Southerners won’t hesitate for a minute to comment on someone’s appearance. Yes, we know it’s rude. That’s why we’ll spare your feelings by talking about you behind your back. You know how it goes — if you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me. I know. I know. It’s terrible. It’s bad. … Continue reading All the things you’re not supposed to say
Tag: language
If I tell you a chicken dips snuff…
Yardbirds are about as common in southern speech as they are on the Sunday dinner table, so just between us chickens, here are a few sayings regarding our favorite fowl. If I tell you a chicken dips snuff, you can look under his wing for the can. No matter how outlandish, no matter how fantastic, … Continue reading If I tell you a chicken dips snuff…
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 whenever the need arises to tell someone to go to hell. And the need does arise. I had heard people say “piss on you” before, but until I read Mary … Continue reading Piss on you from a high oak tree
Crooked as a barrel of black snakes
If you want to talk the idiomatic talk of a southerner, you must embrace the simile. Now in elementary school grammar we all learned that a simile is a comparison of two things using “like” or “as.” And it wasn’t so much something we learned to do as it was learning the name for something … Continue reading Crooked as a barrel of black snakes
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 challenge to publish one post each day for the entire month of November. Thirty days. Thirty posts. A challenge that said to me, “It’s time to fish or cut bait.” … Continue reading It’s time to fish or cut bait