I Reckon You Need To Know What These Southern Sayin’s Really Mean

I am American by birth and Southern by the grace of God! Born in East Tennessee where I live now, I have also lived in Pennsylvania and Indiana. I am a flag waving, hard-working East Tennessee Southern lady and proud of it. 🙂

Someone once told me when you visit the South, you need a translator. That is not totally true, but we do have some sayin’s that only Southerners understand.

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Just for fun, I decided to document some of the things you might hear in the South. Oh – also remember we take our tea sweet and on ice.

• Y’all = You all. Yankees would say youz guys.

• Well, I reckon = Well I guess so or well I imagine so.

• Don’t pitch a hissy fit = Don’t have a temper tantrum. Usually, an adult acting like a spoiled child.

• Bless Your Heart= Bless your heart may be a genuine comment of concern but is usually a way to soften the blow of an insult.

• Conniption = A fit of rage or hysterics. Similar to a hissy fit.

• Barking up the wrong tree = Misguided or mistaken. Comes from a mistake made by dogs when they believe they have chased a prey up a tree, 

• Fixin’ To = About to do something.

• Hold your horses = Be patient. Slow down and don’t do something hasty.

• Well, I Declare! = A multipurpose Southern sayin’. If you use this phrase, you could be declaring any number of things: surprise, dissent, happiness. It is one of my favorites!

• Heavens to Betsy = An exclamation—of surprise, anger, happiness, really any emotion—that is appropriate in nearly every Southern scenario.

• Cuttin’ a rug = Dancing in a lively and energetic way.

• Stompin’ grounds = Where you grew up or where you came from.

• Buggy = Shopping cart.

• Chicken with its head cut off = Acting in a crazy or frenzied manner. The origin is kinda gross: chickens may sometimes run around frenziedly for several minutes after decapitation.

• Full as a tick = Eat and drink so much you feel like a full tick on a dog. Kinda gross also.

• Pot calling the kettle black = Used when one person is guilty of the very same thing of which they accuse another person.

• Raining cats and dogs = no, animals are not falling from the sky 🙂 It means high winds and heavy rain.

• Sweating more than a sinner in church = This just means you’re sweating a lot. Maybe it’s just hot. Maybe you’re actually a sinner in a church.

• Like a bull in a china shop = Clumsy or careless. Just picture a bull running around in a china shop.

• Panties in a wad = To be upset over something trivial. Can be said to or about men or women.

• Rode hard and put up wet = Worn out or not well. Comes from horses being ridden hard, working up a sweat and not being cooled down before being put in the stable.

• He’s a snake in the grass =  Sneaky person who appears harmless or even friendly but in fact, is treacherous. Everything looks good but a snake lurks in the grass.

• Don’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out = very poor. Comes from the idea of using a chamber pot when there was no indoor plumbing.

• Won’t hit a lick at a snake = So lazy they won’t chase away a snake.

• That makes about as much sense as tits on a bull = Only female dairy cows produce milk. Male cows are called bulls. And even if you could “milk anything with nipples,” bulls tend to be rather ornery. 

• Dumber than a sack of rocks = Someone that has less intelligence than a bunch of rocks. Similar to dumb as a rock.

• That dog won’t hunt = Something just isn’t going to happen. Comes from hunting dogs that won’t do their job.

• Madder than a wet hen = Hens sometimes start a phase where they’ll stop at nothing to incubate their eggs and get real agitated when farmers try to collect them. Farmers used to dunk hens in cold water to “break” their broodiness.

• You are preaching to the choir = You are trying to make believers out of people who already believe, or convince people who are already convinced.

• It was like herding cats = Self-explanatory: have you ever tried to herd cats?

• Goodness gracious = Exclamation of excitement, surprise or frustration. It is often used as a substitute for cursing.

• It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans = Whatever you’re talking about is worth less than very little.

• It’s blowin’ up a storm = Southern skies can darken at a moment’s notice, and summer afternoons often see winds churning and heavy rain clouds blowing in to cool that Southern summer heat.

• Over yonder = a distant direction—any direction.

• If the creek don’t rise = With good luck and no major problems, it will happen.

• Worn slam out = Exhausted and just can’t go on. Probably from a long day in the East Tennessee heat!

• Hold your horses = Stop it right there!

• Dohicky = the name of something you cannot remember or never knew.

• Playin’ possum = Faking. The opossum, or in the South “possum” will pretend to be dead when they are frightened.

I am American by birth and Southern by the grace of God! People say when you visit the South, you need a translator. #Southern #SouthernSayings Share on X

This was fun to put together! I hope you enjoyed reading and got a chuckle from them.

Janet

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