I ran out of breath laughing at "doohickey". You were literally describing the word by saying you can't think of the name. It was pure art. Thank you.

@Verrucca00

2 жыл бұрын

You could say you were "plumb" out of breath. 😀

@charlenewright4912

2 жыл бұрын

The doohickey is beside the thingamajig and the whatchamacallit

@davidfleischmann3579

2 жыл бұрын

Can also be a “doowacky.”

@IHateThisHandleSystem

2 жыл бұрын

@@charlenewright4912 Damn it Charlene! I clicked on reply to write a witty comment using the terms "thingamajig and whatchamacallit", but you beat me to the punch.

@vincem3748

2 жыл бұрын

I hear it's close to the thingamabob Which is an actual word... fun fact 😂

As a Mississippian, I would agree that Hush Up is the politer version of shut up. A parent might tell a child to "hush up" when they're upset or acting out, while shut up is usually seen as a rude (and thus "adult") thing to say to someone.

@ebonythomassin5788

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. When your parents was being nice would say "Hush!" When you made them upset, but they don't want say "shut up", they'll say "hush up!"

@debbiericker8223

2 жыл бұрын

As someone who was brought up in a polite home in the Deep South, I'd never, ever tell someone to "shut up" and would be deeply offended if someone said " shut up" to me. I just perceive it as a particularly harsh and rude term.

@RedRoseSeptember22

2 жыл бұрын

I've heard a gentle "Hush now" as well :)

@LymanPhillips

2 жыл бұрын

We'd say, "hush up! Can't you tell that the minister is prayin'?" But you'd never hear "shut up" in church.

@newgrl

2 жыл бұрын

We were flat out punished (or you know... got the MOM LOOK) if we ever got caught saying "shut up" to someone. It's rude. "Hush" or "hush up" is somehow nicer?

Just to clarify: All the definitions you gave for "Piddling" were just as correct as the one you read.

@wcs792

Жыл бұрын

HAHA my thoughts exactly, and it all kind of comes from the same idea. Other than the urinating one which is probably just a minced oath for pissing.

@georgeb.wolffsohn30

9 ай бұрын

My great aunt told a joke that goes like this v every little bit helps said the old woman as she piddled in the sea.

I always thought "druthers" came from the portmanteau of "I'd rather." Commode is the actual porcelain throne, not the room. Piddle can also mean pee, as in "The puppy piddled on the carpet," or "There's a puddle of piddle on the floor."

@carlbeaver7112

Жыл бұрын

Exactly. "If I had the option of 'I would rather...' Anyone that has ever walked a dog has witnessed it pee a little here, pee a little there... instead of just stopping and finishing the job in one spot. That is piddling around.

@matthewmencel5978

Жыл бұрын

and hense why it can be used as a verb "stop piddling around" that is "stop pissing around" or in the mroe G rated form "stop messing/fooling around"

@linzalabamaawake5230

Жыл бұрын

First time I heard druthers was when I was in the play “Little ABNER” and I played Daisy May. I had to sing a song called “If I had My Druthers”. It is a short for I’d rather.

@MsRmaclaren

Жыл бұрын

@@linzalabamaawake5230 Lol, true. If I'd had my druthers I wouldn't have watched this video :)

@295g295

Жыл бұрын

> 2:29

Lauence, I think you need to give yourself a point for defining "piddling" because it does indeed mean "trifling around doing things that are small and of no importance". You nailed it!

@poppyshock

2 жыл бұрын

I would also say that the verb and the adjective are closely related. Piddling around is doing something trivial, whereas piddling as an adjective refers to a trivial amount.

@agoogleuser4443

2 жыл бұрын

Where we are in NC, piddlin is like 99.9 percent doing something super slow or doing trivial things when you're supposed to be something more important.

@traviswrigg5158

2 жыл бұрын

@@agoogleuser4443 similarly, a little farther north in Virginia we use "piddlin' around" and "pissing around" nearly interchangeably, depending on the number of beers that have been consumed

@rosemorris7912

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, it's both of his guesses AND the dictionary definition.

@kariejohnson9505

2 жыл бұрын

In Tennessee we use it both ways, just like fixin

Piddling has two meanings. It means literally to urinate in small amounts. It also describes what you'd be doing with your time if you peed that way. Essentially, wasting time. As in "Hurry up, and stop piddling around!"

@cisium1184

2 жыл бұрын

It's also an adjective: "a piddling amount."

@jenlc1536

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, I've heard it used all three ways, so he did well. 1) peeing, 2) wasting time (similar to "pissing about" so maybe that's why piddling can be used the first two ways), and 3) a small amount. Languages are fun!

@btchpants

2 жыл бұрын

Piddly is a small amount. Piddle, piddlin', and piddled is polite for piss, pissin', and pissed. Then there's piss-poor which can be exchanged for bad or really small, like "piss-poor attitude," or "piss-poor amount." At least how I learned growin' up in The Ozarks. American English is weird. We kinda just make shit up. It's the emotional context that really conveys the message.

@Caseytify

2 жыл бұрын

@@cisium1184 AKA trivial.

@sandispringfelch1317

2 жыл бұрын

Insignificant.

I've lived in the South all my life, and you ARE correct, that we do use the term "piddling" to describe when we are doing some "non-productive" as in, "I'm piddling around the house during COVID with nothing to do." We do *also* use it to describe a "small amount" of something. And I have never heard the word "washateria." We've always said "laundramat".

@ronhutcherson9845

11 ай бұрын

Piddling around made into the Midwest, too. My parents accused me of that many times when I was a child. So, you can be proud that it caught on!

@MrsGator7

9 ай бұрын

I’ve never heard piddling used to describe something small. I’ve only heard it used as piddling around

@SipsNumberOneFan

9 ай бұрын

I have been saying this all my life not realizing that it was a regional word

@dshepherd107

8 ай бұрын

Same in the Midwest in Indiana where I grew up

@jeanetteshawredden5643

8 ай бұрын

I'm 72. In Texas as a child, they were called washaterias.

As a southerner I have heard pretty much all of these. Fixin also can mean a food side item.

@Tyler-bp4md

Ай бұрын

Oof. As someone from Atlanta, I'd hardly heard any of these. Just fixin', hissy, and hush up

Here in Georgia, black folk shorten "fixin' to" even more, to "fitna" or "finna". As in, "I'm fitna go."

@woodandwheelz

2 жыл бұрын

Not just Black folk here in GA. LoL!

@ProfessionalNomad92

2 жыл бұрын

@@woodandwheelz or Virginia, quite a few folks around here shorten it that way

@samanthab1923

2 жыл бұрын

I saw that on Black Jeopardy

@Annie_Annie__

2 жыл бұрын

Just like other AAVE words for forever, there’s a fair number of white folks in the south that say “finna” now too. Both in speech and when typing. I’ve been noticing it more and more often in recent years.

@eveistrongsaint893

2 жыл бұрын

I’m always fitna…..

Okay, yeah piddling does mean that, but 99 times out of 100 we would use “piddling” as piddling around, so you can have that point!

