Dan's Talkin' Souhern Dictionary

[DanStokes]

Not sure if we've posted a similar thread or not but we were kicking this around at lunch yesterday with friends. As the transplanted Yankees we've been trying to pick up a bit of Southern so we can communicate better with the natives. So here are a few:

Pah: a round desert cut into wedges and often filled with fruit.

Retard: when you no longer have to work but have an income because you used to work. Without the income you're just lazier than a pet coon.

Ain't: contraction for "am not" and a perfectly good word as far as I'm concerned.

'Tain't: contraction for "it isn't". Also a fine word.

Tom Deet: not a person but an indication that it's time for lunch or dinner.

Tom Whannah: the local cable company (see "Tom Deet").

Kin: relatives

Y'all: this gets complicated. In Wilmington, NC it's ALWAYS plural but in other areas of the South it can be either singular or plural, Here in Wilmington if you say "Why don't y'all come to dinner" be prepared to get the person to whom you are speaking and anyone else s/he has ever met. You better be specific.

These are just a few to get you started. Please feel free to add in here as the spirit moves you.

Dan

[pdub]

Dan you KNOW I could post the WHOLE dictionary, but that would take the fun out of it!

Just up the road, a very very local dialect in Riceville, there's the word, "Squeet."

That's a contraction and slurred mashup for "Let's go eat."

[Barry Donovan]

hounder cheevic

my only southern vocabulary.

grits..
chicken fried steak
crawdad (in the north, cray fish- none in maine however)

[pdub]

hounder cheevic

my only southern vocabulary.

grits..
chicken fried steak
crawdad (in the north, cray fish- none in maine however)

Matt's got a great line about Yankees and grits - "Grits? I dunno, let me try just one and see if I like it."

[Gary 351C]

The last time I was in Charlotte NC I saw a peice of cardboard nailed to a power pole that said GROJ SALE. At first I thought they were just being funny, my sister who lives up the road said no they're not.

[pdub]

The last time I was in Charlotte NC I saw a peice of cardboard nailed to a power pole that said GROJ SALE. At first I thought they were just being funny, my sister who lives up the road said no they're not.

I'm not going to promote the Redneck Collection on my website. No, I'm not. I won't do it.

[DanStokes]

"Squeet" is a new one on me.

And I think I'll always be too Yankee to eat grits. Even one would be too many. Never liked Cream of Wheat, either. But I'm good with Eastern Carolina BBQ, either vinegar or mustard based.

Another word -

Longleaf pahn - a pahn (pine) tree with a tall straight trunk without limbs and a shock of very long needles (probably 6 to 8" each) way up at the top. They're all around our house but not on our property.

And no fair posting a copied list from the Interwebs. These need to be real life words you have personally encountered.

Dan

[pdub]

That's a Loblolly Pine Dan. The given name, really, no kidding. The stuff of telephone poles. The stuff of papermaking, they've been genetically engineered and replanted on orchards to grow faster and straighter and renewable like a crop of corn.

[Monk]

Many years ago I did a project down in New Iberia, LA........I quickly learned
what a 'coon ass' was. (good ol boy)

I told them up in my neck of the woods those would be fighting words.

[DanStokes]

I think Loblollys are actually a different species. Longleafs are an old species and were the source for much of NC's wealth. The tallest, straightest ones were marked as "the King's trees" and were used for masts. You could be killed for chopping one down.

Monk - LA has a whole different way of talkin'. Lot of Arcadian influence (sorta Frenchish). As I understand it, even their slang is WAY unique.

Dan

[Lon_H]

Fayetvul, say it fast. That's the Tennessee town north of me. Fayetteville Tennessee.

Fangers. That's those things at the end of your hands.

Far. That'd be fire anywhere else.

I live down the road from Lick Skillet. It's at the corner of Charity Lane, and ButterandEgg Rd.



Grits are awesome. Especially with runny eggs. And you sop up the left over eggs with a biscuit.

[tedly]

Many years ago I did a project down in New Iberia, LA........I quickly learned
what a 'coon ass' was. (good ol boy)

I told them up in my neck of the woods those would be fighting words.

Yup, totally different meaning in louisiana. In the Tennessee area, every soda is a Coke. "I'm going to grab a Coke, you want one?" "Sure." "What kind?" "Gimme a Mountain Dew."

[tedly]

Murville. It's a town outside of Knoxville. It's spelled "Maryville" but if you say it that way no one will know where in the hell you're talking about.

[DanStokes]

Lon - thanks for those! THAT'S what I'm after. Hit the nail on the head.

Tedly - same in Jacksonville, FL. My daughters grew up there. Want a Coke? Sure, I'll have an orange (or whatever). Around here it's "soda" but in MI it's "pop" - "soda" had a scoop of ice cream in it.

Dan

[Lon_H]

Bo azz. Boaz Alabama. Boze. Boaz Kentucky.

A Rab. Arab Alabama.