Comments on: This question can kiss my grits.

Question: This question can kiss my grits.

curiositykilledthelemur — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:54:05 -0800

Southern phrases like "gets my goat" and "burns my biscuits"?

I just started working with an amazing guy from Mississippi and every other sentence is a regional phrase like "running 'round like a chicken with their head cut off" and the above "got my goat" and "burns my biscuits."

I love love love the ingenuity and creativity of his verbal skills, and I want MORE! Please humor me, MeFites, with some awesome and unique wordings, phrases, jokes, etc. from the South. Would love it if you would specify the region overheard as well.

By: Carol Anne

Carol Anne — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:56:01 -0800

Roy Wilder, Jr.'s book, "You All Spoken Here," is full up with Southernisms.

By: Night_owl

Night_owl — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:56:09 -0800

"That dog'll hunt." - used to mean "that will work"

By: cooker girl

cooker girl — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:56:55 -0800

There's the classic "Bless his/her heart!" which can mean one of several things, depending on inflection and situation: what a dear!; how stupid!; oh my goodness!; no, really?; OMFG you have GOT to be kidding me! just to name a few.

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:56:57 -0800

Some from my family/friends:

-"Slicker than snot on a doorknob"
-"Way out by Robin Hood's barn" (as in, to answer: where are the fuck are we?)
-"law sakes alive"
-"You're cruisin' for a bruisin'"

By: lootie777

lootie777 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:57:06 -0800

Hold your taters till your gravy cools.

That boy is so ugly, he could make a train take a dirt road.

Bless his/her heart! (in the South, this is a nice way of saying someone is an idiot)

By: rhizome

rhizome — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:57:22 -0800

Previously

By: cooker girl

cooker girl — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:35 -0800

Thought of a couple more:

"Fix'n to" means "I'm about to do _______."

In rural Mississippi where my mother's family comes from, they'll say, "How much y'like?" for "How much longer do you have/How long will it take you to do _____?"

By: misha

misha — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:03:23 -0800

I wouldn't know him from Adam's house cat.

Someone needs to open up a can of whupass on that boy.

By: Rocket26

Rocket26 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:04:15 -0800

"Get 'er done"... kinda gross, refers to getting work done or the other kind.

"goin' rootin'" driving around drunk or just generally partying?

"that's a pretty many"-- meaning that's a lot of something

"where you from... taxachusetts?" meaning are you a yankee?

By: jammy

jammy — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:08:11 -0800

what do you mean by South? anything below the Mason-Dixon line? or just Mississippi & it's environs? i ask because i've got some friends down in Texas that have reported some colorful phraseology... anyways, something i did hear from a friend down in New Orleans on a particularly sweltering day:

it's hotter than a pig's butt in a pepper patch!

By: SweetTeaAndABiscuit

SweetTeaAndABiscuit — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:10:07 -0800

One that always makes my more northern friends laugh -- down South we call the knitted winter hat a "toboggan" (pronounced TOE-boggin) or just "boggin".

By: little e

little e — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:10:26 -0800

She looks like she's been rode hard and put up wet.

Whatever blows your dress up.

"Sworpin'", as in "going out drinkin' and sworpin'", can refer to a wide variety of mischieviousness.

(Eastern Kentucky)

By: jschu

jschu — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:11:34 -0800

"Put it up" means put it away. The first time I heard this I was twelve and had just moved to Texas from Arizona, and my teacher said "put up your books." I wondered whether there was some sort of elevated bookshelf somewhere in the room.

By: sanko

sanko — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:12:08 -0800

If I tell you a hen dips snuff, you can look under her wing.

By: netbros

netbros — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:13:00 -0800

Bear Stearns? Oh, that creek bank operation.
That's about as useful as a trap door on a canoe.
You look about as happy as a tick on a fat dog.
I'm finer than frog hair split four ways.
Well that just dills my pickle.
He was as mad as a mule chewing on bumblebees.
You're lyin' like a no-legged dog.
She was so tall if she fell down she would be halfway home.
That was faster than green grass through a goose.
Our preacher's as full of wind as a corn-eating horse.

