A “cousiny” people
By DAN LANGFORD
Southerners are a very “cousiny” people — we seem to have more kinfolks than anybody on earth. We don’t, really; it’s just that we tend to stay put for generations at a time, so descendants of our great-great-great-great grandparents’ siblings might still be close friends in the community. We call such cousins “Kissin’ cousins,” because they are so distantly related it’s not considered a problem to date or even marry one of them if we both so choose.
The word “cousin” is always pronounced exactly as it is written — something along the lines of “cuzzin.” The only exception is when the word is used as an address. For example, my grandma’s first cousin may be someone whom I need to call by name. She’s way too old for me to address her by her first name only — that would be disrespectful. Because she’s not my aunt, and because saying “Mrs.” or “Miss” would be awkward because she’s kinfolks, Southerners (middle Georgians, anyway) long ago came up with “Cudn,” which is what we use in such situations. “Cudn Frances, it’s wonderful to see you!” “Cudn Paul still plays golf several times a week at age 92.” It’s never used except as an address, always coupled with the cousin in question’s first name — I wouldn’t say, “I’m going to see my cudn;” for “cousin” is the proper usage there; but I might say, “I’m going to see Cudn Eleanor.” That, in a nutshell, is the distinction.
Cudn. It’s a wonderful form of address; distinctly Southern, eminently respecful, but unfortunately, disappearing rapidly in today’s homogenized South.