# Please share your old memories of rural and Appalachian words and expressions **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 29, 2026, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150 "2026-01-29T14:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/41 "2026-01-30T08:25:39Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Explains how Appalachia has voted in the past three elections. > > :d&r: If you want to understand that, take a look at the money the Ds have spent on messaging in those areas. ($0) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/42 "2026-01-30T08:29:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The Scots and Irish more favor fighting over diplomacy. It’s very difficult to obfuscate in Irish. There are no words for “yes” or “no”, you have to repeat back the verbs in the positive or negative. So it makes telling lies a much more stark and intentional process. Mind you, we’ve got a thousand ways to say “maybe.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/43 "2026-01-30T08:36:13Z")
I’m surprised to see “redd up” mentioned multiple times here. I always thought that was a Pennsylvania Dutch phrase. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/44 "2026-01-30T10:03:05Z")
Some of my dad’s hunting lore is that squirrels get “wolves”, tumor-like masses under the skin that appear during the summer. So you don’t hunt squirrels until after the first frost, when the “wolves” go away. I later learned some things from this: - “wolves” was a Middle English term for “tumor”, on the folk theory that a tumor is a wolf eating a person from the inside. - Squirrel “wolves” are infestations of botfly larvae, explaining why they appear in summer and drop in the winter - It’s better to hunt squirrels in autumn and early winter anyway, because that’s when they’re fattest. - A lot of Appalachian folklore is bunk. Different thing, but a century ago, my ancestors who didn’t want to admit they drink beer would winkingly call it “Tennessee Pepsi” in front of the kids (Tennessee being a reference point for things exotic or incomprehensibly distant from Tupelo, MS). ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/45 "2026-01-30T10:08:02Z")
I think my family has some different pronunciations. though It’s more like upper rural midwest than Appalachian. Everyone else in the US says ‘cra-yawn’ yet my parents say ‘cran!’ It sounds like they’re going to talk about Oceanspray but they’re talking instead about the same Crayolas everyone else would grab from a bucket. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/46 "2026-01-30T11:31:52Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > a dresser is a chifferobe. Whoa! I haven’t heard that word in a million years. But yeah, I know it. 😲 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/47 "2026-01-30T12:36:17Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > My great-great grandfather was raised on a farm near the Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas border. > > My father was from that area, born in Cass County in 1925. I think the town was Mcleod. Either of those places sound familiar? The famed **[Ark-La-Tex - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark-La-Tex)**. > [@Ellecram](#): > > … retain some of the Appalachian language despite my attempts to neutralize my accent. > > One that I just cannot seem to yeet from everyday language is _“redd up”_ which means to clean or tidy up a space. You might also work on removing “yeet” if you’re serious about that project. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/48 "2026-01-30T13:38:56Z")
I’d never seen that Wikipedia link. Thanks Oil was key to bringing jobs and easing agricultural poverty in the 1920’s. Oil Refineries and Chemical plants opened soon. [Ammonia](https://lsbindustries.com/about/locations/el-dorado-arkansas/) **AND** [Bromine is employing people.](https://onetetra.com/contact/western-hemisphere-service-centers/tetra-arkansas/) I left South Arkansas after college. I haven’t visited any of the S. Ark. small towns since my parents passed. How is “redd up” pronounced? Is it slurred together or two words? ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/49 "2026-01-30T14:24:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > How is “redd up” pronounced? > > Is it slurred together or two words?. Sounds like red up. Two separate words but this area does have a lot of slurring lol! ---
**Author:** ![Gryphea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@Gryphea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gryphea)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/50 "2026-01-30T14:24:55Z")
Don’t have anything to contribute to this topic (beyond “settee” being in common UK usage and “poke” for a bag being very common during my childhood in 1980’s Scotland), but reading some Cormac McCarthy novels set in this region, I came across the phrase “I’d admire me a glass of water”. I took this to mean “I’d be grateful for some water” but it’s an odd turn of phrase and I wondered if it’s a particularly localised usage or even a totally fabricated saying ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/51 "2026-01-30T14:26:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > > > > [@aceplace57](#): > > > > > > My great-great grandfather was raised on a farm near the Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas border. > > > > My father was from that area, born in Cass County in 1925. I think the town was Mcleod. Either of those places sound familiar? > > The famed **[Ark-La-Tex - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark-La-Tex)**. > > > [@Ellecram](#): > > > > … retain some of the Appalachian language despite my attempts to neutralize my accent. > > > > One that I just cannot seem to yeet from everyday language is _“redd up”_ which means to clean or tidy up a space. > > You might also work on removing “yeet” if you’re serious about that project. 😉 I did not know yeet was particular to Appalachia! I rarely use it. Just love the sound of saying Yeet! ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/52 "2026-01-30T14:53:00Z")
I’ve never in my life heard anyone say “woish” but I’ve heard “warsh” plenty. In fact, everyone on my father’s side of the family said ‘warsh’. It grated on my ears to hear it even as a child. One other pronunciation peculiarity my father and grandfather both did was pronounce ‘Tigers’ as ‘Taggers’. Again, nails on chalkboard to my young and discerning ears. I wonder if that’s an Appalachian thing? My mother used to say chifferobe (but prounouced it ‘chef-robe’). I had always understood the term to refer to a particular type of furniture; a dresser that had drawers AND a little vertical cabinet for hanging clothes in. Four year old me just knew it was the ideal place to hide when playing hide and seek. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/53 "2026-01-30T15:22:54Z")
