Folklore: favorite southern US expression

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Beccy
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 03:11 PM

Well, I don't know how common these expressions are, but my Grandmpa was from West Virginia and he said them frequently... so into the southern expressions category go:

"Well, shave my legs and call me smoothy."

"Well, flap my gums and call me Peter Cottontail" (??????? Huh?)

"I'll be a monkey's uncle..."

"Slicker 'n cat snot"

... and my personal favorite...

"Redder 'n a gooses butt in pokeberry season" That never failed to elicit a bunch of "ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww"s from the grands.

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Dave Swan
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 03:04 PM

My father-in-law who has lived all around the South all of his life explains a complete understanding of something as "how the hog eats the cabbage"

"I had to tell him how the hog eats the cabbage" He didn't understand the situation and required tuition.

"He knows how the hog eats the cabbage" You may trust his analysis of the situation.

D

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 02:23 PM

I've only noticed this one from Kentuckians:

Using "ideal" instead of "idea" - as in "That's a really good ideal!"

Bruce

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:46 PM

In the big middle. To be in the middle of an argument or just to be in the "middle of nowhere."
Wal, Ah de-clahr! Wal, Ah do declahr!

With reference to "make the cheese more binding," common folklore is that too much cheese causes constipation, but I have heard that in all parts of the country.

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: gaber
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:40 PM

I really like "Holy bow legged Sara" I don'tknow if it is southern, but my football coach used to say it all the time. It denoted shock, either good or bad.

ex. Holy bow legged Sara!, I can't believe you caught the ball.

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: mack/misophist
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:31 PM

'It's better than a jab in the eye with a sharp stick' is my all time favourite. I also use 'like a boar hog in a peach orchard'. When I was in grade school, the spelling book still had 'I'd as lief' but country people are more likely to say 'I'd liefer'.

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: gaber
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:26 PM

"Tiny propellers" = Tiene Papeles = Do You have Papers?

It's what Border Patrol agents with a southern accent say to Mexicans near the US-Mexico Border.

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: TIA
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:17 PM

Make the cheese more binding! Of course I've heard it, I'm from.....(drumroll) Pennsylvania! I think it's got a Pennsylvania German origin, 'cause my grandparents (who spoke PA German as a first language) used it all the time. I believe I'll start a whole new thread on "Dutchified" expressions like "why don't you hold this awhile" and "the milk is all" and "once't" and "whatfer car are ya drivin?" and ...

Back to the south - I love the variations on y'all. Y'all is singular, the plural is often "y'alls", or in a very large group "alla y'all".

My other favorite is "hamawn" which is short for "I am going to..."

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 12:01 PM

"Ah musta been holdin' ma mouth right."

An explanation for unexpected good fortune. A homey way of saying that you didn't do anything special, it just happened.

Bruce

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 11:37 AM

can't hardly

bbc (from her Missouri Mom)

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: GUEST,maire-aine
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 11:18 AM

I don't know how "Southern" this is, probably southern Pennsylvania at best. My dad used to say "that makes the cheese more binding". He used that phrase in many different contexts, so I was never quite sure what it meant. Sort of in response to some information that explained something under discussion. Has anybody else heard this expression?

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 11:07 AM

"carry/carried"----I think this one got me first as unusual to a yankee when I first went to college at Berea. I think it's most popular in the Carolinas and southern Virginia, but it's a popular usage other places as well. The other one is "fixin' to" .... far more popular in the South but has some rural usage everywhere. I had used it for years but found it relatively unknown in the cities, but very used in the South. To use both in a sentence......

I was just fixin' to ask my Daddy if he could carry me on down to the Piggly Wiggly."......Meaning "I am going to ask my Dad if he could drive me to the grocery store."

Seriously, the first time I heard "carry" the mental image of someone riding piggyback came immediately to mind!

Sometimes it's just the pronounciation.....as in the two different ways to say "queer." Now if someone is homosexual, he's queer (kweer). No problem. But if someone is acting oddly, he's actin' kinda' queer, but now it's pronounced "kwa-oir." Thats as close as I can get it phonetically. Almost, but not quite, two syllables and the "oir" is as it is in "choir." Thing is, you have to flow the "a" into the "oir" so they become one distinctive sound. Hard to explain, you have to hear it.

More mountain than southern is "holt." The real word is hold, but the usage is, "That stuff is okay I guess, but it ain't nothin' I holt with." Meaning you disagree and are trying to be polite about it. The finest secretary I ever had used it a lot and although most of her accent was pretty well "cityfied" her usage of holt still stuck, as did her ability to turn "hello" into a 5 syllable word. I always loved that sound when she answered the phone!

More later.....

Spaw

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 10:29 AM

How about useta could? As in, useta could, you could buy soft drinks in little bottles from vending machines. :-)

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 10:24 AM

Might could, as in, I might could do that.

Subject: RE: favorite southern US expression
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 10:22 AM

Fixin to.

What in the sam hill.......

Bless his/her/your/its heart.

Lands sakes.

I swan. (my mother says this)

Subject: favorite southern US expression
From: wilco
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 10:15 AM

Well, shut my mouth!!!
What's your favorite (or most peculiar) southern US expression?