By: i_am_joe's_spleen

i_am_joe's_spleen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:13:51 -0800

Is getting x's goat really a Southern US thing? I thought that was common in many English-speaking regions.

By: TurnedIntoANewt

TurnedIntoANewt — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:14:17 -0800

Similar to "That dog'll hunt," but opposite: "That dawg won't hunt," meaning it ain't gonna work.

Also remember:
Y'all - singular
All y'all - plural

And they tell me that anyone born north of Interstate-10 is a Yankee. (Which I am - so if you're fixin' to argue with me, well, that dawg won't hunt.)

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:15:33 -0800

Flat as a fritter: very flat.

In a coon's age: a really long time. And that is a reference to raccoons, not a racial slur. Or at least, that's how most people mean it. Still, given that some people think it has a more offensive origin, you might not want to use that one.

Too big for your britches: big-headed, egotistical

Take off your coat and stay a while: Make yourself comfortable. (Regardless of whether or not you've actually got a coat with you or how long you intend to stay.)

By: trunk muffins

trunk muffins — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:15:44 -0800

Would you consider Texas part of "the South?" A friend's Texan father has been the source of many... unique colloquialisms that I've heard, my favorite of which is this little gem:

"That's wronger than two fat boys kissing on a church pew"

(Note: I've substituted 'kissing' for the rather baser word he used originally, and to really read this right, you have to pronounce"wronger" and "than" as one word.)

He also said "I'd rather be lucky than good," but I've heard that one on TV/in movies lately too so that might not be a new one for you.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:16:44 -0800

Slicker than shit through a goose.
Mad as a wet hen.
Well, if that don't beat all. (expression of incredulity)
Shit fire, save matches.
Choppin' high cotton. (doing something fancy)

...and I've lived in Alabama most of my life and NEVER ONCE heard anyone except some asshole from Nebraska on the TV say "Get'er done."

By: jschu

jschu — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:19:01 -0800

Also remember:
Y'all - singular
All y'all - plural

Not where I'm from. They're both plural, and adding the "all" is just for emphasis, right?

By: macadamiaranch

macadamiaranch — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:20:22 -0800

My husband (born & raise in Oklahoma & east Texas) says that when something or someone is messed up they are "lookin' like a soup sandwich."

By: jammy

jammy — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:20:28 -0800

Is getting x's goat really a Southern US thing? I thought that was common in many English-speaking regions.

same for "cruisin' for a bruisin'" which i heard often in the good ol' boy state of Rhode Island... definitely also used to hear "gets my goat"

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:21:22 -0800

Curious child to cook-

"What's in the pot?"

"Lares for to catch snoopers."

(Virginia, ca 1925.)

For first rate essays on the south and southerners, look to the incomparable John Shelton Reed, author of such classics as "My Tears Spoiled My Aim". Oh, he's good

By: netbros

netbros — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:23:52 -0800

He's about as handy as a back pocket on a shirt.
She's so clumsy she could trip over a cordless phone.
He's acting crazier than a sprayed roach.
It's so dry the trees are bribing the dogs.
He's tighter than a flea's ass over a rain barrel.

By: scody

scody — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:23:53 -0800

Is getting x's goat really a Southern US thing? I thought that was common in many English-speaking regions.

Beyond evidently being American in origin, it's not clear what region it really comes from.

By: milkrate

milkrate — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:25:30 -0800

Dan Rather

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:26:08 -0800

"...cranks my tractor." As in to become excited over.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:26:12 -0800

...and one more:

The sun shines on every dog's ass someday. (in the event of unexpected good fortune)

By: scody

scody — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:32:47 -0800

Oh, and speaking of colorful phrases that may or may not actually be Southern in origin: my grandmother was born and bred in Wyoming, and she had the single most hilarious repertoire of amazing phrases I've ever heard. The two that come most immediately to mind: a heavy person was easier to jump over than walk around, and a short person would have to stand on a brick to kick a duck in the ass.

