Your Favorite Southern Sayings
I just love all of our SouthernSayings and talking about them never seems to get old. A few times now I’ve asked people to tell me their favorites on our Facebook page and that page lights up with hundreds of contributions, everyone tickled to get to talk about them and see what quirky sayings others have to contribute as we all walk down memory lane. So today I want to start that conversation on this post as a fun way of celebrating our silly Southern sayings and learning a few new ones we might want to work into our vocabulary.
Katy Rose’s shirt in that photo is from Sweet Tea T Shirts and demonstrates wearing one of their shirts, that demonstrates the Southern pronunciation of “Cat”. Isn’t it precious? ~giggles~
They’ve got a whole passel of t shirts with different sayings such as “Ah’m bout to burn up!” or another one of my favorites “Who’s pluckin’ this chicken, you or me?”.
So I’m gonna step aside here and let y’all have at it. Leave your favorite Southern Saying below and if’n ya see one that don’t make no sense feel fre to ask what it means by replying to it. This hyar is gonna end up being a Southernisms 101 of sorts and we’re all gonna have fun with it! I can’t wait to see what you have to offer!
I want to start by saying YES, Bless your heart CAN be a good thing. In fact, I’ve heard it used more often than not in situations where it really is a good thing. If someone is going through a rough time or suffers a loss, you’d hug them and say “Bless your heart” as a show of compassion.
“You think I don’t have culture just because I’m from down in Georgia. Believe me, we’ve got culture there. We’ve always had sushi. We just called it bait.”
~Ben “Cooter” Jones
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on May 10 2010. Filed under Misc, Southern Classics.
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Born in east Tennessee raised in North Carolina. My Grandfather would say “Well I wished to my-a-never” ( hard to believe or I have never heard of such).
My Grandmother would always say “she is like a worm in a fryin pan”, (hyper).
Some others I remember, “he’s a bit teched”, meaning not right in the head.
My Mom would say “bitter as an old man’s tongue”, she was speaking of a cucumber but the meaning was meant to describe the intensity of the bitterness. “He is meaner than a stripe-ed snake”. “It’s hottern two hells”.
My sweet southern Mom would always say “they are putting on the dog”, meaning they are acting high society! She would tell me my babies “don’t need to be fanning around” in the night air! Meaning, they might catch cold!
She would call some folks “GREEN”, meaning they had “hateful” ways! “Im not what you might say hungry”. Aww, how I miss all these sayings.
We have always said,”It is fixin to come a gully washer ” some say “a toad strangler”.(rain is coming)
Southerners always say we are “fixin” to….This means getting ready to .
“Ya’ll be sweet “was always said to my girls when they had friends over as a reminder not argue or be rude hostesses.
Don’t forget many Southern guy’s last words…Hay wah chis. (watch this)
and mom always said when me and my brothers got rowdy “Im gonna knock the bot out a ya”
christy,
i just came across your site for the first time today. i have no southern sayings to add, just want to tell you that reading a bit of your story and your philosophy on living with depression etc., felt like a cool drink on a very hot day. i look forward to getting to “know” you!
When guests were going home in the evening, the host always said: “Why don’t you all just stay all night?” They would have died if the guest said, “OK, we will.”
Do you want to?——-Ya waunt ta?
Did you eat yet?—–Jeet y3et?
In South Georgia things “tump” over. I think this word is a cross between tip and dump. I did not realize until I moved to Atlanta that this is not a real word…I still like it though!
I grew up in east Texas and we say “tump” too. I with you, Amy… I really like that word!
Oh, I remember so many and use each and every one many, many times. One of my favorites is “I’ll jerk a knot in your tail” and “I’ll slap you spitless”. and when I was napping my nana would say “cover up your feet child or the devil will get in” as an old wifes’s tale was that the devil sneaked in through your bare feet while you were sleeping so we always covered up our feet! “Six of one half a dozen of another” was often said when things really didn’t make a difference. “Go out yonder and cut me a switch” I heard all too often when I was in trouble. I guess it sounds like I was always in trouble but that really wasn’t the case. Nana used to tell me over and over (when a lot of birds were around), “See all those birds up on that telephone line? Honey watch what you say on the telephone cause those birds can hear what your saying through their feet”. My brother in law from Tennessee offers this favorite “I’m so hungry my stomach thinks my throats been cut” Add a Tennessee twang to that and you’ll have it right.
That boy don’t know com’ere from sickum. He got in a spellin contest with a rock. He cheated…n’ they still tied. worthless as teats on a boar- That young-un’s so dumb you-uns oughta keep him ta home-dont tell nobody you got im.He’s dumb as dirt.
