Life is Simple
would correct me by saying, “Don’t
walked by and made the comment,
you mean…may I take you out to
“That looks like pretty delicate
dinner this Friday evening?” The
work.”
way I saw it, either request would
“It’s pretty tedious,” I responded.
result in us eating a meal together
She stopped dead in her tracks
and I would pay.
and exclaimed, “What did you say?”
When we first met, I was
teaching at a university and she was
might explain that I pronounced the
amazed that I seldom sounded the
word, tee-jus.)
“g” at the end of words like workin,
gettin, fixin, etc. “My goodness,”
corrected.
she would explain, “you are a college
professor; you should talk like you
that can go either way.”
have an education.”
I would reply with, “You’re
not.”
absolutely right, dear. I’m tryin’ to
be better with everthang I say.”
computer and found a recording of
And I did try. For years,
an old-time bluegrass artist singing
while I was teaching, I consciously
a song entitled, Life Gets Tee-jus,
tried to pronounce my words
Don’t It.
correctly and speak with the most
“Well,”
My wife missed her calling by not
accurate grammar, because I knew
“that doesn’t mean it’s correct. I
becoming either an English teacher
impressionable young people would
swear, I thought I had heard you
or a speech therapist. I know this
try to emulate their teacher. But,
mispronounce every possible word
because she has spent almost thirty-
when I left the teaching profession
in the English language, but that
five years correcting my grammar
twenty years ago, one of the biggest
one is a new one for me.”
and/or enunciation on a daily basis.
reliefs was being able to talk the
“Don’t worry; if you stick
Granted, I give her a multitude of
way I had always felt comfortable.
around another thirty-five years, I’m
opportunities.
Dropping my g’s and letting go of a
sure you’ll learn even more.”
I was raised back in the deep
syllable here and there makes me feel
woods of the Ozark Mountains and
better, reduces stress, and probably
eventually ended up studying for
adds years to my life.
a couple of years in Mississippi. If
anything could screw up a person’s
for my wife, you’d think that she
ability to speak properly, that
would have given up by now. Not so.
combination seemed to do the trick.
At first, little phrases such as,
the kitchen table, working on a piece
“Can I carry you out to supper
of equipment that had torn up (don’t
on Friday night?” struck her as
get in a huff—I had a piece of plastic
charming and cute. Nonetheless, she
thrown over the table), when Judy
We are pleased to offer Jerry Crownover’s
“Life is Simple” column. Jerry is a graduate
of the University of Missouri. He and his
wife, Judy, own and operate a ranch west of
Springfield and are FCS Financial members.
We hope you enjoy Jerry’s Ozark humor
and wisdom.
“Life is Simple