🇬🇧Brits Guess Appalachian Slang! 🇺🇸| American vs British
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- Опубликовано: 12 янв 2025
- Another American slang video for y'all, this time it's the turn of Appalachia or West Virginia. Are these words used in other states in the Appalachian region? Or is it mainly West Virginia. We love learning all these new slang words, so thanks to everyone who's sent some through! We're slowly working our way through them!
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Hello! We are Joel & Lia. We post videos every week, all about British culture, British accents and the English language! We live in London and love sharing our top travel tips in the UK and abroad. As well as being best friends we share a passion for language, different accents and all things British. With past and future trips to the USA, lots of our content is American vs British.
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*Thank you Albert for sending this over! Next up in this series will be: ARKANSAS!*
Being British: Joel & Lia
Call the Hogs! Woopigsooie!
Wow I live in WV and the only word I know from this is none. But I do use the word pop but not dope.
Hey if you go to West Virginia you should go to the new River gorge bridge. It's beautiful.
Please do one for Arkansas.
Here are a few words.
1) Demwit - ain't all there in the head.
2)Yonder= distance . I left my brush over yonder. I have to get some yonder.
3) reckon = think or guess about doing something. I reckon I'll go to town.
As one who has lived in WV most of my life, I must point out that the region is AppliLATCHian not AppliLASHian. Thanks.
YES! Hearing how they pronounce it is like nails on a chalk board.
Well............I hate to be that person but it really depends on where your from in the Appalachian
Oh my gosh yes! I’m in North Carolina where we have Appalachian State University and we definitely say appaLATCHian not appaLAYSHian!
AppaLATCHian is how I always heard it.
Yes, came here to say this! Lol if you ever say Appalaysha to an Appalachian they'll always correct you! My granny always said its Appalatcha like "throw an apple atchya" lol
Appalachian is it's own accent. The lady here sounds extremely southern 😂. Honestly I think the southern and Appalachian accents are completely different.
Appalachian has a lot of western American english added in
Southern accent has a lot of british Elizabethan influence. Appalachian is more Irish influenced.
Southern is Non Rhotic and is typical in Mobile or Montgomery Alabama or South Georgia. Appalachian is Rhotic and found from Northern Alabama up to southern Ohio.
Agreed. We don't have near as much twang but we do have some oddities of speech and phrasing.
There are those people here that have a very southern accent
I’m West Virginia born and raised and I’ve never heard of si gogglin lol. We always used cattawompous (however you spell it.)
Same here!
I only know si-gogglin from hearing older eastern kentuckians. Never heard it in WV either.
You must be young then because this is an old term.
These are Western NC words mostly
My mother, from the mountains here in Virginia, saud sigoggling.
For anyone asking for a Paris update - we will definitely be making a short video on it at some stage, but there's not much to say other than THANK YOU to you guys for your
continued support. We haven't heard from the police since, so I think we just have to draw a line underneath it and move on, sadly. ❤️
Joel and Lia good for you! Glad your both back💙💚 Appeciate the southern bits love their culture.
Being British: Joel & Lia: If only Inspector Jacques Clouseau could help you find that awful criminal...
Any investigation takes time. They have to make sure to get all the details right before they will give out any info. Basically if they release any info too soon, and facts are wrong, they can get sued for falsely accusing someone. I'll keep you in my prayers that you have good results . . eventually. HUGS from your California granny. Oh, and I'm so glad it didn't spoil your enjoyment of doing your vlog. I would really miss it.
Besides a side note that the F&^*%R was caught (or a side note 'thank you' to people who helped you), I really don't expect to hear more on the subject. I don't think I could bear seeing Lia crying anymore.
Do you guys know what gussied up means?
In the core of Appalachia, (West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, western NC), it is pronounced app-a-latch-un
Not here in WV. It's a "sh" sound. Sorry. 🤷♂️
My grandma is from the Appalachian mountains. She’s from Eastern Kentucky.
Noah Shaffer The real discrepancy here is if its a long a or a short a in the middle: Apple- Ate or Apple-at... and most, if not all of us from here would agree it’s the second.
