also like the phrase " run out of". The store has run out of milk. We ran out of sweet tea at the last pig pickin and had to make up more.

food:
turnip greens
black eyed peas /hog jowl (which I don't like)
hush puppies
fried green tomatoes , and fried okra
fried corn, now I'm hungry lol

1) Sarah Say-ra
2) Aaron A-run
3)Jeremy Jer-me
4)Brian Br-in
5)Nancy NAnt-cy
6)Jennifer Jen-fer

Okra - They don't know what this is either (veggie)

sack - bag (if you talk about a sacker at a grocery store, they're totally baffled)

put up - put away something

phrase
buggy - shopping cart I have a friend who cringes when she hears "We need a buggy pick-up!" at the grocery store. She goes "ITS A CART"

Tote (Carry)
Poke (Sack or bag)
Hardbacks (Bumblebee's)

Embarassingly, I say "tote" all the time... just can't break the habit. Usually they crop up in sentences like "I'm sick of toting your a** all over the place! :)

SWAMP CABBAGE AND FRIED FISH WITH BEER HUSHPUPPIES, AND CHEESE GRITS....MMMMM

I KNOW SOMEONE WHO CAN SMOKE A CIGARETTE, CHEW TOBACCO, AND DRINK A BEER ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!!:)

reckon - (believe, understand) Since the strawberries are ripe, I reckon we better pick 'em.

arthur rightus - (any joint pain) My arthur rightus always acts up when it rains.

crishtal - (pretty cut glass) We make fruit salad in the crishtal bowl when company's coming.

Food:

Poke Salad (salet)

real home made jelly, (not pretend from a gourmet store)

orange crush ice cream (hand cranked)

Love living in the South!!!

TN Girl

Louzianna (Louisiana)
ant (Aunt)

Foods:

Boiled Crabs/Crawfish/Shrimp -
with all the add ins of corn, potatoes, sausage, mushrooms...

Fried Fish/Shrimp/Crawfish/Oysters

oh what a life!!!

Sooo good, makes y'oanna (want to)slap yur mama!
ofa evening (in the evening)
gotta git (leave)
I gotta go git me somma them.
Hotdam (yipee)
Horse feathers (ya, don't say)
Don't bea tellin that(don't say that)

Homemade salsa
Beer bisquits
Fried corn
Fried okra
Boiled okra and maters
Taters and onions, pan fried

Ya'll come go with us (What EXACTLY does that mean?)

Well, let me go (When they come to visit you)

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, he/she looks so fine I could just pour him/her out and sop him/her up with a biscuit

Ya'll take care now (said to ONE person)

You just wuddn't holding your mouth right (said when you make a mistake)

You just ain't right

Foods: cornbread, black-eyed peas (caution:must cook for HOURS before they are edible!), biscuits and gravy (seem to be eaten with every meal), chicken livers, deep-fried anything, rattlesnake, greens...any kind...collard, turnip (yuck)...and when trying a new food? "It takes like chicken"

my word is:

dadgum! (I'm not sure how to explain this one, maybe someone else will know, but I think it is a southern-type curse word?)

for example...

dadgum it! (means darn it! or dam it... you get the idea) I used this phrase once when I missed my exit when I was driving and my California friend just looked at me kinda weird and said, "dad... gum?" And I said, "yeah, you know... dadgum?!" And she just had this blank look on her face. It really was funny. She also forgets what an armadillo is, calling it an ardvark! :-) She has since learned it is armadillo, but it's become our little inside joke now.

my southern food is:

grits
biscuits and gravy (for ANY meal, especially breakfast!)
BBQ!!
pecan pie
Dr. Pepper!!!!

and lastly... sad to say, but this was YEARS ago now...

armadillo. (road kill) GROSS, I know, but I was just a kid, and it was my dad's friend's idea. It was our road kill though, so it's not as though it had been on the side of the road for hours or days. The armadillo darted out and in front of our moving car and then dad's friend got the idea to take it home and bbq it. (real southern, huh.) Anyway, I don't really remember how they got the shell off or those details, but I remember it tasting like chicken. This was before the armadillo was protected under the recent laws now.

Your old folks word "hope", used for help, is a derivation of "holpen" a Middle English word meaning to help, brought over by Norman conquerors to the British Isles. Since the South is predominantly make up of Celtic peoples, lots of those words live on in the mountains and rural areas of the South.

How about "git me a dope", ever hear that one from the older folks? It refers to a Coke, and comes from the days when one of the secret ingredients of Coca Cola was cocaine. Now that was the pause that refreshes for sure.

Your "polk" plant is commonly called Polk Salad, or Poke Salit. It is a green plant that grows wild. The best ones seemed to grow quite close to the outhouses.

