Northern Kentucky

I grew up in a Kentucky suburb ten minutes south of Cincinnati, Ohio. You can see the Ohio River (which also serves as the state line) from the park where we’d park our cars and hang out in high school. I am a Midwesterner, through and through. But my midwestern hometown is a little weird. We don’t say the name of our town when we introduce ourselves. We say we’re from Northern Kentucky. I’ve found the same to be true of all our neighboring towns, as well. It’s only now that I’ve moved away—first to Alabama, then to California— that I’ve come to appreciate just how fitting a title like Northern Kentucky is. My hometown has the South on one arm and the North on the other, with both pulling as hard as they can for the cultural upper hand.

Y’all

Take the word y’all, for example. Say y’all anywhere north of the Ohio River, and it’s usually followed by something to the effect of, “Oh, YOU must be from the South! Do YoU wEaR ShOeS???” (The Southern Thesaurus both explains and defends the use of the word y’all, by the way. Well worth the read.)

I didn’t grow up saying y’all. Until I moved to Alabama in college, I was a you guys gal. Even still, y’all played a formative role in my upbringing. ‘Y’all’ was plastered across one of the most highly-viewed landmarks in the region. If you’ve ever driven I-75 through Kentucky, you’ve seen it. A massive water tower announces your entry to the South loud and proud, just south of the Ohio River. It reads “FLORENCE, Y’ALL” in big block letters. That water tower marked the end of many a long road trip. It said “We’re 10 minutes from home, y’all!”Y’all was a part of me and it wasn’t. I was Southern, and I wasn’t.

Southern or not

I had a blast designing this book. My midwestern sense of humor often leans a little on the dry side for my Southern friends, but The Southern Thesaurus made me feel right at home. And while I may not be a proper Southerner, I was surprised to find that I knew more of the crazy terms in this book than I expected to. I borrowed a few new ones, too. Turns out nekkid as a jaybird is a crowd-pleaser in any room.