"Southernisms"

[northcarolina]

This tongue-in-cheek poke at Southerners obviously originated from a Yankee, I would think ;-)





If you are from the northern states and planning on visiting or moving to the South, there are a few things you should know that will help you adapt to the difference in lifestyles:



The North has sun-dried toe-mah-toes,

The South has 'mater samiches.



The North has coffee houses,

The South has Waffle Houses.



The North has switchblade knives,

The South has Lee Press on Nails.



The North has double last names,

The South has double first names.



The North has Ted Kennedy,

The South has Jesse Helms.



The North has an ambulance,

The South has an amalance.



The North has the Mafia,

The South has the Klan.



The North has Indy car races,

The South has stock car races.



The North has Cream of Wheat,

The South has grits.



The North has green salads,

The South has collard greens.



The North has lobsters,

The South has craw dads.



The North has the rust belt,

The South has the Bible Belt.



If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a

four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.



Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store. Don't buy food at this store.



Get used to hearing "You ain't from round here, are ya?"



You may hear a Southerner say "Ought!" to a dog or child. This is short for "Ya'll ought not do that!" and is the equivalent of saying "No!"



Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either.



The first Southern expression to creep into a transplanted

Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "big'ol," truck or "big'ol" boy.  Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.



The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.



Be advised that "He needed kill'n" is a valid defense here.



If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, ya'll, watch this," stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.



If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.



When you come upon a person driving 15 mph down the middle of the road, remember that most folks learn to drive on a John Deere, and that is the proper speed and position for that vehicle.



Do not be surprised to find that 10 year olds own their own

shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim.



In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.



If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.



north carolina



 

[bethanial]

Thanks, NC, I needed that laugh.  I was born and bred down here in the south, but I married a

transplant.  (His parents moved down from Buffalo when he was 3.  He claims he was merely on

vacation for the first 3 years of his life!  )  Anyway, my mother-in-law said something the other

day that we just could NOT get over -- she used "yonder" correctly in a sentence!  Not isn't that

something!



Beth  

[northcarolina]

I too have married one of "them."  I find it extremely hilarious to hear "y'all" come out of his mouth!  What's even funnier is how thick his accent becomes whenever we go up north for a visit!  



north carolina

[sungoddesslv]

Born and raised in Texas, lived in Georgia for six years.  One Southernism you missed is "fixin'"  I'm fixin dinner; I'm fixin to go to the store, etc.



Yonder - great word.  

Others are reckon and directly.

Two of my grandmothers favorites.   "I reckon we will be leaving directly."



 

[northcarolina]

I didn't even think about "fixin" as I use it ALL the time!



north carolina

[msrobbie]

Personally, I can't get through an hour of conversation without several "fixin to's".  Living in Texas for over 20 years certainly changes your speech patterns!  Even after four years of living in Las Vegas, my Texican slang creeps through a good part of the time.



At the company where I work, everyone used to make fun of my accent (which is NOT that bad) and my "I'm fixing to go pick up a contract" or "I'm fixing to get a stick and go after that project manager" put me on the receiving end of many a southern or Texas joke.  But about a year ago, our absolutely horrible awful general manager was booted out the door, and a few weeks later, we are introduced to a new general manager.  One of the first things out of his mouth when he got our management team together was, "I'm not fixin' to make any changes around here right away."  Whoo hoo, did I have a field day after that!  Of course, now both of us get kidded about it.



Fixin' to get off this computer in Las Vegas, I am . . .



Robbie

 

[bethanial]

one more addition is recollect -- it means the same thing as remember or recall

[djpcps]

How about "get up with" meaning to get in contact with (by phone or in person).  As in "I'm gonna see if I can get up with Joe" - even though I'm "born and raised" in Georgia, I'm always tempted to say "if you go to sleep with him then you can get up with him".  

[northcarolina]

That reminds me of another one - one that I was never even aware of until my sister-in-law pointed it out "Put Up" as in "put up your toys."  I said that to my child while visiting "up there" and she said "Put up?  How high?"



north carolina

[kknisley]

We hillbillies "do the warsh" instead of "wash" or "laundry".  There IS a difference between a "crick" and a "creek" (creeks are a tad larger, but there are exceptions), we hang our "warsh" outside on the clothesline, and we have dinner at noon, supper in the evening.

[countrigal]

Some others that I use:



momanyms - mother and her friends



"I'm going with momanym to the store."



katty-angle - same as kitty-corner or diagnol, from one corner to another at an angle.





and a change on one listed:  great-big-o  

as in small, middle, large, and great-big-0.  Everyone drives a great-big-o truck.



I was born in the South and moved to the north (South Dakota) at age of 5...  they sent me to speach class for the first 3 years of my schooling to teach me to speak correctly.  Adding g's back on the end of words (running vs runnin') and taking the r's out.  They failed on the r's!  Until my high school career (and speach competition) I still warshed my hair, used a warsh cloth, etc...  and wore pajamas (pa-ja-mas - all short a's) vs wearing pa-JAM-as (with jam in the middle vs ja).  Lived through horrible teasing in my formative years over that!

[wondergrl]

countrigrl I was born and raised in NY and NJ and I still wear pa-ja-mas!

[yankeestarbuck]

Guess where I was born?  Look at the name and no, not Seatle.  But I spent my summers in a rural area in Pennsylvania (I know it's not technically the South but it's close enough for me).  I have kept 4 Southernisms and people here in NYC still laugh at me for it.



1. Y'all

2. Orange (OR'nge)

3. Sass

and the last....



4. Put-put Golf



Trust me, I get laughed at frequently. But sass has got to be my favorite!

[etietjen]

One 'Southernism' I use is catty-wumpus.  It means crooked.



Does that picture look catty-wumpus to you?



(I learned that one from some of my Arkansas friends.)

[djpcps]

Here's another one that always cracks me up even though I'm southern to the bone - "y'uns" (you ones I guess) - as in "y'uns goin' to town?"  



In the south, you're always going to "town" - never naming the town but everybody knows which town you mean.