Southern Country Sayings
I just love all of our Southern country sayings 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 it always lights up with hundreds of contributions. It tickles everyone to talk about them and see what old Southern 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 favorite Southern sayings and learning a few new ones we might want to work into our vocabulary. So grab a sweet tea and settle in, y’all.
Favorite Southern Country Sayings
Butter my biscuit
“Butter my biscuit” is an iconic Southern phrase. Although we generally use it to impart surprise, you can get a lot of mileage out of it for other purposes as well.
Over yonder
When giving directions Southern-style, you’d say “over yonder”, meaning over there… somewhere.
Gone off your rocker
Someone who is crazy can be said to have gone off their rocker or possibly have gone around the bend. There’s no telling what they’re fixin’ to do. You might need to call the law on them if they get too rowdy. Don’t be afraid to give the station boys a ring, even if the miscreant is only knee-high to a grasshopper.
There are plenty of Southern folks who think they’re tough and lots of Northern types that say some mighty hurtful things about their countrymen. The best advice the South has for either one tends to be that if you’re going to be stupid, you’d better be tough as well.
Skint
People don’t go broke much in the South, they get skint instead. Most likely someone convinces them to do something for a Yankee dime. That’s also a kiss, just by the by, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. I also like, “He’s tighter than Dick’s hatband” for stingy people.
Y’all
You can’t very well do a piece about common Southern phrases without mentioning what has become, arguably, the most iconic piece of Bible Belt parlance: y’all. In the same way, many other contractions and accents have become part and parcel of the way the South speaks. If that ain’t true, then grits ain’t groceries and eggs ain’t poultry.
Fixin’ To
Another popular Southern expression is fixin’ to. If you’re fixin’ to do something, it means you’re getting ready and preparing to do it. Like I’m fixin’ to make some grits, y’all.
Automotive country sayings
Ain’t nothing more Southern than a good old stick-shift pickup, so I think that I’ll give you a few automotive selections before anything else.
- For instance, that thing you push to get the gas going is a foot feed.
- The dimwit that just passed you illegally is riding a hawg or Harley, not a motorcycle.
- If you got behind a slow driver, “That man must be haulin’ eggs.”
You may have seen people doing some foolish things on Southern country roads. That’s fine, they can stick their arm out the car window as long as they don’t cry when it gets knocked off. If they do, then to heck with them and the horse they rode in on.
Agricultural country sayings
It takes someone dumb as the turnip truck they fell off of not to know that Southerners are farmers by breeding, training, and choice. That means that you’re going to see a ton of agricultural terms thrown around in Southern slang. Someone might be stubborn as a mule, working like a horse, or plain old dog-tired after a long day.
If you need to work out a deal, it might be time to squat down on the horse blankets and hammer out all the bits that are finer than a frog’s hair. If you’ve got an idea of how to do something, you’ll probably have a bee in your bonnet about it. A little birdie might tell you something you would otherwise not know. If you’re doing something you’re good at, you’re either holding back or going hog wild.
“That girl is too scared to say boo to a goose.” Meaning she is just a scaredy cat. At least I think that is what it means. From my experiences with geese, they are “meaner than snake piss!” Speaking of geese: “You ain’t got the good sense God gave a goose.” Southern speak for calling someone dumb or stupid, sorry folks!
Another commenter mentioned, “I wouldn’t vote for him for dog catcher”. This meant it didn’t matter which office the candidate was vying for, he wasn’t worthy of being elected. If you got a job done quickly: “I got that job done before a cat could lick his hind end.”
Speaking of farming, you’ll need some soil to plow and real Southern parlance knows just where to come by it. It’s not uncommon to hear that if dumb were dirt, a particularly dull individual would be an acre or two. Feel free to adjust the field size to suit the individual in question. Some people need more than just an acre to really get your point.
I also can’t forget my favorite I use too often on Southern Plate: “Whatever cranks yer tractor.”
Bible Belt
Not for nothing is the South called the Bible Belt. Hang out there long enough and you are almost certain to hear a fair amount of religious terminology.
- 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 suffering a loss, you’d hug them and say, “bless your heart” as a show of compassion.
- Another catch-all phrase you are likely to hear before too long in the South is “Lord have mercy” in any of many different enunciations. It’s a hugely versatile term that can mean nearly anything if you give it the right inflection.
- “On God” to indicate commitment.
- “I’ll be there tomorrow if the Good Lord’s willing and the crick (creek) don’t rise” to limit that commitment. Meaning sometimes there weren’t bridges over creeks. If there had been heavy rain, the creek would cover the road and made it impassable.
- “From your mouth to God’s ears” to say you hope you will be able to fulfill that commitment nonetheless.