By: bristolcat

bristolcat — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:35:13 -0800

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

When I lived in the South for a few years, I noticed that some things were said strangely, like, you don't turn on the lights, you cut on the lights. You don't take a picture, you make a picture. Your picture isn't taken, you had a picture made.

By: new and improved buzzman IV

new and improved buzzman IV — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:37:38 -0800

"Three sheets to the wind" A touch too much alcohol. Via the Golden Traingle, Mississippis; if you need a regional reference.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:43:10 -0800

"Don't dilly-dally." Somehow this means "hurry up".

"Mad as the snake that married the garden hose."

"They took off like two hound dogs that backed into a porcupine."

By: bonobothegreat

bonobothegreat — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:48:58 -0800

"..go pound sand down a rat hole" (get lost, mind your own business)

By: metagnathous

metagnathous — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:49:22 -0800

A couple I remember my late uncle (from Arkansas) used to say:

"Useless as tits on a boar hog."

"Slicker than owl shit on a hollow log."

By: little e

little e — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:53:53 -0800

Y'all is definitely plural. All y'all includes everyone in a group.

By: robtf3

robtf3 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:56:07 -0800

Here in Alabama y'all is always plural.

When asking the question "What are all of you fine people are doing?" you actually say:
"What ch'all doin'?"

Never say "yous guys" or "you all" unless you want people to know you're from the north. We tend to think of northerners as carpet baggers and while we claim we have some northern friends we are basically a bunch of northernists. We also can't understand why people would want to bag carpets and bring them down here anyways.

Ain't:
"You ain't right."
"Yeah, but I ain't wrong either."

It even works as a double negative:
"I ain't never done nothing wrong."

When asking directions be prepared for:
"It's over yonder."

When I was growing up I had a friend who used to say "It's colder than a witch's titty." I don't know where he got that phrase, but he was peppered with all kinds of colorful language. That's just the one that came to mind.

I can't think of any of the stuff I've heard in the bars (most of which is probably offensive anyways).

"Get r' done" is something made up by Larry the Cable Guy. It's not real southern and only came into the vernacular during the whole 'it's cool to be a redneck' comedy era thing. Most people who say it now are generally scorned as being an old school new-era redneck. The irony is not lost upon us that the phrase 'old school' is also old school.

By: robtf3

robtf3 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:56:50 -0800

"What are all of you fine people doing?" is what I meant to type. Ugh.

By: Pater Aletheias

Pater Aletheias — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:09:00 -0800

Nthing y'all is plural (2-4ish people). More than that can be either y'all or "all y'all" (as it's used where I was raised in Texas.)

My grandmother, almost 80, was raised in rural Arkansas, and among the sayings I've heard from her:

Colder'n [colder than] a well-digger's ass.
Poorer than old Job's turkey. [Pronounced 'Jobe' as in the Bible]
Mad as a circle saw

Once when I was a kid I overheard her talking about a friend who has a hysterectomy, and I could tell it was some kind of surgery, but I didn't know exactly what had been removed. I asked her, and the answer made no sense to me at all back then: "Everything but the box it came in." I assume that's some kind of regionalism.

I've also hear her mention "her bottom dollar" to mean her "last dollar."

One night during a particularly strong thunderstorm, my great uncle said:
"I've been to three goat shows and two county fairs and I ain't never seen nothing like it."

Finally, my grandfather, raised on a Oklahoma farm, had a bad habit of burping at the dinner table and saying "'Scuse me, neighbor. Thought you was a cow." I don't know if that's a genuine expression or just a granddadism unique to him.

By: IndigoJones

IndigoJones — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:13:16 -0800

Don't think Mad as a wet hen is a strictly southern thing. Nor Too big for your britches

Vaguely remember something about rat shit and it being pointed at both ends. Can't quite recall the exact phrasing. Anyone?