Y'all remember the "free range" chicken craze the yuppies had a few years back? Nothing more than the chickens that ran loose in the yards down south. My granny would send us kids out to catch one, and I won't go into to how she killed it for fear of offending the weak of stomach. She would clean it, cut it up, dredge it through a buttermilk batter and cook it is a big ole cast iron skillet. About an hour from the yard to the belly, man, talk about delicious.

American by birth, Southern by the Grace of God.

"Hot Boudain, Cold Cous-cous.
Allons Tigres, PUSH, PUSH, PUSH."

-- Marie (Born in Baton Rouge, lived in Lafourche Parish for awhile, graduated EL ES UU in the 1960's, Cher.) And in South Louisiana, my name is pronounced "Mah REEEE."

Something I have only heard in the south is, "Bless your little heart".

I have also noticed in my Fla. home town people say Coke but mean any soda or pop, whatever term you choose to use. "Wanna git a Coke?" And you get anything but. Or, "Would you like a Coke?" "Yea, what do you have?"
"7-Up, rootbeer, orange, etc, oh and yea, Coke."

fiddlesticks!

(native Georgian in Nebraska????)

Other good ones are darn!, shoot!, jeez or jee whiz when you have messed up. My kids make fun of me because I always say "ma purse" like it's all one word - "Bring me ma purse" or "it's in ma purse".

Don't forget that you're always "Goin' down to..." as in "I'm goin' down to tha store" or "I'm goin' down yonder.."

My favorite southern foods are biscuits and gravy, grits, black-eyed peas with ham hocks, and chicken & dumplin's.

Foods?
deviled eggs, homemade pickles, potato salad, pickled beets, tomato sandwiches, country ham, country fried steak, collards, fried corn bread, ice cold watermelon, grape hull preserves....gosh, I could go on and on and on

"Well butter my buns, and call me a biscuit!"

Chilihot

APirateLooksAt50
Thanks for the information about the older people in my area. You have sparked my interest about this language. Do you know where I could find more information about this subject? I would appreciate any books you might recommend.

Lynn
All of my husband’s family is from TN. Most of them live in a rural county on the KY/TN border. Another word many of the older people use is "thunder." They will use this word if they or mad or upset about something. Well "Thunder" I can't find my shoes.

Tina

Most of what I learned came from listening to to my grandmother and other older folk when I was growing up. One good source is the Foxfire series of books, they give a good look at the Apalachian people and their cutlure and heritage.

Here is an internet site with a lot of good information on "mountain talk":

http://www.tngenweb.org/franklin/franfolk.htm#H

This one is a site that gives the origin of words in general:

http://www.takeourword.com/arc_logi.html

Thanks for the web sites! I loved the first one. It is like a southern dictionary. ;) I am going to check out the foxfire series. There are some really odd little rituals where I live that I want to find out where they came from.

Thanks,

Tina

My sister lived in a part of NC for a while where everyone said "won't" for "wasn't".

I learned a lot of good stuff from my grandmother's family who were from Scottish decent in the Appalachains. She used to say she was "doing fairly well" and she didn't mean "somewhat" --fairly meant very.

As well as "dadgum" or dadgummed" (as in "I'll be da'gummed!" I've also heard "dadburned".

Funny how different areas have different dialects. A total stranger walked into my store once and I knew exactly which town he was from (way up the road in NC) because he sounded just like my aunt's DH from that town.

~Lia in SC

You can move to the south and bear children in the south, but that doesn't mean we'll accept them as southern. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven we wouldn't call them biscuits!

I have a couple more that I actually use,

IRON - AS IN YOU IRON YOUR CLOTHES said as ARRON.

OIL - AS IN THE OIL IN YOUR CAR said as OOOYIL.

Southern food.......Fried Cabbage n onions, Fresh fried sausage. Desert, ginger bread with lemon sauce washed down with unsweeten ice tea.

ALSO, a cuss word lesson: "Dad-Gum" simply switched the first letters of G-d D-mn. Golly is from God, and Jeepers/Jeez/Jeewiz from Jesus. I believe these variations are still using the Lord's name in vain!

Holly, Oklahoma : )

"Well, forever more..." (shake head): means, that's really something / how about that / I'm amazed.

"Gitcha": as in, I'm gonna gitcha (get you)!
or, Gitchua (get you a) pop while you're in the kitchen.

"I've a mind to...": means, I'd like to...

"gettin a little big for his britches": means, he's too proud.

I'm a city-girl, but I love my aunts and uncles in the surrounding "country"," and how they talk. It's so comforting! I'm having fun remembering what they say!

"Y'uns": (rare) means, you all. (Y'uns come see us!)

"Well, Phooey": acceptable cuss word

"Ill-gotten gain":(from Bible)this is a sin, like if the cashier gives back too much change and you knowingly keep it.

