use that I'm finding on the internet and I have to Google and I'm like oh

my God what does this mean I ask my niece she's 16, if I hear something I'm like I'm texting her

what what does so-and-so mean? and she laughs at me but I'm like how would I know that? yes

um one that I recently noticed was when people say like somebody died or something they're

saying they unalived themselves and I'm just like oh that's a new one and it's also longer it's

longer than just saying they died anyway there's a lot so yeah another conversation for another time

but the last one is when something looks sketch or sketchy have you heard this? yes sketchy we

say that it's sketchy all right yeah so for those that don't know it basically means something looks

not safe or dangerous or like if you see a dark alleyway that's look sketch or looks sketchy yeah

I think people used to say it looks sketchy and it has evolved to sketch because I don't remember

people saying sketch as much in the past what about you? we say sketchy yeah like that's what

we use the Y yeah just untrustworthy not not gonna do that yet sketchy yes a situation or a thing or

anything yeah exactly Okay cool so now um let's move on we're gonna compare our pronunciation

a little bit when I was watching your YouTube videos I noticed your intonation patterns are

sometimes slightly different from mine and your rhythm is sometimes slightly different from mine

um but the most obvious difference I would say is in the pronunciation of the I diphthong so that's

um like a vowel that changes right I it's not like a straight e sound e that doesn't change so I you

tend to pronounce this like ah so for example the question "why?" how would you say that? why

why so our letter "as" we say them like your "I" so are well no that's not true yeah it's

like yeah like because I would say why yeah yeah why yeah that takes a lot of effort why yes well

I understand because you're not used to it and when I try to you know pronounce things in other

ways I'm like wow that's actually really hard because I'm not used to it um but I have some

words here so for example I would say why I my try and what would you say? "why my I try" yeah

so we can totally hear the difference there it's ah and I and sometimes my I it might not be as

prominent like that if I'm speaking quickly or something like that I might reduce it a little

bit but for the most part I make the full sound the diphthong and for you it's just a straight ah

ah and another word where I heard this earlier in our conversation was the word tired I say tired

what do you say? tired tired yeah I'm tired yeah so I just wanted to point that out because that's

one of the easiest um pronunciation differences and it's like we're both from the same country

we both speak the same language but there's this very big difference in our pronunciation

and that's one of the most obvious ones to spot yes very much so and I'm so used to saying you

know the full sound the I or whatever so it's not hard for me but I can see why it would be

difficult if you're not used to doing that it feels like it just takes more effort sure oh

it does take more effort yeah yeah so I actually have a sentence we can say that uses this sound a

lot so people can really hear the difference and the question or the sentence is "why did I even

try?" why did I even try? how would you say this? why did I even try? yeah why did I even try? yeah

cool alright and then there's one more difference that's pretty obvious to spot and it happens with

ing words these are words like something going saving sometimes I take off the g

um but not always but I notice that in your accent you tend to drop the g a lot more so I

would say maybe something and how would you say that something is probably a word that

I do say the g but like driving I say drivin' tryin' I don't say somethin' I'm a somethin' I

don't know that's weird for that word but yeah drivin' tryin' cookin' eating but eating I do

say the g so it I guess it just depends on the word I'm not sure yeah and it could also

depend on the context because it depends like basically something a lot of English speakers

don't realize is how our pronunciation changes depending on the stress of the sentence the

context what words we're emphasizing when we speak so sometimes I say something and

sometimes I say somethin' yeah somethin's weird somethin's weird about this somethin's weird

and then I can say going or I can say goin' like yeah they're just goin' around talkin'

goin' around talkin' rather than going around talking so I do it too but I I guess my point

is I noticed you tend to do it more regularly in your accent like that's a feature of your accent

to drop the g more frequently than I would yes I probably drop it 90 percent of the time yeah

I'm goin' to the grocery not going to the grocery yeah and um in one of your videos that I watched

the 25 things about me video I noticed a really good example sentence from this you said "I love

savin' my money" right? that's right I love savin' my money yes savin' savin' savin' by the way this

is something that a lot of English students struggle with because when they're learning

English in their classrooms maybe they're learning like the most formal the most complete way of

pronouncing words and then they actually go travel to the US or they watch movies and they're like

that's not actually how people talk and they're mortified because they don't understand and

they're frustrated so that's also kind of why I'm focusing in on these differences sure yeah we are,

in the South we have a drawl it's like a lazy drawl so we will draw things out and like you

said drop off letters and shorten things up to come up with slang that's just our nature

