Favorite TN slang (Memphis, Crossville: job, live, restaurants)

[thirtyish]

I think I'm going to need a translator. . . lol

[SouthBound58]

Ya'll know what, we said all these things in West TN ( the TN valley) too.
A couple others I remember;
I'm plum tuckered out = I'm tired
fer crying out loud
When we went to the store we toted our items in a sack, we wore breeches not slacks or pants.
A cooking pot/kettle we called a "steer"
We warshed the dishes in the zinc ( zink = sink)

The country store made fresh sandwiches and if you said you wanted a dog sandwich it meant a bologna sandwich.
When I moved to Chicago at age 12 these sayings went right along with me. My eighth grade Teacher was pulling her hair out before the year was over.

[SouthBound58]

Originally Posted by Maggie Nay

I've heard alot of these expressions up here in SW PA, but my husband is from WV and he comes up with some good ones I had never heard, like if it rains hard it's a "gully washer", and when his stomach growls he say's "my guts is rattlin".
The "younse" is Pittsburghese. Yes we have our own language here, some others are:
Jumbo for balogna
gum bands for rubber bands
chipped ham for shaved ham and
red up for clean up

My brother n Law is from WV also. We had so much fun when he married my sister. He called a grocery bag a poke and we called it a sack. He called a cooking pot a kettle and we called it a steer, boy did he roll on the floor laughing when we would say steer. But then he called a paved road a hard road so then we laughed at him. Of course that was 40 some years ago and we were all teenagers and all had moved to Chicago about the same time so we all learned to speak northern together.

Edited to add, we called bologna, dog.

[Grizzlybear34]

One I heard this past weekend from a Trenton, Ga. local, "The truth's not in the man". Translated, this guy doesn't always tell the truth, says what you want to hear or what he wants you to believe.

[Capt. Dan]

We used to go to the "picture show"--movies
We got our gas at the "filling station"
Laundry soap was "warshing powders" even if it was liquid.
the fridge is still the "ice box"

[Capt. Dan]

Or if you couldnt make up your mind about something grandpa would say " make up yer mine child. ya caint ride 2 horses with 1 ass."

[TheShadow]

My grandma was born in Tennessee, and my mom inherited a lot of her sayings. I used to think they were so weird and gross too

Slicker than snot
like sh*t through a goose (fast)
colder than witch's t*t
as useless as t*ts on a boar hog
too big fer yer britches
git off yer high horse

[williboy]

Norteast TN
you'uns = ya'll = you guys = you's guys

[AlisonL]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Yes. Some of those saying are familiar to me, too. I guess it's because I come from a small town in New England. Makes sense.

I always found the saying, "when Hannah was a pup" to be cute, as in "I haven't seen him since Hannah was a pup."

I always wondered who is Hannah and her pup!

Anyone ever hear that one?

Never heard Hannah, we always used Hector. Must be littermates.

Alot of these terms are used here in Maine. I know I say alot of them.

[jabogitlu]

Originally Posted by Lt. Dan

We used to go to the "picture show"--movies
We got our gas at the "filling station"
Laundry soap was "warshing powders" even if it was liquid.
the fridge is still the "ice box"

Funny, you made me realize that I call all laundry detergent "washin' powders," too - and I use liquid! LOL!