"Fussin": fighting

"Mash": push/press. This drives my Canadian husband crazy, when people say they "mash a button" on the phone, etc.

"Catty corner": across the street and over... My husband says it's "kitty corner" up north. (?)

"Holler": yell.

"Tea towel": a kitchen towel, used for drying dishes,etc.

"Divan": couch.

: ) Holly

How about:

"have a hankerin for"

ICE BOX OR FRIDGRATER - THAT THANG IN THE KITCHEN THAT KEEPS STUFF COLD

ARMADILLA KICKIN' - THE SPORT OF RIDDIN' A FARM OR LOWERING THE POPULATION) OF ARMADILLOS. THERE'S USUALLY A BOUNTY FOR THOSE VARMITS

Barb in OK

I don’t know if this is southern or not but my grandpa used to add the cream and sugar to his coffee, pour it into the saucer and then pick up the saucer and drink from it.
Some of my favorite eats are grits and cheese or grits and liver pudding – that was our Christmas Eve meal. I like RC cola but I can’t eat the Moon Pie or chitlins or greens of any sort and I do tend to eat my veggies more crisp than southern style. Other good things – Brunswick stew, eastern NC barbeque, fried okra, buttermilk biscuits and fatback, fried chicken or pork chops, boiled peanuts, raw sweet potatoes and rice and tomatoes. I love peanuts and Pepsi (this only works if you use a bottled drink but the plastic bottles aren’t nearly as good as the glass ones were). And no human tongue could tell the depth of disappointment I felt when the Velvet Cloak (local inn of some renown) did not serve sweet tea at Easter brunch last year. And don’t give me no wimpy tea either; if I can see through it, it’s not worth drinking.

See ya’ll later (always plural) - FEB

Here are two more "southernisms":

"pick up the kitchen" and
"make groceries" ...

Aw dawlin' -- makes me long for a crawfish boil ....

I found this somewhere, and thought I'd share it...

Someone once noted that a Southerner can get away with the most awful kind of insult just as long as it's prefaced with the words, "Bless her heart" or "Bless his heart."
As in, "Bless his heart, if they put his brain on the head of a pin, it'd roll around like a BB on a six lane highway." Or, "Bless her heart, she's so bucktoothed, she could eat an apple through a picket fence."
There are also the sneakier ones: "You know, it's amazing that even though she had that baby 7 months after they were married, bless her heart, it weighed 10 pounds."
As long as the heart is sufficiently blessed, the insult can't be all that bad. I was thinking about this the other day when a friend was telling about her new Northern friend who was upset because her toddler is just beginning to talk and he has a Southern accent. My friend, who is very kind and, bless her heart, cannot do a thing about
those thighs of hers, was justifiably miffed about this. After all, this woman had CHOSEN to move to the South a couple of years ago. "Can you believe it?" said her friend. "A child of mine is going to be taaaallllkkin liiiike thiiiissss."

Now, don't get me wrong. Some of my dearest friends are from the North, bless their hearts. I welcome their perspective, their friendships and their recipes for authentic Northern Italian food. I've even gotten past their endless complaints that you can't find good bread down here. The heathens, bless their hearts, don't like cornbread!

The ones that really gore my ox are the native Southerners who have begun to act almost embarrassed about their speech. We've already lost too much. I was raised to swan, not swear, but you hardly ever hear anyone say that anymore, I swan you don't.

And I've caught myself thinking twice before saying something is "right much", "right close" or "right good" because non-natives think this is right funny indeed. Bless their hearts!

I have a friend from Bawston who thinks it's hilarious when I say I've got to "carry" my daughter to the doctor or "cut off" the light. She also gets a giggle every time I am "fixin" to do something. And, bless their heart, they don't know where "over yonder" is, or what, "I reckon" means.
My personal favorite was my aunt saying, "Bless her heart, she can't help being ugly, but she could've stayed home."
To those of you who're still a little embarrassed by your
Southerness: Take two tent revivals, a dose of sausage gravy, and a BC powder and call me in the morning. Bless ya heart!
And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, bless your hearts, I hear they're fixin to have classes on Southernese as a second language!

Any ideas on what this is??

MR Ducks
Mr not Ducks
OSAR CM Wangs

Translation:

Them are ducks
them are not ducks
oh yes they are
see 'em wings?

LOL......sorry......someone wrote that down for me once and I couldnt get past Mr. Ducks!!

Crack (open) the window.
Rench (rinse)
Hep (help)
Switchin' (spanking)
Jump in (get in) "Jump in the car."
Put up (put away)
Swig (a swallow or two of something to drink)

Food:
Molasses mixed with butter and sopped up with a biscuit or cornbread. My dad would always put a spoon under his plate to tilt it toward him and keep it neat.