Also, check into The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms

By: Bookhouse

Bookhouse — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:16:37 -0800

Not Southern, but hillbilly talk: go buy the wonderful book Pissing in the Snow (self link to a Metafilter post) for plenty of off-color examples. In fact, I mostly collect the dirtier of these phrases, so you'll forgive me for the coarseness of the following:

"You look like a monkey trying to fuck a football" (You're being ridiculous)
"scrambling like a three-legged cat trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond."
"colder than a witch's tit in a brass brassier."
"oh man, I'm higher than giraffe pussy."
"Luckier than a two-peckered preacher." (That one was my grandfather's. He pretty much ruled.)

By: Redhush

Redhush — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:22:44 -0800

-I always got a laugh out of "hotter'n a fresh f*cked fox in a forest fire fartin firecrackers" but I'm not positive it's fully southern, as I heard it first from a well traveled friend of mine from up north in origin

By: Atreides

Atreides — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:33:28 -0800

"Like a bat out of hell." As in someone moving extremely fast.

By: thebrokedown

thebrokedown — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:35:12 -0800

Cuter than a speckled pup.

And I agree about y'all always being plural. I have never heard it to refer to just one individual.

Mississippi gal here.

By: thebrokedown

thebrokedown — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:41:21 -0800

Oh, and a question of my own. Has anyone out there ever referred to children as "chaps"? My cousins do this, but I have heard no one else say it. I can't decide if it is specific to that side of my family, or if it is a regional thing--they live in a much more rural area than I.

By: zpousman

zpousman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:56:30 -0800

A lot are already in here, but:

wouldn't bat a lick at a snake is a southern-ism for lazy people.

We also had a whole chapter in 7th grade language arts (this was in the text book mind you) about "teach" versus "learn". Cause we southerners often say "I'm a learn him a lesson he won't soon forget." I say this, but its ironic. I hope. I didn't know that this wasn't a lessson in everyone in the country's english text books until, um, college.

By: DingoMutt

DingoMutt — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:39:34 -0800

How about "so good your tongue'll beat your brains out trying to get it"? My mom's former boyfriend used to say that about food that was especially tasty (looking online now I guess the full version is something like "so good, if you put it on your head your tongue'll beat your brains out trying to get it" - personally I like the shorter version) ...

By: Subspace

Subspace — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:38:02 -0800

My grandmother, who was from South Carolina, often scolded us children with the phrase "Don't go showin' your butt!" She said it as long as anyone could remember.

By: neelhtak

neelhtak — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:07:26 -0800

From my south mississippi Grandma:

"illiformed" for someone with a birth defect

"drunker than Cootie Brown"?

"John Brown it!" as expression of disgust

a large, healthy serving of anything, esp. homegrown vegetables: a mess of

By: Hop123

Hop123 — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:20:57 -0800

Me: Are you kidding?
A family friend from Tennessee: I am as serious as a heart attack!

By: nimsey lou

nimsey lou — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 19:25:15 -0800

Girl with her midriff showing... "she looks like a can of busted biscuits"
hot day... "hotter 'n Georgia asphalt"
unless you want to start trouble..."don't start, won't be none"

"s/he's as nervous a cat in a room full of rockin' chairs"

By: bach

bach — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:05:05 -0800

I'd like to add the comedy of Lewis Grizzard. You should be able to find his books on Amazon and maybe some videos on YouTube. Not only does he speak the Southern vernacular, he explains it most of the time. "Yankee's thank we talk funny...*God* talks like we do." RIP Lewis, go Dawgs!

Another comedian that exploited the Southern language was/is Bob Batcheldor. He used flash cards in explaining words. i.e., Momonyms=my mother and her peer group. "Where is everybody? Mom and thems downt the store."

By: headnsouth

headnsouth — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:20:31 -0800

How are you? "Fair to middlin'."
When will you get here? "Between now and after a while."

By: Fin Azvandi

Fin Azvandi — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:30:35 -0800

A number of these expressions are not Southern...or at least not anymore.

