Not a southern saying: I ain't in no ways tiiiyuuuurrrrd.
Posted on 03/02/2023 10:26:46 AM PST by fidelis
Have you ever wondered what some of the most iconic Southern sayings actually mean?
Well, wonder no more, because we’re about to dive deep into 15 Southern sayings and their origins…
1. High On The Hog
If someone is living high on the hog, that means they’re enjoying a very luxurious lifestyle full of splendor and all manner of comforts. Living high on the hog can also mean that you’re living life to its fullest.
So where did this phrase come from? Well, the upper part of a hog contains the best quality meat. These are obviously the most expensive cuts of meat – far better than the lower knuckles and hocks.
2. Scarce As Hen’s Teeth
If something’s as scarce as hen’s teeth, you probably won’t have much luck finding it. This phrase is used to denote something that is extremely rare or in short supply.
Apparently, this phrase dates back to the civil war. This phrase sounds interesting, but there’s really not much to explain… Hen’s don’t have teeth, so that’s basically where this southern saying comes from!
3. You’re Slower Than Molasses In Winter!
Yes, this is an old Southern insult, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what it all means. The phrase can either refer to mental slowness or physical slowness… But if someone’s calling you this, it’s not a good sign!
The meaning is obvious – cold molasses pours very slowly! Try it out for yourself and see how long it takes to pour it out…
4. Like a Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
If you’re like a cat on a hot tin roof, you’re agitated and nervous to the point of almost hysteria.
This phrase also has a pretty obvious root. Cats don’t like uncertain ground, and a hot tin roof makes them even more jumpy than they already are. This phrase was also made famous by playwright Tennessee Williams, who used it as a title for a play.
5. A Hankering For
You’ve probably heard this one before. If you’ve got a hankering for something, it means that you’ve got a strong desire for it. For example, you might have a hankering for some fried chicken.
Well, where does the word “hankering” even come from? Believe it or not, this is actually a Dutch word which means “hang.” We’re not sure how it evolved into a word meaning desire… But it did!
6. Tarnation
This is another famous Souther exclamation that we’re sure many of our readers have heard, usually in a sentence like “What in tarnation?”
So what does tarnation even mean? Scholars believe that it evolved from a mixture of “eternal” and damnation.” Mix those words together, and you’re left with something like “tarnation.” Obviously, eternal damnation is something worth getting worked up over!
7. What In The Sam Hill?
This is another Southern expression that is used when people are surprised, angry, or feeling some kind of strong emotion. It’s an exclamation similar to “hell,” or other curse words.
So who was Sam Hill? Well, no one really knows. Depending on who you ask, he might have been a geologist, a millionaire, or even the devil himself. We’ll probably never know.
8. In High Cotton
If something is in high cotton, it’s very successful, profitable, or promising. For example, you might have a hot dog stand that’s in high cotton.
The meaning behind this phrase is also pretty obvious. If you have a crop of cotton and it’s growing high, then you’re in for some serious cash when harvest time rolls around. People in the south have a deep connection with farming, and this phrase shows how their culture is linked with agriculture.
9. Madder’n A Wet Hen
You probably don’t want to approach someone who’s “madder than a wet hen.” This means that they’re seriously angry, and they might even be throwing something of a hissy fit.
When hens were brooding (angry and troublesome), Southern farmers used to dunk them in cold water in an effort to make them snap out of this phase. By doing so, they could collect eggs more easily.
10. Have A Conniption
While some people get madder than a wet hen, those who have a conniption are on a different level. If you’re having a conniption, it means you’ve completely lost it. You’re hysterical, crazy, and off the rails.
Scholars believe that conniption is linked to the word “corruption.” Southerners long ago may have likened these tantrums to being corrupted by the devil!
11. That Old Dog Won’t Hunt
When someone says “that old dog won’t hunt,” what they’re really saying is that your idea is terrible. This is a phrase used by people who feel cynical and doubtful towards things. “That dog won’t hunt” is like saying “that’s not going to work.”
This piece of slang obviously roots from the use of hunting dogs. When dogs get too old or frail, they can’t hunt anymore, quite as odd as southern sayings can be.
12. Till The Cows Come Home
If you’re waiting till the cows come home, you’re waiting for a very long time. The phrase may even refer to things that will continue on forever – or at least until the foreseeable future.
Southerners are no strangers to cattle, and they know that cows can take a very long time to wander home once they get lost. That’s where this phrase comes from.
13. Can’t Never Could
Although this phrase is filled with negatives, it’s actually an example of positive thinking. This is like saying “you can’t get anything done without a positive attitude.” Or in other words, if you’re thinking about all the things you can’t do, you won’t be able to achieve much.
Southerners summed up this sentiment beautifully with the phrase: “Can’t never could!”
