Colloquialisms

Colloquialism
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"A colloquialism is an expression not used in formal speech, writing or paralinguism. Colloquialisms can include words (such as "y'all", "gonna" or "grouty"), phrases (such as "ain't nothin'" and "dead as a doornail"), or sometimes even an entire aphorism ("There's more than one way to skin a cat"). Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. Colloquialisms are often used primarily within a limited geographical area."

After coming across several "colloquialisms" in various threads, I thought it would be fun to have a thread about them. Some of the more common colloquialisms in the south are 'y'all' (you all), 'ovair' (over there), 'anem' (and them). You get the picture. I'll start with a word I rather imagine most of y'all have never heard:
The word is "tump" and it means "to turn over and dump out" as in: "Be careful! You'll tump over that pot!"
Tump seems to be a word that was used in a specific geographic area within the state of Arkansas where I grew up. My husband grew up in Arkansas about 50 miles from where I did and he never heard of the word until I mentioned it to him. I heard it and used it myself quite frequently as a child. There was a newspaper columnist for one of the major papers in our state who wrote an article several years ago about the word "tump". It brought back many fond memories to me.
Please share the "colloquialisms" from your "neck of the woods".

Ya Betcha, I'm thinking now. My mind has turned to mush, so now I'm going to hit the sack, then get up when the rooster crows, have a cup of joe, and put my mind tathinkin again.

Some folks say they raise carn (corn and have a friend that lives in American Fark (fork). When we were in North Carolina, they ordered sweet tea which here we call iced tea. They pushed the door to while we just close it. We have a town called Lay-un (Layton) and cats have ki-uns. And we apparently live in the Rocky Mou-uns!!!

too funny, Sac! LOL
kwanjin--I'm with you on the iced tea--although down here you specify whether you want it sweet or unsweetened.. Do y'all have 'cricks' in Utah or do they call them by their proper name: "creeks"? Anybody ever heard of light bread (as opposed to white bread)?

Visiting my mother-in-law several years ago in " joJa" ( Georgia) she asked me to get the "ice potatoes"! Imagine my shock when I looked in the refrigerator for peeled, diced potatoes in water....NOPE...she was asking for the unpeeled, white Idaho potatoes sitting on the counter. Also can you imagine what she thought about my cooking abilities or knowledge.Still don't understand why she still calls them "ice potatoes" ! But still my DH laughs and smiles at me, when she asks for "ice potatoes" ;0)

Garden6, I, too, have never heard of "ice" potatoes and I have lived in the south all my life! Maybe she is referring to "eyes" on the potatoes?
I have a good story about "dinner" but will have to tell it later--DH and I have to take MIL to the doctor today--will be gone from home most of the day. I'll check back in with "y'all" later!

Got into work 1 hr. late today..fog/fog

fog- "as thick as pea soup"

Marsue, we do have "cricks" and some people work on "ol" rigs. And if you tell a kid he can't do "sumpin", he says, "Yabbit?" (Yeah, but?) Oh, we do a lot of skeen here, too!!!

Around here every now and then you'll hear someone say they are going to "red up" their kitchen or living room. The first time I heard it I seriously thought they meant they were going to paint the walls red. It means they are going to clean the room. In other words "ready up" the room.

We have a word here that I'm pretty sure is all our own. The word is "boogan." It's a hard to define word, especially with the PC-ness of today. This word was created when I was in high school, who exactly created the word is unknown. The best definition I can give is this...it is a derogatory word that is used to describe someone who seemingly does not work, appears to have bad hygiene, and spends most of their time hanging out on a specific corner in our town. To be called a boogan is not a good thing....

You can then imagine DH's and my shock when we vacationed in Aruba and saw a tour guide greeting her guests with, "Boogan!" and bowing gracefully. If those people had only known the insult she was laying on them!

Boogan in Aruba! LOL!

LOL Boogsan in Aruba!

In high school we had stoners and jocks. Talk to the other kind? Now way!!!

Another word, known only to our family, is "tookit". My older DB invented the word when he was about 2-3 yrs old, or so I've been told. There was a large area of road construction that my Mom & Dad were driving through and DB popped up from the back seat and said, "I want a tookit! Grab me a tookit!" No one knew what he meant. Finally they figured out he was talking about the big, orange cones they use to direct traffic. To this day everyone in the family calls them tookits...and no one else has any clue what we are talking about. It's just automatic for us to call them tookits, then we have to stop and explain ourselves, lol.