My granpa was SOOO tight- he wouldnah give a nickle to see a pis-ant stretch his butt over a rain-barrell. He’d squoze a nickle till the buffalo pooped.He wouldna paid a red penny to watch a grasshopper eat a bale of hay!
My truck’s got a hitch in it’s git-a-long so caint none yall carry me on over yonderways er back ta house?
fixin ta rain like a cow peein on a flat rock.
obama wants my bible AND my gun? he’d have better luck pokin butter up a wild cats butt with a red hot ice pick.
Hotter than a 2-dollar cook stove.
Oh she’s SAVED all right. Saved sittin soakin n sour. like shes been baptised in lemon juice and succkin on a dill pickle. Just lookit her. Her lips hangin lower than a hairlip texas cow. I swear yall is her jaw got a tad lower-she could scoop a marble clum out a gopher hole.
Things is bad as I seen im round here. We got more troubles than Carter’s got little liver pills. Ise lookin out the windah this mawning and seen a nightcrawler worm rech up & wrap around a robin red bres nek— and snatch him SLAP in the ground!
Im fixin ta write my latest song & Im studyin if ima call it Dixie Talk.I think I might oughta should.
DIXIE TALK
I do so love the South- but not just for the country side
that laid-back tongue jus roll & glide
till ever edge been crucified-
Worn smooth n’ round like a river rock
Then handed down like the whispered talk
of how much sugah to the pound-how Hot the fire should be
It’s a family recipe- C’mon n’ Dixie Talk to me
Thisn I just started so whatchall thank? Tell me at http://www.showcaseyourmusic.com/steveraygreen. Dew drop on by n’ while yall there give a listen to Smokey Mountain Lullabye and then theres a nuthern aint bad called Carolina. But…Do ya should drop by- Honk when ya pass the barn. It’ll gimme time ta putt some britches on.
Course even city folk done knowed about fetchn up far-flys in a mason jar. But how bout thisn?
Take them babies out at midnight with a flash light to catch a locust comin out his shell. They clum about yay high up an elum then stretch way on back til theys hangin all catty-wampus mos down-side up. When they split the shell n’ first come out theys might near Neon Emraled Green. Theys wings is clum see-thru and afore they dry its gotta tiny drop of Crystal Clear Water thats justa slidin down them Fragi-ul Wings. Like a Diamond shinin in the flash light. add ta that theys got teeny eyes whats Bright Ruby Red.
Now ifn yalls reeaal careful you can fetch im in the house-put im on the winda screen. When mornin comes theyll have done turned brown and can now fly. But theyll mostly sit rat there on that screen and sing that catydid song for the young-uns awhile. then you fetch em back out doors and turn em aloose. But longs theys wet like at-you caint be a touchin no wings. It’ll crumple and theyd be crippled. I done told my Worker-buddy & mah Little Angel Rei that thems “Magic Green Fairys”.
Now this happens long about now in may till up past june n july. Yall gwan now and fetch your babies out. stayin up late one night wont harm en none n I promise you, they will neva- eva- forgit seein that or who done showed em it. an one thang more. the shells when they done make wonderful toy soldiers or dinosaurs n whatnot. The shells is stout enough to even hold paint if youve a mind to color em. Have fun. I done thunk of anuther song yall ul thank is the best song ever. Til You’ve Heard Them Sang. And the Songs spelt that way on the web site. Anybody can sing… but can yall SANG?
Southern Sayings”
“A dither” – what you get in when you get caught lying
“where the sun don’t shine” – where you hide your savings
“a damn fool” – your ex boyfriend
“knock you into next week” – what your mama could do with a flip flop
“Chile, please!” – Expressing disbelief at local gossip
“pass on” – what you do when CPR doesn’t work
“take a load off” – sit down
“pull up” what we do at the dinner table
“10 pounds of sugar in a 5 pound sack” – what you look like when your outfit is too tight
“a month of Sundays” – in a long time
So many more! Southerners are the best!!!
Just have to tell abou this Southern Girl teaching for a large technical firm up there in New Jersey and just teaching along and all of a sudden the entire class of 24 adult students whose company had paid $3000 for the weeks training burst into laughter for apparently no reason. I inquired as to why all the laughter and one of the men in the back of the room said, “What do you mean “You will have to lick your calf over?” ” Well, pitty more, here these grown folks had never had any cultural lesson and I had to take time out to give them a science lesson about how a poor mother cow has to lick her newborn to stimulate blood flow and clean the calf up and if she does not do a good job of it, “She has to lick her calf over!” Now seems to me anybody in their right might would a known that little tidbit of information. Be kind to yourself, ya’ hear!