It would appear that somewhere along the way I have entered the realms of a new demographic. This first came to my attention at the oddly named Hyde Park campground whilst I waited for the Tornado to come or not as the case may be.
A group of young men were gathered under cover by the bathrooms. I got talking to them and discovered an altogether different style of speech from the other southerners I have met up to this point
They talked quickly, really quickly. Fast and high pitched. Maybe twice the speed of the sweet soft accents of the 'southern belles' I had met in Feliciana, or the super deep tones of the big black men I'd met that day.
These guys were really going for it and with strong southern accents. Their voices were lilted and melodic, somehow they still managed to stretch out and emphasise certain vowel sounds even as they raced their way enthusiastically through complicated sentences.
They were very hard to understand and they certainly struggled to understand me. I wondered what kind of people spoke like this. It reminded me of Brad Pit's parody of Irish Gypsies in the movie scratch.
Then it hit me, these guys were the American version of Liverpool's Scousers. Strong accents, high pitched voices, big personalities, sharp active minds and impossible to understand.
They were my first encounter with the infamous 'Rednecks' of the Deep South, a diverse group of poorly educated white folks who call the south their home.
Some may think the term Rednecks has a derogatory overtone, maybe it does. It wasn't their behavior that induced me to label them so, drinking beer, eating chicken and smoking cigarettes is pretty standard out here.
Nor was it the prison tattoo's and the conversations about when their friends and family would make parole. Nor the battered old caravans they were staying in, which looked like they had seen one hurricane too many. Nor their angry mongrel dogs on string.
For me the clincher was the fact they proudly described themselves as such when they offered me some chicken " Y'all want some Redneck Bar-B-Que chicken?".
I shared some chicken and a chat but didn't stick around too long. They were freindly and welcoming enough. However I got the impression that as the evening wore on, and the beers went down, all that energy was going to get a bit out of control. Somewhere along the line it was all going it end in tears and I did not want to be there when it happened.
Today has been full of interactions with the people of the very same ilk, fast talking high energy, could get aggro'hey calm down!' types.
American Scousers- who'd have thought it, they are everywhere in this little pocket of South Western Louisiana and they brightened up my day today.
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