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
Related posts:
Posted by Christy Jordan
on May 10 2010. Filed under Misc, Southern Classics.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
“sh*t or got off the pot” referring to when u r behind some slow ass who’s driving in the fast lane.
Sorry, that’s, “sh*t or git off the pot”
(stupid auto correct)
tee-hee-hee, I usually hear this one when decided wither or not to go someplace…
Bull butter! (beats saying bullsh*t)
When someone would come up on the porch, or knock on the door, my Dad would call out “Come on in here and see how fer you got”. He used the word “druckly” a lot for “directly”. (You go on and I’ll be there druckly). When he learned something new or got aggravated he would say, “Well cuss my chickens”. Instead of saying he took a short cut, he would say he took a “near cut”.
Live in North Alabama
“Come an sit rite cheer”…a favorite of my son’s great grandfather…rural south Alabama.
I guess they are just as happy as if they had good sense. My grandmother would say this when she disapproved of what someone was doing.
I have 2:
#1> A neighbor of mine has asked newcomers “Are you from off?” and *WE* know what she means, but they look at her like she’s crazy. She’s asking them if they’re natives or moved here from another state/place. I use it now too…
#2> After I get off the phone with someone, or say I’ve run into an old friend my mother asks “well, what’d they ‘laow?” (pronounced luh-ouw) Meaning, “what did they allow”, or what did they say? I hadn’t spoken to a freind’s mother in a while & afte rhe hung up the phone with her I asked him “well, wha’d she laow?”…he’s from here…in my neighborhood…he had *NO* idea what I asked him. UGH! He’s lived up north too long!
“hep” = help
“bidness” = business
“madder’n a hornet” – extremely angry
“talk the ears off a mule” or “talk water upstream” = someone who talks too much
“run to the store” = going to the store (but not physically running)
“shore nuf” = sure enough
“pig in a poke” = a poke is a bag, but I’m still not sure what this phrase means
“buggy” = shopping cart
“set yr’self down and chaw a while” = sit and visit/talk
“Mary passed” = means Mary died (after which they will have her “layin out”)
“what’cha been doin? Narry a thing. Its hotter’n blue blazes.” = What have you been doing? Nothing. It’s too hot
“Katy bar the door” = unless someone stops you from doing something you’ll do it
Missy,
I am a transplanted Tennessean in Nebraska who was searching the site for fried corn recipes when I came across your post. I do happen to know the origin of the “pig in a poke” saying. One is told never to buy “a pig in a poke.” If someone had the bag with an obviously squirming animal inside, you might believe it was a pig. Once the seller had your money and handed you the bag, he or she might run off before you found out it was a possum or some other undesirable animal. So, make sure you see it first!
I think pig in a poke means like buying something you aren’t really sure about…or can’t see…because its in a bag….
“Pig in a Poke” to my understanding, this means buying something sight unseen, you have no idea just how good or how bad it will be until you actually open the “poke”.
“well… now isn’t that just simply special”…. or the worst insult on the planet… that sounds so incredibly sweet…. “Dora thought the dress was the right one for the service, bless her heart!”
One of my father-in-laws favorite expressions was ”he was so cross eyed he could stand in the middle of the week and see both Sundays”
My mother would say that someone with no ambition was “walking like they had dead lice falling off of them”.
She called sweet potatoes “tune strings” because they gave you gas.
And one of my favorites – “if a frog had wings, he wouldn’t bump his butt a-hoppin’”.
My mother used to say, “He hadn’ hit a lick at a snake in a month” for someone who was lazy.
One my late husband used to say about Southerners…”We treat you so many ways down South, you’re bound to like some of them”.
My husband has a saying when we are getting ready (fixin’) to go somewhere: “Don’t worry about the mule, just load the wagon”. Meaning, hurry up and load everything up so we can get on the road!
My dad from Ark. used to say—As worthless as a tit on a boar
I’m from the Texas-Oklahoma border. I’m used to country talk – I try not to speak it so much, but with a country boy for a husband – it’s inevitable. We say that we’re fixin’ to do stuff, y’all. My friends say that they “seen” something happen at the grocery store, which means Wal-Mart, most of the time. There are a lot of prepositions at the end of sentences, “Where you goin’ to?” We like to go down yonder and pick peaches and apples and watch yer step for snakes.
My uncle used to tell us to “Wash up as far as Possible and then wash Possible”
From Arkansas…….. When you can’t believe something that was said- “well, shut my mouth wide open!”
If someone thinks they are better than you, they’ve got ” the big head.”
