CALL ME SNAKE

I’ve been back from Nashville for several weeks now, but thoughts are still percolating in my head from that excursion, perhaps as a result of my recent jaunt to Plymouth, Mass. (“Travel can be so broadening…”) One of the things that has occurred to me is that during the whole time I was there, no one once said: “Y’all come back soon, y’hear?” I was really looking forward to hearing that turn of phrase and was disappointed when all was said and done and those words were not said and done.

What, if anything, does that mean? Perhaps they just don’t say that anymore, which would be a pity. The alternative, however, would be far worse from my point of view: Maybe they’all don’t want me to “come back soon, y’hear?”