Great post!
I have spent a lifetime trying to overcome other people's first impressions of me. My pure Eastern Kentucky Appalachin dialect has a tenedency to come across to others as "uneducated hillbilly" or "dumb hillbilly."
To tie this to coyote hunting and the current topic, I will share a wonderful experience hunting coyotes with Rockin 7 Ranch in Glendo, Wyoming.
As humans, we tend to "size" people up at all times. My partner and I have been hunting coyotes, hard, for about six years now. When we went to, wide open Wyoming, of course, our outfitter and guides were a buzz at "sizing" us up. As soon as I open my mouth, the body language of the person I am speaking to kicks into overdrive! I have always pronounced it "ki-oat-ee." In my "mountain drawl" this can be unusual for those who have not heard my dialect. Couple this with my current deteriorating condition of my feet (well communicated before the hunt), and you get the body language from them that says "this dog CAN'T hunt!"
At the end of the four day hunt, we had killed five coyotes with no missed shots from ranges of 110 yds to 330 yds. We had observed 24 coyotes during this time and killed all that were reasonable shots. Our guides all called them "ki-oat." The biggest things my partner and I did was put "meat on the table" and listened to and hunted the guides way. We now have friends for life. You would be amazed at how many hunters they get who cannot hit the target! I was truly impressed by the outfitter (Brad, who guided) and his other two guides (Mark and Scott). Great down to earth coyote hunters, among other things! In the end, a couple of coyote hunters from Virginia earned the mutual respect of our coyote guides and were offered an invite back.
I did not adopt their pronunciation of "ki-oat," but I did adopt their Stormy Kromer hats! LOL /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Redhound80