How to Pronounce My Name

Over a year ago I posted about where my name came from, but because I've either read or heard people discussing how to pronounce it, I figured revisiting the subject would be appropriate, since I have several new friends. Yippee! I'm so happy y'all are here! I will try my best not to use exclamation points in all my sentences!

Let me start by saying that I have lived around Memphis, Tennessee all of my life. That would be smack in the middle of the South. I love living in the South. I love the hot summers, I love the mild winters, I love the food, I love the kudzu...wait, no, I don't love the kudzu. Anyway, I love almost everything about living in the South. Including the drawl. Especially the drawl.

Now, I'm not talking about sounding like a country hick. There's a part in Gettysburg where two captured Confederate soldiers are talking to C. Thomas Howell and one says, "We're fightin' for are rats!" Translation: "We're fighting for our rights!" No, not that drawl. That's not even a drawl. That's just wrong.

No, the drawl I'm talking about is that Old South, genteel drawl that Hollywood can never get right. Well, not many around here have that. I don't. Now, I do have a Southern Accent. Ask Kimba or Sarah Mae or anyone from up North who has actually spoken to me. Personally, I don't think it's as pronounced as it evidently is. When I spent two months in Australia, however, every new place I went I was asked to just say, "Hi" and have people just ooh and ah over my silly accent.

Sorry, I got off track. My point is, my Daddy and his siblings all have that lovely Southern drawl. Here's a quick lesson in how to speak Suthuhn: Never say your "R's"

Butter = buttuh
Tower = towah
Junior = juniah

"Ah" and "uh" can be used most of the time interchangeably, as long as it doesn't sound like you're trying to speak New Jersy-ese.

My cousins used to have a sentence they'd say that summed up my daddy's accent: Heathah, throw the buttuh out the winduh with the Whoppah Juniah." And then we'd all crack up.

That's the way he says my name. Instead of "Heather", it's "Heathah". And when I was little and got in trouble (you know in the South - maybe in the North, too, for that matter - when our kids get in trouble we have to say both their first and middle names), and since my middle name is Lee, it came out, "HeathahLee!" I put both names together because that's the way he said them. All one word.

I was explaining this to some friends from church one day (I have no idea how we got started on the subject), when one of them said, "You are SO gonna be Heathahlee from now on!" And it stuck.

So, there you have it. How to pronounce my name. I wanted to be something more than just "Heather" on here. I figured this was a pretty good use of my name with my own little twist on it.

Got any stories about your Blogger name?