And Eastern Kentucky
@@noahshaffer8043 where tf in West Virginia are you from. It's "CH" here in southern wv
I live in the Appalachians, and I literally have never heard of any of these words before
As a person raised in Eastern Tennessee, let me be respectfully correct your pronunciation of Appalachian. The Appalachee (app-uh-latch-ee) were a Muskogean Native American Tribe of northwestern Florida. The name means the "other side of the river." The Spanish (for some unknown reason) named the Mountains after that group of Indians. The Mountain chain stretched from Georgia to New Hampshire and Vermont. The proper pronunciation of "Appalachian" is not but . The people who call it app-uh-LAY-shun, are never from there. The locals know better. It's a matter of local pride and cohesion. Like people from Missouri pronouncing their state name Miz-oo-ruh.
But no big deal for our British friends, I still haven't figured out why Worcester is pronounced Wooster and Leicester is pronounced Lester.
Thanks for the info!! Thought it was very interesting.
Ah someone knows how to pronounce it -Nc
It's the same on my side of the Smokies as well.
Yep, easy way to tell they're an outsider.
Southern West Virginian born and raised and yes! “Apple-atcha” said fast is how it’s pronounced by folks here.
My elementary school teacher would correct us if we said it wrong “to remember she’d throw an apple at ya” (as a mnemonic to pronounce it that way).
I think gaum is just the pronunciation. Should be gummed up. At least that's my impression when you used carburetor for context.
Brad Hamilton .
Correct you are.
That’s how I’ve always used it, but I grew up in Northern Michigan so maybe it’s different in WV.
Correct, that's just a pronunciation of gummed up and not common to all of WV.
The carburetor example should definitely have been “gummed up”. However, other types of messes are referred to as “gomm”, not “gowm “. In my area of WV it almost always goes with “messin & a gommin’”.
I'm from western North Carolina. We pronounce gaum more like gom. Example...That carburetor is all gommed up...That guys house is a major gom...lol
Think of it as saying "I'll throw an *apple-at-cha* "
Amen
I’ve always heard “pecker wood” and “dickhead” be used interchangeably.
West Virginia has some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen, it also has some very depressed areas. It's a weird state that way. The eastern part has the best scenery in my opinion
Have you ever been on U.S. 60 between the New River Gorge Bridge and Charleston? IMHO that area has some beautiful scenery, especially at Falls View/Glen Ferris and Hawks Nest State Park overlook.
@@JeffMarshallfan I actually from Logan county closer to the Logan Lincoln line southern side and I agree it’s an extremely diverse state in mental health and accents
I can't believe you didn't cover "over yonder", like my relatives live over yonder, meaning they live over that direction. Usually accompanied by the person pointing in that direction.
My family and I will say "go get you some yonder", meaning basically get out/away from here... and you got to be pointing while saying it too!
yonder isnt just in the appalachian mountains
Yonder is just common English
Yonder or holler are most used in my family for any kind of measurement.
*yander*
I am from Georgia. We call all soda coke. “Do you want a coke?” Yes, what kind? 😊😊
Ah really??? How cool! ❤️❤️
My husband and I have this debate regularly even after 10 years together 😂 I’m from Kentucky where we call it pop, he’s from southern Tennessee and calls it all coke. We drive each other crazy with it
Leonna Hobbs we're in the same boat, I finally got my husband out of saying pop but he slips up every now and then and I let him now it too lol.
So very wrong lol
I'm from Tennessee and we do too.
Also, if you ever go to the Appalachians, go in the fall! The colors of the leaves are just beautiful! Even just driving through, it's fantastic
In WV
A hollow is called a haller
A shopping cart is a buggy
Soda is called pop
Our town of hurricane wv is pronounced hurrican.
Gaum is a mess. You are gaumin up the carpet with mud.
Ive never heard of pop being called dope.
Wash is often called warsh
We have some of the best white water rapids if you ever want to visit.
