April 29, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. The Mississippi Accent.

Yesterday when eating breakfast at The Waffle House, I had another reminder that I was not born and raised in Missippi. Kashina and I were sitting in a booth on the right side of the restaurant. My back was to the restaurant and the open area where the cooks and waitresses were doing their job. I could not tell how many working people were behind the counter but I knew there were several. And they were having fun, joking with each other and making complaints about their work, but all in a good natured manner of speaking. My problem was that I could not understand a word of what they were saying to each other. I also could not tell if the people were white or black. I only know that even though I was trying hard to understand, I had no clue what they were saying. I could only tell their tone. When we were walking to the car, I could see that there were all races working behind the counter. And there were several people working. That Waffle House was a busy place. In the car I asked Kashina if she cound understand what they were saying to each other. Of course, she said yes. She did tell me that were just having fun, complaining about each others work. She said that the cooks were trying to tell the waitresses to speak slowly. And the waitrsses were complaining that the cooks were deaf. Kashina said that nothing much was said but they were all having fun. "They were just messing with other." said Kashina. But I could not understand a word. But I did catch the tone. I suspect that if any of those working people were speaking directly to me I would be able to understand what they were saying. In Newfoundland, where the accent is strong and unusual, we also could not understand what was being said when the Newfoundlenders spoke to each other. But when they spoke to us we had no problem. And here I was,in Mississippi discovering the same thing. I began to wonder if those working people in Canton, Mississippi were speaking another language. But no. Kashina said that they were speaking English, Mississippi style.