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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When i was a little girl growing up in rural North Carolina, my Daddy would say he was going to “see a man about a dog.” I kept wondering when he was ever going to bring that dog home.. (He never did! lol)
That was back when gentlemen had manners….most seem to have lost that attractive trait.
I’m from East Tennessee, my Daddy would say that too !!!
I have a few to add that I don’t know will fly…but here goes…
” I swan! Your as cute as a speckled puppy!”
“It’s rainin’ like a cow peein’ on a flat rock!”
“I tell ya, catchn’ up with you is like chasn’ a mouse round a barrel of swiss cheese!”
“Yeah, he sure did get beat with an ugly stick early on…”
“Like a piss ant totin’ a biscuit” (carrying a large load)
“Ifn’ he ain’t fit to be tied I don’t know what is!” (upset)
One more, “What ‘choo followern me for? I ain’t got no oats in these bags!” As if your were a mule and he was carrying bags of oats! Too funny! I love being from the south and my family from the mountains, “got it double bad!” I do declare…I think I will pen a book called, “Southern Charms – Speakin’ of the South…”
I am from North Carolina myself, and my daddy said the same thing..
My Daddy used to say the same thing or sometimes it was a chicken about a horse or a cow about a pig – I guess whatever animals came to mind.
And – my uncle used to ask my brother upon seeing him: “Been sucking any eggs? killin any sheep? I guess he didn’t like my brother too much…
If Dad was sick he’d say he was “swelled up like a poisoned pup”! Eww!
He looks like he has been rode hard and put away wet!
I am a day late and a dollar short.
My grandma likes to say ” kiss my grits”.
My father-in-law, who was quiet the character, would say “if you told her to haul butt she’d have to make two loads. My Husband say’s “she’d make a train take a dirt road” when discribing someone who is unattractive.
My mama would give advice about handling mean folks….”I’d just stomp a mud hole in him and walk it dry.”
When you’re stiff and sore you’re “All stoved up”. As in being as stiff as a stove pipe.
i never understood what that meant either! “Seeing a man about a dog” i’ve also heard “Going to see a man about a horse”
When my mama or Grandma says it it means….going somewhere it none yalls business
And don’t dare ask…LOL
My Granddaddy used to tell me he had to “go see a man about a dog,” when he stepped behind the shed to answer the call of nature. In other words, “I’ve got business to attend to and you can’t go!”
I live in Alabama so I have an endless supply but the two I’ve heard lately are ” Its so hot im’ma bout to fall out” translation- its so hot that im about to faint or pass out. Next one is ” Take a gander at them feller” translation-Check out that guy.
My Grandmother used to say if I had a tummy ache – ” you are billious”
I’m from Cairo, the very southern tip of Illinois. bordering Kentucky and Missouri. I have many sayings. One of my favorites is, “It’s hotter than 2 fat babies on a Saturday afternoon” meaning it is very hot outside.
that’s cute. i wonder how many ppl realize that you don’t live in a place called as the place in egypt, but a place that is called as karo syrup. i haven’t heard that sayin’ in a long time. mostly from my caruthersville family.
Common in Georgia:
….Thirsty as a toad
….Quit tormentin’ her (accent on “ment”: stop teasing)
….Be still! (shut up; more politely “Hush!”; the latter also frequently used as a self-denigratory “Aw, shucks”)
….Stop yore fussin’ or, more sternly, “Leave off with yore fussin” (whining or crying)
….Like to have a conniption fit OR Like to have kittens (riled up)
….I don’t care if I do (nauthuners say “I don’t mind if I do”)
….Sister or Brother Taylor, Miss Nancy or Mr Jeff: varying degrees of formality of address
. ..Well, foot! or My Foot! mild swear word
….Happier than a pig in s***
….He sticks to her like white on rice (other variations not so polite)
….Machine = a car
….Foot feed = accelerator on a car
….Can’t find his way outta paper bag
We call our saying Louisisms after our Mama who’s speech was full of them. Here are a few. Put your brains in a gnat and it couldnt fly. You don’t have the sense God gave a goat. Lord that boy (or girl) is dumber than a box of rocks or a bag of hammers.
My mama would say,” smooth as goat lips”, meaning something that was easy to do!