@michaelramsey1299

2 жыл бұрын

It’s actually related as to be piddling around is to be doing trivial things instead of the important tasks you should be doing.

@TerryTheNewsGirl

2 жыл бұрын

Where I come from it means raining. As in "It's piddling it down!"

@tricityladytn

2 жыл бұрын

I would use "Piddly" as the adjective form.

@S7J7P7

2 жыл бұрын

If you call people over 70 and ask them what they were doing that day. If it’s in the early spring or summer. They will say piddling in the yard or garden.

@suzieq722

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed!

A note Laurence, fixins also means the extra items that are included with a meal your serving. As in we're having fried chicken with all the fixins. Or I have fixins for red velvet cake. As in the ingredients to make...

@terrybeavan4264

Жыл бұрын

Yup, was going to post the same, though maybe because I'm now living in Florida it's been a good while since I've heard "fixin's" used that way (e.g. a house salad with "all the fixin's" maybe it's more common in Kentucky where I grew up), though you'll hear the phrase "fixin' to" down here on a regular basis!

@doofinator4285

9 ай бұрын

I was going to make a similar comment. “Fixin” or even Fixing is highly contextual in the south. Fixin can mean you’re about to do something such as “I’m fixin to take the trash out” like in the video and it can be, as you pointed out, side items. “Fried chicken with all the fixins”(which I’ve even heard in some commercials). However, I think that’s an extension of another usage where verbs become nouns; you’ll hear people say “I’m fixing dinner” meaning that they’re preparing dinner. I think over time that continued to morph and the side items that were being prepared just became “fixins”. I also think it’s a bit generational as almost everyone I know just calls them “sides” or “side dishes”. The substitutions for “about to” and “preparing” though are still fairly common.

Moving from the north to the south was like moving to a different world. The words they use for things are very different and regional.

@karancarnwright4312

Жыл бұрын

I was born in the south where ive lived all my ,but my father was a Yankee when we vacationed up north the accent an fast talking I have to watch there mouth to understand what they were saying! It really is two different worlds ,they can keep that white stuff up there!!

I have heard "piddling" used in all three ways you described in these parts: urination, wasting time, and a small amount. And a variation of "catawampus" is "catty-corner."

@melodyszadkowski5256

2 жыл бұрын

In my southern childhood, "catty-corner" meant "diagonally across from" as in "his house is catty-corner from the laundromat." The English major in my blood dances!!

@papamouse5231

2 жыл бұрын

In SC, we put them together, and get "cattywampus".

@jendubay3782

2 жыл бұрын

And kittycorner, kittywampus etc

@jendubay3782

2 жыл бұрын

And kittycorner, kittywampus etc

@glasswhisperer

2 жыл бұрын

Lifetime southerner and I've always said caddy corner

fixin’ can also be a noun like, food accoutrements. Sides or toppings

@LizzaLee

2 жыл бұрын

Those are usually called fixin's, with an "s".

@arikwolf3777

2 жыл бұрын

That's the definition I know. Except I only use it to describe the stuff you have to go on hamburgers and/or hotdogs at a cookout.

@rowynnecrowley1689

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, but I've never had a meal with a single "fixin"". It's always plural, as in turkey and all the fixin's.

@penelopepitstop762

2 жыл бұрын

That would be “fixins.” Fixin’ means you’re about to do something.

@chrismaverick9828

2 жыл бұрын

'Fixin' is to get ready to do something. e.g. "Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin to die yet."

One of my favorite southern terms is "Bless your heart.", or "Bless their heart." The phrases can have two meanings. The first is something like, "I'm so sorry that's happening to you or them." It feels like you're sympathetic. The other meaning is, "Wow! You (or they) are stupid."

@YTistooannoying

2 жыл бұрын

My mom used to say, "Bless your pointed little head "

@jadadallas5891

2 жыл бұрын

I worked with a woman from Arkansas. Her favorite insult was "Bless his/her/your pointy little head." I love it. Among the Southerners I know, "bless your heart" is largely used sympathetically.

@lyndavonkanel8603

2 жыл бұрын

"Bless his/her little heart" means a person is mean, selfish, inconsiderate or some such thing.

@kimsellers1470

2 жыл бұрын

We sometimes shorten that now to "Bless it", when in reference to someone's common sense.

@robinchopra139

2 жыл бұрын

so very true.

You were right about piddling. Grandparents say it all the time and they use its definition almost exactly as you described it

Well done Laurence! Druther is also described as a combination of “I’d” & “rather “ -druther 😂

@captin3149

2 жыл бұрын

Which, in many Southern accents sounds like 'I'd Ruther' (Speaking from experience here in Tennessee)

@deepinthewasatch66

2 жыл бұрын

I used "if I had my druthers" today and my Pacific NW friends looked at me like I had grown horns.

@Birdbike719

2 жыл бұрын

@@deepinthewasatch66 They just don't know how to talk right!

@julieobrien4056

2 жыл бұрын

My father grew up in Missouri, so I heard druthers all the time growing up in So. Cal. 😂

@melliehelen8650

2 жыл бұрын

@@julieobrien4056 Heck, I’m in So Cal and learned it from TV (maybe Andy Griffith Shows?).

Buggy can also describe the amount of flying insects outside as in, “It’s awfully buggy outside” meaning lots of mosquitos. :)

@dracon501

2 жыл бұрын

Shopping cart

@voluntaryismistheanswer

2 жыл бұрын

Skeeterbit, that'll happen if you go outside when it's buggy

@roberthastings708

2 жыл бұрын

Buggy can also mean crazy. In the old days an insane assylm was called a bug house. In a sentence: That guy is buggy. Or ..He's gone bugs.

@SteveBarcomb

2 жыл бұрын

First thought was bad code.

@wilfbentley6738

2 жыл бұрын

@@SteveBarcomb That is a very modern idea. In "the old days", that phrase had more to do with actual insects, or mental health problems..

Enjoyed this video. Knew them all living in TN. My wife loves British tv shows and I spend half the time figuring out what they said.

I've never heard of just "hissy" but hissy fit or conniption or conniption fit are words I used very often. Excellent words. Good southern words! Love it.

I’ve lived in Louisiana my entire 56 years, and I never realized that “commode” is only used in the South! 😂 You did really well, Laurence!

@merpius

2 жыл бұрын

It is used other places.

@ljcl1859

2 жыл бұрын

It's used in the North East as well, but not often. I think it may have gone out of fashion. I remember my grandmother using the word.

@merpius

2 жыл бұрын

In the west as well, but yeah sounds antiquated

@maggiemay3108

2 жыл бұрын

@@ljcl1859 THAT doesn’t make me feel old at all 😁

@rowynnecrowley1689

2 жыл бұрын

It's not. Commode is pretty universal, just not said frequently. It really comes from the old days, when you had to hide a pot in a cabinet to do your business.

My Grandma used to say Coniption Fit She also said, "It'd take an act of Congress to get anything done". 😊

@karancarnwright4312

Жыл бұрын

I say coniption fit to I add but don't step in the middle of it! I also say u need a act of congress to get anything done! I'm s southern ,an I lived in Rutherford County North Carolina for a while,they have there own language!! Back woods talk!!

