grits line
n.— «Alexandria still has its Jefferson Davis Highway and Springfield its Robert E. Lee High School, but if last week’s election showed anything, it’s that Northern Virginia is not only different than the rest of the state, it is a different state. And it’s no longer in the South. That line now starts at the Rappahannock River, where things change—the accents, the attitudes, the pace and a comfort with the way things are. It’s what some historians call the new “grits line.” To them, it’s no surprise that the state’s northernmost welcome center on Interstate 95 is in Fredericksburg.» —“So Close, Yet So Far Apart” by Brigid Schulte, Chris L. Jenkins Washington Post Nov. 16, 2006. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...
Lucy in Louisa, Virginia, recalls that if her mother was exasperated when the kids were misbehaving, she’d announce I’m going to put you both in a wet paper bag and see who falls out first! This is part of a complete episode.
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