Say What?

Okay, you’d think there wouldn’t be any problems in communication with just moving from one part of the United States to the other. But I’ve discovered that even after living in the West for 22 years (I was born and raised in the South) that I still say things that make my family stop in their tracks and stare blankly at me – at least that’s what they do for a few seconds before they start laughing.

For example, a couple of days ago my daughter was running late for school and I was still trying to help everyone else get situated and headed out the door. When she was finally ready to go I grabbed my keys, turned to my husband who was hugging her goodbye and said, “Okay, I’m going to run her over.”

They stopped in mid-hug looked at me blankly and then my husband burst out laughing and she started giggling. My husband asked, “Why are you going to run over her?”

For those of you still lost, “I’m going to run her over” interpreted is, “I’m going to take her over to the school.” It seems I get laughed at quite often for some of the things I say. The funny thing is they don’t sound strange to me.

Lest you think this is a rare occurrence here are a few more examples:

When I feel like I’m getting sick I’ll say, “I’m tryin’ to get sick.” My husband wants to know why I’m trying to get sick.

If I’ve been out running errands but have one more stop to make, I’ll tell the kids, “I’m gonna hit the grocery store and then we’ll head home.” They want to know why I’m going to hit the store.
If I want one of them to turn a light off for me I’ll ask, “Will you flip that light off for me?” That one really makes them laugh

If a door needs to be closed I’ll ask, “Will you push that door to, for me?” They want to know where I want it pushed to.

If I have a near miss while I’m driving, I’ll say, “I like to hit that car!” My husband always wants to know why I’d like to hit it.

It’s gotten to the point that on some days if I try to stop and think about what I want to say (which would probably be a wise habit for me to develop, more because of what sometimes comes out of my mouth than how I’m going to say it) I get confused and neither way, the Western way or the Southern way sounds right.

Some people may think I should blame the confusion on getting older, but I think I’ll continue to blame it on the language barrier.