Some old Florida sayins’ was: She’s (or he’s) fine as frog hair! (good lookin’) and I like ta got bear caught! (almost dropped from getting too hot)
I grew up in SOWEGA (SW Georgia). On a good day, we used to respond to “Hey, hi are ya” (Hi, how are you?) with “Finer ‘n frawg’s hair split three ways.” (fabulous!). My other favorite was: “Is ya et yet?” (Have you eaten yet?) with the response, “Naw’shoooo?” (No, have you?) : )
I love to ask women if their husbands are any count. This is a very regional Southern saying that until recently I thought the whole world understood. I am not asking if your husband is an accountant. I am asking if they are worth their salt. Or if they worth a hoot. Or if they ever hit a lick at a snake. Can you see what I am saying?
I smell what you’re steppin’ in!
I haven’t heard ‘ain’t no count’ in a very long time! My Mamaw used to say that one quite often. There’s another one….calling your grandparents “Mamaw” or “Papaw”. They were both as Southern as you could get, I miss them so!
My dad always said “if it a bin a snake it’d a bit you” (when you can’t find something in front of your face). One of my favorites when he was exclaiming was “my stars and garters”. He was from Birmingham, Alabama and his pet names when refering to my brother and me was “the house apes or jam spreaders”. It was always funny to me how; when I did something good I was younger and if I did something bad I was older…I really miss him.
They’re so ugly, they would run a haint up a thorn bush!
One of my Grandpas was “useless as tits on a bull”.
My sweet granny (who was “Granny Millie” to everybody who knew her) used to say: I tell you one thang, anybody ever messes with one a my grandbabies, I’ll light into them like a circle saw!
“Well Kiss my Grits”
The one that everyone is talkin about “goin to see a man about a dog” pretty much meant he was goin to use the bathroom.
My dad used to ask you after you had been to someones house ” what was he/she allowin? It meant what were they up too, been going, allowing to happen, etc.
She is madder than a wet hen…..thats really mad.
He’s slower than smoke off of cold dog poop ( except the other word)….that was really slow..
Variations of the word “There”
-Up Par
-Down Nar
-Ov Var
-In air
-Yonder
Going to see about a dog is what you say when you are going anywhere that you don’t want to disclose in the current forum. Not so much a bathroom break. Most of the time I hear it, they are going to a friends house to imbibe.
Yes, Skillethead, that is what it always meant to the “menfolk” when I grew up. They were goin somewhere to get a drink – usually moonshine seein as how everywhere we lived was “dry”.
You need that like a pig needs a side saddle. You’re as useless as tits on a boar. that face would stop a freight train. If you are shocked by what someone says it was” well shut my mouth.”
My daddy (South Carolina) met my mother (Indiana) while going to school in Indiana. On their first date, he told her he was “going to carry her home with him”. She just thought he was going to take her home, but he meant that he was going to marry her and take her back to the south (and he did).
A couple sayings we grew up saying:
“Cut out the light”
“Right quick” (As in I’m going to get something in the kitchen right quick”)
“Your family tree was a stump”
“She hit every branch on the ugly tree on her way down”
“Right chere” (right here)
My favorite is still how we give directions here in the south. It’s never by street names, but instead landmarks (even ones that are only landmarks to those that know them!). I can’t tell you how many times I have told people to turn on the street across from the white house in the curve. Ah, good times!
And of course we are constantly correcting “yankees” (haha) on how to say different town names.
Yes, and my father-in-law still says things like “take the rabbit trail” when he is giving directions. I think that means that it is a narrow road and may or may not be paved.
Well I too have many but fixin to go somewhere or fixin todo something is 1 of many. Several are here already. I was born in Mississippi and lived there 10 yrs. before moving to Florida, Gulf Coast.
My Daddy always had plenty of southern charm. One of my favorite sayings of his was “I’m hotter than a 2 dollar pistol been fired all day”. It’s a favorite of mine.
As a child I had a tendency to flop down into a chair and sprawl. My mother ached for me to sit like a lady. I must have heard her reminder a million times….”Your knees are buddies, and buddies stick together.”
That is enough to gag a maggot.
This is the first time I have heard anyone but my mom say “oh, foot!” (or “my foot”, meaning “I don’t believe it”). She grew up in Galveston. Other ones were “Good night shirt” (mild curse word), “She’s gonna have a set of dishes”, and “uglier than homemade sin”.
We said “oh, foot” all the time – still do! only it means a milder form of oh, s%&t! LOL
I’ve grown up in Southern Ohio. Many people here are second generation migrant families from the south who came here for jobs. Many of these sayings are common even here in S. Ohio. Many have southern accents, including me lol.
