When I heard myself on a tape recorder for the first time I knew my ears had lied to me. I was shocked to think that voice was really mine. If one travels a few miles to our south, you can easily tell the difference of our speech and theirs. Okie Speech has more twang as you go further south. The movie “The Grapes of Wrath” did us no favors as to how it portrayed how we “Okies” speak or behave.

When our children were young, we were visiting Wayne’s brother Luther and his wife Marie in Odessa, Texas. Lute and Marie were excited about introducing the children to their friend and neighbor children who were all about the same ages as our children. They were invited to stay and play. I agreed that it was OK, but not to stay too long.

When it got dark and our children had not returned home as I requested, I became very upset. They were still visiting with the neighbor's children when it was past their bed time. They lived a few houses down the street from Luther and Marie’s home. Since it was so close, I decided to walk over to the house and tell them it was time to come home and past their bedtime. I knocked on the door and as soon as the lady of the house opened the door, I saw all of the kids sitting on the floor playing and talking. I was still upset that it was so late and curtly told the kids "What are "you guys" doing? You were supposed to come home early."

The 12 year old Texas girl turned toward me and started to laugh. She asked "Is that the way Ya'll talk back theah?” Then it was my turn to make my reply. I could not help but laugh at her very thick Texas accent. She gave me an odd look as if not to understand why I was laughing. I told her that she sounded just as "funny" to me as I did to her. The parents thought the incident was hilarious and joined us in laughter.