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Here is “Round 53” 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)
• Round Fifty-two (March 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 Sharon Gambill, Gwen Elliott, Edith Jones and Ronnie Stone (the creative writing class at Ashe County’s senior center)

• You know that a pounding is not a whipping, but a gathering where all the guests bring a pound of something—sugar, flour, lard, cheese, butter—for the guest of honor who may be the new preacher or a neighbor who has fallen on hard times.
• Your grandpa chilled watermelons and cantaloupes in a straw-covered pit in the back yard.
• You used the iron wash pot in the back yard to make hominy.
• You used a carved wooden gun with a clothespin attached to shoot strips of an old inner tube when playing cowboys and Indians.
• Your front porch was shaded by kudzu growing on a trellis.
• You listened to “Lum and Abner” from WCKY Cincinnati on winter nights, and “Renfro Valley” on Sunday mornings.
• You ate branch lettuce and poke sallet in early spring.
• You delayed going to the outhouse because you were afraid of the fighting rooster.
• Your mother dried apples in the back window of the car.
• You wore Blue Waltz Cologne from Woolworth’s Dime Store.

From Jeff Greene, Weddington

• You actually have gone to see a man about a dog.
• Every Saturday afternoon meant Championship Wrestling on Channel 3.
• Every Sunday after church meant Fred Kirby, Uncle Jim and the Little Rascals.
• You remember the smell of homecoming dinner on the way to church.

From Terry Jones, Cornelius

• You can still smell the popcorn and candy from when you entered the Woolworth’s downtown.
• You looked for the softest twig when you’re about to get switched with a hickory stick.
• You went to the farmers market on Saturday morning to get some good ol’ fresh country buttermilk.
• You looked for some 20 Mule Team Borax at the A&P like you saw advertised on “Death Valley” last night.
• You waited patiently at the end of the driveway each day for Paw Paw to come home from work.
• You sold bunches of daffodils door to door to make some money for Easter.

From Rich Felts, Warren County

• You rode on top of the load of tobacco on its way to market and you rolled the sheets off the scales to the row it was to be sold on, then afterwards you got a big strawberry milkshake.
• Your uncle went to find the milk cow but couldn’t. Then later that evening she turned up eating on the 13th row of butterbeans that you had helped plant,weed and plow.
• You wrapped eggs in a wet paper towel and aluminum foil and threw them in the coals to cook while you barbequed a pig.
  
• Your mid-evening snack was a homemade apple-jack made by your aunt while you were putting in a barn of tobacco.
• You hung a four-room barn of tobacco, and your uncle made sure you put 125 sticks in each room.
• You planted 30 acres of tobacco with a one-row planter.
• You and your buddy helped everybody that needed help priming tobacco until you turned 10, then you got your own row.
• You know it takes 50 sticks to make a bundle.
• The tobacco looper had a short and would shock you when you got good and sweaty.

From Dena Cherry

• Your Papaw got the tractor out on Sunday because you begged him to take you for a ride.
• You used Gleem toothpaste at your grandparents’ house.
• Your grandmother knows measurements only as pinches and handfuls.
• You loved eating potted meat sandwiches until your sister told you to read the ingredients.
• You made a “slip ‘n’ slide” out of black plastic, a running water hose, and dish detergent, then hoped you could stop it before you hit the tree at the end.

From Judy Vick, Sanford

• You played in the yard, barefoot, with the chickens, then stuck your feet under the water faucet to wash between your toes.
• When your dad went to the tobacco market, you waited for hours at the driveway watching for him to return, because he would always bring to you a surprise.

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