We are now celebrating our ninth year on our little acre homestead here in GreenAcres, located in rural NWGA...loving (almost) everything about the area and the culture.
I even scared myself one time (one time only!) in a restaurant counter transaction with a female when the term "darlin'" (as in "Thank you, darlin'!") came out of my mouth spontaneously. I was so stunned that I had to ask my wife if that really did happen or was I hallucinating...
Other than that I am still unable to spontaneously use the terms "y'all" or "fixin'ta" as well as dropping the use of forms of the verb "to be"...as in: "The car needs fixed..."
Can't imagine willingly returning to living in Philly or Boston.
Y’all is very normal. Fixin is very southern. I went to school in Auburn (grew up in Atlanta) and after a year I was saying “fixin”. Lost it after moving back to Atlanta. I still say y’all and always will.