Watermelon rind preserves, not pickles. Mother and Daddy would save the thick rind watermelons once the "innerds" were eaten, cut it away with a little pink on top, cut it in squares, "cook it down" in sugar and a few lemon rind strips , then seal it in jars. The best thing on toast "since white bread."

Salted peanuts IN a bottle of "Co-Cola." Yummy and fun!!

"Plug up" -- as in "My clothes are wrinkled, I need to plug up the iron." (rather than Plug IN)

"Do what?" -- a standard response to anything that takes one by surprise, whether a question or a statement, used as a general substitute for "what," "why" and "you've got to be kidding me." Use as a response to "We need to close all these files by Friday" or "that's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."

Misplaced emphasis on the first syllable:

cement = CEE-ment
insurance = IN-surance

folding money -- bills, of course
case quarter -- just a quarter
Dog tired -- about as tired as you can be
Dog cussed -- about as cussed as you can be

Chimley--Chiminey
Ovair--over there
upaginthawall--up against the wall
fruse--fuse
bruick--buick
sympathy--symphony
git--get
pin---pin OR pen (my wife gits on me for that one)

Clear to Thunder and Gone (How far is it to .. and we'd say It's clear to thunder and gone..meaning verrry far away)

We said supper for dinner and lunch for dinner.

I'll be there in a little bit. This would sooner than "after awhile."

and .. Ah'm so tord I feel lak I been warshin' and ornin all day !

Awl for Oil (as in coal awl lamp)

Cut out the lights (turn them off!)

oh this makes me homesick. I think my suave and sophisticated chidren think I talk funny.

Pee-Cahn= An edible nut

Pee-Can= Something truckers use

To all you ex-New Orleanians. Just in case you miss the
sounds of home!

"THE NEW ORLEANS DICTIONARY"

ALLIGATOR PEAR - Avocado.

ANYWAYS - And, then; and, so.

AWRITE - While "Where Y'at" is usually thought of as the
common greeting in New Orleans, "awrite" is much more
universal. A manmay say "Where Y'at" to a friend he passes by on the
street,
but he'll say "awrite" to a stranger. This is the South, after all;
one doesn't merely brush past someone else when walking down Carondelet
St. without saying hello. We don't want to be impolite, yet we don't
usually waste time on strangers, so "awrite" is a fair compromise. Usage:
One manwalking down the street comes upon another man going the
other way. The first man says "awrite; the second responds "awrite."

AWRITE, HAWT - A variation on the standard greeting, but
using an endearment usually reserved for a friend, usually female.

AX - Ask. Usage: "Dey axed for you down by da VFW Hall last
night ad Madeline's cousin's daughta's weddin'."

BANQUETTE - The sidewalk. Pronounced "BANK it".

BERL - To cook by surrounding something in hot, bubbling
liquid; the preferred method for cooking shellfish. For example, many a
New Orleans student learned in World History that a great defense of a
castle under attack in the middle ages was to dump "berlin' erl" on the
attackers.

BOO - A term of endearment......Believed to be Cajun in
origin.

BRA - A universal name for a male, usually one with whom you
are not acquainted. Usually used in this manner: "Awrite, bra" The
greeting "Say, bra" is usually heard from white guys who think
they're talking like a black guy.

BY MY HOUSE, BY YOUR HOUSE, etc. - Analogous to the
French terms "chez moi"; "chez toi"; etc. Usage: "He slept
by my house last night." "At" is never used in this sense.

CAP - A universal name for a male, usually one with whom you
are not acquainted. Women generally do not use this term.
See also PODNA and BRA.

CATLICK - As in Roman Catholic, the predominant religion in
New Orleans.

CEMENT - A standard English word, but with a special
pronunciation. Yats say "SEE ment"

CHARMER - The quintessential female Yat. Pronounced
"CHAW muh"

DA - The. DAT - That.

DASHBODE - otherwise known as dashboard.

DAWLIN' - A universal form of address. Women use it
universally to both sexes, men use it toward women.
See also HAWT.

DEM - Them.

DESE, DOSE - These, those.

DIS - This.

DRESSED - When ordering a po boy, "dressed" indicates
lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and MYNEZ on it.
(See NUTTINONIT)

EARL - 1. A vegetable product used for cooking, sautéing,
making roux, etc.
2. A petroleum product used to lubricate the
engine of your car.
3. Your Uncle Earl. (Most New Orleanians have
an Uncle Earl.)

ELLESHYEW - Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.
Occasionally preceded by the term, "Go ta hell..."
No offense LSU fans, realise that Tulane is the s**t
in N.O.

ERSTERS - Oysters.

ESPLANADE - Walkway

FAUBOURG - A suburb or outlying neighborhood, as in Faubourg
Marigny. A neighborhood is considered outlying in relation to the
original neighborhood, the French Quarter. Metairie would never be a
Faubourg, because it wasn't part of the city in the first place.

