# 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:** 4
**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, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/61 "2026-01-30T16:09:10Z")
Snickers bars are problematic for my accent. I’ll ask an staff assistant to bring me a Snickers on their way back from the break-room. (always a box of the mini-bars on the counter) Stickers??? Sigh, No S **n** ickers 30 years and I can’t enunciate properly. ---
**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, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/62 "2026-01-30T16:22:01Z")
Another data point: when I visit friends in Maine, locals assume I’m Canadian when they hear me talk. Or maybe it’s just my get-along attitude. 😉 ---
**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, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/63 "2026-01-30T17:40:48Z")
My great uncle Howards name was pronounced like “hired” but with the I replaced with a flat A like in “gas.” He would chop farwood in the fall or use some warplars for electrical work. I don’t know how much of the accent was Appalachian versus being very rural or just southern in general. ---
**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, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/64 "2026-01-30T18:07:46Z")
Sounds Appalachian to me. I’d use “Haird” as a phonetic spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/65 "2026-01-30T19:42:54Z")
I’m from northwestern South Carolina, the area called the piedmont (which is foriegn for “foothills”) so probably at least Appalachian-adjacent culturally. Some of the terms used here I recognize. One I haven’t seen yet is a word that my grandmother used for a type of granulated fertilizer that she put around plants. Pronounced something like “due-anner”. I have no idea how that is spelled and what it is called now, but I know I haven’t heard or seen the word since the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/66 "2026-01-31T03:45:22Z")
> [@Gryphea](#): > > beyond “settee” being in common UK usage and “poke” for a bag being very common during my childhood in 1980’s Scotland A lot of the phrases and linguistic expression that persist in the Appalachians (and, some say, the accent as well) trace back to immigrants from Scotland and England who settled in the south in areas that did not get homogenized later the way most places did. The music of Appalachia has a lot of legacy DNA that ties it to folk songs of Scottish and Irish and English tradition. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/67 "2026-01-31T03:51:39Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > “Arshtaters”, or Irish Potatoes. Plain old white taters. If something is far in the distance, it’s a “fur piece. God yes. You have to specify “Arshtaters” so they know you don’t mean sweet p’taters. And the substance everyone else would call milk is “sweet milk”. To distinguish it from buttermilk. ---
**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 31, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/68 "2026-01-31T03:55:15Z")
“Hunker down” originally meant “just getting low.” “Hunker” just means “squat.” I think as a result of its common use during the press briefings of the (first) Gulf War by military officials referring to the Iraqi troops taking cover during attacks, the common meaning gradually \*evolved to mean “take refuge during a critical situation until the coast is clear,” (e.g., hurricanes, snowstorms, pandemic, zombie apocalypse). That’s the sense that seems to be more common now compared to the original. \*Maybe it was already common military usage to ‘take cover,’ but that doesn’t seem to have attained common currency until after the Gulf War. Also, in the 1980s, Larry Munson used it for the Georgia Bulldogs in the sense of “dig in and fight.” ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/69 "2026-01-31T12:14:07Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > “ancient” as “ainchunt”, > “iron” as “eye-urn”. East TN raised: I can’t figure out how else these would be pronounced. ---
**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 31, 2026, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/70 "2026-01-31T13:42:52Z")
> [@Lsura](#): > > I can’t figure out how else these would be pronounced In West Virginia we generally pronounced them the same way, but the Pittsburgh accent pronounces “iron” as “arn”. “arn city beer” = Iron City Beer (a local Pittsburgh brew, not sure if it’s still around) ---
**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 31, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/71 "2026-01-31T14:35:14Z")
> [@Lsura](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > “ancient” as “ainchunt”, > > “iron” as “eye-urn”. > > East TN raised: I can’t figure out how else these would be pronounced. When I was growing up, the dictionaries said “ancient” should be pronounced like “ainshent”. That’s still the first pronunciation listed in many dictionaries, but at least our version is often listed as well. ---