I guess yeah well actually I like that you say that because when I was comparing this sentence

and the way you said it in your video you said I love savin' my money I noticed also that you

lengthened the word love because I wouldn't say with my accent like I love saving my money or I

love it it just sounds weird right? I would just say I love saving money I love so it's shorter but

that's probably where the drawl comes from right? you're drawing out the word I love it's longer you

draw out the verb I love saving my money or I love cooking or I adore so and so like yes a lot I do

that a lot now that you point it out yeah yeah and for those watching who will study English

this has to do with the rhythm of the sentences the length of the words creates the rhythm and in

English we have different types of words that are different lengths and like some are shorter some

are longer but also depending on where they're at in the sentence and how the speaker emphasizes

the words or the accent it can make the words longer or shorter like in this example really

interesting I guess for me at least uh features of English and how people use it differently,

again, in the same country like we're from the same place but we're not but we're not you're

from a different state and I'm from a different place and anyways there's differences okay,

so I have some true or false I guess questions for you or statements they're statements and I

want to know if they're true or false it's like stereotypes of the South that I have

heard so first of all everyone from the south has a Southern accent, true or false? and we can also

say everyone from the south has the same southern accent, true or false? depends on what you define

the South so the South technically is any if you fall below the Mason-Dixon line so Kentucky,

Tennessee, Florida is in the South but they don't necessarily have the southern accent so to me the

southern accent is Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas can get Southern-y Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,

a little bit of South Carolina but but it kind of stops there as far as the southern drawl yeah

so does everyone in the South everyone have a Southern accent? if you're born here and you

grew up hearing this accent yes okay that makes sense that makes sense next Southerners are really

friendly and open with strangers that is so true absolutely true yeah? yeah I read that southern

hospitality is a real thing like people just are different there it yes so when I leave the South

and go to other countries and other places in the United States I'm like wow the southern

hospitality is not here we speak to each other if I am walking down the street and I see someone a

total stranger you say hello when you pass them so um you hold the door for other people you speak in

the grocery I mean it's just it's just what we do yes very much so it almost seems like living life

in a bit of a slower pace like taking the time to say hello taking the time to talk yes very true

and on that note is it normal for people to use the word ma'am? like yes ma'am yes sir in the

south? is that something that is Southern? it's yes ma'am yes ma'am I didn't know that like I

guess for the most part we teach our children to say ma'am and sir so even I'm 52 years old when I

refer to a woman or I'm speaking to a woman I'll say yes ma'am like it's just it's just what you

do I would never say yes and stop there it's yes ma'am like it's a form of respect yes or thank

you ma'am or you know yes it's just part of the the way that you acknowledge the person you're

speaking to yeah and that is different because over here I don't hear ma'am nearly as much or

sir maybe if you're in the grocery store somebody might say it especially if they don't know your

name like oh ma'am did you uh I don't swipe your card again please or whatever um but I don't hear

it as much and um I actually have a YouTube video one of my very first when I was first

figuring out like how to teach online and what I wanted to teach about and teaching English where

I talked about mistakes people made in English and I corrected something that I don't think anymore

is a mistake but basically in the comments of my YouTube videos I was getting a lot of comments

where people were addressing me as ma'am and it made me feel uncomfortable because where I'm from

we we don't do that plus I was younger then and I felt like ma'am is something you use for somebody

who's older so I was like don't call me ma'am like don't use ma'am and now I realize it's not

wrong per se it's just a variation of normal yes so I will say ma'am so I used to own an ice cream

shop I recently sold it and when customers would come in I could refer to a seven-year-old girl as

ma'am if she handed me her money for ice cream I would hand her her change and say thank you ma'am

like this just you refer to each other that way it has really nothing to do I mean I guess formally

children would refer to adults as ma'am but we refer to each other it's like saying your

name instead of me saying your name I would say ma'am at the end of my sentence but it's also

a way to close out your conversation thank you ma'am yes ma'am see you ma'am yes sir like you

know? it doesn't really come up in the middle of conversation so much yeah well actually I want to

bring something up uh and then I'll continue with my list but uh talking about how we can use ma'am

in the South for older people or younger people or anywhere when you uh when I first contacted you

and I was like oh I really want to interview you etc. and you replied and we were sending

voice messages and one of the things you said was yes I am a southern what did you say? a southern,

a southern gal? with a yeah a southern gal with a southern accent or something but I think you used

the word girl because I wrote it down I was like oh that's so interesting because usually people

would think of a girl as a child right? but I, I realized I'm like this is a very endearing

way to speak about yourself you know? I'm a Southern girl right? yes so I will refer to

younger gals or like myself as a girl but if I'm gonna talk about other women I typically

will say gal I don't say look at those group of women over there I would say look at those

gals over there that's just a more kind and welcoming way to say it versus look at those

women oh yeah look at those gals you know it just has a different a different effect yeah

they're gonna feel gal yeah okay so I just wanted to bring that in there and then okay

um next I one time heard that when in the South they say oh bless her heart or bless your heart

it's like a nice way of saying "F you" is that true? or what do you have to say about that?

