A “Come-Here” in Virginia

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Melinda Blanchard calling from the eastern shore of Virginia.

Ooh, nice. Hi, Melinda. Welcome.

Well, since I moved here five years ago, I’ve noticed that any time somebody local asks where I’m from, I tell them New Jersey and they say, oh, you’re a come here. And I’m just curious if that is something that is just here or if that phrase is used in other areas of the country. And sometimes it’s not a good thing.

Oh, really?

Tell us more about that.

That’s the way I feel.

So for the rest of the country, kind of paint a picture of where you are exactly in the state.

We’re on the peninsula. Virginia has two parts, which a lot of people don’t know. The Delmarva Peninsula. We are on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay.

Gotcha. Very good. Gotcha.

And so you’ve been there how long now?

About five years.

And when they say you’re a come here, do you feel offended?

It depends on the tone. I’m getting used to it now. But at the beginning, I was like, what?

So it’s contextual, right?

Yes, exactly.

Sometimes it’s just a term for somebody who wasn’t born there, and sometimes it’s a little disparaging.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah.

Okay.

And they say that directly to you?

Yeah, that’s the question. Is it behind your back or to you?

Oh, no, no, no. They’ll say it to your face, yeah.

Well, it’s kind of been ongoing since at least the 1960s and probably earlier the term come here has existed for outsiders who’ve come to that part of Virginia usually for vacation or second homes or third homes even. And not just that part of the peninsula, but all along both sides of the Chesapeake Bay in eastern Virginia and the surrounding inlets and all the different kind of along the rivers and so forth, all the different kind of places there.

Author John Dos Passos was one of the come-hears at one point and lived on the west side of the Chesapeake Bay. If you’re not a come here, you’re probably a born here or a from here. Although there are also come back here as natives who have moved back.

Oh, I haven’t heard that one.

Some of these are jokey charms. I don’t know how widely they’re used. But the question is how long you have to live there to become a from here.

Do you have any idea? Did anybody tell you how long you’re going to stay a come here?

No, I have no idea. I do know that one of the people that refers to me as a come here, you know, with the disparaging remark was actually from Connecticut. So I don’t know that that’s really fair, but I don’t know the answer to that question.

Well, there’s one bit of actually federal testimony from former Virginia governor and U.S. Senator Chuck Robb about how long one had to live in Virginia to overcome having lived in Michigan. It was a bit jokey. He says, well, there are parts of Virginia where you know you have to have eight generations buried in the local county before you are referred to as anything but a come here.

And then there’s a notation left.

Yeah.

So eight generations buried. So that’s from a former Virginia governor and senator. So that tells you something.

That’s so interesting. I will check that out.

I’m not aware of this term being used anywhere else besides southeastern Virginia. Are you?

Yeah, that’s right.

Yeah. I mean, there are terms in other parts of the world for people who come from other places. But I think the term come here is pretty much localized to that part of the country.

Yeah, it looks like it. I have never seen it anywhere else. All of my reference works and all of my searching and variety of different periodicals only ever have turned it up in reference to Eastern Virginia.

So you’re special.

Well, and there are a lot of us now, but thank you.

Thank you for that.

Thanks so much, Melinda.

Okay, take care. Bye-bye.

Yeah, there’s such rich and wonderful language there in that area of the Chesapeake Bay and Delmarva. I can’t wait for more calls from everyone there.

Do call us with your wonderful language, 877-929-9673, or talk to Martha and me on email, words@waywordradio.org, or tell us everything on Twitter @wayword.