I remember making several trips to the Cleveland Clinic in northern Ohio and when you get up past Columbus, the accents really change and you are dealing with “northerners.”
When I talked whether at a gas station or a restaurant, I would get double takes and stares. Like they knew I wasn’t “from” there lol
I would really like to move back to at least Kentucky.
One thing that they say in Kentucky is they ask you if you are from the right side or the wrong side of the river (Ohio River).
They also say that in Mississippi but the river is “The Big Black”
Even though I grew up in Mississippi, I married a Navy man and spent 17 years in southeast Virginia, where both my kids were born. When hubby retired in 2000, we moved back here and my kids had to learn “southern-ese”! One of the funniest was when a friend of my daughter’s had brought a carton of milk from the cafeteria at lunch (sorry, dinner!), and on the bus ride home she was going to drink it. She took a sniff, and asked my daughter, “smell this and tell me if it’s rurnt”. My daughter couldn’t for the life of her figure out what this child was trying to get her to do!! LOL!! She knew she was concerned about the quality of this milk, but was it “spoiled”?, was that it?!?!? She told me about it when she got home and asked me what “rurnt” meant…. I laughed till I cried! I told her it meant “ruined”, or as she knew it “spoiled”. This beautiful little country angel remained a close friend of my daughter’s until she was killed in an auto accident at 19. My daughter will always have so many fond memories of her southern charm and all the stories from the bus!
I am from North Carolina and I always liked, “Well, I’ll be a suck egg mule”, “He has enough money to make a wet mule burn”` and my mama’s favorite, “Well, I swanee.”
Both of my parents were from North Carolina(Sparta),and I’ve been raised in Md.,but I was raised Southern.I remember Dad used to say “Wipe your face off”,meaning if we were pouting,stop it.I used to hear a lot of these sayings.One of the ones I’ve heard Dad say is “I’m gonna beat your brains out”,If he was mad. He would say,”Take this poke,and set it ther”,meaning take the bag,and put it down.
Mom would say “Over younder”Your as dumb as a stick”"Your a pain,but I can’t see through ya”We we all “Yung’uns”"I declare”,and I’ve even said “Bull’s foot
A lot more comes to mind,but I know you don’t want a book,so I’ll just hush. Also, “I wasn’t born last night”,meaning I don’t believe you(both parents)
My Dad also said at supper,”I’m gonna make a long nose and reach”Also,I’ve heard” I’m so hungry,my stomach thinks my throat got cut”. And also “I gotta pee so bad,my teeth are floating”
We always called grown-ups Sir and Ma’am,and also this older lady “Aunt Ulla”,but she was no relation to us.I am very allergic to cabbage(can you believe that)? and when Mamma would “fix” it,she would say”Louise go out and play.and I was always the last to eat,after she took it off the table.
In the summer,she would give each of us kids(5 in all) a 5gallon pail,tell us to go pick blackberries.She then would fix the berries in a glass of milk,put sugar in,and mash the berries in the milk.So pretty,and tasty. She also would boil the berries,put sugar in,and when they were cooked just right,she would make dumplings,and drop them in.She called it “Blackberry Cobbler”. Since I grew up,I looked for her recipe,but every cobbler recipe would have a crust and baked in the oven.Mom made it on top of the stove.
I love your blog & your cookbook. Both of my parents (& most of my family) are from Alabama. Whenever my mom hears a loud noise like someone dropped something she would ask “Did you drop your diamond?” & if we were bugging her for some new toy or something she would say “Want in one hand & poop in the other and see which one fills up the fastest” (as we got older she would use a different word for poop). If we ever complained about wanting time to hurry up & make Christmas or some other special day come faster she would tell us “You are just wishing your life away”. And two other favorites said if we were misbehavin, “I am gonna smack you into the middle of next week”, mom said this one or “I am gonna beat you like a red-headed step child”, was Dad’s. The last 2 must have worked because we kids were never beaten like that but I wondered where the red-headed step child lived as I never knew we had one. I have no idea of the origin of any of these either.
In my neck of the woods (georgia), you’ll hear…
-When my grandpa needed us to bring him something, he always said “fetch”
-We cook a “whole mess” of something…fish, beans, corn, etc.
-”Ain’t got a pot to piss in & a window to throw it out of”
-”Got a Hankerin’ for” – craving/want for something in particular
-quit “pullin’ her leg”
I used to crack up when my Grandpa would tell my brother that he was “about as sharp as a rat turd” – he was the only person I’ve ever heard use that expression.