@wayneyadams

7 ай бұрын

I forgot about coniption (spelling?), but that is a good one he left off.

@ROBYNMARKOW

6 ай бұрын

My parents would say that( & they were originally from Brooklyn 😅)

My Mother's father would make my grandmother so mad when he would say, "What have you been doing all day, piddlin' around?" With 8 kids and a house to take care of, this really made her very angry.

@heidimisfeldt5685

2 жыл бұрын

That would make me steaming angry too, even with 4 kids only. Each child is a 24/7 none stop full time job. Too many guys work hard some 8 hours and come home exausted and entitled to rest, quiet and respect, feet up with a cool drink, and demanding dinner. A man that loves his wife would have some compassion, and realize his clothes don't wash themselves, his dinner doesn't cook entirely on it's on, the house is not self cleaning, and kids need supervision, assistance and plenty of nourishing. Wife and kids need compassion, not some demanding narcissistic overly entitled jerk. That's why some women never ever get married a second time. Once burned... twice shy. Not to say there aren't some wonderful men out there, but yes extremely hard to find.

I remember trying to figure out piddling and at 7 decided it came from a puppy messing the floor, it's such a small amount and he's so cute it doesn't matter.

Plumb is also a word that describes an object that is "aligned" or "true" with another object or the Earth. An example is when a string is attached to a point on a wall and the other end is attached to a weight and allowed to be suspended unimpeded. That string is said to be "Plumb" as it is 90° or totally perpendicular to the Earth. It is a vital maths function when erecting buildings.

@auldrick

2 жыл бұрын

The string-and-bob tool is called a "plumb line" because the Romans used lead ("plumbum" in Latin) for the weight. Pipes used to be made of lead too, which is why we have words like plumber and plumbing. Going full circle, you might need a plumb line to ensure your plumbing is installed perfectly vertically.

@xjmg007

2 жыл бұрын

@@auldrick my grandpa called them plumb-bobs

@Morrivar

2 жыл бұрын

Plumb in that sense is neither regional nor an idiom.

@jonc4403

2 жыл бұрын

@@auldrick In other words, that your plumbing is plumb plumb.

@brycepatties

2 жыл бұрын

The chemical symbol for lead, Pb, comes from the Roman usage of lead in plumb bobs, used during construction to ensure vertical alignment.

Druthers is not a portmanteau, but that other combination of two words, a contraction - of a sort. If you can imagine someone with an extreme drawl saying "I'd rather" (and in certain drawl accents, many vowels morph to schwas so it would sound more like "Uh'd ruhther") you can see where it came from.

@aleatharhea

2 жыл бұрын

I'd say it's more of a portmanteau than a contraction. We never use it intending to say the "I" part of "I'd", drawl or not. It's a distinct whole word using part of "I'd" and all of "rather" (or "ruther", which is because of the accent.) So one might say, "if I had my druthers, I'd rather go to the beach." And exactly that construct is very common.

@bobtheduck

2 жыл бұрын

@@aleatharhea I think it started as a contraction, but was split up later. Sort of like "nother" as in "a whole nother" which, of course, started as "another".

@jonathanmitchell2040

2 жыл бұрын

If I had my druthers, I druther not think about it.

@George4943

2 жыл бұрын

@@aleatharhea "druthers" is synonymous with "preferences." Unlike 'preference' it is never singular. When you have your druthers you are usually content. The single rule that all people use: If not content do something else. If you don't got your druthers do sumpin' 'bout it.

@aleatharhea

4 ай бұрын

@@George4943 You're trying to impose too much precision with regard to plurality. "If I had my druthers" was always intended as a cutesy way of saying, "if I had my way". When you're being cutesy, you take a lot of freedom with language constructs. Like I say "Is it cold on a kitty?" when I mean "Is it cold for a kitty?"

As a southerner, I didn't know half of these words existed. Thank you for teaching me what southerner schools should've taught me.

@sking2173

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting. As a southerner, I knew all but two: “washateria”, and “hopping John”. My family is from the Blue Ridge Mountains, and after a lifetime of travels, I realize we mountain folk had a rather unique vocabulary.

@lyndavonkanel8603

Жыл бұрын

Honey, you just need to get out more!

I grew up in Tennessee and recognized all of these. fun fact: "Mudding" is also called "Mud Bogging" lol

I've lived in the south most of my life. I've heard "piddling around", meaning that you're wasting time. A few of these I've NEVER heard. The south has many states, and we're all quite different, though quite the same, at the same time.

@janettamcgee8124

2 жыл бұрын

Very well put.

@saraheart2804

2 жыл бұрын

I am from the north and we used piddling .

@Skye_Writer

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I've lived in the South all my life and never ever heard of "hoecake"

@oldtimefarmboy617

2 жыл бұрын

@@Skye_Writer Texas caviar.

@Shan_Dalamani

2 жыл бұрын

Piddling doesn't refer to humans relieving themselves. It's used to reference when cats and dogs relieve themselves. Cats piddle in their litter boxes. Dog piddle on trees, fire hydrants, fences, car tires, humans they hate, bushes, and just about anything else. Or so it's used in Canada. Don't ask me about the southern U.S. Their language usage is just plain weird.

I’m from TN and use piddling for all 3 of those! And it’s not ‘plumb tired’ it’s plumb tuckered out!

@tylarjackson7928

2 жыл бұрын

In Southern AL it's pronounced "plumb tard" but meaning "tired" of course

@corvidsRcool

2 жыл бұрын

@@tylarjackson7928 In TN too. Same pronunciation.

@Birdbike719

2 жыл бұрын

Or "plumb wore out"

As a Georgian, I knew all of these and use most. Thanks again, Lawrence, for a wonderful video!!

My southern relatives in Virginia and North Carolina use the word buggy to indicate something isn't working properly, the blender won't spin right, it's buggy. They call the rolling basket in grocery stores a grocery cart. When I heard piddling used by relatives it always meant wasting time just as you guessed. I've heard my relatives say they were "Plumb tuckered out".

@littleredpony6868

Жыл бұрын

As long as it’s not the honey wagon that’s not buggy, we’ll be okay

Grew up in AL and live in ATL now: I don't know anyone who would say "hissy" without "fit". Also, depending on how old the Southerner is, "buggy" can mean just about anything with wheels, including an older car, as in: Gonna take the tin buggy down to the feed store."

@LindaC616

2 жыл бұрын

A friend of mine from Indy always says "hissy" because she assumes that everybody understands it means hissy fit

@willkittwk

2 жыл бұрын

Funny but most of these words like if I had my druthers, I'm fixin do go here do this do that, hissy fit are pretty well known in California. You gotta remember California used to be pretty hick and lots of people in the Central Valley are country like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard etc. It's more like plum tuckered is more country than plum tired.