I'm up in New Jersey, and I've heard a few people call shopping carts "wagons". "Where are the wagons?" "Uh, don't you mean carts?" 🤷♀️
I remeber my great aunt telling us kids when we came in dirty from playing that we were "Trackin in all that muss and gaum"
I go to Hurricane nearly every day! Its great
Jgh Jgh im live in teays valley btw
I’ve seen people from Ohio call it hurricane and not hurrican and it really bothers some people
In Tennessee and NC our grandparents and great grandparents taught us the origin of calling soda “dope”. It was because the original Coke-A-Cola had actual cocaine in it so it really is about drugs/dope. No wonder Coke was so addictive.
Yep. What I said. LOL. Wasn't till 1910 or there about that the formula was changed to caffeine instead of cocaine. By the way then you paid a quarter for a little glass cup of Coke, we would call them shot glasses today. Or Demitasse cups.
Actually soda dopes was a brand of soda pop
In Kentucky we call all soda coke and that covers all soda,,,,,you want a coke? I got Dr pepper ,Mountain dew etc.
Vickie Simpson it depends where in Kentucky I’ve heard them call it pop
Vickie Simpson, Texas is like that. There is only COKE in Texas (real Texas back in the day--maybe not current Texans :P). You ask your friend if they want a Coke, if they say yes, than you say, what kind? 😆
So glad to see you guys already moving on from what happened last week! 💛💛💛
Thanks Cassie, us too! ❤️❤️
OMG - what happened last week?
Here's something to think about: Poke came from the word Poca which is Scottish Gaelic for bag.
oh my god, i didn’t actually think that you would do this!! oh my fucking GOD!!!! i felt so silly writing such a long email and you really did it!! love you guys
❤️❤️❤️
You failed to tell them how to properly pronounce Appalachia ......
The kind of intense Appalachian accent that you two settle into when you really get going reminds me of the Old Prospector character that is used sometimes to satirize that accent. So funny 😂
ruclips.net/video/cKoIESw1tdM/видео.html
I didn't know Valentina was from Appalachia
It’s gorgeous in West Virginia and I have one for you. Gully warsher means a bad storm.
Totally forgot about that one! I've been away so long I've lost the language! lol
Jason Shinn I moved to Atlanta years ago but most of my family still live there. I pick the language right back up when I go home to visit. 😀
gully washer or frog-strangler. I prefer frog-strangler.
Gully warsher with the all important added "r"! 😂
mandibeth33 yes ma’am, we can’t go forgetting to add that r 😋
Just for the record, Lia's song "Take me home" was by a guy from Colorado named John Denver, and the song's title is actually "Country Roads". Great song! Another old song in the list is "Poke Salad Annie".
Si-gogglin' can also be "out of whack".
West Virginia!!!!!
Mountain mama
John Denver was New Mexican...
One of the sate songs, and in my opinion the best, is The West Virginia Hills.
Oh, the West Virginia hills! How majestic and how grand,
With their summits bathed in glory, Like our Prince Immanuel's Land!
Is it any wonder then, That my heart with rapture thrills,
As I stand once more with loved ones On those West Virginia hills?
Chorus
Oh, the hills, beautiful hills, How I love those West Virginia hills!
If o'er sea o'er land I roam, Still I'll think of happy home,
And my friends among the West Virginia hills!
It's actually poke sallet. It's from an older form of English, and it's a cooked salad made of pokeweed.
I wonder if Appalacian "gaum" is just a pronunciation spelling of "gum." We say something is gummed up, usually something mechanical, implying the oil has gotten thick and stopped it working. The carburetor is gummed up. Thanks for another interesting linguistics segment!
Richard Norwood this is exactly what I thought too!
Correct.
Gummed up, yes, but it can be applied to anything, not just mechanical things. Same as f'd up.
It’s not appa-lay-shun. It’s appa-latch-un 😂😂 I’m a West Virginian native, I may be a bit biased, but West Virginia is beautiful. It’s so homey. You should visit ❤️
Kathryn Irwin depends on where you're at. Since the chain goes from Canada to Northern Alabama there's going to naturally be variations in pronunciation. Hell in SW Pa neighbors pronounce it differently some the way they did, some the way you do.
COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOOOOMMEEEE
Same. Born and raised. I live in a different state now, but always West Virginian
OH I LOVE YOU GUYS
App-a-latch-in if you’re actually from here lol
"I'm plum tired" is how I would use it. I'm from Texas.
Gaummed up is just a local way of pronouncing "gummed up". A carburetor will get a sticky build-up of old gasoline residue and dirt, then its parts won't move freely anymore. Then it is said to be gummed (gaummed) up.
"Icebox" stayed in use long after electric refrigerators became common, although it's gone now.
I’m from Texas, I was brought up saying Icebox and I still do say icebox.
M.D. Same here
steelers6titles I still use it but I was close to my grandparents
"Gum'd up" means "full of gunk/goo enough to be stuck or unable to flow" in North Carolina. A carberater will get gum'd up if gas sets in it too long, like in a lawnmower over the winter.
Right, that's why it's "gum'd UP". Lia was wondering why the word "up" was used, that's why...think of it like something filling up with gunk or goo. We use it in B'ham, AL too.
It's really like that in most of the South, and yes, it's fill'd up with gunk/gum, that's the origin.
Sets... that was used where I grew up too. I think "sits" is the more proper way, hens "set", but everyone says it the way you did. ...or something that becomes solid after it "sets", we would say, let it "set." Meaning, leave it alone. Leave it be.
Haha I kept saying that as I was watching it! Gum’d up. They need to say gum’d up and don’t forget the up part or doesn’t make sense 😂
Melanie Tatum if you want to know, the whole “up” is actually another form that is originating from when english was more northern german sounding it has the same idea of being halted or carried out.
abräumen -> uproomin’ -> room up (clean up)
abhalten -> upholdin’ -> holding up (halting)
abwaschen -> upwashin’ -> washing up
abstumpfen -> upstumpin’ -> stumping up (confusing, stumping someone)
If you ever do visit West Virginia, check out Harper's Ferry. Not only is it a real town where people shop and live, but it's also very historical as well with historical buildings and tours and sometimes re-enactors or interpreters who are there to answer questions about the past. You can really only get to it by bus if you are a tourist. If you are a resident then you can have special permits to drive there. It also has a LOT of the W. Virginia beauty you were describing, including part of the actual Appalachian Trail running right through it! There is also a huge walking bridge that you can walk across a big river and get some AMAZING views! Highly recommend checking it out one day!
Nimeariel I'm so glad someone else said this! I live in Charles Town, lol, so I go to Harpers Ferry all the time ^^ it's beautiful!
Tell the story... John Brown, etc.
Right. It is EXTREMELY historical- pivotal, in fact, some might say, to our American history. Either way, it is still a REALLY beautiful area, there is no denying that. Definitely worth a look, in addition, if one wishes to learn about a less-than-perfect time of history when abolitionists and the US Government collided, but if not for that, then absolutely for the landscape and breathtaking vistas.
"Plumb" could be thought of as "Fully" or "Complete".
Bingo!
In carpentry if a board is “in” plumb it is perfectly vertical, or completely accurate, right on the mark. So to say that boy is plumb crazy you are also saying it is without doubt.
Eric Fisher this can be seen as an extension of a plumb line or plumb bob in construction meaning straight and true - so plumb was something truly ... or completely or perfectly .... or very ....
Plumb full.
Plumb tuckered (totally tired)
This is a very isolated region and these words arnt used any where else in the us. And it varries in depending where you are Tennessee and north Carolina is different than southern west Virginia and western Virginia which is different than Pittsburgh which is different than scranton
And God forbid you would use punctuation.
When Southerners use an "o" that sounds British, it's called the Piedmont O, which is mainly in the Carolinas.
North georgia
Yeah a lot of southern terms and phrases are old English like figured or yonder.
Agreed by NC native here.