I’m from southeast Ohio, very near WV, and I heard my Grammy and my Daddy say nearly all these things at some time, or many times! Love reading these, brings back good memories.
@Pinterestless, I can sure see what you’re sayin! I’ve had three husbands ain’t no ‘count at all, and while I’ve never hit a lick at a snake, I remember many times growing up my old show horse hittin a pretty good lick during a class.
My Daddy still says – “I don’t have a dog in that fight” but then usually continues but if you want my opinion……
My Nana used to tell my sister and I, “Go light someplace.” This was to tell us to settle down and sit still when we were running around and driving her nuts. My Mamaw used to talk about her father as a “workabrickle” In her area, it meant a lazy good for nothing. I’ve since seen that it was a term for someone who worked really hard. That wasn’t my great grandfather according to her.
)
Ok, well we have some good ole East Texas sayings like……….”I don’t care if it hair lips the Pope!”, “nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”, “do what?”, “fixin to”, and “Y’ont to?”. My grandmother always told us “now y’all play pretty!” and anything upside down to my Daddy is “bottom uppards” LOL!
My husband is northern born and raised (Toledo, OH). I am southern born and raised (middle Tennessee). My husband says things I never heard before “Going to talk to a man about a horse”, “Taking the browns to the superbowl”, “going to make some corn puddin’”…lol
You know you are southern when you call your husband “daddy” HA! I remember my dad’s aunt and uncle (whom I called Granny and Pappy) would be sitting at the dinner table. Granny would shout “Daddy! Come on and lets eat!” It sounded more like “Diddy! Come own! Lets uheat!”
My Great-grandmother taught me to measure days/weeks like this: This coming Monday is “Monday Coming”. The Monday after that is “Monday Week”. The Monday following that is “Monday Two”, and the one after that is “Monday Three” and so forth and so on.
Also, she would get to a task “dreckly” (directly). If something was difficult it was like “pulling hair on a fish”. “Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise” was a caveat she added when she said she would do something.
“Reach me down” meant to get something off the upper shelves for her.
A “rizen” is a boil or pimple.
A dull person or party-pooper is a “bump on a pickle”.
She had several levels of formality for occasions: Ever’day (casual), Sunday or Sunday Mornin’ (dressed nicely, no denim, no shorts, no bare midriffs, no torn anything), Sunday Come A’ Meeting (dressed formally. Suits, tailored dresses. Nothing flashy, nothing sparkly, suitable for funerals), and Sunday Social (formal again, this time highly fashionable, sparkly). If your Sunday Social dress was especially haute couture then you could safely say you dress would “set the town afire”.
Where I come from in SC, my mom always said these:
Last night it came a gulley washer, which means a lot of rain.
Hollow over younder and the best was riding in our car,she would say, look in the back foot and hand me so & so. Back foot meaning floor of vehicle.
Born and raised in the South now live in Tn. Here is a few My family always are spitting out; I’ve taken a preachers seat-when ones falling or tripped,…Youens as useful as buttens on a dishrag…Iam goona slap the fire outa youens-grandmas angry at us,about to use a stick…well butter my biscuits-amazed…argue with a fence post-stubern….that dog won’t hunt-dont believe ones story…gonna talk to a man about a cow-means going somewhere wheres its none ya buisness.
Not sure if either of these have been said yet, but we’re from “LA” as in Lower Alabama/northwest Florida where country is the only way too be. My family always said, among other things:
“It’s a toad strangler out there!” (Referring to a torrential downpour)
“It made my butt wanna squeeze a lemon!” (Referring to a sudden scary moment where you ‘tense’ up)
“He/She didn’t know what gear to put that in!” (Referring to leaving someone speechless)
Love being a Southern girl!
I also forgot to add:
“I can’t talk. I’m in a cornfield” (Can’t talk because you don’t want the “ears” around you to hear)
“Stretch a mile if I didn’t have to walk back”
O my!!! Yall talk’n like this takes me back to the time of us youngn’s. I miss those times…and the people who made them special. I was born and raised in W. Tn. (Paris) and my Granddaddy used to say, when asked ‘how are you doing today? His answer was “OOO TOL-BLE WELL.” It took years for me to figure out he was saying ‘tolerable.’ I grew up with many of these sayings and still repeat them myself. Thank you all for bringing back those memories.
Just as I posted the other saying, I remembered another one I heard a lot. When I was just a little guy playing…if I fell for any reason,my Grandma used to say ‘come here and I will help you up.’