What is up with sentences like this?

I don't know anyone who speaks like this. However, I do live in the North. I rarely hear "fixin' to" or "I reckon" either. I think these are just regional anomalies.

Where I live, in Chicago, people say things like, "Ya know, over by dere, by Joey's." (meaning "You know, near (or at) Joey's place.") Or, "Is that kid nursing, yet?" ("Yet" meaning "Still.") Or the ever popular Chicago, "Hey, youse kids, come over by here!" "Youse" being the plural of "You." One of the big grocery stores in our area is Jewel. Yet, locals always call it, "Da Jewels." "Where did youse get dat cake?" "Over by dere, ya know, by da Jewels." With the "S" being pronounced in the soft ssss form, not the zzzz form.

I try to sound educated most of the time, but when I get excited or angry, the "Chicago" comes out of me, albeit, I never use the word "Youse."

I think, at least in Chicago and parts of southern Wisconsin, this dialect was the result of the gigantic numbers of Polish, Irish and Italian immigrants coming to the area in the late 1800s and their languages and accents merging. Chicago has more people of Polish ancestry than anywhere in the world outside of Warsaw. We also have large populations of Italians and Irish, and most of our ancestors came over during the Ellis Island Years. It effected the accent of the people in the entire area. At least that's my theory. less