And Virginia, ever heard an old fart from Central VA say "house" or "out" there's also the high tider accent on the eastern shore and OBX
Or "reckon"
my favorite WV terms gotta be 'tickled' meaning happy or very giddy. ex: "He was tickled to death after his team won last night."
GA Appalachian girl here, had no idea this word was specific to the region. Interesting!
We say that in Tennessee
And it’s often used with plumb. “Well ain’t she plumb tickled to death!”
@@chelseasammons3947 yess so right on that lmao
@@chelseasammons3947 yep we say that in Tennessee too
This is fantastic! I love how you are exploring regional differences in language in the US. I'm from Pennsylvania and the Appalachian Mountains go through the middle of the state. We use some of these but not all.
We want to make our way through the entire country! We're loving learning all this stuff!
Central Pa here!
Karrie Fuller Same here on peckerwood & I’m from Eastern PA. 😂
I think it is wonderful how you embrace culture and language. I think it would be awesome once you complete the US to possibly publish a book based on your unique research from a British perspective. BTW -Appalachian country is gorgeous.Please visit Mount Vernon- Thomas Jefferson home in spring or fall. God Bless.
That how I used peckerwood also.
Some more slang for you,
Yonder
Holler
Crick
when my brother was little, he called self checkout aisles (like in a grocery store) "poke-it-up-yourself lanes"
So happy to see your faces!!! West Virginia is beautiful and you should visit if you ever get the chance! Lia I hope you are feeling better from that whole nightmare in Paris and I’m just glad Joel was there to see you through it! 💜💜
I love this!!! I live in the most eastern part of Tennessee. Right smack dab in the middle of the Appalachian mountains. We certainly do have our own dialect. My mamaw and papaw (My grandparents) still say all these words on a daily basis lol. There are tons of words and phrases we say that sound very British but I'm guessing that's because most families that settled here in Appalachia came from the British Isles. Both sides of my family originally came from Kent. There are so many other words we have that make no sense to other parts of the world lol please do Tennessee!!! I love you guys so much. I never miss a video!!! Fantastic job!!! Oh and getting dressed up we say "gussied up" lol have a great day guys!!!!
we saw meemaww and pawpaw for grandparents.......tante for aunt, and oncle for her husband.....a complete mess of old english, french and indian.......
Appalachian” generally refers to West Virginia, western Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee, and even southwestern Pennsylvania
Southern New York, Almost half of Ohio, Northern Georgia and even more of Northern Alabama, part of Missouri and Carolina herself are Appalachian states as well. Idk how you left out Ohio lol They can't decide if they're West Virginia, Kentucky, or Canada half the time.
@@Stephenguitar93 You also left out western Maryland. Granted it is a small strip of land, only 1.8 miles at it's narrowest point.
Andrew Seifert It also includes the western mountains of North Carolina from the VA/TN border to the TN/GA/SC border. Appalachian State University is in Boone, NC.
Also western NC and north central GA about 30 miles into the state just below the TN NC line
@@Stephenguitar93 Definitely the part of Ohio I'm from is Appalachian!
"Take me home, country road'" was sung by John Denver. John Denver's father and my dad (both pilots) flew together in the USAF. John's real last name, as was his father's was Dutchendorf. My father and Captain Dutchendorf sang in a "Barber Shop Quartette," while in the Air Force and stationed at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ, (where I was born.) Believe it or not, about a year ago, while going through my recently deceased mother's things, I found 3 of his 4 original 78 RPM records they made with the Quartette. They made vynal records because there were no tape recorders in the early 1950's. No joke, look up John Denver or Captain Dutchendorf on the web.
Wow! Really interesting fact about John Denver! Thanks for sharing. Grew up listening to his music, his style of country music is so different than the rest of the same genre.
John was more a Folk/Country music artist, I believe. He was cool, But his father, thou not rich or super famous, was a real super-dude. lol
That was so interesting! I grew up listening to John Denver. I loved his music. Thanks for sharing!
I've learned about this song in a Japanese animation called "Mimi wo sumaseba" (Whisper of the heart).
