Columns

Columns

Additional words in the Okie-fide lexicon
A few weeks ago, I wrote a column on what I call “Okiespeak.” I talked about some of the language peculiar to Okies, how we’re always “commencing” one thing or another, how we like to pair the adjective “plumb” with other words (as in “you’re plumb crazy, you know it?”) and how we refer to the rest of you as “y’all.”

June 17, 2013
High school twirlers, skimpy outfits and roaring fire batons
There were four former Fort Gibson High School twirlers at a reunion-ish event I attended a couple of weekends ago. If you’re more than a few years younger than I am, the word “twirlers” may give you pause. If so, you can be forgiven your ignorance, because for the most part, twirlers don’t exist anymore. I should know; I was one of them.

June 3, 2013
I done went and wrote a column about ‘Okiespeak’
I got into an argument with someone the other day about how to spell “y’all.” My opponent in the discussion insisted the apostrophe goes between the “a” and the first “l.” My position – the correct one, by the way – is that the apostrophe belongs safely ensconced right after the “y.”

May 20, 2013
Bombs and bears put a dent in slow news days
The way folks were congregating by NSU the other day, you’d have thought Sodexo was giving away free hot dogs, or campus police had cornered a Bigfoot and were trying to lure it into a cage with some beef jerky.

May 13, 2013
Healthy diets, sneak-eating, and porky preferences
A couple of years ago, I explained the phenomenon of “sneak-eating,” whereby the culprit waits until the backs of others in the household are turned, then gobbles down every preferred morsel in sight, and proceeds to cover his tracks by hiding wrappers and other evidence of the crime.

May 6, 2013
‘Devil’s food’: Nothing to do with chocolate cake
I’m not one to advance conspiracy theories, but in recent years, I’ve become convinced that certain edible items have been infused with drugs to induce craving.

April 22, 2013
‘Devil’s food’: Nothing to do with chocolate cake
I’m not one to advance conspiracy theories, but in recent years, I’ve become convinced that certain edible items have been infused with drugs to induce craving.

April 19, 2013
C&Es, children’s pageants, and mining for gold
When my siblings and I were kids, the only thing that would have kept us out of church was pole position at death’s door. I remember my father, the Baptist deacon, yelling on several occasions, “I don’t care HOW sick you are, YOU’RE GOING TO CHURCH!”

April 16, 2013
Believe it or not, I didn’t wind up an ‘old maid’
I’ve never had a teenage daughter. A son was bad enough, but boys don’t suffer the angst that infects every teenage girl. I speak as the voice of experience.

April 1, 2013
Cruising teenagers had their own set of weird rituals
My husband and I love mass transit. We’d even rather ride city buses than drive. It’s cheaper, you don’t have to worry about getting smacked by another driver, and you can mindlessly glaze over as someone else navigates through traffic.

March 18, 2013
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