@claressalucas8922

2 жыл бұрын

@@LindaC616 When I've heard hissy used alone, it was usually a perjorative from a very old Southerner (like my great grandma born circa 1900) related to a male being effeminate and implying homosexuality: I hear tell that Victor moved up to San Francsico. He always was a little hissy.

@litz13

2 жыл бұрын

Generally though, buggy is a grocery store cart, or a garbage bin.

@claressalucas8922

2 жыл бұрын

@@willkittwk Yeah, he didn't get into deep, dark Southernisms. Where I'm from it's more full phrases than words: That Damn Yankee Pam is dancing on my last nerve. She's as messed up as a football bat! Going down to mamanems for some supper. Didjeatyet?

I moved out of the South in my adult years, but occasionally it comes out of my mouth. I called something a doohickey one day and my children (who have lived in NY for their entire lives) laughed so hard at me and were just like "what are you talking about?!". I will also unintentionally slip into "y'all" "over yonder" and "plumb tuckered out"

@dancingnature

2 жыл бұрын

The Delfonics have this late 60s song called He Don’t Really Love You which I loved but I actually can’t stand to hear someone say that

@pm5206

2 жыл бұрын

Over yonder is old English.

@J_Chap

2 жыл бұрын

Same here. I moved to Kansas though and a lot of the things I grew up still get said here. But, there are some things my kids have heard me say that they've never heard anybody else say. They laugh at me sometimes too.

@JJfromPhilly67

2 жыл бұрын

Many Southern expressions have shown up in Southern New Jersey.

@sandrad2597

2 жыл бұрын

Welcome, its official!! your family now 🤣🤣🤣

Being Canadian, I haven't heard of several of these, except perhaps in movies, but piddling certainly has the same meaning here (trifling, small) though wee is common too. Mudding was interesting too and is very similar to the term, mud bogging here. Great channel, always enjoy it!

I’ve heard of most of these. The context it’s used helps define the meaning.

The meaning of 'plumb' - as in "He's plumb crazy!" actually comes from the Latin word, plumbum, for lead (the metal). A lead weight was suspended from a string and the string would go straight to the ground, providing a "true" vertical line - thus "truly". Another expression from this is from spirit levels, where one might say, "He's a bubble off of plumb".

@J_Chap

2 жыл бұрын

I was born and raised in the south and never heard any of that before. I have heard of "He's plumb crazy", but, it means he is completely crazy. In the South it means "completely". "I plumb forgot", means I completely forgot. I bet if you ask anybody from the South they'd say the same thing. They would not agree with anything you just said.

@grimftl

2 жыл бұрын

@@J_Chap I actually grew up in Baton Rouge, so, yeah... the south. And we agree, generally, on the meaning. How is "He's completely crazy," different from "He's truly crazy"? I was just speaking about the etymology. Don't believe me? Open any dictionary. "Plumb" comes from the Latin word "plumbum" which means lead (the metal) where we also get "plumbing" as water pipes were once made from lead.

@Jessie_Helms

2 жыл бұрын

Eh, sorta. But it also is used as a synonym for fully/completely/totally in the sense that “I’m totally out of luck” and “I’m plumb out of luck” mean the same thing.

@MikeDindu

2 жыл бұрын

Plumbs are a tool still used today for all kinds of things.

@donsample1002

2 жыл бұрын

@MikeDindu Such as making sure that things aren't catawumpis

My father (born 1919), used the term “fair to middling”, when he was asked how was doing

@atentoni

2 жыл бұрын

My mom still says it! Don't hear it much anymore.

@Annie_Annie__

2 жыл бұрын

My great-grandma used to say that to mean “so-so”. Wow, that’s brought back a memory. Thank you for that. 💜

@agoogleuser4443

2 жыл бұрын

Gene, mine did too!

@CeeJayThe13th

2 жыл бұрын

I used to hear that all the time but in a more ironic way. It was something that younger people picked up from older people (and older pop culture) and liked to say because they thought it was hilarious. But now those younger people are the older people lol

@JonO387

2 жыл бұрын

I've always heard that one as "fair to midland".

I'm from Virginia, so depending on who you ask, may not be considered Southern (though if you spend 5 seconds listening to anyone in my family speak then you will say yes), and I've more often heard 'piddlin' used to mean something close to what you described. When I'm visiting my mom she'll start doing small things like picking up little bits of trash or straightening things on the shelf and I'll ask if she needs any help and she'll say "Oh no, I'm not really cleaning up I'm just piddlin." Also, I'm surprised that wherever you were looking didn't mention "fixin'" as a noun, as in "turkey with all the fixin's"

Laurence, there is a tiny spot on the map near the intersection of the Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee State Lines, named Plum Nelly. The way I first heard it when my family decided visit there in the early 1960's, it was Plum outa Alabama and Nelly into Georgia. The folk art works were hanging on ropes from pole to pole like clotheslines on the very steep hillsides. A strong breeze made looking at the art problematic. Researching it as an adult, I found this true story. It began in 1947 at an outdoor art show held at Fannie Mennen’s house on the back of Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Ms. Mennen’s property had years earlier been named Plum Nelly when her brother-in-law, Louis Marks, after driving, what to him seemed a long way from Chattanooga, remarked, “Fannie, your place is plum out of Tennessee and nearly out of Georgia.” (Louis’s Virginia Tidewater accent was responsible for the change from nearly to nelly.)

@lyndavonkanel8603

Жыл бұрын

Oh, that "Plum outa Alabama...." made me laugh right out loud! What a great line!

"Druthers" indicates having a choice. Start with the phrase "I'd rather not". Southern drawl it as "Ah druther not". Refer to the process of choosing as your "druthers". Your entire sentence becomes "If ah had mah druthers, ah druther not!"

@Chaotic_Pixie

2 жыл бұрын

a case of rebracketing and truncating for brevity. I like it. Did you know "an apron" was originally "a napron" and when you think about it... it now makes sense that napkin and apron have shared etymological roots.

@dmnemaine

2 жыл бұрын

There's a song from the Broadway show, "L'il Abner" called "If I Had My Druthers".

@RHCole

2 жыл бұрын

...why are y'all using a two syllable word for "choice" when you could just use "way"?

@manwithnoname3024

2 жыл бұрын

If I had my druthers I’d screw that chimpanzee, call it pointless.

@jtcbrt

2 жыл бұрын

@@dmnemaine Cartoonist Al Capp popularized (& may have originated) the phrase in his newspaper comic strip upon which the play and movie are based.

Lawrence, I was born in Texas, raised in Arkansas, lived in Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, and now living in Mississippi. Somehow I knew what every word meant.

@RepentfollowJesus

2 жыл бұрын

You are soaked in South! I'm a Texan living near the Louisiana border and my grandma was raised in Tennessee and Chicago. You can imagine what I have heard.

@cynthiaharrell2144

2 жыл бұрын

Me too!

@wyatttyler8689

Жыл бұрын

I'm a Texas native born and raised and the only one that I didn't know was piddle

@TheCJTok

Жыл бұрын

I’ve lived in Texas and now Oklahoma and the only one I didn’t know was hoecake.

