In this little town, with its stunted mountain on one side and its gaping valley on the other, I鈥檝e noticed odd patterns in speech 鈥 strange, almost unnoticeable imbalances in emphasis.
For example, say one of the townspeople wants to recommend someone to you, for whatever reason: as a plumber, a politician, a friend, or a daughter-in-law. The advocate will say, 鈥淟ook her up 鈥 she鈥檚 a good chap.鈥 (I don鈥檛 know where they get the 鈥渃hap.鈥 There is no British ancestry to speak of here.) However, the speaker who thinks you should steer clear of the subject will instead say something like, 鈥淚鈥檇 think of taking my business elsewhere if I were you 鈥 he鈥檚 a wrong chap鈥 鈥
Bio:
Kenneth Gulotta writes fiction and poetry. A technical writer by trade, he spends his days solving puzzles that involve communication, design, and coding. He was born and raised in south Louisiana, but he has also lived in Austin, Texas, Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. He now lives in New Orleans with his wife and stepson. He has an MA in creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in English from Tulane University.