Alabama/Southern slang (Geneva: company, move, bathroom)

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by MullinsCurve

We usually called it a sack, but poke was used by my great grandfather. We called the boys that hauled your groceries to the car a bag boy.

Now we pretty much call all those damned plastic bags Walmart bags, whether they come from WallieWorld or not. I hate them.

"Poke" is a new one to me, I just call them a paper bag. All plastic bags are like you said, "Wal-Mart bags".

[blueeyes30]

Originally Posted by undertheironsea

Every Southern state has a different accent. It's what makes us great. I hate it when Hollywood has these cookie-cutter accents that makes everyone that's Southern sound like they're either from Kentucky or Albany, Georgia.

There are even different accents in each state. For instance, although the east Tennessee area shares a southern accent, from Chattanooga to Bristol, their are differences I notice. West Tennessee is a whole different area and so is middle Tennessee.

I remember watching this TV show years ago that took place in the West Virginia coalfields. The people actually sounded like the Jimmy Carter (south Georgia) accent! As someone who has been to WV, they sound nothing like that. In fact, WV has an interesting southern mountain/midwestern hybrid thing going on.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by blueeyes30

There are even different accents in each state. For instance, although the east Tennessee area shares a southern accent, from Chattanooga to Bristol, their are differences I notice. West Tennessee is a whole different area and so is middle Tennessee.

I remember watching this TV show years ago that took place in the West Virginia coalfields. The people actually sounded like the Jimmy Carter (south Georgia) accent! As someone who has been to WV, they sound nothing like that. In fact, WV has an interesting southern mountain/midwestern hybrid thing going on.

This is a very good point. That is, that there are a LOT of variations across the South.

Here is a pretty good link, I always thought...

Southern American English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by TexasReb

This is a very good point. That is, that there are a LOT of variations across the South.

Here is a pretty good link, I always thought...

Southern American English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What an interesting website. I guess I'm described as a "Florida cracker".LOL

[Tim Rankin]

Originally Posted by Tim Rankin

I kind of like "I might could do that." The first person I ever heard say that explained that it's meaning was slightly different than "I may be able to do that."

Originally Posted by Southlander

Another one I haven't heard in a long time. "Might could:" the speaker could do it if he wanted, and he very well might, but first he wants to play with the requester a little!

Aha! A very nuanced meaning, indeed...thanks.

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by southernnaturelover

"Poke" is a new one to me, I just call them a paper bag. All plastic bags are like you said, "Wal-Mart bags".

Or "briefcase of your least favorite state university," AKA "Auburn briefcase" etc.

[Kele]

From my 20 years in Texas..

There's "pitchin' a wall-eyed fit". "Do whut?" "He's an ornery critter." (Actually it's onry if he's a native, ornery if he's a Yankee.)

If things are going well, then "you're sh*tt*ng in tall cotton."

"Worthless as t*ts on a boar hog."

Misbehaving kids get, "if ya'll ain't gonna mind, somebody's gonna take this paring knife and go cut me a switch!"

Then there's one of my favorites...an old boyfriend used to say it to me when he thought I was looking particularly tasty--"Damn, son honey hush!"

"Ya'll better quieten down in there!"

Then there is "dewlap"--What's a dewlap? That boy's belly is so big it do lap over his belt.

Oh, and my ex-MIL always used to say, I swan--don't know why, but when she was flummoxed by something, she'd say, "well I swan."

I'm sure I could think of more if I just get on the phone with some folks from back home....

[seekinghome]

This is a great thread. Makes me realize that my family always spoke differently than their geographic location would indicate they should, I guess. My parents and grandparents all came from southern Indiana and southern Ohio going back quite a few generations in fact. They said things like "haint" as in "I'd haint to miss my favorite program on the TV". Poosh instead of push. Warsh instead of wash. Seement instead of cement and to call your father Daddy when you were a girl of 40 is perfectly ok. We always were taught to call elders by their Mr. or Mrs. never their first names. But we did not use sir and ma'm like they do in the south. (Which I think is wonderful.) These all seem far more southern than midwest or northern to me. Also phrases like- "full as a tick", "hotter than the hinges of Bagdad", "useless as **** on a boar", "looks like two pigs in a gunny sack" (a woman walking in a pair of pants too small for her big behind) and calling grocery bags "sacks". Folks in southern Ohio say "I'll tell you what" quite a bit too. And y'all is used frequently as a plural or singular form. All y'all is sometimes used to be sure you all know you are included but usually only as a clarifier. Y'all suffices to include the group but often means singular people too. Southern Ohio also has a good bit of people using "caller" as in "what caller is that, green or blue?" I lived in new england for awhile and a grocery cart or buggy is called a carriage there. In New England and in southern Indiana a woman's handbag is a pocketbook, not a purse like in the north. One phrase my grandma used to repeat was "It is strong as akifortis" -her grandmother used to say it but no one knows what akifortis is. Any ideas out there?

[harry chickpea]

"It is strong as akifortis" -her grandmother used to say it but no one knows what akifortis is. Any ideas out there?

As strong as a key fort is?

[MullinsCurve]

It is Aqua Fortis, another name for nitric acid.

aquafortis - definition of aquafortis by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.