When the biscuits did not rise, my husband’s granny would say, “they squated to rise and died in the squat”
If someone is always complaining about things, my mom would say “they’ed complain if you hung them with a new rope!”
In Mississippi, “the big head”, means somebody is bragging on you and it makes you so proud you’re “head swells”.
When someone asks my husband “How are you doing”, he always says,
“Finer than frog hair split three ways”.
I say “fine as frog hair, twice as silky”
I still love ;Give me some sugah ; ( a kiss ) , I’ll pay you a Yankee dime to do this for me ( a Kiss ) ; nervous as a long-tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs; Being in high cotton( good crop means more money);Ya’ll means 1 person or everybody lol ; go fall in a hole ( go away ) living high on the hog ( spending alot/ wealthy) Fatter than a tick on a hound dog ( fat ) ; so lazy flies won’t fly away; calling EVERY soda a coke even pepsi or grape ;when pigs fly ( never gonna happen ); I’m from MS and there way more, really too many to list lol
“Y’all” means more than one person, at least two. No one I know say’s “y’all” when talking to one person.
“All y’all” means a large group.
“Summers” is what people in Arab, AL say for “somewheres” which itself is wrong…
“Might near” means almost.
“It’s paining me some” means “It hurts a right smart.”
“A right smart” means a fair amount, a good little bit. “It hurts a right smart.”
“Thow” means “throw” and is pronounced with a long “O”.
“Afore” means “before.”
“Tetched” means crazy.
“Kyurse”, Southern for “curious,” itself Southern for odd or strange person.
“Fur piece” means “great distance”
“In a minute” means “Whenever I feel like it.”
“You don’t mean it” means “I don’t believe it.”
“New York minute” means very fast.
“Slower’n molassy” means very slow.
“Sawgum” means sorghum.
“Is that right?” means “I rather doubt you on that.”
“Fillin’ station” means full-service gas station.
“Five and dime” is a discount store.
“Down,” “over,” “out,” and “up,” are all used to indicate a direction something lies in relation to you…and they don’t have to have anything to do with where the something actually is. For instance, in Alabama, Texas is definitely either “over” or “out” there, but you are just as likely to hear someone say “down Texas way.” From Alabama, Kentucky is most certainly “up” but I have heard it called “down” and “over.”
One of the best Southernisms is when people give travelling directions to someone, and they actually say “You turn left where the old Jenkins place was before it burned down.” That one works REAL well on people who never knew the Jenkins’.
She’s busier than a one-legged cat in a sandbox!
My dad’s voicemails always say he hasn’t heard from me in “a month of Sundays”..which I guess means a long time
As kids when we did something bad
Ugly as home-made sin
I grew up in south Mississippi down a dirt road in the woods
I’m so hungry I could eat a lard sandwich settin’ in the outhouse.
Having children is like being pecked to death by chickens.
If you wanna’ fight me you better bring a lunch and a flashlight. When someone had a bad night and a hangover – I feel like I been et by a bear and s*it over a cliff.
And my all-time favorite from my sweet Granny May: He’s just like a goose, he wakes up in a new world every day (not too bright).
My Momma used to say ” Busy as a one legged man in a azz kickin contest “
“If frogs had wings, they wouldn’t bump their asses when hopping.” Don’t tell me southerners ain’t smart folk!
My great-grandma used to say “that boy is so lazy, he gets up with nothing to do and it will only be half done when he goes to bed”
My grandmother would say “She was born tired and never got rested up”
If you were in trouble you would have to” go round by Laura’s house”.
She lead her ducks to poor water, means she didn’t marrie well.
Busier that a 3 legged bird dog.
Well he will just have to lick his calf again, means he didn’t do it right the first time, so he will have to do it again. ( my father in law had to explain that one to me)
I wasn’t born in the south but I got her as soon as I could. I am originally from NY we moved her when I was 11, but I have alway consider myself to be southern. I love the south where people respect there Mamma’s and men hold the door for women. You are raised to have manners, and an old friend will alway ask hows your mom and them.
“That (boy) couldn’t find his own ass with two hands and a flashlight,” meaning (he) doesn’t have a “lick of sense.”
I grew up in southwestern Oklahoma near the Texas – Oklahoma border – not far from Vernon, Texas and Amarillo, Texas. My Daddy was from southern Indiana near Lexington, KY, so I have quite a collection of “Southern Sayings”.
When I would ask my Daddy for some change to get a “Coke” (meaning any kind of carbonated soft drink) or something, he would always say, “As soon as I find a nickel in a pig’s track on the moon.” He was a generous man, but I think he just liked to say that to me.
