Oh well, I got home and immediately ran headlong into “monkeyshines” courtesy of my kids. Also one I hear a lot is “lack,” but pronounced “like,” as in: “All I like havin’ a complete set of Mark Martin glasses now is the one from '98.”
And I forgot about “useless as tits on a boar hog.” And a big rain is a “pig turd floater.” And courtesy of Bill “Bubba” Busey of Rick and Bubba fame, spatchler. Which is that thing from Rubbermaid that you scrape the man-aise jar with. Look over at their website for a complete list of “nouveau South” expressions: http://www.rickandbubba.com/dictionary.asp
I don’t know if I’d consider this a regionialism. Most people under 30 use hey and hi interchangably here- in New Hampshire.
My favorite southernism is the aforementioned " usta could." One of the young women I met at an America Reads confrence was from TX and told us that we talked differently than she was used to. Very seriously she asks " How do you say usta could without saying it?"
" Used to be able to" we explained. She said it sounded pretty damn awkward. She’s right
Oh, I don’t really think of TX as being southern(it’s in the south west, which is different than the South) either, and I also tend to forget that FL is southern, too. Neither being mentioned in the history book chapters about the cival war, after all.
Hey 45ACP, do Rick and Bubba still have Speed Racer on the show? He was the biggest reason that I stopped listening to them when I lived in B’ham.
Not to add fuel to the fire on the whole “TX being in the South” argument, but… I’ve run into several people here in TX (I live in Dallas) who think TX is in the South. I didn’t meet one person in the South who regarded TX as a part of the South (spent the first 28.5 years of life in GA, TN, SC, and AL so, I have a bit of experience). Hell, I could go around telling people that I was a member of the Hell’s Angels, but if none of the other Hell’s Angel’s thought I was, I really wouldn’t be.
Now, for the “Southernisms.”
Still gotta watch myself when I go to the store with my wife (who grew up in KS) when I say that I’m going to go get a buggy.
My mom is a school teacher. One of the other teachers (not a native Southerner) didn’t understand when my mom asked “Do you take the paper?” Meaning “subscribe to the paper.”
Hey Tommy The Cat, yep, Speedy is still a part of the show, although he has now settled down and gotten married. I have to listen to RandB now since there’s basically nothing left to hear since Beaner and Ken split. Although I appreciate a skosh of good ol’ boy stuff, RandB think they are just a tad bit funnier than I think they are.
And Hey to SilkyThreat–hit’s a small world, now ain’t it! We live in Trussville, but go to church in Leeds! (Which just ain’t the same since the dairy shut) And for them what don’t know, Silky’s funnin’ about foreign countries–Shanghai is on the way going t’ord Praco and down that way. The way I look at this foreign thing is that just cause your kids are born here don’t make 'em Southern. Just cause the cat had kittens in the oven don’t mean we call 'em biscuits.
Since y’all are so close, y’all and your mama’n’em ought to come by sometime and set a spell and visit!
45ACP
[sub]Also apologetic for yet another one of his traits, which is hijacking threads. But, it’s just so good to hear from someone I understand![/sub]
Actually, I think it’s almost the opposite: the closer you are to College Station, the more likely you are to hear it.
Legend has it that Aggies jokes were started by folks at Texas A&M, presumably on the theory that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. And they caught on, and the rest is history.
My personal favorite: why do Aggies put their diplomans the rear window of their automobiles? So they can park in the handicapped spaces. Yes, I know it’s bad…
Around Austin, you’re more likely to hear Aggie-sheep coitus jokes, especially as Thanksgiving draws near (Go Horns!). God only knows The Lariat (the UT student newspaper) was filled with them in mid November when I was there.
As one who married into a family of TEXANS, I have to agree with one of the previous posters. Texans are NOT southerners. They are Texans. Period. They about had a conniption fit (dontcha love these southern sayings) when they heard I lived in Georgia. But I redeemed myself when I was Baptised in the Sabine River (on the Texas side, of course) and renounced my love of pork BBQ for the preferred beef. And after having to go to night school to learn about the deep hatred between A&M and UT, I can proudly call myself an Apprentice Texan. Another 5 years, and I get my Transplant Card
my mother grew up in tennessee, and although all her children are yankees, as my great-uncle calls us, we grew up with quite a few expressions that don’t make much sense to anyone living north of the mason dixon line
some of my favorites:
i’ll be all over you like a hen on a junebug
i’m gonna cloud up and rain - both of these mean you’re in trouble
shot who? behind whose barn? - mom’s way of saying “What?” when she didn’t hear what you said
fixing to start… - getting ready to do something
another funny thing is that she moved to jersey when she was pretty young, and eventually lost the accent. ya know how a lot of moms would say your full name when you got in trouble as a kid, well, my mom would say my name, but the drawl would come back. if she said my full name with the accent, i was really in deep trouble. and i can always tell when she’s been on the phone with her mother or sisters because the accent makes a comeback!
I say most of the colloquialisms listed on this thread. I say:
mash
much obliged
preciate it
‘bout to
fixin’ to
might coulda
co-cola
cut on
cut off
ink pen?
buggy
sack (I even occasionally say “poke” - as in “pig in a poke”)
ain’t got a dog in that fight/that dog won’t hunt
and not to go on too long, but my personal favorite is the “Miss” practice: even my little second cousins sometimes call me Miss (insert first name here).
One more: I even used to refer to my graduate advisor as Miss Bettie. She and I were too close for me to call her Dr., but we weren’t close enough for me to call her Bettie.
Carry, as in carry someone to the store. This means to take someone somewhere, usually in a car.
Tote: To carry. Also, a tote bag.
Solid quarter: An actual quarter as opposed to twenty-five cents in smaller coins, such as two dimes and a nickel.
Neutral Zone: The grassy median dividing a wide boulevard. This is especially a New Orleans term.
Crick: Creek.
Curb store: Convenience store.
Red light: Traffic light.
Red birds: Cardinals.
Where you stay: Where you live.
One of my favorite southern sayings is, “Ain’t no hill for a stepper.” This means it’s easy or no problem. I think a “stepper” is a horse. Another one is, “Even a blind hog finds an ay-kurn (acorn) once in a while.” This usually refers to simple luck as opposed to skill or talent.
he’s good people: he is a decent person, a nice guy
rurnt(rhymes with “burnt”): ruined; broken; no good; not fit to eat…“Yeah, that Yankee ate them grits after he rurnt ‘em by dumpin’ sugar on 'em.”
finer’n frog hair: feeling exceedingly good
knee-high to a grasshopper: when I was little; a long time ago…“We go way back. I knowed her since I was knee-high to grasshopper.”
book-smart: educated; able to read & write well…
“He ain’t book-smart, but the sumbitch knows his business. He’s got more money than God.”
drunk as Cooter Brown: very drunk I don’t know if Cooter Brown was a real person (at least one source claims he was…from Rhode Island, oddly enough), but I feel like I know him personally. He is the #1 most commonly cited reference to severe intoxication when you are talking to rural Tennesseans.
Here in South Carolina, and when I went to school in Georgia, we often go out the other side and say “The Wal-Mart”, as if there is only one or it requires extra emphasis. Like the royal “we” of discount shopping.
Visitin’ down Baton Rouge, Lweesyana last year. Friend pointed across the street, said the house was behind the live oaks.
Since there were no dead oaks in sight, I said something very clever, like “Oh.”
But the next day, more live oaks entered the conversation, and again there were no dead oaks in sight. So I asked him why live oaks, not just oaks. He didn’t know. Came across the term the other day in a Civil War book by Foote, so the term has been kicking around for at least that long.