And "three sheets to the wind" is an OLD nautical term, a "sheet" is a rope used to control a sail so if three of them are loose in the wind the ship will behave erratically = like a drunk person stumbling around.

By: DoctorFedora

DoctorFedora — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:45:49 -0800

Just wanted to pipe up that "y'all" as a singular is something of an identifying characteristic of AAVE rather than southern speech.

Tragically, I don't have any legitimately capital-S Southern family, so that's where my contribution to this incredibly delightful thread must end.

By: auntbunny

auntbunny — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:12:40 -0800

I'm fond of "showed his/her ass"... also in Carolinas- no idea how widespread this phrase is but it conveys a scene in three words. It's concise and also fun to say. It can be a flameout or simply being assertive when called for, which are all too often considered the same in my particular region.

"She's a mess" conveys the same affection as "she's a hoot". If a southerner calls your child "a mess" it means they are just too precious + mischievous + cute.

By: zennoshinjou

zennoshinjou — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:12:00 -0800

I don't know if this is common but I called a vendor for something that is in the South and I asked if I could use a specific setting and he replied "hey, whatever toots your fancy." I still get a kick out of that one.

By: Liver

Liver — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:31:39 -0800

Couldn't pour piss out of a boot if instructions were written on the bottom/heel/soul = dumb, incompetent

By: littlecatfeet

littlecatfeet — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:43:31 -0800

Colloquialisms, not necessarily Southern:
for someone who talks a lot and fast: "she talks a blue streak"
for someone who talks a lot: "he could talk the leg off a cast-iron mule"
raining hard: "raining pitchforks"
uninformed person: "he doesn't know shit from apple butter"

By: peanut_mcgillicuty

peanut_mcgillicuty — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:45:01 -0800

Oh, I miss the South right now!

My grandfather's expression of surprise is "Well, THEY!" I've never heard anyone else say it, but he's Southern through and through.

Also, "tickled" or "tickled pink" is to be amused by something.

When I moved to Tennessee at age 11, my teacher went through a list of Southernism's I should learn, and one that's always stuck in my mind was "Comin' up a cloud" meaning it was going to storm soon. I've never actually heard it outside of that conversation though.

Making a generic or proper name a specific (as in "Fixin' to go to the Walmart") is unique to the South, I think. Especially hilarious when there is no other Walmart around for, oh, 60 miles or so.

By: katillathehun

katillathehun — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:35:01 -0800

Oh, I forgot one -

Bigger 'n' Dallas: huge. Just huge.

By: stinkycheese

stinkycheese — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:43:08 -0800

smack you baldheaded.

By: *s

*s — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:14:48 -0800

A few of my favorite things I've heard in Texas that may or may not be from Texas:

--Don't piss on my boots and tell me it's raining
--It's not my first rodeo [also as in insult, must be his first rodeo]
--All hat and no cattle [to describe a bullshitter]
--I'm a small dog in tall grass [trying to escape notice]
--I'm not from Texas, but I got here as soon as I could
--He's not right [weird, deranged, strange-thinking person]
--I know you're not trying to tell me... [when you hear something you don't like, rephrasing idea in a ridiculous-sounding way]

By: Mamapotomus

Mamapotomus — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:30:19 -0800

I'm gonna get this done "If it hairlips the mule/ the governor/ the governor's mule"
My grandparents and other old Texans I've known have used variations of that. Above someone mentioned "Drunker than Cootie Brown" but I've always heard it as "Cooter" Brown.