My first drive to Florida from NYC, once in the south, stopped to buy a ""soda". I was asked: you 'all need a sack for yur pop. Had no idea what I'd been asked. Moved to Florida 35 years now. I have to learn the lingo and enjoy all my new vocabulary words. Thank you for highlighting more words I've enjoyed using over the years. I've even helped vehicles stranded in mud pits... What fun

I've only used piddling in a 'doing nothing' sense and thought that when using it in reference to a small amount it was a British way to use it! I feel like I'm learning so much about my margin from you! 😂 Great videos! Thank you!

"Mudding" is used throughout rural America, as it's a favorite summertime activity for anyone with a four wheel drive, and even for plenty of people who don't have four wheel drive.

@AtarahDerek

2 жыл бұрын

@@abcxyz8116 In the rural South or in a big city?

@purplealice

2 жыл бұрын

Mudding means to apply spackle while creating a plasterboard wall

@AtarahDerek

2 жыл бұрын

@@purplealice No one said the word didn't have multiple meanings. But the meaning referred to in this video is used in places other than the South.

And don’t forget the classic Southern phrase, “Bless your heart,” which has several meanings depending on how you say it. 😂

@bearpawz_

2 жыл бұрын

Yep 👆😂 .... And my mom always said "y'aint" too... as in... _What do you mean y'aint coming over?!? I cooked supper for you!!"_

@NoobsofFredo

2 жыл бұрын

Aye, always amusing to see non-Southern folk not get it when someone says it.

@debbiebousquet5677

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I have come the learn this when I moved here to the south... heeheehee

@voluntaryismistheanswer

2 жыл бұрын

Fun fact, 'namaste' is used the same way in California, lol. And yeah, re 'bless your heart' if you don't want to confuse anyone, there's nuances- in the mild way, it's used thusly most often, not AT someone, but indirectly- say, you hear an old lady at church got robbed by her junkie son. 'Oh, bless her heart.' No one in the south thinks you're cussing her out, context is everything lol

@essaboselin5252

2 жыл бұрын

For those wondering the various meanings of "bless your heart", this video from "It's a Southern Thing" explains it: kzread.info/dash/bejne/qWiitKuwj6S6eqQ.html

"Fixin'" can also refer to preparing or cooking, as in "I am fixin' breakfast." Of course, you can get a double whammy with "I am fixin' to fix breakfast," which means you are getting ready to prepare breakfast.

I'm from Georgia so I can't wait to watch this! I knew what "piddling" meant right away on your video's thumbnail (which, btw, is indeed what you had guessed: doing nothing significant, akin to "farting around") ... Ok I'd never heard of "hoecakes" before lol. But I grew up on buttermilk cornbread, not the sweet kind. "Catawampus" was "cacky-cornered" in my neck of the woods. In addition to "doohickey" we'd sometimes say "doomaflotchy". My grandfather used to say things like, "He ain't just ugly, he's plumb ugly," or "She ain't just stupid, she's plumb stupid." 😂 My parents and I still say it! Never heard of "Hoppin' John" but like any good southerner, I always have greens and black-eyed peas on New Year's Day (for good luck in finances: greens = paper money, black-eyed peas = coins). I don't think "washateria" made it out to Georgia. 🤣 And when I grew up, "mudding" was called "mudboggin'". Very fun video! ❤

@OvermannOnline

2 жыл бұрын

Also in GA. I've always heard cockeyed or cacky-cornered, not catawampus. I've done plenty of muddin/mudboggin. Both are pretty common.

My grandma used to use the word “directly” all the time. I’d say when is supper grandma and she would say “directly.” As children we never knew how long “directly” meant. I think she meant whenever she got ready

@J_Chap

2 жыл бұрын

Directly means shortly.

@Pattern51lover

2 жыл бұрын

Directly can also be suddenly. I hear it a lot where I come from

@aprilmayjunejuly

2 жыл бұрын

This! And it was always pronounced "dreckly”. 😂

@stefanfrankel8157

2 жыл бұрын

@@J_Chap In other words, without any diversions.

@notmyworld44

2 жыл бұрын

Correct, but in my family it was pronounced "dreckly".

“Mudding” is also the process of applying joint compound to drywall. As in “I’m going to be mudding these walls today”. Or usually “I’m going to mud these walls today”.

@J_Chap

2 жыл бұрын

I plumb forgot about that. Yep, that's true.

@cavecookie1

2 жыл бұрын

@@J_Chap Oh well, nothing to get hissy about!

@ANNEWHETSTONE

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, in western Canada 🇨🇦 where i live mudding is very common for cars and walls Whatcamicallit and thingamigig and dohicky were common words in the early 90s not sure 🤔 if still is. But i use them.

You were right about Piddling. We used piddling around as well. Doing something of small importance.

A "fixin" is a side item or dish accompanying a main meal. I love the channel!

Southern dialect has a fascinating economy of speech and meaning.

@SonOfTheDawn515

2 жыл бұрын

Wait until you get those Appalachians lol

@kamoogy

2 жыл бұрын

@@SonOfTheDawn515 I'm an Appalachian and actually like in a small town named Appalachia VA.

@NoobsofFredo

2 жыл бұрын

It really is, aye. My theory is that it's a combination of the existing dialects of the early Scots-Irish who settled down here, plus the heat and humidity making anyone want to expend as little energy as possible, resulting in a dialect that tends to take a lot of 'shortcuts' with its words and phrases.

@mrmessenger5584

2 жыл бұрын

@@NoobsofFredo That's what I mean. It's like shorthand!

@melm4760

2 жыл бұрын

I use these words daily. Have a good evening.

Heeelarious. I'm a Southerner, living abroad for many years. These words bring back memories. "Fixin'" (or "fixins") also means side dishes. A turkey with all the fixins. "Druthers" comes from "would rather". I remember my great aunt saying "I'd rather not hear that music. But you don't always get your druthers." "Hoecakes" is from "ponecakes". "Piddling"... you were right... it means messing around wasting time. The others were either spot on, or I don't know them at all. 😉

@cathyfield4765

2 жыл бұрын

Hoe cakes originally were cooked on hoe over a campfire.

@12snac

2 жыл бұрын

I learned it as ponecake

Funny & I've never been to the south. I know all those words & use some of them quite often. In my family we used the word "fixin" to mean a side dish of food. "What fixins are you making for the chicken?" We also used the word "cattycorner" to mean diagonal & cattywampus to mean wrongly/awkwardly positioned. Love your videos!

Very familiar with these. Great video!

Yes...as a Southerner, I knew them all. And they were all correct. Though we always dropped the "g" and just called it Muddin'

Before plumbing and flush toilets, commodes used to be the cabinet that stored chamber pots, then the chairs that had a chamber pot under the hinged seat. Plumb to me means testing if a surface is exactly vertical; i.e. make sure the fence post is plumb before setting it in concrete.

@poppyshock

2 жыл бұрын

You can see how plumb in the sense of perfectly vertical became plumb as in absolute(ly).

