Growing up in Georgia in the 1950s and 1960s, I became saturated and steeped in Southern speak.  So, when Southern Living Magazine recently published an updated list of “50 Southern Phrases You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else,” (shown below) I read them as if taking a trip down memory lane.  None of these expressions needed defining for this Southern soul. I found myself strangely comforted reading through this list. It was as if I was having another conversation with my momma.  Raised on a rural northeast Georgia farm during the Depression, she was a walking, talking, linguistic lexicon of all things Southern.  If I had a nickel for every time she said “Hissy Fit” or “I S’wanee,” I’d  be “livin’ in high cotton.”

My foreign-born wife is fascinated with our cultural articulations, not only in the words used but also in how we say them.  She respectfully refers to my verbal heritage as “y’allbolisms.”  I just accept them as the best way to express my feelings or desires. This vocabulary, much of which I still use, reflects more than my linguistic heritage; it is part of my cultural DNA. 

Are you still using any of these 50 down south phrases?

1. Bless Your Heart
2. She Was Madder Than A Wet Hen
3. If I Had My Druthers
4. Full As A Tick
5. Worn Slap Out
6. Hankering
7. Tore Up
8. Might Could
9. Fixin’ To
10. Over Yonder
11. Til The Cows Come Home
12. If The Creek Don’t Rise
13. Let Me Let You Go
14. Carry Me to…
15. . A Month Of Sundays
16. Hill Of Beans
17. More Than Carter’s Got Little Pills
18. No Bigger Than A Minnow In A Fishing Pond
19. You Can’t Make A Silk Purse Out Of A Sow’s Ear
20. Plumb
21. Hotter Than Blazes
22. Piddlin’
23. Pretty As A Peach
24. Gimme Some Sugar
25. Gussied Up
26. Hold Your Horses
27. Well, I Declare
28. He Was Funny As All Get Out
29. Heavens To Betsy
30. Hush Your Mouth
31. Well, I S’wanee
32. I’ll Tell You What
33. Well, Butter My Backside And Call Me a Biscuit
34. I Reckon
35. Too Big For His Britches
36. She’s Got Gumption
37. A Rooster One Day And A Feather Duster The Next
38. Quit Being Ugly
39. He Thinks The Sun Comes Up Just To Hear Him Crow
40. Livin’ In High Cotton
41. The Porch Light’s On But No One’s Home
42. He Ain’t Got The Sense God Gave A Goose
43. Y’all
44. Can’t Never Could
45. That’s Cattywampus
46. It’s Blowin Up A Storm
47. Hissy Fit
48. Three Sheets To The Wind
49. Preachin’ To The Choir
50. It’ll All Come Out In The Wash

Unfortunately, non-Southerners equate the Southern voice with that of Forrest Gump and deem Southerners as poorly educated and less intelligent.  That’s ironic because Forrest Gump proved to be a font of wisdom.  The now familiar quotes “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get,” and “If you do not like my family and friends, I do not want to hear anything about it. They may mean nothing to you, but they mean everything to me,” and ”I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is” should remind us all that wisdom and knowledge mean two different things.  Our drawl may be slower than yours, but underestimate the Southern mind at your peril.  We forego the direct approach in favor of a more colorful, nuanced version.  It’s called creativity. For example, Southerners are masters of the backhanded compliment or phrasing that softens an unpleasant observation: “Honey, it’s not your fault. You just didn’t know any better.”

I walk our dog around our neighborhood two or three times a day. Waving at passing cars is usually returned with a hand wave or a head nod. Encountering other walkers often results in a brief pause to exchange pleasantries and compliments as to the beauty of our Bernedoodle.  Sometimes, a neighbor stops his truck and rolls down the window for a “how ya doing” conversation.  Making eye contact and exchanging greetings are normal in the Southland. Heck, making conversation with strangers in public is considered good manners here.  Hospitality and politeness still mean something in most of the South. This is just a sign that yo momma raised you right.  After all, when a waitress says Honey, Sugar, Pumpkin, or Sweetie Pie, she is not referring to food.

I “reckon” I may be “preachin’ to the choir,” but it’s been a “month of Sundays” since I last exalted my Southern heritage.  But “I’ll tell you what,” talking Southern is no “piddlin” matter.  Our manner of speaking has been around for hundreds of years, and “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise,” it will be around for hundreds more.

Besides, some words just sound better when spoken by Southerners.  And, if you have a problem with that, well, then, “bless your heart.”