I had an almost heated debated w/my cousin from Michigan about pickles. She was out visiting (CA) and said that when she got home she'd go pick pickles. I thought that it was really funny, and said . no, you're picking cucumbers. She got really quite insistent that she was indeed picking pickles; Not cucumbers!

Marsue~ DH states his aunt in Detroit calls them "Irish potatoes" and his mother southernized the term to "ice potatoes" Neither makes too much sense to me, but I can understand Irish a little bit better than ice potatoes!

My FIL ...when he was alive...always said, " Yellow"...answering the phone....or "I have no idee." He was from Bristol, VA.
We always said crik when I was a kid...but hubby corrected me enough, that I now say creek....lol!
And when we moved from Kettering, Ohio...1 hour north to near Greenville, we learned it was called chilisoup...all one word...instead of chili!

Around here they say just pop instead of soda or soda pop. That's a hard one to get away from saying.

Everyone says pop around here too!

We keep harses in the carell down by the crick that's in the mou'uns.

Yeah, I hear ya. I was walkin' down the street today drinking my can of pop and I saw a bunch of Boogans playin' with some tookits in the middle of the road, so I decided to turn around and go home to red up the kitchen. When I got home DH was there and he asked me, "Jeet yet?" I said no, so we went out for dinner. When the waitress brought my food she tumped it in my lap, I have no idee what she was doing. I was really looking forward to those ice potatoes I had ordered but that was the last they had of them. There was no time to order sumpin else since we wanted to go fishing in the crick before it got dark out and the snake feeders started bitin'.



A snake feeder is a dragon fly.

LOL that's too funny!!!

Oh, yeah. Skeeterbugs.

One I heard yesterday. My DH's mother is from Puerto Rico. She doesn't get out much these days and DH wanted to take her to Costco for an eye exam. She's hard of hearing and (in her Puerto Rican accent) said, "Crapco. What's Crapco?"

Heathr~ too funny!!!LOL!

Okey, dokey, y'all, I jist got home and, dang-it if'n dat dere heathrjoy ain't cracked me up alaffin' 'bout all dem funny sayins' she dun put together! Rat now I'm jist a rollin' all over da floor cuz my sides is a splittin'! You'uns has shorely been busy whilst I was away! Think I'll grab me a sodey pop and some ice taters. Shore glad it's dark out cuz I wudn't wont dat dere snake feeder to lite on my taters! I might git so 'cited I'd tump over my sodey pop! Hee, hee, hee! and here's a new one for you'uns: ever heerd of a "haint"?

Yep! Another name for a ghost or spook! Lot of old timer's used to call them that around here!

Wow, I'm amazed that a "yankee" knew that, marcy! LOL I thought it was an old southern term. Knew a couple from Connecticut who moved down here to Arkansas back in the 70's. We were all going out to eat one evening, and I don't remember the topic of conversation but I mentioned the word "haint". The Connecticut guy said , "What? What on earth is a "haint"? He got a good laugh out of it once I explained.

Marsue...I read a lot...lol!!!

Heathrjoy....wow! I haven't heard that term...snakefeeder since I was a kid!! We always called them snakefeeders!!

Marsue~ you crack me up!!! LOL!! Reminds me of another time when I was visiting "joJa" and "sum 'em gunna fisin fo sum chena cats!" ( Channel catfish ) We were vacationing at the beach.

I got another story bout dat word "dinner" but I'm a gonna make y'all wait till tomorry fore I tell it to you'uns. Have a good night now, ya hear!

garden6: love dem catfish n'hush puppies!

Oh, I miss real hush puppies! The ones they call that here are...well...not so good.

Wal, hush my mouth! Don't they know that real hush puppies are made with corn meal!?

They do but somehow they manage to make them tastes like cardboard.

Well, I grew up with the word dreckly. Which meant I will get to that directly. So, if you ever hear some one say, I will be there dreckly, that means right away.

Hush puppies are a southern delicacy, and I make the best ones around. ! Having a fish fry this Saturday, with about 100 invited guests, and yes, I am making the hush puppies!!

