Favorite TN slang

[Rainna]

Don't fatten frogs for another snake to eat. Has anyone ever heard that one if so what does it mean. I heard it the first time today from Judge Joe Brown who is from Memphis. He said it was an old southern slang. He was ruling on a case before him when he said it.

[Pam& Bill]

Recently someone who was telling a story about a very intelligent person who seemed not to have any common sense, said "Being them must be like kicking a ball in very tall grass" Which I thought was pretty funny till I read the one about someone fell face first in a tackle box.That has become my favorite one.
Pam

[galena]

My mom used to say "i-dee" instead of idea.
I was a fairly old child when I realized that "chester drawers" were a chest of drawers.
And it wasn't till I read it in a book that I found out it was a spigot instead of a "spicket." Maybe that's why I use faucet instead of spigot.
My parents were raised in SE AL & SW GA.
My relatives still go to "Eyetalian" restaurants.
And that state is "Hywaya".

It's funny that I tried to correct my English because Miami was not a southern city. My AL cousins called me a Yankee because I didn't talk like them. Now, I often get in conversations with southerners and compare what our parents said.

I've certainly enjoyed this thread, and I recognized a whole bunch of these sayings. But I've never heard of a kettle/pot being called a steer nor a bologna (baloney) sandwich called a dog sandwich. Are those strictly TN?

[Ridgerunner]

I seed Bill Jones yisterdy and he warn't nary a bit happy. He said they wuz only gonna pike th' road up as fur as Ben Smith's place. An' Ben, as ye know, lives a fur piece down th' road. Bill said a county commish'ner told 'im a right smart bit ago they wuz gonna pike it all th' up tuh Haze Wilson's. But ye can't b'lieve nothin' them politicians tell ye. None uv 'em ain't worth th' powder it'd take tuh blow 'em tuh kingdom come. Ol' Bill's feelin' purty peart fer 'is age. He's still doin' a good bit uv gardenin' and's still got a duke's mixture uv good hunt'n' dawgs. (According to The Heartland Series, some of these expressions and enunciations were in common usage in England several centuries ago.)

[gemkeeper]

I have been at a loss with this thread because everything I hear seems to be southern slang!

Today, I met a lady who grew up in Tennessee around Crossville. She was so funny telling me how disgusted she was with her job.

Her comment was: "Thar gittin own ma nurvs sumtin awful, n' ah ain't got buh one le-ift!"

That really tinkled my funny bone. What a dear thing she was!

[alleycat]

One that my mother uses that just drives me up a wall is "winders" (for windows). I probably use it too when I'm not thinking (or should that be "thinkun"?).

[Ridgerunner]

When I'm in the Carolina coastal region I often have to ask people to repeat what they've said. I'm tempted to call some of their pronunciations "lazy," in that their speech is so relaxed.

[jabogitlu]

LOL! Now isn't that the pot... oh, hmm, sorry, can't use that expression these days. Well, you get my drift.