FIXIN- Verb. As in 'I am fixing to do dat.'

FLYIN' HORSES - Accented on the first syllable. A merry go
round, sometimes specifically describing the merry go round
(carousel) in City Park, but also used in general.

FOR - a preposition used by New Orleanians instead of "at"
or "by" when referring to time. E.g., "Da parade's for 7:00, but we betta
get dere by 6 if we wanna find pawkin'." This one tends to be
particularly confusing to non-natives.

F'SURE! - 1. A statement of agreement. 2. An excellent (but
out of print) book by Yat artist Bunny Matthews, featuring cartoons
with actual dialogue heard on the streets of our metropolis.

F'TRUE - When phrased as a question, it means "Is that so?"
or "Ya kiddin'!!" When phrased as a statement, it's an affirmation,
a shortened version of "Nuh uh, I ain't lyin' ta ya ..."

GAWD - A supernatural deity, worshipped by most New
Orleanians.

GRIPPE - The flu.

GRIS GRIS - Pronounced GREE GREE;. Noun, A (voodoo) spell.
Can be applied for nefarious purposes ("to put a gris gris
on someone"), or as a force to ward off evil, like wearing a
gris gris bag (the folks at the Voodoo Shop on Dumaine will make one to
order for about $20).

HAWT - A term of endearment.

HOUSE COAT 'N CURLAS - The preferred dress for charmers
while shopping at Schwegmann's. (Pronounced Swagg-a-mans)

I'LL TAKE ME A... - May I have a...

KAY BEE - The drugstore, as in (K&B, Katz and Besthoff). The
ampersand always is silent. (chain recently acquired by Rite Aide)

LAGNIAPPE - Pronounced LAN yap. A little something extra.
Also, the name of the entertainment pull out section of the Friday
edition
of The New Orleans Times Picayune.

LOCKA - Where you hang your clothes, analogous to the
English word "closet".

Example: "Mom MAH! Where my shoes at?" "Looka in ya locka!"
See LOOKA.

LOOKA - The imperative case of the verb "to look". Usually
accompanied by a pointing gesture. Often used as a single
exclamation: Looka!"

LOOKIT DA T.V. - To watch T.V.

MAKE GROCERIES, MAKIN' GROCERIES - To do grocery shopping.

MARRAINE - Your godmother.

MIRLITON - A vegetable pear or chayote squash, which grows
wild in Louisiana and in backyards throughout New Orleans.
Pronounced MEL lee tawn, and wonderful when stuffed
with shrimp and ham dressing.

MISTA - As in "Throw me somethin' mista". Never used in any
other context; "bra" or "cap" is used regularly.

MYNEZ - Mayonnaise.

NEUTRAL GROUND - The grassy or cement strip in the middle
of the road.
The terms "median" and/or "island" are NEVER used in New
Orleans. Use of one of those foreign terms instead of
"neutral ground' is a dead giveaway that you ain't from around here,
or anywhere close.
If you're lucky, you live on a street with a neutral ground big enough
to play football on.

NEW ORLEENS - The way silly tourists pronounce "New
Orleans". Natives do not do this. Exception - song lyrics,
as in "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans",
for example, and when omitting the "New", as in "Orleans Parish",
which is always pronounced or LEENS.
Confusing, isn't it? More on this below.

NUTTINONIT - A po-boy that is not dressed, which only
contains the main ingredient.

OR WHAT - Pronounced "r WUT," and placed at the end of a
question: "You gonna finish eatin' dat, 'r what?"

OVA DA RIVER - Across the river.

OVA BY - A general replacement for the prepositions "at" and
"to", particularly when referring to someone's home, or a
destination in general. "Where ya goin'?" "Ova by ma mamma's."

PARISH - A Louisiana state administrative district,
analogous to the American "county". When used by Yats
in the phrase "da parish", it generally means St. Bernard Parish
specifically, which is suburban to New Orleans.

PARRAINE - Your godfather.

PASS BY - To stop at a place, for a visit or to accomplish
something.
"Ya gonna be home later? I'll pass by ya house." It doesn't
mean just to drive by in our car and keep going ...

PO BOY - The quintessential New Orleans lunch, a sandwich on
good, crispy New Orleans French bread. This definition doesn't
begin to describe what a po boy is all about, so if you really don't
know you need to get one soon.

PODNA - A universal form of address for a male. Frequently
used in the emphatic statement, "I tell you what, podna ..."

'SCUSE ME, PAWDON ME - Polite expression when trying to get
by somebody or moving through a crowd, spoken as one word.

SHOOT DA CHUTE - A playground slide.

STOOP - Usually expressed as "da stoop". The front steps to
your house, particularly if it's a shotgun duplex. What ya go out and
sit on to chat wit'ya neighbas (an' ta keep an eye on 'em).