14. Fair To Middling
This is actually just a very complicated way of saying “Okay.” If you ask a Southerner how they’re doing and they say “fair to middling,” what they mean is that they’re doing all right. Not good or bad – just in the middle. The word “fair” is pretty obvious in its meaning. It means satisfactory or “so-so.” But what does “middling” mean? Apparently, it’s an old Scottish word which means “of average quality”, now part of the oddest southern sayings you will ever hear.
15. If The Creek Don’t Rise
This means that if everything continues to plan, things will be okay. It’s often said in a reassuring way, to calm people down and encourage them to keep on trying.
A rising creek could spell trouble, as it can lead to flooding and other issues.
Well there you have it! 15 odd Southern sayings, and their meanings and origins explained!
As to #14 - that is a grade of cotton, equivalent to medium/average.
I often wonder about some phrases. “Bob’s your uncle” is one that I often hear and I’m not sure what it means.
What does “Crazier than a democRAT” mean? It means something that does not exist like “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow”.
Well, if that don’t take the rag off the bush!
To “take the rag off the bush” means “to excel, to be the best or most triumphantly successful.” Used in an ironic sense, it means “to be breathtakingly outrageous” or, in the current vernacular, “to take the cake” (“You do take the rag off the bush, boy,” R. Coover, 1977). It can also mean “to put an end to an argument or contest through overwhelming victory.” This is actually the sense in which the phrase is used in one of its earliest appearances in print, in 1810 (“This ‘takes the rag off the bush’ so completely, that we suppose we shall hear no more … about the Chesapeake business.”) “To take the rag off the bush” is definitely of US origin, and was probably first used in the 18th century.
That US origin is important, because if you go looking for the origin of “take the rag off the bush” on the internet, you’ll find rather long and involved explanations that trace the phrase to Ireland or Scotland and a folk tradition of tying rags to bushes near religious shrines. It is said, for instance, that at a shrine to Saint Patrick in Ireland emigrants bound for America in the 18th and 19th centuries tied bits of cloth to a nearby bush to solicit Saint Patrick’s favor in their journey and future endeavors. If the cloth disappeared from the bush soon after the person set sail, it meant that good fortune had been granted (or, according to other accounts, that disaster had struck).
This story about rags and bushes is, in itself, true. There is a long tradition in Celtic (and other) cultures of “rag bushes,” often located at religious shrines or wells known for their healing powers, and supplicants do indeed tie bits of cloth to these bushes or trees to solicit aid or health. At medicinal wells and springs, for instance, it is said that as the “rag” weathers away, the affliction itself will fade.
But these “rag bushes” are almost certainly not the source of “take the rag off the bush.” For a far more likely source, we turn to the American frontier and its nearly omnipresent guns. It was common in the 18th and 19th centuries to hold impromptu shooting matches where the target was simply a rag hung on a bush in the distance. A good shot would hit the rag, making it visibly jump. A great shot would literally “take the rag off the bush,” putting an end to at least that round of the contest with an overwhelming success.
Making this sort of shooting match the likely source of “take the rag off the bush” is the fact that it fits perfectly with “triumphant success” sense of the earliest examples we have of the phrase in print. One of these examples, from 1843, specifically refers to a shooting match, and none of them mention religious shrines. There is, on the other hand, no scenario I can imagine involving “rag bushes” that would produce the “stunning triumph” or “take the cake” meanings of “take the rag off the bush.” Finally, although the phrase has been widely used in the US for at least two centuries, it is virtually unknown outside the US.
Drunk as Cooter Brown.
Bless your heart.
Raining like a cow pi**ing on a flat rock.
Not a southern saying: I ain't in no ways tiiiyuuuurrrrd.
So we still don’t know what in the Sam Hill the phrase Sam Hill is from? Well butter my mutt and call me a biscuit.
In reference to an expensive item.
That’s higher than Willie Nelson
On #15, “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise”, an alternate origin refers to the Creek Indians of Alabama
https://www.sunherald.com/living/article160316974.html
Only “odd” to Yankees and stuffy ‘academics.’
I had a boss, from Hernando MS, who used to say: “I’m busier than if I had a cat covered in shit on a marble floor”
I agree, its not a phrase that has reached common parlance
One of my favorites:
Bless his heart. If you took his brain out and put it on the head of a pin, it would roll around like a BB on a six-lane highway.
WFTD PING!..............
REM spent a lot of time explaining what ‘losing my religion’ meant. My dad would say he was ‘about to lose my religion’ sometimes when he was especially frustrated with something.
“Busier than a cat in a cow pasture”
“Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”..............
One of my co-workers likes to say, “I’m busier’n a one-legged man in an @$$-kicking contest.”
Maybe that's just a Jacksonville thing.
Heck, the only one we didn’t use was number 8 up north- all the rest were part of everyday speak-
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