Are you familiar with these good old Southern phrases and how to use them?
“Bless your heart” means I was “raised right” and can’t call you a dumbass to your face.
“Raised right” means you were in church at least twice every Sunday and are still scared of you little bitty, old mama. You have to “Ma’am” and “Sir” folks till the day you die, or Mama will be “hurt.” You don’t want Mama to be hurt. You’ll be “lower than a snake’s belly” till one of the other kids messes up.
If a girls “smears” on too much lipstick folks might say her face might look like a “chicken’s butt in pokeberry season.”
If you’re not treated right, you’re sucking on hind tit.” If things are great, “you’re happy as a dead pig in the sunshine” or a “pig in slop.”
You have to wave at everybody in the neighborhood, and speak, or at least nod to everybody you meet. It doesn’t matter whether you know them or not.
This is just a start. If you are headed South and need some help, you know who to call.
If you’re giving it all you’ve got and barely making it, you’re “hanging on like a hair in a biscuit”! Love your whole post! 🙂
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Didn’t know that one. Thanks.
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Oh good god, Pepsi thru the nose! Hahahaha. My kids are staring at me. 🙂
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So glad I could help!
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…still giggling…cleaning up the mess..
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Sorry, but not really!
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You’re outrageous! …telling you “I laughed a lot – again” is getting old. But, I DID! :)_
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So glad.
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My first day of school in New York was fraught with misunderstandings. I’d never seen young teachers before and was fascinated by the idea that a woman could wear high fashion and teach the sixth grade. When I entered the art appreciation class the teacher said my name and asked if she was correct. I replied, “yes, Ma’am.” Her face darkened and she said,”We do not joke in this class.” I was baffled. The girl in the desk next to mine raised her hand and said, “He’s not joking!”. I didn’t get it until the teacher told me that Ma’am was not necessary in her class. Yes and no were the only words required as an answer to a direct question. I laugh when I think about it now. Thank you for this post.
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Why was it bad? Did she think you were being insolent?
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Yes. Yes Ma’am and No Ma’am were thought of as anachronisms in New York–at least from what I could see.
I find it funny now…I was baffled at the time…it only confused things more when I had returned to Charleston two years later with my Yankee ways…:)
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Bet you got straightened out again.
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I don’t know if this is still true of the North East but when I was a kid Southern Speech patterns were stigmatized as a sign of stupidity
And in the South Northern Accents were considered “uppity”.
I was constantly shuttling between the two cultures.
I found it confusing and created a version of myself for Charleston and another version for New York.
suppose that most kids would learn how to shift accents as a defense.
But I already had a Dissociative defense mechanism so I subdivided.
The New Yorker had no real memory of Charleston and the Charlestonian had no clear memories of New York.
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I have encountered a few people who think we are all Bubbas. Nice to surprise them. Did you know then about your DID?
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There is nothing wrong with being a Bubba–I don’t think…
That’s obviously the Bubba in me speaking.
I didn’t know about my DID until 2010.
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We’ve all got a mixed bag. Will you write about how you realized sometime?
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I was diagnosed by a Kaiser Doc–I still struggle with denial….
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I can understand that.
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It was five years ago…I guess I suspected…
But it’s a hard thing to face up to.
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I forgot to say that just as there is nothing wrong with being a Bubba there is nothing wrong with liking a symphony or Art…
The unfair stereotyping cut both ways-
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There’s room for everything.
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🙂
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Thx
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Check ur email..:)
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What fantastic sayings and wonderful manners you all have from the South! 🙂
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We got it at home, school, and church.
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After a night of partying at a neighbor’s BBQ, we were told we looked like we were “rode hard and put up wet”. ☺
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Must’ve been some fine BBQ
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For sure ! ☺
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Wondered about that dead pig!
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Well, he wasn’t sad.
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I was just asked if I’m from the south because I used the phrase “it was so quiet you could hear a rat pee on cotton” in a recent post lol. Not from the south but had my southern grandparents to thank for that one lol
Loved this. You are so funny!
All the best
e
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I am stealing that! Thanks.
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Enjoy! https://authenticitee.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/out-of-the-mouth-of-babesblogging-univ-writing-101-day-12/
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Reblogged.
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Thank you so much!
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Thank you so much!!
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Enjoy! @IndigoInterlude: OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES!Blogging Univ. Writing 101 Day 12 http://t.co/OkOJfUuyov
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Really liked this post: “I might could get that for you,” “Well, isn’t that nice,” are two of my favorites. The second one, as you know, is a put down to braggarts from up north.
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I’m fixin’ to get me some sweet. Thanks.
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OMG, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this information. I don’t want to be a fool when I come to visit you!!! I love the way you translate those rules … haha.
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Glad to help out.
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😊
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Well you Southerners are far more polite than anyone I know who talks about the happiness of pigs, I’ve only ever heard, “as happy as a pig in sh..”
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I was raised right.
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You’ve just made me as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine! Those are genius! (And I’m absolutely going to adopt ‘Bless your heart’ when talking to A LOT of people I know’.)
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It does come in handy.
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I find myself saying y’all and dang quite a bit and I’m from Canada! 🙂
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Well are you fixin’ to come South!
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Those are a riot!! I really don’t get the dead pig in the sunshine … how happy can a dead pig be! but loved it all, I’m am glad I am following your blog, great stuff!! Michelle
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Or unhappy?
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There’s a saying for everything in the south isn’t it Beth? ~Elle
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Yes,and I just love them all.
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Ya know this is true!
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It is!
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Y’all just made my day. Thank you kindly…
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Thank you, sir! Would you like some sweet tea?
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Saints preserve us! Poor me a tall one, darlin’!
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Good one.
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