Another one I heard a lot in Oklahoma was when someone was “just wore out”, they’d say, “I feel like I been rode hard and put away wet.” This of course refers to a horse that’s been ridden far and hard and not been cooled down and groomed afterward. I made the mistake of saying it in front of some Minnesotans (I now live in St. Paul, MN) at my job once and they thought it was a “dirty” expression and were very surprised that I would say something like that. I tried to explain what it meant and that coming from ranching country, it was commonly used by just about everybody from cotton farmers to bank presidents, but they just didn’t get it. I was so embarrassed that they would interpret it in the way they did and would never have guessed that anyone would think of it like that. They teased me about it for a long time, and I still “smart” when I think about it.
I just love the richness of our “Southern lingo” and all the things you have on your website, recipes especially. This summer I have made your Pulled Pork, Patriotic Trifle, Blueberry Cobbler, Peach Cobbler, Pimento Cheese Spread and Fried Okra! (Not quite as good as Moma’s, but close!) I actually found some fresh Okra at the local Farmer’s Market!
Lovin’ my Southern Raisin’!
Brenda
From my relatives in and around North Alabama.
“He wouldn’t work in a pie factory tasting pies” — lazy.
“I’ll be John Brown!”or “I’ll be switched!” — I’ll be darned
“Lots worse things than running in single harness” — Being in a bad relationship is much worse than not having one at all.
“They’ve got the ‘bound to’s and that’s worse than the ‘can’t help its.’” — you’ll have to think about that one yourself.
“Them kids have a bad case of the ‘let dos.’ They’ve been ‘let do’ any way they want to!” — self-explanatory.
“Flip!” — Oh, crap — or similar.
“It’s cold as a well digger’s butt outside!”
“It’s cold as blue blazes outside!”
“I feel like two cents with a hole punched in it!” — I feel lousy.
“He oughta have been hanged when a sweet potato vine woulda done the job!”
“He can dip his own plate.” — an old one meaning someone can fix their own plate of food at suppertime.
“It’s rumblin’ over there in Pete’s mudhole.” — when you hear distant thunder
“Looks like it’s fairing off.” — Looks like the sky is clearing up.
“Come up a cloud” — about to rain
Love the ones that have previously been posted!
Happy as a skunk in a dumpster.
This is so good if you dont watch it your toung will beat you brains out before you get it eat
And don’t forget the most common Famous Last Words anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line:
“Hey, y’all! Hold ma beer and watch this!”
Dumb as a box of rocks.
So poor we ain’t got a pot to p*ss in or a window to pour it out of.
That there boy is about one french fry shy of a Happy Meal (said of someone who isn’t carrying a full sea bag, playing with a full deck, or just otherwise as a few bricks shy of a load. In other words, as dumb as a sack of hammers).
You-uns
We-uns
Us-uns
“You-uns goin’ to Walmarts? Us-uns are stayin home…(always make Walmart plural)
Fint’n to (getting ready to)
“It’s a rainin a gullywusher out there” or “It’s a frog strangler”
Stubborn as a billy goat
Wild as a banshee
Y’all (a taught noun)
From Oklahoma. Not quite “the South” but just a smidgen away! More to come!
Colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra.
Colder than a well digger’s ass in the Klondike.
When someone asks you for something…”Well, you can sh*t in one hand and want in the other and see which one fills up first.”
Lawsey me….kinda like Lordy me.
Not the brightest bulb in the box…meaning not too smart
His elevator don’t go all the way to the top..meaning a bit crazy
He’d argue with a sign post…an argumentative person
I’m so poor I can’t even pay attention.
My sisters mother-in-law would say about someone speaking with a different accent than us, “I think their from summers else”, meaning they aint from around here!
That’s as fine as frog’s hair.
Ev’er now ‘an then, even a blind hog finds an akern. (acorn)
Dat durn man ain’t worth doodley squat.
Dat feller mus’ be touched in da head.
Until I find more time, I’m gonna give it a lick ‘n a promise.
Git outta dat bed and quit playin’ possum.
Hearing dat you los’ yer dog jus’ tore me up!
She missed school becuz her bowels were locked in the open position.
Dat gal looked like she wuz rode hard and put up wet.
Once he heard his momma callin’, he was outta here like greased lightnin’.
If chickens had lips, they’d whistle. (original)
Dat boy was crookeder than a snake.
Dat chile was crazy as a betsy bug.
You’re gonna be late, unless you skeedaddle.
