# Your favorite "Southern-ism" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170 "2004-09-20T18:54:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/21 "2004-09-21T00:12:24Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > Of course, insults are pretty colorful, like “fat as a dog tick” or “she looks like a rabbit that’s been eatin lettuce through a chicken-wire-fence” Growing up, my sister would tell me, “If I had a dog as ugly as you, I’d shave its butt and teach it to walk backwards.” Fast forward many years, and my Boxer grew a big lump on the back of her thigh, and it had to go. The vet shaved her butt, and excised the lump. Of course, I had to take a picture of my dog’s shaved ass, put my sister’s name on it, and sent it to her… ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/22 "2004-09-21T00:29:00Z")
Well, shit. ---
**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:** [September 21, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/23 "2004-09-21T00:31:23Z")
You mean, wayull sheeyut! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/24 "2004-09-21T00:33:47Z")
“Well, I’ll be shit and shot for stinkin’!” ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/25 "2004-09-21T01:19:19Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > conversation about supper: > > “Jeet?” > > “Nope. Jew?” (To finish the conversation) “Nope.” “Squ-eet!” * * * How about using “about” or “'bout” in declarative statements whenever humanly possible? For example, “I mean, I’m about gonna post this, but I want to preview it first.”, or “This is just 'bout the best that the boards have run in a long time!” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/26 "2004-09-21T01:23:04Z")
"You’re built to low to the gound see, You got a hole in you’re glove, I keep pitch’n em you keep miss’n em. You gotta keep you’re eye on the ball. Eye, Ball, You see there sonny, I almost made a funny,… Almost…" Foghorn leghorn… ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/27 "2004-09-21T01:27:16Z")
OH yeah forgot to add they’re also called [colloquialisms](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=150345&highlight=colloquialisms) ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/28 "2004-09-21T01:29:56Z")
My high school algebra teacher, when asked if he was serious about something, would say “Serious as a bee sting and three heart attacks.” ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/29 "2004-09-21T01:52:32Z")
What? Nobody has mentioned “fixin to” I’m fiddin to go to the store. The first time I said that up north everyone laughed their asses. Some good ones I know… Happier than a pig/hog in shit. Colder than a witch’s titty in a brass bra. Reguarding drinking: F\*\*\*\*d out of the frame (that would be as in the frame of a house?) also… To’ up from the flo’ up. Tore up from the floor up. What else? There are obviously much more racist ones reguarding sweating and reading. I don’t really like racism, but well… some jokes are still funny, but I won’t post it. I am not sure which the best choice is for fighting ignorance. isn’t the word shy a southernism? I’m three cents shy of a dollar? I think the proper northernism would be “short,” right? What about “Does a bear sh\*t in the woods?” as an answer to a question whose answer is an obvious yes. Also… “He was runnin’ like he stole something” He beat him like a rented mule (good one) red-headed stepchild. hmm… I can’t really think of too many more because my parents weren’t too redneck, but I’ve had the influence. My favorite so far is the one about being eaten by a bear and shit off a cliff. Being from the south it is a little hard for me to know exactly which of these are Southern, but those are some I know. well sheeeeiit is a good one too. Bonus if you get the Slim Pickens intonation. In general just listen to Slim Pickens in any movie and he is full of them. ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/30 "2004-09-21T04:36:03Z")
After falling off the roof of a neighbor’s house, where he’d been helping repair some tornado damage, my 80±year-old grandfather responded with the canonical Southern retort for a situation that’s bad but could have been a lot worse: “I feel like I been shot at and missed and shit at and hit”. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/31 "2004-09-21T04:52:57Z")
The truly scary thing is that I say just about all these. Here’s some: “frog-strangler” or “gullywasher” for a big rainstorm. “Slower than molasses runnin’ uphill in January.” I say “Well shucky darn and slop the hogs!” when I’m being funny. To expand on the “bear shits in the woods” line, I’m liable to say “Is a bear Catholic?” when that situation comes up. It comes from the other question like that, “is the Pope Catholic?” Sometimes, if I’m really joking around, I’ll even ask “Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods?” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/32 "2004-09-21T04:55:27Z")
More nervous than an alter-boy in a room full of Catholic priest… /going to hell ---
**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:** [September 21, 2004, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/33 "2004-09-21T04:56:04Z")
> [@brianjedi](#): > > Does the Pope shit in the woods? If’n he runs up on that there bear, he does! ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/34 "2004-09-21T05:29:24Z")
“God willin’ and the creek don’t rise” if you are hoping to do something. Already noted, but my fave (and I am \*really \* southern so my fave should count for something 😉 “He needed killin’” “Pore as a church mouse” We don’t use so many of these in my family but I love to go to the big reunions and just listen…my cousins and I used to listen out and try to hear new ones: “She sure has _fell off_ a lot…” meaning she lost weight. :eek: You mean it can _fall off_ … how convenient and how did she do it? “Frog-choker” “Gully-washer”… lots of rain. “The devil’s a’beatin’ his wife today!”…the sun is shining during rain “I didn’t fall off the watermelon truck yesterday!”…meaning “I’m not stupid” but then again, I did just say that :rolleyes: “Happy as a junebug!” and I always wondered about that because when I was a kid we tied string to a junebug’s leg and flew them around…wouldn’t make me too happy. Gawd…I do luv the South! Nothing quite like it! Ya’ll come, ya hear? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smartini](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@smartini](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartini)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/35 "2004-09-21T05:33:29Z")
:smack: And how could I forget: **"Hey ya’ll, watchis!"** usually uttered by someone before they do something _reeeeealllly_ stupid! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/36 "2004-09-21T05:55:43Z")
Formal English: “It doesn’t make any difference.” Colloquial Southern: “It don’t make no never-mind.” ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/37 "2004-09-21T06:17:27Z")
When discussing the weather… it was colder than a witch’s tit or hotter than a two-peckered goat. I don’t recall the context but I’ve heard my South Carolina born boss use the phrase, “that dog don’t hunt.” ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/38 "2004-09-21T06:21:29Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > I don’t recall the context but I’ve heard my South Carolina born boss use the phrase, “that dog don’t hunt.” It’s a polite way of saying, “You’re full of shit,” the metaphorical dog being a statement or declaration, and its lack of expertise in field sports being its corresponding lack of veracity. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/39 "2004-09-21T09:33:10Z")
> [@Slainte](#): > > I’ve read all of Jill Conner Browne’s books. I love, love, love them and recommend them to all women with a good sense of humor, Southern or not. 😉 > > On topic: “\_\_\_\_\_ as all get-out.” I’d never heard that until I moved to the South. It’s a great multi-purpose phrase, you can be “sexy as all get-out,” “crazy as all get-out” etc. I heard this from my dad, who came from Oregon. I have an aunt in Texas who would say, “That scared the puddin’ outta me.” This sweet lady wouldn’t say sh\*t under any circumstances. My grandmother, who also wouldn’t use the moist common scatalogical term, used to say “Bug dust!” when something riled her. I don’t think she ever made the connection. She was from Iowa, but Southern stuff does get around, as we’ve just seen. ---
**Author:** ![Sisyphus\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sisyphus\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sisyphus_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2004, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170/40 "2004-09-21T10:04:06Z")
I’ve met the most redneck Kentuckian here in Australia. A few that I have dropped-jawed at are: Gawahn GIT! (When a strange animal comes into the yard.) Suckin’ on the hind tit. (When things are great.) Eatin’ high off the hog. (When the food is scrumptious.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-southern-ism/265170.md?page=3)