Where do you stay??

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

I've never heard that phrase until I moved her to Metrolina. To me, I "stay" at a hotel, or when I was little I "stayed" over at a friend's house for the night. To me, it implies a short term arrangement. Whenever anyone asks me here where I "stay", I reply that I LIVE in Indian Trail, where do you live?

Originally Posted by Optimist Prime

I think people originaly meant "stay" as in "not really home" because sometimes places don't feel like home.

It's actually just the opposite.

Yes, I actually took an American dialects class way back in college -- one of the most fun and interesting classes I ever took -- and since then I've read and listened to a lot of Walt Wolfram, who's an expert on Southern dialect.

"Stay," historically at least, is primarily an African-American usage, although it is found in other groups as well. It simply means "live" and indicates permanence.

Originally Posted by WCUgirl

The only odd phrase you all have mentioned that I am familiar with is "cut off the lights." I didn't hear that until I came to NC for school.

Because one is "cutting" the flow of electricity.

Originally Posted by carnation

Another thing they say here that I'd never heard--getting "shut" of someone is getting rid of them.

Maybe it's a regional accent thing -- I've always heard it getting "shed" of someone (like shedding fur or skin).

Originally Posted by Glitter650

I say purse;pocket book really confuses me because I think of the check book sized wallet or writslet when someone says that, and most of my purses wouldn't come close to fitting in my pocket.

A purse is nicer (and often smaller) than a pocket book. A women carries a pocket book when running errands; she carries a purse to church or a party.

Originally Posted by epchick

I've always heard that there is a difference between "y'all" and "ya'll." That southerners say "y'all" and everyone else says "ya'll"

There is, as Alpha Frog has pointed out. One has the approstrophe in the correct place, denoting a contraction of "you all," and the other has the apostrophe in a place that makes no sense.

That's all, y'all.