It’s been awhile since I blogged about southern sayings, so I decided today would be a fine time to share some old favorites and see if you have any good ones to add to the list. I collected and compiled these over the years, and credit several southern wordsmiths as sources. While I might not completely understand the proper usage for every single one of them, each makes me smile.
Some are simply expressions to describe a particular person or situation:
- Crazier than a sh** house rat
- Busier than a one-legged man at an a** kicking contest
- He's only got one oar in the water (crazy?)
- He could thread a sewing machine and it a runnin' (my personal favorite....don't we all know somebody this nervous and high strung?)
- His bread ain't buttered on both sides
- Useless as teats on the boar hog
- Busy as stink
- Old as Cooter Brown (variation Cootie Brown)
- Pretty as a speckled pup
- He’s as tight as Dick’s hatband (means he is cheap)
- They was in high cotton, but they got moved to the hind teat (things were going well, but now they aren’t anymore)
- He ain’t got a pot to pee in (very poor)
- As slow as molasses in January
- As cold as kraut
- Brown as toast, brown as a biscuit, or brown as a hoecake (the few times in my life I’ve ever had a tan, I loved receiving this compliment)
- As full as a tick, about to pop (when you’ve eaten too much)
- Grinning like a possum eating a sweet tater
- She looks like death warmed over (she isn’t looking well)
- That girl’s just a fart in the wind
Others offer a word of advice:
- If you're going to hoot with the owls, you've got to soar with the eagles
- Hoe your own row
- Many hands make light work
- When cows start flying, you've just gotta shoot 'em (referring to a cow that constantly gets over or through a fence....also a new fave of mine!)
- You'll lose a crop that way
- If you sleep with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas
- Tell the truth and shame the devil
- If you run with trash, you're gonna smell like it
- Don’t mess and gom (as in “I’ve just cleaned the whole house so you better not mess and gom in there”)
- No matter how thin you slice it, there’s two sides to everything
- The best way to go fast is to go slow
- Don’t sell your mule to buy a plow
- If you don’t straighten up, I’ll jerk a knot in your tail
Still others just offer a random sentiment:
- In for a dime, in for a dollar
- It’s never cost what it’s worth (referring to alcoholic beverages…cracks me up!)
- Some drive a Cadillac, some drive a Ford, some ride a donkey and swat it with a board, but they all get where they’re going eventually
This list is by no means complete, so feel free to add your favorite southern sayin’ in the comments! Happy Monday friend!
