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’m at least a fifth generation Georgian. The one I remember that I haven’t seen on here yet was about a lady who got very angry with her husband and “she jumped on him like a duck on a junebug”. I won’t ever forget that one. ;D
I love this wed site I stumbled up on it on Facebook. Some of the sayin’s I grew up with are, Too much for a nickle and not enough for a dime
My Mothers by words if she got aggravated about something ‘Well I’ll be John Brown’
If something seemed useless it was about as useful as a one-legged man at a butt kickin’
eggs were aggs
a sup up water
give me just a little pinch of that cake
full as a tick- after a big meal
‘tote them pokes of taters to the shed
stubborn as a mule
hotter than a whore ina pepper patch
mater-tomato tater- potatoe cold drank- soda pop
and you always had a pone of corn bread with your peas n taters
Just few that I could ‘rec-o-lect’ I am 57 yrs young and I love such as this. I was born raised and will die in North East Mississippi. I am proud of my simple heritage. By the way I was nearly 9 yrs old before we had indoor plumbing, remember well the ‘out-house with the Sears Roebuck catalog( which wasn’t for your reading pleasure) wouldn’t want to go back to those days but they helped me to be the strong willed person I am today.
I kin member tha outhouuses too but afore thar was sears an robuck catlogs thar was tha ole corn cobs an u usta use two red uns an one white un ta see ifin ya had done a good job.
I’m from georgia,I grew up in orlando, My mom and dad had a lot of ”sayings” but the one i remember the most is my Dad calling Lake harney ,” LAKE HORNEY” I grew up thinking it was ”LAKE HORNEY” You know the rest.In School,etc.
That little fellow knocked that big guy colder than a wedge.
That poor soul is deader than a door nail.
Deader than Kelso’s nuts.
I grew up in Georgia hearing
Raise down that window.
Having a car accident was having a wreck.
Go back yonder, and get that thing that is on top of the other thing and bring it in here. I never have understood how I managed to go to the right room and bring back the right thing but I always did.
My mother-in-law is from Kentucky (coal mining area). She never says she will think about something, she says she will study on it.
If I mis-behaved I was gonna be knocked into tomorrow.
When given directions I was told something was down the road apiece.
My Mawmaw’s recipes always called for a dab, pinch or smiggen of something. Tablespoons, teaspoons, cups etc were never a part of any of her recipes.
My PawPaw was a pastor so he never said he was going to do something without following it up with “If the Lord’s willing”
If someone was good at something “he takes to that like a duck takes to water”
Brown paper grocery bags were called pokes.
We never carried anything, we toted it.
Makes your butt feel like it’s sucking a persimmon seed.
I actually used to say that to my 3 sons – I promise you that I will “knock you into tomorrow”. haha
Also, I brought you into this world and I can take you right out!
That motherly love!
I grew up in Charlotte, NC but my Maw-Maw was born in Georgia & lived near Charleston SC most of her life. She said many of the words and phrases mentioned here. She puts an R on the end of most words that end in A – such as “I’m makin some Bananer Puddin for dinner” (of course, with no “g” on the end of pudding!) What they call “Dinner” is really lunch and dinner is called “supper”. And of course, she’s always “fixin” to do something! 🙂
She also calls blue jeans or casual work pants “dungarees”. Dressy pants, such as the ones Paw-Paw wore to church on Sunday morning are called trousers. A garden hose is called a “hosepipe” and a dish-cloth or wash-cloth is just a rag. An envelope is an “In-vel-op” (with an emphasis on all three syllables, LOL!) They would often have rice at every meal, even breakfast. And of course, fresh homemade biscuits were made everyday and most often served in a bowl eaten with a spoon because they were drenched with Staley’s Syrup.
Also, when I was a kid visiting the relatives in the low-country, I was always amazed and perplexed by the influence of what I now know as Gullah & Geechee dialects. Sometimes I could figure it out on my own but many times, I had to ask for translation from relatives who grew up there. Not only did they use words & phrases I didnt know, their pronunciation of common words was totally different than the rest of the Carolinas… for example, Rain would be pronounced as “Ray-en” and sugar cain was “sugar kay-en”).
My paternal great-grandmother (from upstate SC) always made corn-bread and soaked it in milk so that would also be served in a bowl and eaten with a spoon. My paternal grandmother (who grew up in Charlotte) used to put grape juice (the dark purple stuff from concord grapes) in her sweet tea but I never saw the relatives from the lowcountry do that.
My boyfriend is from Kentucky, and their family is nothing like our family- we kid him all the time and tell him that he’s not really Southern 😉
But seriously, in terms of comparing their family to mine, I find that the Applachian KY culture to be very different from the culture of the Central & Coastal Carolinas.
Hunt some “yonder”.