Thank you all for your delightful sayings. I adore regionalisms, and I don't care what region.
My parents are (GASP!) Yankees, and my dad's family uses a lot of
expressions which I've never thought of as particularly Southern:
"Couldn't find his behind in the dark with both hands and a flashlight",
for example. "Slower than molasses in January." "Tough row to hoe."
Dr. S (who is from rural southwest Ohio) once said, in lab
meeting, to his very famous boss, "Well, Titania, even a blind squirrel
finds a nut every now and again."
But, actually from the South: "All a' y'all" has always been one of my favorites. This is a peculiarly Southern thing. Where I grew up, "Y'all are welcome to come to the party" was a particularly non-pressing invitation given out of courtesy, but "All a' y'all should come by on Saturday night, we're having a party" meant "I really truly want each and every one of you to show up."
I have heard, but never used "Lower than a snake's belly", and I adore "Doesn't have the sense God gave a chigger." (Chiggers are revolting little bugs, found in high grass in high summer, which burrow into your legs and then die. No, I don't know why.)
Y'all come back, now!
i was born in the Northeast (true Yank) and my mother's favorite was "slower than molasses in January" which didn't compute to me until I got older (and lived elsewhere!) She also loved "close the door, we don't live in a barn!"
ReplyDeleteFrom Dr. S's Alabama-born coworker: "Hotter'n two rats makin' it in a wool sock." Except I believe the original was ruder.
ReplyDeleteIn German, we have the blind squirrel thing with a blind chicken finding a grain every now and then (and I actually said that to my boss the other day, but not in a lab meeting). One of the sad things of living abroad is that you forget those expressions -- they come back when I hear my family or friends talk, but by myself I often don't remember them...
ReplyDelete