depends on the tone and the context that it's being used so my mother will say bless your

heart meaning you're so sweet it's another way to say I love you or you've done something good bless

you your heart it can be a put down if somebody is doing something really stupid and you go well

bless your heart oh my God wow I actually felt that it was like you idiot yeah so it can go both

ways yeah yeah well I think that's a big takeaway from this entire conversation is like that's how

language is, like it's not always literal there's so many times where the tone behind what you say

or the attitude behind what you say will literally make what you say positive or negative absolutely

bless your heart is one of those okay, so finally we're gonna wrap up uh with some recommendations

so yeah best Southern food everyone should try do you have anything you recommend?

oh my goodness there are so many Southern things the first thing that comes to my mind is fried

squash have you ever had fried squash? I don't know if I have okay so how what is this and how

do you make it? so yellow squash you slice it up pretty thin you put it in buttermilk and then you

flour it in a mixture that's 50 percent cornmeal and 50 percent flour with salt and pepper and

then you put a little bit of oil in a cast iron skillet and you you brown it until it's golden

brown and crispy and when I do fried squash the squash has to be fresh out of the garden,

that's the only time I do it I don't do like grocery store squash and my family will stand

there and eat the squash as soon as I get it out of the skillet, it won't even make it to dinner

it's just we we consume the squash it is so good yes so is it true that in the South people eat a

lot of fried food or love fried food? because that's kind of another stereotype I've heard

we eat a lot of fried food, fried catfish is very popular in Kentucky where I live I love

fried catfish wow I've never tried that oh it's a white flaky fish it is so good if it's fried

and it's crispy oh yeah nice, fried catfish we will fry green tomatoes you've heard fried

green tomatoes I've yes I've heard this but I have not tried it yeah um fried okra again,

not, haven't tried it yeah all the things, but fried squash is really is a southern thing and

that's something I love and then barbecue well of course barbecue is more where I'm from, Kentucky,

um and Western Kentucky we are known for our barbecue and so that's you know something we do

what is what is something that makes your barbecue I would say different from, because I feel like in

the U.S there's barbecue like places everywhere, so is there something that makes the barbecue you

guys do a little bit different? you can go to places in the South where they will take their

barbecue and just put it in a sauce so it's a saucy, you know whatever you can have dry barbecue

that was done with a rub where I live it's dry barbecue with a little bit of sauce on top like

if you're gonna have a barbecue sandwich or a plate of barbecue you have slaw and fries and corn

and then you put your barbecue on top it's not dripping in barbecue sauce nice and is it smoked

also or is it just done on fire? well it's both you can do it either way so my husband loves to

grill he loves to barbecue he smokes ribs you can do brisket and pork but a lot of people do it a

lot of ways but typically it is smoked or you can put it on the grill at the end to char the outside

he'll probably get mad at me because I'm saying that wrong but mainly smoked so when you have

barbecue and you start pulling the meat the very top of it underneath that dry section you'll see

red and then the meat gets a lighter color that's your smoke ring on the outside oh wow and that

would be that is what tastes so good that smoke ring wow, okay I've seen the smoke ring I just

never knew what created it or how to make it your smoker yeah cool that's your smoker oh yeah Fourth

of July, Labor Day, Memorial weekend we will smoke ribs and smoke chicken nice yes we got a little

smoker and my husband does smoke things once in a while but not often yeah oh we did smoked,

we did smoked salmon once, that was pretty good have you guys done that? well so we do, we're

getting off topic, we do salmon on a cedar plank and put it on the grill we don't smoke it that's

the kind of salmon like I used to like ordering in restaurants I mean I still do but I just haven't

in a long time because it's so good I didn't know I could just make it myself but you can you can

just buy the cedar planks absolutely very we'll have to talk about that later I have a feeling

I'm gonna need to get some recipes okay um next one what is sweet tea and do you like it? what

is sweet tea? so traditional Southern sweet tea you take tea bags and you put them in water and

you set it outside in the sun so it is sun-brewed and it is sweetened with real sugar, no artificial

sweeteners, none of that, it is real sugar and it is sweet, sweet, sweet like when you pour it it

is like sappy oh wow yeah oh sweet tea is sweet I love iced tea I don't really I'm not a huge fan of

sweet tea it can just be overwhelming and so sweet and has oh there's a lot of sugar in there so I

used to drink sweet tea but about 10 years ago I decided you know what I need to get away from all

that and now I drink unsweet tea yeah good yeah I mean sure either way I don't drink sugar and I try

not to put sugar in my drinks if it comes with it it comes with it but um I've tried sweet tea like

