While I am at it.
The last post reminded me of yet another old man story that happened back around the summer of 1999. And the old man in the story was also hard to understand. So, I will tell the story as the best I remember it.
I was working as an intern for a private civil engineering business. I was with two other guys and we had to go to Hindman, KY to do a survey for the state. Lunchtime came and we went to the "mini mall" they had close by to where we were at. After eating at the family restuarant there, we sat out in the lobby area of the "mall" to finish out our lunch. As we sat, we were saying hello to passer-bys just to be friendly. Not a single soul responded to our friendly gestures. We were snobbed by people in Hindman, KY. I will let that set in for a minute before proceeding forward.
Just a minute more.
Okay.
Finally, this old man came along and one of my colleagues decided to try to communicate with the locals. He actually responded but not in the way we intended. It was funny. We could only make out every other word. In between words were sounds and mumbles that we couldn't comprehend. On top of that, the octone of his voice kept raising and lowering. And I will try to recreate the conversation that took place.
Friend: Hello
Old Man: Hello hmphf murf *mumble mumble* today
Friend: (Holding back laughter) Just fine. And you?
Old Man: *Mumble* *Mumble* zippity ho hot sunshine shade
Friend: Yeah, we are out working. We are trying to take it easy for a minute before we have to go back out. Trying to let this food settle.
Old Man: Yeah, working *mumble* hiding from bossman *mumble* *mumble* pine tree blacksnake.
(At this time, we are all almost in tears about to bust out laughing)
Friend: (Says this as he is laughing.) Really? Yeah, we aren't hiding. We actually need to get back.
Old Man: Heh heh. You boys balati coo up bibity.
Friend: (Waves). Ok. Zimity bo.
Old Man: Hacha ba. Ha ha.
Then the old man walked out of the mini lobby and out to his car. We then proceeded to laugh uncontrollably. Our friend just carried on a conversation with this guy and we didn't have a clue what he said or what he was talking about. But, at least he talked to us. I think he talked to us. Now that I look back over this, I don't know if you could count this as a conversation. At any rate, it gave us something to laugh at and a story to stick with us for a long, long time.
I was working as an intern for a private civil engineering business. I was with two other guys and we had to go to Hindman, KY to do a survey for the state. Lunchtime came and we went to the "mini mall" they had close by to where we were at. After eating at the family restuarant there, we sat out in the lobby area of the "mall" to finish out our lunch. As we sat, we were saying hello to passer-bys just to be friendly. Not a single soul responded to our friendly gestures. We were snobbed by people in Hindman, KY. I will let that set in for a minute before proceeding forward.
Just a minute more.
Okay.
Finally, this old man came along and one of my colleagues decided to try to communicate with the locals. He actually responded but not in the way we intended. It was funny. We could only make out every other word. In between words were sounds and mumbles that we couldn't comprehend. On top of that, the octone of his voice kept raising and lowering. And I will try to recreate the conversation that took place.
Friend: Hello
Old Man: Hello hmphf murf *mumble mumble* today
Friend: (Holding back laughter) Just fine. And you?
Old Man: *Mumble* *Mumble* zippity ho hot sunshine shade
Friend: Yeah, we are out working. We are trying to take it easy for a minute before we have to go back out. Trying to let this food settle.
Old Man: Yeah, working *mumble* hiding from bossman *mumble* *mumble* pine tree blacksnake.
(At this time, we are all almost in tears about to bust out laughing)
Friend: (Says this as he is laughing.) Really? Yeah, we aren't hiding. We actually need to get back.
Old Man: Heh heh. You boys balati coo up bibity.
Friend: (Waves). Ok. Zimity bo.
Old Man: Hacha ba. Ha ha.
Then the old man walked out of the mini lobby and out to his car. We then proceeded to laugh uncontrollably. Our friend just carried on a conversation with this guy and we didn't have a clue what he said or what he was talking about. But, at least he talked to us. I think he talked to us. Now that I look back over this, I don't know if you could count this as a conversation. At any rate, it gave us something to laugh at and a story to stick with us for a long, long time.
posted by Temporarily sane at 11:33 AM
3 Comments:
For some reason, this conversation is taking place in my head between Steve Culbertson and Ossie Davis' character from Do The Right Thing...
Ha ha. You know, that is actually a good comparison.
I had no idea the people in Hindman might be like that. What happened to Mountain hospitality? I guess you reach a balance point, and I'm sure it's past Jackson, and maybe Hazard, but definitely before Hindman and maybe before Whitesburg, where hostility to outsiders overcomes the people's friendly nature.
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