> [@Ellecram](#): > > Sounds like red up. Pronounced “ret up” or “red up”. I always heard “ret” but I believe “red” is more common, especially in the Pittsburgh area. Many younger folks seem to think it actually refers to the color red, but it doesn’t. “Ret”, “red”, and “redd” all seem to be common, and “rid up” seems to have at least some use (according to Google). “Redd” is probably the most correct as that matches the Scotch-Irish version of the word. > [@TruCelt](#): > > I’m surprised to see “redd up” mentioned multiple times here. I always thought that was a Pennsylvania Dutch phrase. Google’s bullshit generator thinks that it is Scotch-Irish, with some popularization from Pennsylvania Dutch. Google claims that the word is heavily used in Pittsburgh but is also common throughout Appalachia, and is also used in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Google also thinks that the word originates from the middle English word “redd”, meaning to rescue, free or clear. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/54 "2026-01-30T15:26:25Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > chifferobe (but prounouced it ‘chef-robe’). I had always understood the term to refer to a particular type of furniture; a dresser that had drawers AND a little vertical cabinet for hanging clothes in. That’s [how we used it too](https://www.rejuvenation.com/products/weathered-traditional-chiffarobe-cabinet/?catalogId=84&sku=1050078&cm_ven=PLA&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=Vintage%20%3E%20Vintage%20Cabinets&cm_ite=1050078_14334675725_pla-2172745393570&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=14334675725&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyvHLBhDlARIsAHxl6xoU1YDeTZWGS5lF6nePmBUlhE8K1axZe1c2Ga_GyfyRhNUhlSUcroUaAmDuEALw_wcB). But pronounced SHIFF-ih-robe. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/55 "2026-01-30T15:32:26Z")
Rernt=ruined Rock an row=rock and roll Also, it took my Baltimore/DC area wife decades to pronounce Appalachia correctly (with a short a in the third syllable). ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/56 "2026-01-30T15:34:55Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Many younger folks seem to think it actually refers to the color red, but it doesn’t. “Ret”, “red”, and “redd” all seem to be common, and “rid up” seems to have at least some use (according to Google). “Redd” is probably the most correct as that matches the Scotch-Irish version of the word. I have heard that expression and I always though it came from “ready,” as in “get ready.” Someone said it above… “Redd up the parlor ‘cause we got company comin’,” i.e. “Get the parlor ready for company.” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/57 "2026-01-30T16:02:00Z")
My parents are both southern and my mom is actually from the southern end of the Appalachians. So I’d heard of terms like 'britches." But I was raised in the DC area and still mostly a Marylander in nature. Even after doing my undergrad and then some in NC, I was unprepared for moving up to Boone for Appalachian State University. Working at Harris-Teeter, old folks would ask where they could find the “Ko-kola” and “Shake Cheese.” I figured out Coca Cola but had to be shown that shake cheese was the Kraft grated parmesan in a can. My mom told me they called a Coco-Cola a “Dope” and the extremely racist term for Brazil nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/58 "2026-01-30T16:02:20Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > One other pronunciation peculiarity my father and grandfather both did was pronounce ‘Tigers’ as ‘Taggers’. Again, nails on chalkboard to my young and discerning ears. I wonder if that’s an Appalachian thing? I’ve heard the converse from the pre-Boomer generation, in which words like ‘gas’ and ‘half’ might be pronounced ‘geiss’ and ‘hyfe’, respectively. And with respect to the ‘l’ being dropped in some words \*(seems like they’re mostly monosyllabic), to my ears, there’s often some compensatory lengthening with the preceding vowel. \*(“Goad” for “gold,” “guff” for “gulf,” “hoe” for “hole,” etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/59 "2026-01-30T16:06:20Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > I’ve never in my life heard anyone say “woish” but I’ve heard “warsh” plenty. In fact, everyone on my father’s side of the family said ‘warsh’. It grated on my ears to hear it even as a child. I grew up in rural Ohio between Columbus and Cleveland. (See the map below; I was in the gap.) Lots of family in Ashland county. Me and my sisters figured out in middle school that “woish” was not how it was pronounced on tv. And we consciously trained ourselves to pronounce it “waash”. I found this useful article. > **[Dissecting Ohio's dialects](https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/technology/2012/11/18/dissecting-ohio-s-dialects/24174830007/)** > > Where in the world is a pin a pen and tin means ten? Ohio, that's where. Well, southern and southeastern Ohio, anyway. Residents of those areas speak something called south, one of three distinct Ohi… The map: [![](https://i.postimg.cc/jqD11P2g/IMG-8711.webp) ](https://i.postimg.cc/jqD11P2g/IMG-8711.webp) In my experience, that South dialect in Ohio goes a lot farther north, covering most of south eastern Ohio. They speak like West Virginians there. * * * Phrases like “me and my sisters did something” sounds natural to me. As opposed to “my sisters and I did something”, which sounds stilted. I’ve learned to code switch as most people with minority dialects do. * * * Other maybe weird pronunciations: “perfect” said as “perfick”, “ancient” as “ainchunt”, “iron” as “eye-urn”. It’s hard for me to tell what’s standard sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/60 "2026-01-30T16:08:33Z")
I grew up in East Tennessee, just past the Virginia border off Interstate 81. I tend to draw out words like gold; it would become “gowld”. I can’t think of any words where I drop the l. I had a girlfriend from Connecticut who couldn’t wrap her head around how I pronounced “butt”. I’m not sure I can figure out how to spell the pronouciation phonetically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150.md?page=4)