# Southern Insults **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862 "2010-07-16T01:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cadence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Cadence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cadence)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/21 "2010-07-16T03:41:37Z")
Well, aren’t you sweet (with a forced smile) ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/22 "2010-07-16T05:50:47Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Bless your little heart. I lived in TX for a couple years back when I was in my early 20s, transplanted from the NYC area. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I sure had my heart blessed an awful lot back then. ☹ And looking back on it, deservedly so. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/23 "2010-07-16T06:22:05Z")
How do Southern women say “fuck you”? “That’s nice.” (With the accent and a smirk, natch.) ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/24 "2010-07-16T07:44:32Z")
Personally I like the phrase “some mothers’ children…” said regretfully, with a dash of disdain. I don’t know if it’s a Texas phrase but me likey. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/25 "2010-07-16T08:01:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > What other uniquely Southern insults are there? Judging by that “y’all aren’t from around here?”, Navarra must be in the Southern USA. Who would’a thunk! It’s one of those sentences that can make a whole bar shut up and pay attention. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/26 "2010-07-16T18:33:57Z")
Well isn’t that special. From decades before the Church Lady. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/27 "2010-07-16T18:39:07Z")
If someone says “Wellll…” in sort of a singsong manner (seems like Southerners and Chinese have similar tonal qualities sometimes), they either disagree with you vehemently or just don’t care about what you’re saying. The other usage is similar to the more sympathetic definition of “bless your heart”. But a lot of what we’re posting here are what “nice” southerners say. Not-so-nice southerners can be pretty foul-mouthed. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/28 "2010-07-16T19:10:13Z")
“She ain’t no better than she outta be.” In other words, the coded, catty version of, “That girl is overreaching/completely unworthy/a huge bitch.” And, of course, there’s The Look. Most women have their version of The Look, but it’s an art form in the South, various versions of which are handed down from generation to generation among the genteel womenfolk. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/29 "2010-07-16T19:12:59Z")
Yeah, The Look goes through walls. You can even get it over the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/30 "2010-07-16T19:54:24Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I just used > > > [@](#): > > > > Y’all aren’t from around here, are you? > > \ Oh dear. First, I don’t hear “aren’t” much when that phrase is used. “_Ain’t_” would be the proper vernacular. 😉 And second, 😕. When I was first transplanted (originally from Ohio) from South Florida to the Upstate portion of South Carolina, this was said to me all the time. I thought it was Southern for “So, where are you from?” Are you telling me it actually means, “Damn Yankee, Go HOME!”? Another cultural mishap: I went to work all pissed off one day. SC native walks up to me, sees I’m in a foul mood and inquires, “Are you ill?” I snapped back at him, “No, I feel just fine! Fuck off!” And then I was baffled when he laughed. But then he explained to me that “ill” means “pissed off” not “unhealthy” or “sick.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/31 "2010-07-16T20:52:05Z")
“Hon” is another name for "Bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/32 "2010-07-16T20:55:18Z")
[ul] [li]No, really, _do_ go on.[/li][li]“God love him” followed by just about anything, e.g. “God love him, he tries so hard.”[/li][li]Thank you for sharing that.[/li][li]Aren’t you precious![/li][li]I’m not saying that you’re X, but …[/li][li]That’s nice.[/li][li]Anything that ends with “considering.” Jenny looked really nice in that dress, considering. Yes, that period belongs there.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/33 "2010-07-16T21:05:39Z")
\*\*Kyrie \*\*got most of them in one complete list. (Bless your heart, Opal!) Don’t know if it was just her or if it’s a true Southernism, but I used to work for a woman who would express horror, disdain, WTF, etc. in the same quiet way: “Wouldn’t have been \*my \*choice.” It has to be said in a quiet voice but with a certain arch to the eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/34 "2010-07-16T21:10:55Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > This is a sports thing, right? Ye GODS, CP. Even **I** know about SEC rivalries. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/35 "2010-07-16T21:16:54Z")
“Pointy-headed”. Especially pointy-headed liberal (courtesy of Jesse Helms). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/36 "2010-07-16T21:25:58Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Are you telling me it actually means, “Damn Yankee, Go HOME!”? It may, but I used it to excuse Mrs. Plant’s behavior when she first arrived…not realizing that if she did not own a deviled egg tray we were living in sin, for example. “She’s not from around here.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/37 "2010-07-16T21:29:01Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > And second, 😕. When I was first transplanted (originally from Ohio) from South Florida to the Upstate portion of South Carolina, this was said to me all the time. I thought it was Southern for “So, where are you from?” > > Are you telling me it actually means, “Damn Yankee, Go HOME!”? Well, it _can_ mean that, but like so many Southernisms it can mean a lot of different things depending on context. It can mean “So, where you from?” or “You’re in for a dose of culture shock” or “Fuck you and the horse you rode in on” or several things in between. It’s not as versatile as blessing someone’s little old peapicking heart, but it’s still pretty flexible. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/38 "2010-07-16T22:19:17Z")
> [@Audrey\_Levins](#): > > Personally I like the phrase “some mothers’ children…” said regretfully, with a dash of disdain. > > I don’t know if it’s a Texas phrase but me likey. I heard “some people kids!” often in Wisconsin. And it seems to have been familiar on [the other side of the Atlantic, too](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Mothers_Do_'Ave_'Em) ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/39 "2010-07-16T23:18:57Z")
“Bless his/her heart” is wonderfully versatile. You can say anything about anyone, no matter how rude, if you preface it with “bless his heart”, as in: “Bless his heart, he’s a dumb as a box of rocks” or “Bless her heart, she’s as ugly as homemade sin.” ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862/40 "2010-07-16T23:38:36Z")
“He/she don’t have the sense God gave a goose.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/southern-insults/546862.md?page=3)