Oh, Shannon, what an awesome post! And, no, there is no hidden meaning in that, it is probably as close to straight-up "guyspeak" as I get!
You wrote about my worst "girlworld" situation. After all these years I know all about the complimentary insults, the double meanings, the hidden messages, and I always think I know how to parse sentences and detect the nuances and the subtle traps in "womenspeak." But when I begin to be comfortable in a group of women I slip into what I know best, which is interpreting language as a guy and my radar starts dozing just when a GG would know to have hers turned on. Not good, and sometimes I've been blindsided and hurt because I become such an easy mark. It really is the "final frontier" and I can only hope that someday it becomes as natural and automatic for me as it is for most GG's.
On the fun side, particularly the fun side of being Southern, my spouse and I were both raised in the South (places like Tyler, Texas and Auburn, Alabama), but we both spent time in places like New York City, hanging out with northern relatives so we were a bit bilingual. For at least part of our education we both went to the same small Southern college and although in different classes we both had the same experience.
The majority of the faculty were Southern born and bred. But every once in a while we'd get a student who somehow came from the north to be in our little school. Sometimes these students would raise their hand, and when called upon, would ask a question. And sometimes the Professors would look utterly confused. It wa as if someone had just spoken in Tagalog or Romansh or Ongota.
In each case, depending upon who was in the class, my spouse or I would say, "Excuse me Dr. --- but I believe she was asking . . . " and we'd translate into Southern. Then the Professor would answer, the student would look blank, and we'd translate it back for the northerner. It was a lot like that "I speak jive" scene in Airplane (click here, contains audio)! But it worked!
Hugs,
Persephone.