@peadarruane6582

2 жыл бұрын

Plumb comes from the Plumb Bob used to test verticality. A little lead weight at the end of a string. Lead in Latin being Plumbum. That is also where the term plumber comes from as they would have worked with lead pipes in the past. Commodes are still used in hospitals or by people with limited mobility at home.

@tommiekelly8680

2 жыл бұрын

@@poppyshock And when you're "plumb tired", you mean there is no variation, or room for compromise.

@kimkincaid5257

2 жыл бұрын

@@peadarruane6582 And that's why the chemical symbol for lead is Pb.

Growing up in eastern North Carolina in the '70s, one of the big things was the Emerald Isle Beach Music festival. (Beach music being kind of like early 50s easy listening music along the line of "Under the Boardwalk" for example). My mother's brother-in-law grew up in NYC, got one of his degrees in theology at Oxford, and knew very little about Southern culture (especially our little corner of it) in spite of living in Atlanta and being married to a Southerner. They were visiting one summer, and I was all excited about going to Emerald Isle to watch my friend's parents in a shagging contest. I think an appropriate word to describe his reaction might be godsmacked? My mother quickly explained to him that it was a couples' dance. She never would tell me at the time why he was so shocked, and it wasn't until many many years later when that Austin Powers movie came out (sorry, not a fan) that I realized why the thought of a teenage girl watching hundreds of adults shag on the beach was so shocking to him.

@overcomerbtbojesus

9 ай бұрын

Lol! 😂😂🤣😂🤣🤣

@jeanetteshawredden5643

8 ай бұрын

I understood it to be "gobsmacked" not godsmacked

LOL So much fun! Here's a funny one to translate Cafegymnatorium! Love your channel! Take care!

As as NC native, I can say hissy is in fact a fit. It can be used to say "he's having a hissy" (short for hissy fit) but we do not say "He's getting hissy." The only people I've ever heard use the word like that were from New York & such. For instance, my husband says the kids get hissy when they are getting a little disagreeable about something.

@RonJohn63

2 жыл бұрын

I've never seen a boy or man throw a tantrum and think "hissy fit". Definitely has female aura in my mind.

@christophersmith8316

2 жыл бұрын

@@RonJohn63 cats, though do get hissy.

@RonJohn63

2 жыл бұрын

@@christophersmith8316 that they do.

@J_Chap

2 жыл бұрын

I agree with that.

@Jessie_Helms

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve always heard it as in a child is getting fussy and threw a hissy fit. I don’t recall hearing it about any adults. -From Alabama

Fun fact: I grew up pronouncing the word "lawyer" as "loy-yur," but here in the south it's pronounced "law-yur". Which makes more logical sense, come to think of it...

@davidames9098

2 жыл бұрын

Grew up in south texas all my life and have only heard "law-yer" in old westerns and fog horn leg horn cartoons. I say loyyur

@danclay8229

2 жыл бұрын

You do have phonics on your side! It is "law yur" in my neck of the woods. Which reminds me I had a friend in college name Laura. She pronounced it Law-ra. However, apparently, many would pronounce this Lor-uh. I still scratch my head on that one. I usually defer to the mother's pronunciation on these type things!

@notmyworld44

2 жыл бұрын

Another Yankee pronunciation of that word is "lorr-yuh".

@joanyow7952

2 жыл бұрын

@Austin Gee we have the most interesting accents and a colorful vocabulary that cannot be matched by the flat nasal tones of the midwest or the grating whines of the north

@monty4336

Жыл бұрын

Here in Michigan we pronounce lawyer like this......high priced thief. Is it just us??

Yes these are all words I use. Thanks for the video.

💕love your channel! xoxo from Florida 🏖

I love hearing you relate these words to British phrases. "Throwing a Wobbler" sounds so fun, in a way.

@floydlooney6837

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like abuse of a turkey

@alicewall5363

2 жыл бұрын

I intend to use this phrase!

@samanthab1923

2 жыл бұрын

I first heard that on the Osbornes. Described Kelly as having a daily wobbler

@mizztanya2763

2 жыл бұрын

i could be wrong, but i think the word is actually warbler, possibly in reference to the warbler bird.

@scottwilcoxson2439

2 жыл бұрын

@@mizztanya2763 I would never throw a warbler. They can fly by themselves. But Laurence might. Maybe a British thing?

I'm from Tennessee, and grew up with the phrase "fixin' to (do something or go somewhere)." I went to college in the Midwest and a girl in my dorm ridiculed me for saying that. So what did she say? "Gonna take and" "I'm gonna take and go to the library or I'm gonna take and do my laundry." I thought "gonna take and" was worse than fixin' and told her she had no right to criticize me. It seems that every region of the U.S. has its own funny way of saying things.

@lavenderjade8

2 жыл бұрын

i like the way you talk dont ever stop keep it going pass it down you know :D

@gmvalentine626

2 жыл бұрын

Never heard of "gonna take." I grew up in Maryland.

@christenelishevas2050

2 жыл бұрын

😂🤣🙃 that's hilarious!!

@Pattern51lover

2 жыл бұрын

Sometimes said as “Finna” as in “I’m finna do this…”

@tomvana4270

2 жыл бұрын

From the midwest and never heard that.

I am 68 from Shropshire England, and I knew piddling as something small . But I have not heard it in quite a few years .

There is no way that was unintentional. That was outstanding.

You can also use “hissy” to just abbreviate “hissy fit”. As in “Sarah had a hissy at preschool today because somebody stole her yellow crayon.” Or “don’t have a hissy.” Most often “hissy fit” is used either to refer to a temper tantrum had by a child or in a very childish way by an adult. Also, if your mama told you to “hush up” in church no one would think anything of it but she would never say “shut up” in church. The former is considered gentler. The latter is almost treated like a cuss word. And if someone says “shut your mouth” run!

@howtubeable

2 жыл бұрын

No. I have never heard "hissy" without the word "fit." Hissy fit. No variations.

@jaa4742

2 жыл бұрын

It wasn't called a hissy fit, but it was called showin your butt. Sarah showed her butt when someone stole her crayon.

@angelabarnes7588

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, we use "don't have a hissy" a lot. My Grandma Lil rarely used "fit" after "hissy". She also used hussy, but that's a whole different word, isn't it? Lol!

@debbie4503

2 жыл бұрын

@@angelabarnes7588 ROFL! 🤣🤣

@kariejohnson9505

2 жыл бұрын

My grandma would tell people "don't work yourself into a hissy" when people were angry. We're from TN.

You are also right about piddling meaning messing around with something when bored. My dad constantly told me to stop piddling with stuff because I was the kid who wanted to take everything apart.

@francinesmith1889

2 жыл бұрын

Right, I’ve never heard it used to mean “small.”

@tigger12486

2 жыл бұрын

Right never heard that

@sirclarkmarz

2 жыл бұрын

I wouldn't call that piddling it sounds more like tinkering

Plumb also means, on the level. Or referring to someone who's crazy. "That one is a half-bubble off plumb. Southern speech is more complicated than folks think. 😉😂😂🤣🤣😂😂

Druthers is an evolved idea that started with the phrase “I’d rather…” that changed into the collective noun “druthers.” So, “l’d rather do this and I’d rather do that” turned into “my druthers.”

