One good thing about the south, IMO, is the fact that you can go into almost any eating eastablishment and order sweet tea. If you order sweet tea North of the Mason-Dixon line, you get a funny look and a comment like, “There’s sugar on the table.”
I actually like grits, too, but I think of Flo every time I eat them.
I think this is a variation of “Looks like two pigs fightin’ under a blanket,” a phrase made famous by the film Steel Magnolias.
This thread is making me homesick for good ol’ Georgia…it’s been 8 1/2 long rainy months without the Georgia sunshine and somebody to offer me a glass of sweet tea. Interestingly, one does need to differentiate in southern restaurants now as to whether you want sweet or unsweet tea, due to all of the diabetics and health nuts. Just ain’t the same, I tell ya.
I have to reiterate the “Bless his/her heart” comment. My friends used to say that it was code for “He’s an idiot,” as in, “That boy fell out of the back of the pick-up and broke his arm. Bless his heart.”
I have to admit that quite a few of these sayings apply to me. I say:
might could have
fixin’ to
I ain’t studyin’ ‘bout you.
aight
over yonder
He needs kil’t.
That boy needs a whippin’.
Alrighty and Alrighty then
Don’t pay me no mind.
It don’t make no nevermind to me.
…
Oh, the fun linguistic quirks of the South.
Even a blind squirrel (or hog) can find an acorn if it roots around in the ground long enough. (getting lucky)
Nigh on 15 year. (almost 15 years)
Drunker’n Cooter Brown.
All sodas are called Coke. “What kinda Coke you want?”
“It’s rainin’ like a double-cunted cow pissing on a flat rock.”
“It’s hotter’n camel cock on a cinder block.”
“He’s richer than 3 feet up a bulls ass.”
“I’m hornier than a 5 balled tomcat.”
Similarly:
_________ as all get-out.
“Mean as all get-out” “Sexy as all get-out” “Crazy as all get-out” etc.
My co-worker (who was born & raised in the South) says it all the time. It’s become part of my vocabulary.
Y’all are awesome as all get-out! Thanks a bunch, this is so much fun!
Davebear, name’s from the song and a book I’m fond of actually…
Ok this here’s a little ditty my aint sung to me as a baby.
Listen Listen - the cat’s a pissin’
Where Where - under the chair.
Hasten Jason and fetch the basin.
Whoops too late. Grab a mop.
Don’t right know if it’s Su’thern, but I like it!
** Shes come undone **
if you want to really submerge yourself in the vernacular of the South, I’d suggest the route of literature, as the pickings are sweeter than a summer time cane patch.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a treasure trove of colloquialisms, as is “Cold Sassy Tree”… the list could go on and on, and I don’t mean to start another thread on good southern lit, but it could be a great resource for you. Especially as you live in the arctic circle.
Not to hijack the thread too much, but is the book about the band?
Up to my elbows in alligators (busy).
Crazier than a shithouse rat.
Maybe I fell off the melon truck, but it wasn’t this morning (skepticism).
Now we’re shittin’ in high cotton (everything’s OK).
LOL, no actually, it’s about a young woman who becomes mentally undone, in a nutshell. Author is Wally Lamb, if you’re interested in anything besides the band!
When I got out of line, my father used to say, “I’ll larrup you a windin’!” (He never did larrup me a windin’, but he certainly had reason to want to from time to time.)
My grandfather used to confuse me by referring to me as “stout.” I was a skinny kid. But what he actually meant was “strong.” He also asked me to “tote” things when he meant “carry.”
I’m sure there’s a ton of other stuff I’ve heard over the years from my older relatives, but I don’t remember them right now.
You are new, here, aren’t you? LOL!
Sorry. I’m making fun of myself, not you. People often ask me if I’m interested in anything else, but they aren’t talking about the Guess Who.
Yay, no one has offered up this one yet! she’s come undone, this one comes to you courtesy of Florida, a Southern state inundated with folk from Canada, New York, Michigan and elsewhere (a.k.a. “snow birds”). The mess of 'em makes the locals say things like:
Just 'cos your cat had some kittens in the oven don’t make 'em biscuits.
[ul] [sup]I’m proud to say that we don’t use such expressions in Mississippi.[/sup][/ul]
That’s jes cuz y’all ain’t edjumicated enuff.
Flatter 'n a plate of piss - used to describe featureless terrain
Drop edge of yonder - a condition similar to sick as a dog
Fair to middlin’ - response to How you doing?
I must protest this. I have lived in Georgia all my life and never, ever once heard this. We know that Coke is Coke and that all other sodas are different. If someone asks you if you want a Coke, it’s probably because that’s all they have in the fridge (aside from the sweet tea, that is).
More:
It don’t differ. Usually pronounced “Hit” don’t differ. Means “It doesn’t make any difference.”
Month of Sundays. Means a long time. “I ain’t seen you in a month of Sundays!”
Also, victuals is pronounced vittles and means food. “Them’s good vittles.”
Be careful of the second-person-plural thing. If you say YOU it means you-singular. Y’all is plural. Other useful constructions are: “all of y’all” and “y’all’s” (your). Someone who says “you all” is trying to sound proper.
Every North Carolinian uses the following words–
summers = somewhere
young 'un = young one, child
beegun = big one
littlun = little one
cussing: dad burn it!
I hear it here in Texas all the time! Maybe it’s regional.
I love this thread.
One more: Running like his ass was on fire and his hair was a’ketchin’… (running fast)