Southern Sayings

Why say in one or two words what you can say in six or eight, right? The way we talk can often be colorful. That’s what makes us…us! Here are some of my favorite Southern sayings. Which ones you like the best? Which ones should I write about next? Let me know!

More Than You Can Chew

Don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s an old adage about not taking on more than you can handle. It is said to…

Going to Hell in a Handbasket

It’s time we had a frank discussion about hell. You know … down there, the hot place, Hades. Anyone who’s ever sat through a Baptist…

The Devil’s Beating His Wife

Come late spring, early summer we in the South, at least here in Alabama, enter a strange weather period. It could be 90 degrees one…

Where is “yonder”?

The question of the day is just where is “yonder”? Or should the question be how far away is “yonder”? Or maybe it’s what the…

It’s a Mad, Mad South

For Mother’s Day, I wrote about what an ill-tempered child I was. Mama’s mantra to me during my growing-up years was “You’ve got to learn…

Some days peanuts…

Some days an idea hits me. Ker-BLAAAP!!! I don’t know where it comes from. It just appears, all of a sudden like, in my mind.…

The Turnip Truck

Turnips are dumb. They’re poor too. Bless their silly, impoverished hearts. You’ve heard it said before: I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. It’s…

If you can’t say something nice…

Mama always said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” That’s why after the tragic and senseless shooting in Parkland, Florida,…

Pretty is as pretty does

Critical. Judgy. Fault-finding. Catty. All of these things are less than attractive parts of my personality. I see it. I know it. That’s why I’m…

If it was a snake…

I am notoriously absent-minded. I leave the lights on. I leave the oven on. I misplace things. I forget things. I’ve even been known to…

Don’t beat a dead horse

Daisy Ann. That was the name of my horse. She was a bay — reddish-brown with shiny black feet, mane, and tail. She was giant.…

I don’t give a tinker’s damn

Think with me back to third grade. I’m sitting in the fourth desk in the first row by the blackboard in Mrs. Hurst’s class at…

All the rage in Natchez

Did you ever wonder how an idiom comes into being? I’m fixing to tell you. I’ve always said that the fashionable, popular thing was “all…

Open up a can of whoop-ass

It’s Iron Bowl Saturday. For those of you who have been living under a rock (or in the great, frozen north) and don’t know what…

Busy as a one-armed paper hanger

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Christmas is hot on its heels. There is only one word to describe this time of year and that word is “busy.”…

It came a frog strangler

More than 60 days. That’s how long it’s been since Alabama got any significant rain. I’ve tried dancing, and that effort was about as useless…

The lies have it

The truth evades some people. No matter how much you want to, you just can’t believe a word that they say. Whether malicious or harmless,…

It’s hog killing weather

It’s been an unseasonably warm fall in Alabama. Here we are in late November, and the mercury has still been rising to nearly 80 every…

Pretty is as pretty does

In the south, we place a premium on “being sweet.” And it can be a real struggle as I’ve written about before. So since we…

When the cat’s away…

So there I was, sitting on a bench in Central Park at dusk with Sonny. We were enjoying the sunset and talking about our day…

The odds and ends

I’m halfway there. Halfway to 30 posts in 30 days. Halfway through #bloglikecrazy. We’ve looked at umpteen idioms over the past couple of weeks, and…

Dead as a doornail

“Don’t look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you’ll know you’re dead.” That quote is from Tennessee Williams, the famous…

Stand on a nickel…

He wore a white oxford shirt, frayed at the collar and cuffs. Long, bony wrists protruded from his sleeves. His hair was always a little…

Speak the truth and shame the devil

Southerners “believe more in the reality of Satan than in the reality of God.”* These words were written by Episcopal bishop of Arkansas Robert R.…

Trying to turn mutton into lamb

Today’s idiom involves etiquette which, in the south, is gospel. Our commandments not only include the big ten, but a litany of others ranging from…

The pot, the kettle, and the coffee

Personification. That’s what you call it when you assign human characteristics to inanimate objects. It’s also the root of two of my favorite idioms and…

I don’t know whether to…

For more than a year, we’ve been knee-deep in election coverage. We’ve endured debate after debate after debate. The pundits have analyzed the pea turkey…

Piss on you from a high oak tree

Piss on you from a high oak tree. What a powerful way to express contempt. That’s why this idiom works it’s way into my conversation…

It’s time to fish or cut bait

It’s time to fish or cut bait. That was my first thought when Javacia Harris Bowser, founder of See Jane Write, issued her annual #bloglikecrazy…

As cold as floogie

It is as cold as floogie. At least that’s how Mama describes the weather we’ve had this winter — as cold as floogie. She’s used…