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Here is “Round 51” of your insights into how to know if someone is from North Carolina. You may also want to check out:

• Round One (February 2004)
• Round Two (March 2004)
• Round Three (May 2004)
• Round Four (July 2004)
• Round Five (August 2004)
• Round Six (September 2004)
• Round Seven (November 2004)
• Round Eight (January 2005)
• Round Nine (February 2005)
• Round Ten (March 2005)
• Round Eleven (April 2005)
• Round Twelve (May 2005)
• Round Thirteen (June 2005)
• Round Fourteen (August 2005)
• Round Fifteen (September 2005)
• Round Sixteen (October 2005)
• Round Seventeen (November 2005)
• Round Eighteen (December 2005)
• Round Nineteen (January 2006)
• Round Twenty (February 2006)
• Round Twenty-one (March 2006)
• Round Twenty-two (April 2006)
• Round Twenty-three (May 2006)
• Round Twenty-four (June 2006)
• Round Twenty-five (July 2006)
• Round Twenty-six (August 2006)
• Round Twenty-seven (September 2006)
• Round Twenty-eight (October 2006)
• Round Twenty-nine (November 2006)
• Round Thirty (December 2006)
• Round Thirty-one (January 2007)
• Round Thirty-two (March 2007)
• Round Thirty-three (June 2007)
• Round Thirty-four (July 2007)
• Round Thirty-five (August 2007)
• Round Thirty-six (September 2007)
• Round Thirty-seven (October 2007)
• Round Thirty-eight (November 2007)
• Round Thirty-nine (December 2007)
• Round Forty (January 2008)
• Round Forty-one (February 2008)
• Round Forty-two (March 2008)
• Round Forty-three (April 2008)
• Round Forty-four (May 2008)
• Round Forty-five (June 2008)
• Round Forty-six (July 2008)
• Round Forty-seven (September 2008)
• Round Forty-eight (October 2008)
• Round Forty-nine (November 2008)
• Round Fifty (December 2008)
• Round Fifty-one (January 2009)

If you can think of anything to add to this list, send it to us:

E-mail: Carolina.country@ncemcs.com
Mail: P.O. Box 27306, Raleigh, NC 27611.
Phone: (919) 875-3062.

From Tom Reeve, formerly of Sparta

• At age 12, you went into Farmers Hardware for an item called a “flass water,” and realized some time later that it’s actually spelled and pronounced “fly swatter.”
• Hiking down to Highway 21 you played “Guess the Car,” and your choices were Chevy, Ford and Plymouth.
• At hog butchering time, you’d take the liver from one hog and have fresh fried liver and gravy that afternoon.
• Two weeks prior to Easter you started robbing a few eggs from the hen house and hiding them in the barn so there would some unmarketable eggs to decorate and hide on Easter Sunday.
• In winter the snow blew so hard through the leaky windows and walls that there would be snow on your bed when you woke up.

From Martha Lemly Williamson, Randleman

• Your grandmother gave you money tied in a corner of a hanky.
• Bottle caps got you into the movies.
• Special “sammys” included mayo and cucumbers.
• You carried a collapsible cup in your purse.
• You saved Mrs. Filbert’s box tops, Octagon soap coupons and snuff coupons.

From Sylvia Beech, Moravian Falls

• The whole community grieved when heavy flooding cancelled the Shuffletown Drag Strip races on Sunday afternoon.
• You walked alone in the dark to the bus stop and waited in a rusty metal shed while sitting on wooden wire spools.
• Your best friend rode with you on the bicycle trail through the woods to the boat landing store to buy a grape soda and Zota candy that you bought with saved-up empty glass bottles.
• For months, your brothers collected plastic gallon jugs and wired them together to make a canoe.

From Terry Jones, Cornelius

• You spread straw under the persimmon tree in late October to keep the persimmons from smashing and make them easy to find.
• You waited in the tractor shed before dawn with a 12-gauge to catch crows landing in the cornfield.
• You picked up and cared for the baby rabbits you almost mowed over while cutting hay.
• You chased after the tractor furrow to pull out some big ol’ fishing worms.
• You picked turnip and mustard greens for some pot likker.
• You listened in on the party line to hear the latest gossip.

From Bud Hargrave, Lexington

• You install security alarms on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked.
• You think that the tobacco barn out back is part of your home.
• You can name two hurricanes that blew away your neighbors’ trailers.
• You find 60 degrees a little chilly.
• You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
• You know for certain that Charlotte is not really the state capital.
• You end up having a long phone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number.
• You know three different recipes for baked beans and which one you can eat before going to a funeral.

From William Propst

• You live in Cat Square and the surrounding towns are Henry, Plateau, Pumpkin Patch and Hog Hill.
• Someone reminded you to pull up your pants and you snapped the other gallop on your overalls.
• You use words that a lot of other people can’t understand, like “cheer” (chair), “far wood” (firewood), “flo” (floor), “boat” (bolt), “dim der ranches” (them there wrenches), and “shiken” (chicken).
• You go fishing with TNT.
• You go hunting and come back well rested.

From Catherine “Dee” Smith, Mebane

• You sold persimmons to a neighbor for 25 cents a quart.
• Before going on your Sunday night date, you had to carry water by the bucket from the spring to fill up the washing machine.
• You skipped school with a bunch of girls, but all you did was smoke cigarettes.
• You pulled the choke out on that ‘47 Plymouth and flooded it out in the middle of the Hwy. 54 intersection.
• Lying in bed at night you looked at the moon shining on your face wishing it would make your freckles go away.
• After you had a baby, you stayed in the hospital for a week and would be fed and bathed between seeing them bring in your newborn.

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