SUCK DA HEAD, SQUEEZE DA TALE -
1. The technique for eating crawfish. If you've never
done this, have someone demonstrate.
2. A song by the Radiators.

SUG - A term of endearment used primarily by Yat females.
Pronounced SHOOG; with a soft "oo"; as in "book".

TURLET - A device for the sanitary disposal of human waste
and for nasty food ya snuck away from da table as a child
(like ma mamma's roast beef...yuck).

UPTOWN SIDE, DOWNTOWN SIDE, LAKESIDE,
RIVERSIDE - The four cardinal points of the New Orleanian
compass. "North, south, east, west" do not work in NewOrleans.

VALISE - Suitcase. also known as 'boy friend bag'

VEDGE A TIBBLE - Neither animal nor mineral.
What ya mamma used to make ya eat before ya could leave the table
when ya were a kid.
The word has four syllables.

WHERE YA STAY (AT)? - Where do you live?

WHERE Y'AT? - The greeting. The proper response is,
"Awrite."

WRENCH - To clean something under running water. "Aw baby,
ya hands 'r filthy! Go wrench 'em off in da zink." See ZINK.

YA - You, your.

YA MAMMA - Your mother. Used in a variety of ways, usually
endearing. Also usable as an insult, specifically as a simple retort
when one is insulted first; simply say, "Ya mamma." Be prepared to
defend yourself physically at this point.

YAMAMMA'N'DEM - A collective term for your immediate family,
as in "Hey dawlin', how's yamamma'n'dem?" Spoken as one
word.

YEAH YOU RITE - A sign of definite agreement. The accent is
on the first word, and it's spoken as one word.

ZATARAIN'S - A local manufacturer of spices, seasonings,
pickled products and condiments. In context, it's used by some as a
generic term for either crab boil or Creole mustard.

(PS This is a Spell Check Nightmare!)

Since moving here (near Lafayette) I have discovered:

Cracklins, which are deep fried crunchy highly seasoned
pork stomach...sounds gross, but very good.

Boudin - rice, pork and seasoning mixture stuffed into
casings similar to sausage, sorta gross looking again
but very good.

Sweet potatoes - never knew how good they were.
Baked with butter and syrup, casserole with pineaples
cinnimon brown sugar and pecans.

Crawfish eytoffay (don't know how to spell it, but can
eat my weight in it - espically when used as a topping
for fresh fried catfish)

I thought New Orleans cooking was the best until I moved
here. N.O. is more a blend of Creole and soul food,
whereas Cajun food is a different critter.

I am shocked that people hunt DOVES. Killing a bueatiful
tiny little bird for 2 tablespoons of meat. Go to
Winn Dixie and buy a chicken for gods sake!

I have learned to taste first and ask questions later.
But still can't bring myself to look at fried frog legs.

I love living in Louisiana, and IF I ever leave, I would
definately come back home.

I can clearly remember "settin" around my great-grandmother's "front room" (never called a living room) in the piney woods of East Texas.

My grandmother and the great aunts would be in the kitchen "fixin" lunch or supper while others might be "fixin" to do something else for a while.

There was an "ice box" in the kitchen, of course, and there were "cokes" in it.....Q: "What kinda coke you want?" A: "A Dr Pepper, I reckon".

The car was kept in the car shed. At the store, the sacker put your groceries in sacks. Sometimes we'd breeze out to the homeplace for a bit and walk the fences down in the bottom. Overpriced things were higher than a cat's back.

Blackeyed peas, cornbread, turnip greens, sweet tea, buttermilk pie, chess pie....I can taste them now.

And a contractor allayed my fears about a wood floor by saying "If it does dat, I buy y'a co'cola."

This is a great thread! I might could print it out :)

Ya'll call 'em young'uns in from the yard.

until i was about twelve years old, it never occurred to me that there are people who don't refer to their children in conversation as young'uns.

SOUTHERN FOOD:
grits--A ground, usually white meal of dried and hulled corn kernels that is boiled and served as a breakfast dish.
Usually boiled with salt and butter and can be served with a variety of toppings (gravy, tomato gravy, cheese, ketchup, sugar, or honey).

Ya'll want grits and 'mater soup for breakfast this mornin'?

my aunt was a waitress at a cafe when some guys from up north came in and sat down all ready for a hearty southern breakfast. my aunt came by and said "what can i get for ya'll this mornin'"
after staring at her blankly for a moment or two, the elder of the two men said "i'd like to try a grit, please."
it was all my aunt could do to keep from laughing. imagine if she had served that poor guy one grit...ha ha ha.

Fit to be tied! I dunno, my mom always said it when she was frustrated.

