Mama and Them

We just had a visitor--a man who's selling Mike a small house in the woods and moving to be closer to "Mama and them."

Just yesterday, I heard Mike's friend Donna use that expression: "Mama and them used to live across the street from us."

"Mama and them" can be plural or singular.  It can either mean Just Mama, Mama and Daddy, or even the house where mama lives.

Carlene and I--when we ham it up in the car,  often say, "I wonder how Mama and them is doing" or "I'm sure when we get there Mama and them will have supper ready."

In the case of our recent visitor: we learned that "Mama and them's got a whole lot of money and live up 'ar in the mountains.  Mama's done got stubborn"  and she won't come back home where she belongs, he tells us, just comes home when she's got to go to the doctor or something.

"Who lives with her?" I asked--wondering about the specifics of "them."

"Ain't nobody lives with her rat now," he said.  "She lives up 'ar all by herself."

We are now going over to see the house Mike's bought from them--before they leave in the morning to be with Mama and Them.