in fast food places growing up and I never really liked it because well one was probably artificial

not real and two it was really sweet but I've been curious because in movies in the South and

stuff I always hear about the sweet tea and everybody's talking about the sweet tea and

maybe even in country music they might talk about the sweet tea and I'm like okay there's something

with this sweet tea I need to ask about this it is real sugar so funny that you bring this

up because where I live in Kentucky last week we have the quilt show here, my city that I live in

is called Quilt City USA, that's our our nickname we have the largest quilt show and convention in

the world held here so I went downtown to the quilt show and walked around the streets and

did a YouTube video about it but they had food vendors out for all the people who were at the

convention center and several of them I would say 40 percent of them had signs out front saying that

they served sweet tea to all the quilters yeah wow and for the people that don't know what quilts are

oh quilts um they're, blanket is probably not the right term but I don't know any better way

to describe I would say like a blanket or a handmade comforter or something like that yes

hand-stitched, very intricate can take, I mean, forever to make a beautiful quilt but they're

all done by hand and it's, they're beautiful yeah yeah when you said a quilt convention I was like

wow that sounds very American and very country and it is right here yeah yeah oh my goodness

okay next what is a really cool or interesting place to visit like for people that already either

live there or where you're at or in the South or for people that are thinking of traveling

to the South or to where you live if you come to Paducah, Kentucky which is where I live in

late September every year we have something called the, it's a festival, called Barbecue on the River

it is a huge three-day barbecue festival, so in Paducah, Kentucky we live right where the Ohio

and the Tennessee rivers meet, so downtown which is on the river we have a festival,

it spans several blocks and there's like I don't know 40 or 50 different vendors there for a three

or four day span that serve barbecue and ribs you have Cajun corn and ribbon fries and coleslaw and

funnel cakes, and you know, hot fudge cakes and cheesecake on a stick and it's incredible

yeah it sounds like if you want to experience something American with a bunch of American food,

that sounds like a great idea yes and that's actually something that I really like that we

do here in the US, we do festivals around all kinds of things especially food-related like

um growing up I used to hear about some asparagus festival and I would think like asparagus? but

apparently people get together they sell asparagus they make things with asparagus and it's I never

went, I'd love to go, but I've heard of an asparagus festival, barbecue festivals,

my brother actually, this is hilarious, um he they invited us they're like oh we're gonna go to this

barbecue festival, I don't remember if it was in Fresno, California, or whatever but they traveled,

they booked a hotel, they stayed overnight I'm like wow you guys are some serious like you're

serious about your barbecue ribs, like you're really serious about it to go to a festival and

to then book a hotel and like it's an event, you know, but it's really cool it's fun yes

we go every year I think I have this number correct, correct but I heard somewhere that

our city said last year thirty thousand people people went downtown to Barbecue on the River wow

that sounds really fun yeah you can smell the fire and the smoke and the barbecue from about a mile

and a half away from the festival I bet oh yeah that smells so good yeah so last question here,

um, about your recommendations is there a Southern tradition, uh that you really love?

we get together as a family and by family not just my daughters but like my husband's family,

his grandpa, like everybody 40 of us, get together for any family holiday, Mother's Day, Easter,

Father's Day, birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, we get together for a huge family meal so I think

that I don't know that that happens elsewhere it's a very southern thing um to have huge family

gatherings, but yeah that's pretty Southern that's yeah good tradition yeah cool well

thank you for sharing all of this with us this I feel like this has been really really interesting

and where can everyone find you online? because I would love to just send everybody after this video

send them your way so that they can listen and watch more of your videos and listen to more of

your content and get familiar with how you speak yeah because it's another way of speaking American

English and I think they're going to learn a lot and have a lot of fun with you absolutely

so I have a YouTube channel it's called Welcome to My Curls, curly hair, everything in my life

revolves around my curls, it's kind of defined who I am, and so it's called Welcome to My Curls

I'm on YouTube I'm on Instagram under that same name, I'm on Facebook and I post new YouTube

videos every Tuesday and Friday those videos are about where I live in the south I go out

and about it's about my life and things I love yeah yeah I actually think it's a really great

um resource for everybody here that's watching because it's lifestyle content, it's everyday

type stuff, it's hey this is what I'm doing today, this is what I did yesterday, and you know just

so if you're curious about American life and what it might be like to be here I think Renee has some

really awesome stuff for you, I think you should check it out, follow her, and you'll learn, you'll

learn a lot about American life and culture just by following her yes a lot about southern food

I do a lot of cooking videos and I make southern food yeah awesome well thank you from the bottom

of my heart, Renee, I think this was so much fun and I am so glad we did it, thank you so much

thank you for having me Stefanie, I appreciate it alright take care, have a good one see you later