**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 31, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/72 "2026-01-31T14:52:39Z")
This looks like one of those oddities where dictionary editors used their ‘preferred’ pronunciation without regard to popular usage. I don’t think I’ve ever heard ‘ancient’ pronounced the 'old school ’ way, but I’ll be listening for it now. Another example is ‘plantain,’ which for many years was shown to be “plan-t’n.” Sure there are many others. ---
**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 31, 2026, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/73 "2026-01-31T15:02:51Z")
Also East TN raised, and I would have thought both pronunciations were widespread. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/74 "2026-01-31T15:18:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Kids still drunk dial, right? They hang up on someone? I’m fairly certain my daughter hasn’t initiated a voice call in some years. And she will say “end the call” rather than hang up when she receives a voice call. She also “answers a call” rather than “picking it up”. The language is changing. I suspect her children will not recognize these terms which we think are so entrenched. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/75 "2026-02-01T11:39:39Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I’m fairly certain my daughter hasn’t initiated a voice call in some years. And she will say “end the call” rather than hang up when she receives a voice call. She also “answers a call” rather than “picking it up”. The language is changing. I suspect her children will not recognize these terms which we think are so entrenched. Interesting–I asked me teenager this question. “When you’re done Facetiming someone, you hit the button to….” She looked at me suspiciously and said, “Hang up?” Maybe it’s regional. But I’ve definitely heard kids (including, I think, elementary kids) talk about “hanging up” at the end of a call. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/76 "2026-02-01T13:43:27Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > She looked at me suspiciously and said, “Hang up?” I bet your kids get tired of being guinea pigs for the Dope’s geezer brigade. And the same goes for the other Dopers w tweens / teens. But please do thank them for their sacrifices on our behalf. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/77 "2026-02-03T18:07:38Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > One I haven’t seen yet is a word that my grandmother used for a type of granulated fertilizer that she put around plants. Pronounced something like “due-anner”. I have no idea how that is spelled and what it is called now, but I know I haven’t heard or seen the word since the 1980s. Friend, the Dope has got your back. 😁[Back in the day when retail-commerce plant fertilizer was basically mined bat or bird dung (guano), many English speakers got into the habit of using “guaner” or “gu-anner” to refer to any type of fertilizer.](https://www.walterreeves.com/tools-and-chemicals/dew-anner-guano-organic-fertilizer/) “Dew-anner”, “due-anna”, etc., are just regional variants of that term. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2026, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/78 "2026-02-05T01:45:57Z")
I can remember settin’ in a cheer. My parents being from Central North Carolina kept me from picking up a lot of hillbilly dialect. Here’s some genuine hillbilly dialect, from local East Tennessee pro wrasslin’ legend Ron Wright: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5tRMgmLz8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5tRMgmLz8) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/79 "2026-02-05T03:54:22Z")
Since we’ve already drifted from the Appalachians into the Ozarks, I’ll add my two cents. We warsh ourselves, and we put the clothes in a warshin machine. Now this can get tricky, because in the Ozarks mountains “warsh” is pronounced like “far”, but in the Mississippi Valley, it’s pronounced like “wore.” As for sayings and phrases, despite my mother growing up in the Ozarks and my grandparents living there all their lives, I don’t remember much. I remember my grandparents had a small, sheltered space underneath a rock overhang where my grandmother stored the preserves she “put up.” She called it the “root cellar.” When tornadoes threatened, they’d go there because their house had neither a basement nor a “fraidy hole” to take cover. I won’t even get into the debate between “Missouri” and “Missouruh.” ---
**Author:** ![frognot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frognot/32/8752_2.png) [@frognot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frognot)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150/80 "2026-02-05T13:23:34Z")
A cooter is a turtle. Also slang for a woman’s private parts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-share-your-old-memories-of-rural-and-appalachian-words-and-expressions/1027150.md?page=5)