I grew up in rural Appa-LATCH-ian Tennessee, and have lived in North Carolina for the past ten years. Lots of colorful sayings for sure! We never used "cattywampus" but instead if something was off kilter or sideways, it was "sigogglin'" (rhymes with hi goblin.) Buggy - definitely a shopping cart, though it was occasionally used as "baby buggy." There used to be a restaurants chain named Druthers, which I'd completely forgotten about until I saw it here. Piddling - we always used like "piddling around, wasting time." Good job!

@karancarnwright4312

Жыл бұрын

I !I've in North Carolina, for awhile I lived in the foothills in Rutherford County, u would think ur in a foreign country bcuz they have there own back woods language, its unbelievable!!

@donnagoring250

Жыл бұрын

Kimberly Guinn am old enough to remember buggy was also used at times for a horse drawn vehicle. But have not heard it for decades. This from the grand parents and they stopped using it that way also. It became baby buggie, no longer hear it at all. Grand parents born in later 1800s.

@Robert08010

Жыл бұрын

@@donnagoring250 That's how I learned "Water closet".

@donnagoring250

Жыл бұрын

@@Robert08010 Thanks for sharing! With one parent from New England, the other from California, some words have different contexts. New England, dinner meant lunch, while California dinner meant supper. Early to mid 1900s.

@PrometheanRising

Жыл бұрын

I love the word si-gogglin, or sigoggled. Learned it from a language video several years ago. I don't think that word crossed over into Osage English.

Bad example for the usage of "plumb." The source on the phone should have read "I'm plumb tuckered out."

Just started the video and it made me sub. I was born in Alaska lived all over USA. Am now firmly planted in the south. Took years for me to understand some of these peeps. If ya eva need help let me know.

Excellent list! I am Southern, and have used most of these! Most are rural Southern terms. "Laundromat" is used all over the South. I never heard "mudding" before, but I have heard the classic "Ugly as a mud fence" thousands of times! Nice video, Laurence!

@emilypresleysee

Жыл бұрын

What part of the south? I'm from Kentucky and we have giant "parks" (DOZENS of acres) dedicated solely for mudding. It's a pretty big pastime up here in rural areas.

@CADClicker

Жыл бұрын

You grew up with the wrong friends if you've never heard/been muddin

@mrmusiclover4178

Жыл бұрын

@@emilypresleysee I live in SC, not far from Augusta. The reddest, slickest mud here you ever saw! Brick is made commercially from the local clay. I am 82, and a lot of my childhood was spent getting vehicles out of ditches. Nothing to laugh about. VERY few paved roads here when I was a kid. So I was intimately involved with the unintentional mud-related events without giving it a name. Mud was serious business back then, not a sport or something to laugh about!

I'm from Michigan and instead of using piddling in the context you used it I would say I got a piddly raise. Lol.

@Margar02

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, here in ohio i hear "piddly" as an adjective more than "piddling," to mean trivial or small. I only hear is as a verb when "piddling around" AKA wasting time or doing nothing much.

@Kindness808

2 жыл бұрын

Ya…piddly…small…scant…insignificant

as a southerner I caught my self using/pronouncing a word I hadn't thought of today, instead of "doesn't" I said "dut-ton." I realized I use this all the time so that's interesting. Anyone else do this?

@zaram131

2 жыл бұрын

I do 😊

@maggiemay3108

2 жыл бұрын

I do too!

@dalesmyth7398

2 жыл бұрын

I say it, but different, mine comes out ...dudin-it.

@atentoni

2 жыл бұрын

Yes!! And "didn't" is "dit-un". For sure.

Commode is also a small cabinet. It was used to store pitcher and wash basin at one time. It's low, usually has two doors and a drawer.

I'm proud to announce that I use all of these words. I'm from the deep South . Also, I live in Louisiana where Cajuns have some doozies. ( Doozie - something extraordinary, impressive, unique, or problematic) I was in the 11th Grade of High School before I found out that "dreckly' wasn't a word that is commonly used. It means 'Directly or fixin to happen. ( Y'all kids go wash your hands. Dinner will be ready dreckly. 'Pass' means to go past, to die, or speed up and get in front of the car that is currenty in front of you.

NW GA girl here: Druthers is "would rathers." Here it's "catttywampus." Piddling has a number of meanings depending where you are. Here, "piddling" is kind of "not doing much," but here is often "doing something small but slightly significant," kind of like "tinkering." "Loafering" is more "not doing much" typically than "piddling." A buggy can be either a shopping cart or a baby buggy. "Plumb" is derived from the engineering tool (plumb bob - "plumb bobber" here) or the state of being "plumb" or straight. Which of course expands to "absolutely." (A plumb bobber is a heavy weight usually with a pointed end that points you straight down to the center of gravity - or if you want to be grandiose, the very core of the earth.) I'd love to see you visit the mountains down here. You would hear all manner of odd phrases.

@amethyst5538

2 жыл бұрын

Southern Appalachia has a beautiful vocabulary.

@yourweirdauntperfumeryskin3236

2 жыл бұрын

@@amethyst5538 Oh, I love it. My grandmother had a great accent and wonderful ways of expressing herself, and her family originated in Northeast GA and southern parts of NC. Dialect and word history, etc. are among my favorite subjects. What's great is Appalachian speakers carried on the Old English compounding that is pretty unique to English. Toys are "play-pretties," for example.

@CornbreadOracle

2 жыл бұрын

@@yourweirdauntperfumeryskin3236 my grandmother was from way northeast Alabama (Sand Mountain). I grew up in north central AL. Mamaw was the only person I ever knew who used the word “treckly” for “directly”. She was forever ‘’a fixin get dinner treckly’. Translation: I’m going to prepare lunch soon. My favorite saying of hers was “its coming up a cloud”. Translation: It looks like it might rain.

@slcRN1971

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve never heard the word ‘cattywampus’ and I’ve lived in the south of coastal NC for over 40 years. I would never ever have guessed correctly it’s meaning!!

@yourweirdauntperfumeryskin3236

2 жыл бұрын

@@CornbreadOracle It was always "dreckly" with my grandmother. We all used it, really. I still do. 😆 Grandmother used to say, "Don't that beat all," all the time. Short for, "Don't that beat all I ever seen." And if she was going to the store (particularly smaller stores/shops), she would say, "I'm going to the merchants."

I was raised in Texas and was familiar with all of these. I think my favorite expression I’ve never heard anywhere but Texas is “knee high to a June bug” meaning when I was a child. I haven’t heard that since I was knee high to a June bug.

@emdusha5590

2 жыл бұрын

I always heard it as “knee-high to a grasshopper”.

@lyndavonkanel8603

2 жыл бұрын

@@emdusha5590 Me, too.

@marthawelch4289

2 жыл бұрын

Our family first said, "knee high to a June bug". My first dog, Chiefie, absolutely loved to eat the June bugs that "hatched" in our lawn. After eating 42 of them, he then threw up each and every one separately!! on the carpet. We then changed the saying to "knee high to a grasshopper".

