Saturday, March 24, 2012

What it means to be Southern.

Remember this post?

I want to pick this subject back up and tell ya'll more about:

What it means to be Southern.

today we'll talk about southern slang........
such as.....

naked as a ...jay bird
sharp as a.....tack
thin as a....rail
dead as a.....door nail
smart as a....whip
looks like something.......the cat drug in
running around like a chicken....with its head cut off
tight as a ....tick

"smidgen"
An inexact amount, a smidgen is a measurement for just a bit of something.  The Restorations Hardware company recently advertised a set of measuring spoons for a pinch, smidgen and a dash.  Most Southerners would enjoy them for sentimental reasons.  The probably wouldn't actually need to use them.
"piddlin' "
Sometimes use as a verb, "just piddlin' " which is to say not doing anything of great importance, but staying busy with activity, or as an adjective as in "piddlin' amount" which is to say an amount not large enough to really count.

"traipse"
When you traipse, you traipse around.  One doesn't just traipse, one traipses around or traipses about. (The preposition is necessary for clarity.)  Gad about is almost the same thing.

"y'all"
Y'all is the Southern contraction for "you all," and generally is addressed toward a group, as opposed to a single person.  Plural may be signaled more conclusively by "All y'all".  As a convenient and kink-sounding reference, y'all is also favored by Southerns who wouldn't want to offend when names aren't immediately known or recalled.
example:  Y'all come by the house after the game. We'll have some ham biscuits and iced tea.

also..............

We mash our potatoes, and we mash elevator buttons.  We also mash light switches, or we'll cut the lights on for you or cut the lights off, whichever is needed.  We tote things, as in "Anna Kathryn was so kind to tote my heavy groceries to the house."  We carry people to the grocery store, and we let you know what we're getting ready to do by announcing, "We're fixing' to....."  I find myself is a common comment as in "I find myself thinking it's Tuesday, when it's Wednesday."  We'll greet you with "Hey" and we'll likely add the preposition "up" to our verbs.  We call you up, we admonish you to listen up, and we invite y'all to come on up to the house, and "Goodness gracious" we hope you come!  
We also crack our windows, and we trim our pencils, and we like to sit a spell.

quote from the book:
"I'm not from the South,
but I got here as quick as I could!"

spell check had a blast with this post......
let me know your comments on this, I can relate to it all





19 comments:

  1. Had a wonderful laugh, not southern, but can relate as I think all areas have their
    'bit of toungue'. Is it creek or crick, you call it a mountain and we see it as a hill, up back or out back, just a hollar is a distance not a yell......

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  2. All sounded perfectly normal to me...

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  3. You failed to mention how we enjoy using double negatives :D

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  4. Made me smile. I am not Southern myself but have more than a few Mississippi relatives. And my mother lived in North Carolina for awhile too. Heard many of these phrases growing up.

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  5. I heered when she didn't get that there new dress she's a hankerin' for, she jest got her mamma's credick card and traipsed on down to the dry goods store 'n had 'em ring it up and wrap it up for her. Her mamma gave her a good lickin' when she found out about it.

    LOL.. Yes I speak fluent Southern - I don't have no accent - you are the one what has an accent.

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  6. I shoulda said "She traipsed her self right on down to the Walmarts Store..."
    Yes, lots of Southerners want to add an "s" onto the end of things.

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  7. Love it! Us Southerners stick together. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

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  8. Are we going to address "Bless her heart" in one of these posts? LOL

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    1. Yes, cause I still stand by the fact that "bless her heart" isn't sarcasm....to me it never has been and even in the book, it isn't. We'll see and let y'all decide.

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  9. My Granni was from Dallas, by way of Oklahoma, and she would say I was "slow as molasses" if I didn't get my "hurry on".
    also "heavy as a brick bat" (don't know if brick bat is one word or two, or what a brick bat is!)
    "High as an elephant's eye"

    I miss pecan pie and Granni.

    Loved your posts!
    Thanks to Gina for sending me here:)

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    1. Thanks for reading Deborah, they'll be more posts like these.

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  10. ha ha ha love it with all my heart!!

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  11. Take me home, Tonya... I was reared in Oklahoma by a momma from Texas and raised in Arkansas and a daddy from Tennessee that went to school in Arkansas and met my momma there... We went to family reunions in Tennessee every summer and I've known and used all these words and phrases all my life.

    And, like Pat, I was wondering about getting a post on 'bless their hearts".

    Thanks for the treat!

    Helen

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  12. Love it! Can't forget "don't be hateful!" I unfortunately tell that to my son all the time.

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  13. Oh that was fun!! I say all that and more. I'm originally from WV and thought I was southern until I married an Ala. boy and moved here 35 yrs. ago. NOW I'm southern!!!
    Love your post!
    Blessings
    Gmama Jane
    Alabama Proud

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  14. P.S. I became a new follower!! Gotta love another southern gal!
    Gmama jane
    My sister lives in Mebane NC

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  15. My daughter is as southern as they come but this boy kidnapped her and took her to Chicago! She told somebody the other day "that's a gracious plenty" and they loved it.

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  16. I do declare you near bouts covered it all!! Fit right in here at our place on the farm! Still have fix'n too and round to it....;-)

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