I mentioned a few days ago that growing up in the \u201csouth,\u201d I used some phrases or expressions that seemed foreign to a lot of people after I left home and went out into other parts of the world. I remember when I first came to the Washington area, people used to ask where I was from \u2014 I\u2019m sure I had an Oklahoma accent or \u201ctwang,\u201d but I used terms that were strange to people living around Washington. For instance, I referred to a container you put things in as a \u201csack\u201d \u2014 not a \u201cbag.\u201d When I was growing up, working in grocery stores, I was a \u201csack boy\u201d \u2014 we didn\u2019t have \u201cbag boys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s some things I remember my parents and grandparents (and other people) saying when I was growing up.
Over yonder; Fixin\u2019to; Cotton picking\u2019; eating high on the hog; sharp as a butter knife; cooking with gas; too pooped to pop; naked as a jay bird; skinny as a rail; raised on beans and taters; green as a gourd; scarce as hens teeth; its\/he\u2019s no count; madder than a wet hen; til the cows come home; the pot calling the kettle black; blown\u2019 up a storm; fly off the handle; hissy fit; well, I declare; hold your horses; too big for his britches; barking up the wrong tree;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember that my grandad used to say \u201cthey were cut out right \u2014 just sewed up wrong\u201d when he was talking about a strange or peculiar person. I\u2019ve heard \u201cthis ain\u2019t my first rodeo,\u201d but in Oklahoma, the saying was \u201cthis ain\u2019t my first goat ropin.\u201d If someone had had plenty to eat, they\u2019d say they were \u201cfull as a tick,\u201d and if something fell into the too little, too late category, you\u2019d hear \u201cit don\u2019t do no good to close the gate after the horse is out.\u201d When I was a kid, every summer we got to get a new pair of tennis shoes \u2014 had nothing to do with the game of tennis \u2014 I never heard the term \u201csneakers.\u201d Even though I\u2019ve heard the terms occasionally lately, we always called a bottle opener a church key. When I was little, most grocery stores didn\u2019t have shopping carts \u2014 some of the larger ones had baskets, but usually, you just piled your purchases on the counter as you shopped\u2026. but there were a few that did have carts and my grandmother always referred to them as a buggy \u2014 not a shopping cart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I remember hearing \u201cnervous as a long-tail cat in a room fulla rocking chairs.\u201d One of my grandmothers used \u201cbless your heart\u201d a lot and most people around Maysville didn\u2019t say I think or I believe \u2014 they said \u201cI reckon.\u201d \u201cIf the creek don\u2019t rise\u201d was almost always used to describe something out of your control. I remember one of my dad\u2019s favorite expressions when something wasn\u2019t valuable or important \u2014he\u2019d say, \u201cit don\u2019t amount to a hill of beans.\u201d If something was broken or not right, it was \u201ccattywampus.\u201d If you couldn\u2019t remember the name of something, it was referred to as a \u201cdoohickey.\u201d One thing that always annoyed me was when some old lady wanted to give you a kiss, they\u2019d say \u201cgimme some sugar.\u201d And seems like all the old ladies always told every kid they saw, \u201caren\u2019t you precious.\u201d Carry was a popular word for \u201ctake\u201d \u2014 people would ask someone to carry them to the store, not take them. If someone was showing off, my mom would say they were \u201chighfalutin.\u201d My dad would always say \u201csure nuff?\u201d A lot of people said, \u201csho nuff?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A southern accent is a lot like blonds \u2014 people tend to categorized blonds a \u201cdumb,\u201d and if you talk with a Southern accent, it\u2019s perceived you are slow. Of course, that\u2019s really not true \u2014 I\u2019ve met just as many dumb people that talk without an accent as with\u2026.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I mentioned a few days ago that growing up in the \u201csouth,\u201d I used some phrases or expressions that seemed foreign to a lot of people after I left home and went out into other parts of the world. I … Continue reading