@Ceerads

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve been in NYC forever. I’ve heard “knee high to a grasshopper.”

@MsRmaclaren

Жыл бұрын

We used knee high to a grasshopper.

Piddling has been used in my area as a way to say wasting time or just not doing a whole lot

@Lost in the Pond -- Laurence, have you ever heard the term, "muggy?" It's a Southern word for hot, very humid weather. "It's muggy out today." Just about any day in summer in the Gulf Coast states or along the southern Atlantic gives you a fine illustration of this.

While he was growing up, my grandma called my uncle Potfer. She came from deep Oklahoma roots and he figured it was a term of endearment from an old Okie saying. One day he finally asked her “What is a potfer?” Her response “Cooking”. Ladies and gents, my grandma! 😂 I’m glad I come from people with a sense of humor. It’s helped me more than once in my life!

@Charlesb88

2 жыл бұрын

That's like the age old joke that goes: Guy 1: Do You know where I can get a Henway?" Guy 2: "What's a henway?" Guy 1: "Oh about two and a half pounds."

@willkittwk

2 жыл бұрын

That's not vulgar enough. We used to ask non buying customers (guys) if they wanna pussyfor. When they said what the hells a pussyfor. We'd say some smartass thing like you don't know what a pussysfor. Lol kinda trailer trash humor but funny and a good icebreaker. Get em laughing and you get em buying.

@annl.8909

2 жыл бұрын

Hmmmm... I've heard similar nicknames amongst the older folk here in ireland... it usually means a person who is impoverished, eg, he doesn't have a potfer piddling in... in this instance, a pot here means a chamber pot, also known as a commode or a guzunder (ie, a potty that goes under the bed)... its all about the lavatory today....

@lyndavonkanel8603

2 жыл бұрын

@@annl.8909 Living in Georgia, USA, I heard someone say that a Southern expression is, "If you lie down with dogs you're gonna get fleas". Later on while reading Irish sayings I found that again. A lot of us here are of Irish descent and apparently some of things we say were passed down from our Irish ancestors.

As a true Texan, I can confirm the usage of these words although I don’t use them in mixed company. Don’t want to confuse folks 😃

You did well! I've seen these types of videos by americans and THEY didn't get even 1 or 2. Well done!

I'm actually impressed mate that you got most of them right, or almost all right. Nice job!

A number of these are not necessarily specific to the South. I grew up in rural New England, and several of these were common parlance, especially among older folks.

@michele-kt

2 жыл бұрын

I'm a NYer and I know most of them too! 😊

@jillbritton2676

2 жыл бұрын

I grew up in east central Illinois and I heard some of these often

@R.M.MacFru

2 жыл бұрын

Southeastern Michigan, and I've heard & used most of them.

@debbiebousquet5677

2 жыл бұрын

Me to NH an Maine here...

@voluntaryismistheanswer

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, my mother said 'peakéd' for ill or wan looking, and she was never near the south in her life.

Buggy can also be used in the phrase "baby buggy" which is, as you might guess, a pram/stroller. (I am a life-long Southerner.)

@jimadiah

2 жыл бұрын

Depends where you are in the south. I've got family in Kentucky that use it as a shopping cart, but I've heard it used as stroller further south.

@S7J7P7

2 жыл бұрын

@@jimadiah Buggy in Alabama and Tennessee is shopping cart.

@jenlc1536

2 жыл бұрын

Plus there are dune buggies but I'm not sure if they use those in the South. I'm a California girl with a Texas daddy so my vocabulary is from all over the place.

@patriciapost962

2 жыл бұрын

Buggy can also mean crazy as in “He’s driving me buggy “

@Birdbike719

2 жыл бұрын

@@S7J7P7 i grew up calling it a shopping basket rather than buggy. (Texas) These days most folks I'm around call them shopping carts. In a metropolitan area now

I grew up in Atlanta and the first time I heard the term "piddling" was in London visiting a friend and we took her toddlers to the park piddling pool.

I’ve lived in California my entire life so i’m learning just as much as you are 😂

I've lived in the south my whole life, I eat black-eyed peas and rice a couple times a week, and I've never heard the term "Hoppin John". We actually call it "Black-Eyed Peas & Rice". The name comes from an old Southern tradition of using the dishes ingredients in the name.

@SergeantSquared

Жыл бұрын

yeah here near Chattanooga its BlackEyed peas, and turnip greens on New Years day for good financial luck throughout the year...

While in college I went to a washateria, that was a laundromat and cafeteria. I'd get my laundry started and then go over to the cafeteria side and order a meal. The wall that separated the 2 was basically a whole bunch of windows, so I could watch my laundry (make sure no one messes with it) while eating. It was a good way to multi-task. Especially since I was going to school and working full time. So I didn't have a lot of free time.

This is awesome!

I was reminded that years ago on "The Prairie Home Companion," a long running Saturday night NPR show, Garrison Keilor referred to Indiana as America's northernmost southern state. Not surprising that you knew a number of these. Much of southern Illinois would fit the description as well.

I remember that I watched a documentary about the south’s cotton fields. One item mentioned was hoecakes (made with Indian corn) that were actually made on a hot hoe (washed in a nearby creek), because the field hands had to work from sun-up to sundown. Eventually they were made out of yellow or white cornmeal (also called Johnny-cakes or journey-cakes which were an American staple food. FYI: I did look this up, to be sure that I remembered this information correctly. That’s were I learned that hoecakes are made (by some people) using flour.

@sammi-joreviews1135

2 жыл бұрын

My family has always made them with flour.

@sandy-rr1by

2 жыл бұрын

Granny baked hoecakes in the oven using flour, kinda like a soft tearable cracker. Johnny cake was pancake-thin cornbread cooked in black skillet on top of stove in grease when she didn't have enough meal to make a big pan of cornbread. I grew up with grandparents...nice memory.

@weotu

2 жыл бұрын

I always called cornbread-pancakes 'corn pone' bc Grandma did but now I'm not sure she was right

@sandy-rr1by

2 жыл бұрын

@@weotu doesn't matter whether she was right or not...it's what she knew them as!

@weotu

2 жыл бұрын

@@sandy-rr1by fair 'nough

The last one especially is hilarious to me because of a story a lady told me at work. I used to work for the phone company and she called me because she needed a replacement of her phone. She and her buddies had gone mudding and the monster truck she was in had flipped into a deep mud puddle and she had to swim out from underneath everything and her phone had been SOL from that... That isn't even in my top five of crazy stories how people have lost or destroyed phones when they talked to me.

@zaram131

2 жыл бұрын

Your stories would be interesting to hear 🙂

And then there's the paint colour of my 1970 Challenger, which was called Plum Crazy! 😁

Hi Laurence! Re: WORDS. I've always used 'piddling' (meaning small/little) & I've lived in LONDON, UK for 80+ years! So it's not so specifically a 'Southern USA' only, word. You do make me smile. Barbara, London, UK.