My Dad had an arsenal of these phrases, and he was raised in the Southwest.
If he noticed you were shivering in the cold... "Boy, you're shakin' like a calf sh***in' peach seeds."
Show him your scrape or cut... "I've had worse than that in my eye."
Hiking along the banks of a creek... "Careful, that mud is slicker than greased owl crap!" That one never made much sense to me, but I was mindful of my footing. The times I wasn't, and wound up on my butt, he would reach down to help me up. Followed by... "Well 'Grace', do you need more practice walking?"
His timing and delivery were usually perfect. I miss him.
In Michigan, we had a few of those listed, here are a couple that I'll let you figure out. She's so stuck up she thinks her tits are made of gold. He has so many friends that he's usually alone.
I've lived in North Carolina all my life, and I've never heard three of those sayings. I think my favorite Southern saying is "bless your heart". It is a nuanced expression with several meanings depending upon the context.
One you didn't mention is "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." That actually has its origins from naval military gear. Muzzle loading cannon needed to have the ammo (balls) nearby for rapid reloading, and to keep them in place a brass plate with indentations was designed to allow a stack of balls held in place without rolling around (not sure why the plate was called a "monkey"). Due to the difference in expansion and contraction of the iron balls and the brass monkey, if the temperature dropped enough, the balls could roll off the monkey.
I was raised in Augusta County (Va.) by parents who were from Iowa and Minnesota They often scolded me for speaking with a Southern accent. Now I can speak with either accent, but generally favor an Augusta County twang. I don't remember ever seeing an outhouse like the one in the picture. We actually had one for 3 years on Jarmans Gap Road (I've heard that the name of the road has changed). But I understood that an outhouse was made of wood, and had a roof in one piece, which sloped, but did not go in different directions from the middle. I don't remember hearing most of the expres- sions in that article. I do know that "y'all" (con- traction for "you-all") is supposed to be a plural pronoun exclusively, and never to be used in the singular.
The expression about the hare is mistaken, as far as I can tell. The actual phrase that I know is "a hair across his ass (or arse)" and refers to an error in attaching the crupper of a driving harness to the horse. The crupper is a loop that passes around the tail to help hold the rest of the harness from sliding fore-and-aft on the horse. If you get one of the hairs of the tail caught underneath the crupper then the horse will become rather surly about driving, swishing his tail back and forth in annoyance.
In case anyone is wondering, yes, I do know how to drive, either single or pair. My wife, more talented than I, can also drive four-in-hand, and let me tell you, it is an art to keep four horses going straight down the road, and even more of an art to keep the whole rig from flipping over into a ditch when you take a corner. "Don't cut corners."
One Southern expression I've noticed is, "Well bless your soul." Those words can mean anything from, "I'm so sorry you have to be YOU," to "Damn you to hell," but are said by someone who would never utter either damn or hell.
Bama dino thought people in other parts of the country said such things but only with different accents. I do know all y'all don't say y'all, though. In Bama "hey" often replaces "hi." My son of a Swedish immigrant father once told me that "hey" is the word for "hi" in Sweden.
Ruiles of Grammer never use a syllable when a drawl will do.
Rules of Etiquette. Most people and all women have two first names. Women are always addressed as Miss as in Miss Molly Sue. Women are known as GRITS for Girl Raised In The South. Questions are asked backwards for example . Miss Molly Sue did you fetch the Moon Pies yet like I done tole you?"
The magic word is not please it's yes'm
Jeet?
What?
Jeet Jet?
Ma'am?
Did you eat yet?
Yes'm but I could do another taste of the pecan pie.
I was hoping someone would mention that they learned these outside the south. I wondered about the origin of the expressions when I read the article, and never experienced any ususual responses from people when using them (except from non-native Englsih speakers like Aussies and Kiwis.)
Jeff Foxworthy has made a career on Southern colloquialisms. He and Larry the Cable Guy are doing a show in "little old" Melboring (I mean Melbourne, FL) in just over a month. "Well, I'll be."
One of the best ones is "bless your heart". You see, you can be as insulting as you want, as long as you finish with that saying. Ex: Hillary is a lying witch, bless her heart.
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If he noticed you were shivering in the cold...
"Boy, you're shakin' like a calf sh***in' peach seeds."
Show him your scrape or cut...
"I've had worse than that in my eye."
Hiking along the banks of a creek...
"Careful, that mud is slicker than greased owl crap!" That one never made much sense to me, but I was mindful of my footing. The times I wasn't, and wound up on my butt, he would reach down to help me up. Followed by...
"Well 'Grace', do you need more practice walking?"
His timing and delivery were usually perfect. I miss him.
She's so stuck up she thinks her tits are made of gold.
He has so many friends that he's usually alone.
p.s. and, yes, we did have a pee-can ...
in the back seat floor, during long trips
with us kids.
.
.
frog-strangler = heavy rainstorm
tits on a boar hog = useless (something)
bend your ear = talk with you
grinnin' like a mule eatin' a sawbriar = wide grin
I will remember more ... -- j
.
who were from Iowa and Minnesota They often
scolded me for speaking with a Southern accent.
Now I can speak with either accent, but generally
favor an Augusta County twang.
I don't remember ever seeing an outhouse
like the one in the picture. We actually had one
for 3 years on Jarmans Gap Road (I've heard
that the name of the road has changed). But
I understood that an outhouse was made of
wood, and had a roof in one piece, which sloped, but did not go in different directions from
the middle.
I don't remember hearing most of the expres-
sions in that article. I do know that "y'all" (con-
traction for "you-all") is supposed to be a plural
pronoun exclusively, and never to be used in
the singular.
In case anyone is wondering, yes, I do know how to drive, either single or pair. My wife, more talented than I, can also drive four-in-hand, and let me tell you, it is an art to keep four horses going straight down the road, and even more of an art to keep the whole rig from flipping over into a ditch when you take a corner. "Don't cut corners."
One Southern expression I've noticed is, "Well bless your soul." Those words can mean anything from, "I'm so sorry you have to be YOU," to "Damn you to hell," but are said by someone who would never utter either damn or hell.
I do know all y'all don't say y'all, though.
In Bama "hey" often replaces "hi."
My son of a Swedish immigrant father once told me that "hey" is the word for "hi" in Sweden.
Rules of Etiquette. Most people and all women have two first names. Women are always addressed as Miss as in Miss Molly Sue. Women are known as GRITS for Girl Raised In The South. Questions are asked backwards for example . Miss Molly Sue did you fetch the Moon Pies yet like I done tole you?"
The magic word is not please it's yes'm
Jeet?
What?
Jeet Jet?
Ma'am?
Did you eat yet?
Yes'm but I could do another taste of the pecan pie.
Its "fixin"