“Pop”( coke, pepsi…) or my favorite ” I wanna a dope.” (coke) I hadnt even heard of such a thang in my life but Im not as ole as the gal that said that ta meh. “Kinda, sorta, maybe”. “Y’all get hitched”(Did you get married). “Get the led outta feet and come own” (Move faster) “When pigs fly” (never). Seeing how Im from TN I could go on and on but fur some reason I just cant fur the life of me thank of any more off hand
Oh bout furgot, ” Its getting dark out so lets catch some lighting bugs” ( its a real bug that lights up at night but some northern people have never seen or heard of them)
“Tump over” as in “The groceries tumped over on the way home from the store.”. or “Be careful! You’ll tump over.”
I say “Shoot a monkey!” instead of …. Well…..whatever. My grandchildren have been told not to say it “cause it’s cussin!”
Love reading these!
A mouth full of cotton (describing a hangover)
Coke. Pepsi, etc called ‘soft drinks’
crookeder than a barrel of snakes= a cheat, he left like a bat outta hell =he left in a hurry. he ain’t got a pot to piss in and no where to throw it= he doesn’t have anything or is a worthless person. I ain’t gone go =I’m not going, he’s sweet on her =he likes her (as for a girlfriend), take this to grandma and don’t stop with Tom,Dick and Harry. = take this to grandma and don’t waste time chatting with anyone. give that pot some elbow grease= scrub the pot well. Hi you?= how are you.
“Ice box” (instead of fridge, refrigerator of even Fridgidare) has still been in use by our country cousins. Though I never used an ice box, I try to use these old familiar terms on occasion. I’m proud of my country heritage and it seems a “crying shame” for the language — And the recipies — to be lost. “Tote” as in “Tote these grocery bags to the kitchen for me.” is another one I’ve not seen on the list.
Keep ‘em coming!
I grew up from Michigan, but all my family was from the south so I heard things like… wears my belt? Go get me a switch! Or go git my whip…with 10 kids in the family, we heard this alot. And… Well, shit the bed an roll in it.. for something heard or seen that was unbelievable. “Ya awnt to” Instead of, do you want to? My family lived in the “Bible belt” of the south. So cussin wasn’t aloud. But making moon shine was. My grandma was a midwife and delivered all the babies in her town, cause there was no Doctor. There would be 3 or 4 generations of people living in one house and the men worked and brought home the bacon or crops for all to share. No one in my dad’s generation ever made it past the 8th grade…some only elementry school… but yet they provided for thier families without welfare help. I’ve retired to Kentucky now, and I love to stand in line at a gas station or Walmart, and hear how nice and pleasent people talk to each other. Yes maam, is always said to the ladies. The women are called Miss Donna, or Miss Ruth…etc. I live in a dry county so the high school kids hang out in the Walmart parking lot, instead of getting into trouble with drinking and driving. Our movie theater only show’s family oriented shows. There is lots of history behind all the old buildings. And lots of Small town support for every activity that’s going on. Being in the south, no matter how funny they talk, or how cute the sayings are… is the greatest place to be.
I’m from southern Indiana and I have heard a lot!!
*Since we was knee high to a grass hopper – time frame for knowing someone a long time
*Y’all come back now!
*like sh*t on stink
*Screw me sideways, running through a cornfield, on a Sunday
*Can’t beat a dead horse
*That dog won’t hunt
*goose pimples – aka cold chills
*she sure do wear that well – meaning clothes are too tight lol
*colder than a welldiggers ass
*hotter than satan’s asshole
*sumb*tch – aka son of a b*itch
*broke as a joke
*Ice is pronouced as “ass”
*hornier than a toad
*ig’nant – ignorant
*feeble minded – not all there
I think that is all I can think of, but when I talk to my Nana I will probably remember more!
Add to your list
Looks like its been hit by an ugly stick
Less sense than God promised a butter-bean
Not the sharpest tool in the tool box
Mind like a closed book
When some action is of no value my grandmother said it wasn’t worth a rat’s ass. (Being from north Mississippi my father said he was 21 before he learned that ‘damn Yankee” was two words.)
*Ya’unt to – you want to
*don’t make no…- doesn’t make any
*dumber than a doorknob
*one M&M away from holy hell! – reference to a larger person (mean, but I have heard people say it)
*one fry short of a happy mean, one taco short of a combo meal, not the sharpest tool in the shed, touched in the head, sp’acial – all meaning a person is stupid
My girlfriend from Alabama used to say “tastes so good make you wanna slap yo Mama!”
when some one didn’t understand what my husband was trying to explain, he would say “plain as a goat’s butt going up a hill.