Down here, dreckly becomes tereckly--meaning the same thing as dreckly
Hush puppies, you say? Fish fry, you say? Hmmmm--wonder how far it is from here to there? :o)

I'm on a plane and on my way! Haven't been to a fish fry in forever.

Yes, a fish fry sounds delicious, will "chena cats" be on the menu? I do love southern fried hush puppies, my DM would serve them with creamed butter sprinkled with sugar.Ummmm, I may be on that same plane with you Kwan!!

Bonnie....I am coming tooooooo!!!! Defoecat = Bonnie.

Ha! you didn't know you were going to have so many uninvited guests, did you, Bonnie! Guess you'll be more careful about "lettin' out the news" in the future LOL

garden6: --Yummm-hush puppies with creamed butter and sugar--double yummm! (and can you believe I didn't like hush puppies when I was a child?)

You all are welcome, and if you get on the plane by 3 this afternoon, you will be right on time. Yes cat fish will be on the menu, as will crappie, bass and bluegill. DH has caught all the fish, and that is what will be featured. He has a whole deep freeze full, so may need to have another one before winter to clear out some space in that freezer.

Guess it's too late for me and DH to jump a plane but do take pictures to tantalize us with after it is all
said and done! My DH used to fry fish quite often. He had a big iron wash tub that he fried them in--used only peanut oil. Had a butane burner just for the purpose. He knew when the grease was hot enough to cook the fries, hush puppies and fish when he dropped an unlit match into the grease and it would light itself. He dipped up whatever he was frying and dropped them into a paper sack with newspapers folded in the bottom of it and paper towels on top of that to soak up the grease. The brown paper bag would keep the fries, hush puppies hot until the fish was done. The fish was always the last thing he cooked.

Here is the post I have been promising you on “dinner”.

“HOW I ALMOST MISSED MY FIRST DATE WITH DH BECAUSE OF DINNER”

When I was a little girl we always called the morning meal, “breakfast”.
The noon meal was “lunch” unless it was Sunday and then the noon meal was “Sunday Dinner”.
The evening meal was “supper” unless you were eating out and then you were “going out to
dinner”. I relate this to you so you will know my background and be able to understand what I
am about to tell you.

When my DH found himself single once again after 20 years of marriage, he was looking for a
nice woman to go out with. He asked a mutual friend if she knew of anyone that might be
interested in dating him. She told him, “You know Marilyn who works at Township Builders?”
DH said “Yes, I have met her when I was in their office.” (DH was in construction, too.)
Our mutual friend said, “Well, she’s looking for a man. Give her a call.” (By the way I, too,
was single again after having been married for 20 years but it wasn’t like I was desperate! LOL )
DH said he would call me and a few days later, he did. Imagine my surprise when I picked up
the phone at work one morning and there he was on the phone asking me to go out with him.
This is how the conversation went:
Me: “Good morning, Township Builders”
DH: “Hi, Township Builders, this is Buddy.”
Me: “Well, hi, Buddy! How may I help you?”
DH: “I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me today?”
Me: (Nearly falling out of my chair in surprise) “Oh, I would like to but. .
DH: (Interrupting at this point) “Oh, you can’t go?”
Me: “Well, I would like to but I have other plans today. Please call again.”
DH: “Okay, I’ll do that. Good-bye”
Me: “Good-bye”
I just knew I would never hear from him again because I thought that he thought I had just made
up an excuse so I wouldn’t have to go out with him. However, I really did have something I had
to do that evening. Imagine my surprise when he did call me again about a week later. Here is
how that conversation went:

Me: “Good morning. Township Builders”
DH: “Hi, this is Buddy.”
Me: “Hi, Buddy. How are you doing?”
DH: “I’m fine. Would you like to go to dinner today?”
Me: “Well, that would be lovely and I am free today. What time do you want to
pick me up?”
DH: “Oh, I’ll be there in about 30 minutes. Is that okay with you?”
Me: (Nearly falling out of my chair again because I thought he was wanting to take
me “out to dinner” in the evening and he was talking about taking me to lunch!) " Oh, 30 minutes
will be great. See you then.”

. That day in April, 1983, I had “dinner” with the man who was to become my soul-mate.We
have had many lunches and dinners, not to mention breakfasts, together ever since. And to think
I almost missed it because he grew up in the country where “lunch” is “dinner” and I grew up in
the city where “dinner” is “lunch”!