Angry country phrases
When people get angry, some of them throw a “hissy fit” or will be “madder than a wet hen.” Because y’all, when a hen is wet, it’s mad. Others will simply mutter “fiddlesticks” and move on. If you’ve really offended someone, chances are they’re fit to be tied. If so, just telling them not to get their britches in a wad is probably not going to cut it.
Foodie Southern sayings
Of course, we wouldn’t be doing justice to the American South if we didn’t mention its unique cuisine. The Southern kitchen is so important to its culture that some things have made their way from the kitchen range into normal conversations. If someone is starving to death in the dining room, you might want to brew them up something hot or give them a little something to tide them over.
If it’s hot out, don’t forget to offer them some coke. That’s any fizzy drink, not just the brand-name Coca-Cola. If you’re out in the fridge, remember to check in your cellar before heading off to buy more.
Family country sayings
Family is important in the Deep South too. As they say, Southern blood runs deep. You’ll be hard put to find even a single Southerner who can’t recall their grandparents asking for “some sugar.” That’s a kiss, for you Northern folks. There’s plenty of effort that goes into making sure that kids get brought up right.
FAQs
What is the most southern saying?
I think we can all agree that the most Southern slang is y’all.
What is a Southern greeting?
An old-fashioned Southern greeting some folks still use today is howdy.
What is Southern slang for tired?
A Southern way of saying I’m exhausted is “plum tuckered.”
That’s just a small selection of all the great Southern expressions that you guys have poured into this page. If y’all think I missed something, feel free to put your favorite country sayings in the comments section. If you see a term there that no one seems to understand, please, share your Southern pride and define it for us. Catch you later, hun. Bye now!
“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
I grew up with a farming background in rural Alabama. These are sayings from my grandpa and my dad and other relatives. When my dad was angry with someone he would say, “I’m gonna clean his plow” meaning he was going to get even. My grandpa used to say, “Every tub will sit on i’ts on bottom one day” meaning we are all responsible for what we do.
Another one was strange and I have looked it up and I have not found a meaning. It is the word “nuss.” I used to hear our grandma say, “All that baby wants you to do is nuss it all day long.” So i think the term must mean hold or pay attention to excessively. I think I have a cat like that now.
I belive nuss is a southern way of pronoceing nurse,like “All that baby wants you to do is nuss(nurse)it all day long
I agree with the “nurse” translation.
Hey, Carolyn, Nuss is Texan speake meaning “to Nurse ” as in nursing a baby in arms naturally LOL
I think “nuss” is “nurse”. All that baby wants you to do is nurse it all day long.
thanks for reminding me of this my Mother used the tell the little ones “come here and let Mam-Maw nuss you whlie Mama is busy” she would nuss them on her ‘lap’
Both sides of my family were from the South, so I grew up with “Southern Sayings”. However, my all-time favorite was when my g-uncle who hadn’t seen my oldest son for awhile and when he did, he said “That boy’s really done some growin’ – Y He’s gonna be big enough to go Bear Huntin’ with a switch before he graduates”
My grandmother used this phrase to tell you how she was feeling. As in “How are you today Grandma?”, her reply “I feel like I could go Bear Huntin with a switch!” She cracked me up ALL the time, I miss her somethin aweful, but glad she left me with some of these ‘Southernisms’
“well butter my butt and call me a biscuit!”
Never have heard this one before.
oh i like this one lol
I was born and raised in Texas and now live in South Dakota. Some of the things I say makes people here giggle, such as “fixin’ to” (or “fixin’ ter”), “out yonder,” “do you want a coke with that?” (coke meaning any soda or pop), and of course… “ya’ll”. there’s more, but I can’t think of them right now.
My Mama would say Oh for Pete’s sake, I never understood that saying because no one was named Pete in our family.
Lol!!
You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar!
I’m 70 and my grandmother died at age 84 in the 1960’s. She had been born in Texas but her people (there’s a Southern expression right there) were from Kentucky. She used “hoped” as the past tense of “to help,” as in “He hoped him with the fence.” I understand that this is an old form that was used in England and later in the Appalachians. I’m curious whether there are still pockets of people who use it.
Yes there are people who still use that term right here in N. Georgia
There are people in East Texas who still use “hoped” for “helped”. There are parts of East Texas that seem more like Appalachia than Texas. I hate to see the distinctive and colorful ways of talking become homogenized. My relatives put an “r” on names which ended in vowels. Annna was Anner, Nina was Niner, and so on.
I heard this word used in Brookhaven, MS, by a person whose family had been in that area for generations. The whole family used “hoped” for “help”.
I was 14 years old and heard an old man, as we rode together in a truck past a local school, say “I hoped build that school”…I did a double-take and asked him what he said and he repeated the same thing. I queried my Dad when I got home about it…He replied “A lot of the old-timers say that…” That was in the late 60’s.