-- Slicker than goose shit/ snot
-- Busier than a one-armed paper hanger / one-legged man in a butt kickin' contest
-- A big storm is "frog strangler"

By: Tuesday After Lunch

Tuesday After Lunch — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:32:00 -0800

Some elaboration on some previously mentioned phrases:

-- "Tickled pink", in these parts (Ala/Tenn), means very happy with, or delighted (until just now, I had never heard it allude to amusement). An opposing reaction would be "fit to be tied" -- very unhappy (angry or frustrated, not gloomy or depressed)

-- "law sakes alive" is actually "law'd sakes...", where "law'd" is a corruption of Lord

-- "Fixin to" is a conflation of "repair" and "prepare", so it makes perfect sense to say "I'm fixing to fix dinner" = I'm getting ready to cook dinner. An often heard phrase: "I'm fixing to do that, right this moment"

A couple/three phrases which I heard a lot when growing up:

"Bless your little black heart" -- an endearment, or praise, given to someone who has done something nice, or considerate, or kind. Or, I suppose, just saying "thanks".

"Give it a lick & a promise" -- to make a quick/immediate & temporary effort at a project, with the intention of making a more substantial effort in the future.

"Give it a stab" -- to attempt, as in "I'll give it a stab" (I nearly wrote "to make a stab at a project" above, then realized that in this case "stab" is an idiom..)

I suppose everyone knows that storytelling is deeply embedded in southern culture, and that people are constantly renewing, inventing, and generally trotting out new phrases, to see if they'll take hold, right?

And most are also aware of the propensity for indirectness, to avoid (directly) offending others? (the history, sociology, etc.etc. of this gets complicated & intertwined fast)

'Just thought I'd mention two of the forces which generate this large body of colloquialisms..

By: bonobothegreat

bonobothegreat — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:49:50 -0800

"Ugly as Death backing out of a shit house, reading Mad magazine."

By: jasondigitized

jasondigitized — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 06:05:17 -0800

"You'd rather jerk-off a tiger in a telephone booth than to mess with him"

By: illflux

illflux — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 11:29:30 -0800

Reading this and the other linked threads are making me realize just how Southern my family really is...

Not sure if all of these are Southern, but they sure all sound like it:

- "I'ma jerk a knot in your tail"

- "My lands!"

- "Rollin' around like a bb in a boxcar" ("bb" as in from a bb-gun)

- "Hotter'n two fuzzy field mice fucking in a wool sock"

- "Madder'n a wet hornet"

- "You lie like a rug"

- "I'm so hungry, my stomach thinks my throat's cut"

- "Come git some before I come fetch it"

- "I smell like a boar 'coon" - I stink (like a male raccoon)

- "Dad gummit!" - alternative to the GD curse

- "It'll put hair on your chest!" - an encouragement to eat something, especially something that's strong or "good for you."

- "Dumb as a box of rocks"

- "Well I'll be!"

- "Sit a spell"

- "I do know to my time!" (or, shortened, "Well I do know!") - An exclamation, my grandma says this, and I've never heard anybody else say it, nor have I found any examples on the internet (which makes me think she must have made it up)

Lots of people have already mentioned y'all, but one I haven't seen mentioned - y'ouns (pronounced "yuns") - plural, "you people"

Where I'm from, it's soda. I like in "pop" country now, and it drives me crazy.

This doesn't exactly fit into the scope of this question, but it's very Southern - I had an ex who used to work in a bookstore, and was confused by a woman who asked if they had any books on "the process of corns..." It took her quite a while to realize she was looking for a book on the prices of coins.

By: zengargoyle

zengargoyle — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 01:37:10 -0800

It was always "colder than a witch's *left* tit", or "colder than a brass monkey's balls". Anything I wanted my grandfather would say "was in a sack on the back of the door at the barber shop". And Blivet, "ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag".

"y'all" is what you yell at a group of family/kids ("y'all git in here now", "y'all stop that"). "all y'all" is *everybody* ("all y'all we're fixin' to eat now"). So plural, but one is a small specific group, one is anybody who can hear you.

Gramps was a truck driver back in like the 20's, kept a stick that they used to whack tires to check air pressure, fight of bandits, etc... "n-word knocker". (He also propped down the gas pedal going up the mountains, got out to take a leak and chased up the truck before the corner.)

(South Western Virginia)

By: Night_owl

Night_owl — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:55:35 -0800

.... because, damnit, southern Virginia is the SOUTH.