When in Champaign

One of the lovely pleasures of living in the heart of the Midwest is listening to people talk. Seriously though, there is a country accent here that is quite prominent and rather hilarious. In actuality it is less of an accent and more of an appalling misuse of grammar. I know that I am being hypocritical as I have my fair share of grammatical errors in my own speech and writing. Simply reading this blog, you likely have noticed how incredibly poor my grammar and punctuation skills are, however the people here take those errors to a whole new level.

I have giggled to myself every time a coworker would say something funny, but then I could never remember what it was when I would try and tell Isaac later that day. So, I started secretly recording the funny things that I heard my coworkers say on a piece of scratch paper that I kept folded up in my drawer at work. I have developed quite the list, and would like to share a few of my favorites with you. (These are not fabricated)

"I'd be having a headache if you spray that"

"The last time we seen him"

"Well aren't those just the cutest britches I'd ever seen"

"I hope the weather don't get too bad tonight"

"I'd gone back and seen that one box of Kleenex"

"She just telled me a few weeks ago"

"Usually when he don't mark nothing I figured I was waiting on something"

The problem is, I have bad grammar to start with, but since living here I have noticed that I have unconsciously started picking up on some of the nuances that I have previously shared. It is not good, not good at all. But I guess it does help me to fit in with my peers. After all, when in champaign, do as the Champaignians do!