Alabama/Southern slang (house, rent, work)

[Buckhead_Broker]

Trivia Question;

Who knows what "fair to middlin'" really means?

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by Buckhead_Broker

Trivia Question; Who knows what "fair to middlin'" really means?

I do.
OK, not great, not awful.

[richardlee]

I struggle with the term fixin to, here in Florida it is used a lot. If you are black it is finnin to.
rich

[IDVague]

"dreckly"

It is a southernized version of "directly", and it usually means 'soon' or 'without hesitation'.

Ex.1 "Where is your momma, boy?" "She'll be here dreckly."

Ex.2 "Stay right there, I'll see you dreckly"

[carolynd]

I'd like to know who came up with the following questions/expressions
"Where you at?", "I might could", and "I'm fixin to..."- they drive me nuts! Ha! I tell people when they move to Alabama, the top 3 questions you'll be asked are: 1) Have you chosen a church yet? 2) Auburn or Alabama? and 3) Will that be smoking or non-smoking? as you enter a restaurant to eat....

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by IDVague

"dreckly"

It is a southernized version of "directly", and it usually means 'soon' or 'without hesitation'.

Ex.1 "Where is your momma, boy?" "She'll be here dreckly."

Ex.2 "Stay right there, I'll see you dreckly"

Translation: "soon" is correct. It does not mean "immediately," but more like "in a few minutes" or "shortly" or "in a little while."

[lea896]

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

Well, I was fourteen before I knew that "damn" and "yankee" was two different words. The one that cracks up my friends from up North is, "lowfern." In East Tennessee, up in the hills, if you ask someone, "Whadda you up to?" They might reply, "Nuthin, just lowfern."

sorry but am a lil slow here... so what's "lowfern"?

[Southlander]

Originally Posted by lea896

sorry but am a lil slow here... so what's "lowfern"?

Loafing.
Term is rarely heard now. More common is "hangin' out."

[jeffncandace]

This post is hysterical! I grew up in Cali but my mom is from southeast Oklahoma and all of my grandparents are southern. Most of my faves have been mentioned, like "Dreckly" (directly). What's funny is even though I grew up in So Cal, it wasn't till I got teased in my teens that I realized I spoke some southern! I always said, "We're fixin to...(fill in the blank)." LOL
Whenever we visited my grandparents in Oklahoma, it was funny to hear how different our cousins were to us. First of all, I was referred to as "cousin Jeff", not just by Jeff....
A couch was called the Divan. (soft "i").
Everything was a Coke, not soda or pop.
Fixin' to...(and blacks say fin' ta)
Ya'll, of course...
I reckon...
Dreckly...(Directly, meaning soon)
Most of my cousins go by both 1st and middle names, i.e. Danny Paul, Lori Mae, ect...and these are really my cousins names...
"Huh-why-yuh", how my mom pronounces "Hawaii"
"Earl", how mom and grandparents pronounce "Oil"
Some sayings...
"That fellas' got a hitch in his get-a-long", referring to someone with a limp
"Sure as the world", what my grandpa would say when he was sure of something
"Don't stand there staring at me like a cow at a new gate, GET MOVIN'!"...I think the meaning is obvious...
"He stood there battin' his eyes like a frog in a west Texas hail storm"...many different meanings, but generally means someone who doesn't get what you are talking about.
"If yew don't quit hollerin', I'll jerk a knot in yer tail!"
"Wot", which is my dad for "what?"
And more I"m sure...
I live in the north now, but love the south too...
Peace!

[markdalton]

My grandmother is from northeast Alabama (outside Scottsboro), which has a strong Tennessee influence. "Extra" becomes "extree", years also have "and" in them (for example, 1980 is 19 and 80), over yonder, might could, and other typical southern terms are used frequently too.

Interestingly, on my father's side, there are some relatives who live in the northern Appalachain mountains (southwest Pennsylvania...they were originally from North Carolina but moved to Pennsylvania for a job and stayed there since) and although I wouldn't call the accents southern, there is some "mountain talk" going on there too, especially in the rural areas.