Bring me to the store. This one came from the cajuns, I think, but many on the MS gulf coast have adopted it.

Shet the do! Means to close the door.

If the Lord's willin and the creek don't rise...

Havin' a conniption. Means throwing a fit.

It ain't the heat that'll kill ya, it's the humility!

The one that I heard in New Orleans that cracked me up the most was when someone told me he 'caught a flat,' which means he got a flat tire.

Thanks, y'all!

If CBS and the DNC are conjoined twins, I'm pretty sure the join is lips to buttocks.

When someones pickin their nose.It is said sre you diggin for bait(fish bait). The results (Boogers )are never said out side of the South either Ha ha

Add yours too!

Ifin it ain't broke...

ifin your hungry, lets eat.

ifin your ready, lets go.

ifin its cold out, get a coat.

chester drawers (chest of drawers)

I hope me never

Food:
breakfast Rice:you know, it's mixed with milk and sugar

boiled potatoes--we mash them and season them ourselves
and i think that southerners can make the BEST taters in the country!

Sayin's:
warsh: "I got to warsh my clothes."

double 'em up: after the clothes are warshed and dried, you double 'em up before putting them in the dresser.

zink: we warsh our dishes in the zink.

flar: in the spring we plant flars and we also use flar to bake with.

we've all heard the saying "black as a raven" or soemthing to the extent. When people around here are talking about somehting being black, it's as "black as a tar baby." Does anybody even know what a tar baby is????

we tok funny round here, but it all comes natural. i have a friend in Oklahoma that loves me to say anything with a long I because i say it funny i guess. we leave l's off of everything (tok-talk, wok-walk)

oh, instead of boiling things, we bull them. We also use ull when we fry things. (oddly enough, we put oil in our cars though)

also, in my town, we say things and stuff a LOT. it doesn't even really have to make sense, but for some reason, we HAVE to say them at least once in every 2-4 sentences.

As for the free range chikins that the yuppies favoured, did any of them do any inquirin' as to what was included in the diet o' those chikins in the barnyard?

As for rocky mountain oysters - I suspect that the prairie oysters that I heard about on the prairies may have been the same - calves' testicles, perhaps?

We have a Western music band that was popular in Canada for a number of years, back 20 years or so that are winding down these days, called "Prairie Oyster". My cousin played mandolin and fiddle (violin) in it.

Quite a bit of nostalgia here for me, as well.

Thanks a bunch, everyone.

joyful guy

pig in a poke
corn pone
grits / sometimes fried
cornebread with buttermilk
pop
sweet tea
we had a front room
we went out back
we made up the house
we shut the lights
my hair got tatted
we had hot cakes,
tomato sandwiches,
buiscuts and gravy (chipped beef)
my grandma likes to shoot the shi--
"he could spin a yarn"
My grandma (Nanny) always said bin-a-bein
"I'm a lot better than I bin-a-bein" (than I have been)
the homestead was back in the holler
there was a small crick behind the house.

I think I could go on and on...

My mom remembers getting wooped with a switch that she had to get herself.

this was fun, thans for allowing me to add on..

Danihoney

:o)

My favorite word my mother (the ultimate southern belle) used to use was "common". When someone did something "untoward" (meaning downright nasty), she would say "Well, that's just common!" Or someone might be "common" if they didn't come from a pedigreed family, like "Well, he's a nice man, but he's common".

"Good and proper", as in "I'm gonna tan you good and proper, young lady." "tan" of course, meant to spank. I, too, can identify with "Go pick me a switch."

Another is "appalled". Southern ladies get "appalled" at a lot of things, and many things are "appalling", such as "Bless her heart, wasn't that hat just appalling? She looked downright common." Oh yes, "downright" is another favorite word.

Then there's "IN-ter-est-ing" (you must pronounce every syllable). As in "Well, isn't that interesting" when something you say is really boring or stupid, or "Well, Mary, that's an interesting dress," which means ugly or out of fashion.

We never went for a walk, it was always a "stroll". We always went "Sunday visitin'" after church, which is a time after Sunday dinner when everyone just drives around to each other's houses, sits on the porch and chats. If you aren't home, it's said "Oh, they're prob'ly visitin'. We'll catch up to them directly." Only a true southerner knows how long "directly" is, or how you're going to actually "catch up to" someone. When you leave, you say "Let me get on down the road."

"Do Gawd!" is another, and yes, it's pronounced "Gawd". This is the ultimate swear for a southern lady, and is usually uttered with her hand up to her throat, her eyes wide, and a sharp intake of breath just before uttering the words.

I always loved "just a tad", as in "I'll have just a tad of milk in my tea."

"I'll declare" is a good one.

"nevermind" as in"It's not none of your nevermind", means it's none of your business, or "Don't pay him no nevermind".

