I'm a son of the Carolinas. I was born in Greensboro, and lived withing a hundred miles of there until I was twenty-eight years old. Then, I spent thirteen years in California before moving back. Fortunately, I'm bilungual: I'm pretty equally conversant in both Western English and Southern English. I can even speak a few words of Yankee when required. Thus, I can write these columns without facing quite so much of the "We don't care how you did it back in (insert non-Southern place name)" hostility. Maybe.