"How's your mama?" or "Who's your mother, chile?" I found out the origins of this one. After the civil war, many southern ladies whose husbands were killed married wealthy northerners in order to hold on to their houses and land, so many of them had northern last names, so the "mothers" were considered the only true southerners, thus the only ones in the family worthy of your interest.

"Askin' after", as in "She was askin' after you just last week.", meaning wanting to know how you were.

"Do, chile!", which is said while shaking your head in a disbelieving or disapproving manner at something a child has just done.

"Fancy that!" as in "Did you know Miss Lucy is moving to Savannah?" "Well, Fancy that!"

"I thought I would fall out of my shoes!" describes a moment of surprise or embarrassment.

"Took a tumble" usually describes what a child has done to get a bruise or cut.

"Get on along now!" meant go away and stop bothering me.

"Charmin'" is another good one. Lots of things are "Charmin'".

My favorite southern foods are fried pork chops, homemade biscuits (patted, not cut), collard greens, and mustard based pulled barbecue pork. My favorite southern snack is boiled peanuts. But it has to be valencia peanuts, not jumbos.

ALL southern tea is sweet tea. Only northerners ask for unsweetened tea. It's just appalling, and not proper at all, bless their hearts!

GRITS = Girls Raised In The South and that includes me!

All for now

I laughed my arse off at yah!

Things I love:

SWEET tea

fried chicken-my way, hot sauce baby, that's right Texas Pete

collard greens with ham hocks-mmmhhhmmmhhhh good

cracklin cornbread, to soak up that thar pot licker

corn on the cob, lots of butter, salt, pepper

stewed maters with rice, sausage a must

Just some of my favorite things I thought I'd add.
Jessie

I actually read the very same phrases in a Dickens novel, so it is really old and I guess English in origin.

I think a lot of southern phrases & pronunciations are really English or Scottish.

A very nice man from England once got very animated at hearing my (native Texan) speech, 'cause I said such English things as "Granny" & "reckon"!

& I think the reason English people are sometimes fascinated with Southern speech is all those dropped g's:
comin' & goin' & such.

Those pronunciations were popular among English aristocrats several centuries ago!

Don't be tellin' me Bubba ain't a gentleman!

sylvia

ps: When I was a little girl, we thought children who called their Grannies "Mamaw" were country rubes.

come to find out "Maman" is *French*!

Gimme white beans, cajun sausage & rice...mmmmmmmmmm!!!

Say "Dang!" alot...and "I reckon"...LOL
My northern friends think I'm nuts...hehehe!

We "mashed" the elevator button, (not press or push).

Favorite food for breakfast: Shad Roe (fish eggs)with grits. Red Eye gravy is good, too.

"It don't make no never-mind" (meaning it does not matter).

"I swanee!" (exclamation of amazement).

Definitely "Co-Cola"!

"Where's it AT?" (if you leave off the at, it's missing something important).

He's down YONDER.

"Tight as a tick" (to have a full belly)

What a fun thread!

My son moved to NC several years ago, and when I visit, I sometimes find it very difficult to understand the locals, although they're very friendly. ;o)

patty_cakes

I LOVE THE SOUTH!

Dee Troit......Detroit

Floor board you....I am gonna knock you to the floor if you don't be good.

Beer Garden......A Bar

Maybelline......Eye makeup

Sweet Butter....Not margarine

Sweet Milk......Not Buttermilk

White like......Cream or close to white

Have a cousin that would use ya'll and youens and ever now and again throw in "all ya'll"...now git this here, she'd usem all in tha same breath. "Is ya'll comin down ta dinner? Youens can come to, K? Heck why don all yall jes show up?"
How bout winders (window) and yalla (yellow)
When your madder-en-a whet hen, "Dirty Dog" is better sayin when youngens is about. No need in them alearin bad talk from grownups.
My wife asks "were agoin dancin, yall wanna come go with us?"
We rest on tha devan, dont have us a couch.
Favorite foods? Mushrooms with jest abuot anythin else your fixin.
Thars a heapin passel more ofem...but the chickens done went to roost back a spell....an I shoudda done tha same...

Nite John Boy

Yeah, it's a shame how people make fun of our dialect. I am one tho guilty of changing my talk to fit in.

I used to hear 'how you?' alot.
Do churches have 'home comings' anymore?

I miss sweet tea, buttermilk biscuits with sawmill gravy and a scrambled egg for breakfast.

...Pintos and buttermilk cornbread with green onions from the garden and a big glass of ice cold milk or sweet tea.

...Blueberry cobbler.

Cracker Barrel is the closest I can come to food and atmosphere back home. lol When I get homesick I like to go there and eat.

...and the people most of all. I used to live in Orlando and waited tables. That's all I would hear from tourists, how nice southerners are.

Cool thread u'all.

Tropicalfreak