Just listened to the Japanese version of the song for the first time. It's cute.
I would say if you ever want to visit you should come to East Tennessee. We have The Great Smoky Mountains which is a free national park. Gatlinburg/ Pigeon Forge is where Dolly Wood amusement park is located and the best place to see the Appalachian mountains.
Lauren Irwin and Nashville.
I agree! Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge Tennessee is one of the best places in the area!
Lauren Irwin they would need an interpreter lol. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge are so fun!
No way, Gatlinburg is just a tourist trap. There are plenty of other places people can go.
Tyler Stokes only if you do just the touristy things. There are plenty of things to do. It's just super close to the park and Cades Cove. There are plenty of historical places and hikes.
"Plum tuckered out" means really tired. That's the only time I've heard the word plum used like that other than the fruit!
“Plumb tuckered out” extremely exhausted, a phrase I heard often as a child from my aunts, uncles and cousins on my mothers side who were all from the south (Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and the like)
Bret Knight we used this all the time growing up!
I’m from West Virginia and I never used or heard anyone using dope for soda but I do say pop.
I’m plumb tired. 👍
I like the accent.
Thanks for that! Maybe it's not used as much anymore! ❤️
It refers specifically to Coca Cola which used to have coca leaves in it. My Methodist grandmother who was born in the 1880's in the mountains of North Carolina would never let my mother drink one as a child and teen.
So now I know what the poke is in the expression "a pig in a poke".
plumb tired is the only way i've ever heard it used....i'm from nc
plumb crazy
The only person I've ever heard use dope for soda is my mother, and she's from Mississippi!
Dope is a very old word. It’s been phased out in younger generations, especially with its association with drugs. Where I am in southern West Virginia most people say pop. I have friends in eastern Kentucky who say coke.
I’ve lived in West Virginia my entire life, and loved this video! You two should definitely visit! If you do, consider coming to Greenbrier County. It is beautiful! Everyone in WV is super friendly and welcoming.
Lia, your accent was so good!
Thanks so much! We'd love to visit one day!
If you do, and if you're planning on being in the Greenbrier Co. area-and IF you happen to visit in or around July; you could visit my cousin's berry farm! www.whiteoakberryfarm.com/ It's family owned and run :)
Tori Sams a guy I worked with talked about his “holla” he would say “Beau, I lived so deep in the mountains, they had to pipe in sunshine”
Tori Sams
Hi Tori, I am from Wheeling and haven't heard of most of these.
David McLawhorn. It's called a holler not a holla. Its like saying the neighborhood area you live in. Out in the mountains there ain't no street signs hardly nothing but dirt roads at that point if not just a trial to follow. And he wasn't saying beau he was saying boy. And emphasizing how far into the mountain he lives.
When I originally came across your channel and was very offended. But the more I kept watching it helped me realize that I am silly for being offended. Now I watch all the time.
Aw Stephanie, we're so glad you came through to the other side! haha!
Stephanie Moreno Same! LOL
I was going to write that, just now. They really are cute and hilarious.
I still get offended on certain videos, but this one doesn’t bother me. 😂
If you watch them enough, you know it's all in good fun. ❤
Praise the Lord.
“Hey, you want a coke?”
“Yeah, what do you have?”
“Dr Pepper, Sprite and Coke.”
“I’ll take a DP”
I’ve lived in West Virginia my whole life and haven’t heard half of these. It was such a fun video and I learned some new words. Lol
Great job guys! Very tricky topic and you handled it well. A really complicated accent that's rich in unique slang. I really loved this. Great to see you both back! Thanks! Love and cheers! 👍💗😘🇬🇧
Thanks Tek, glad to be back! Language from this region really interests me! J x
Si goggling? I’m from Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Never heard it. You got poke right; also plumb. As a kid soda was called dope. Never understood until I grew up and found out the original Coca-cola had cocaine in it. My family always said pop. We never said “gummed”. It just goes to show that there are hundreds of miles of Appalachian Mountains and a few differences in words. I’m in my sixties and realized that a lot of old British words were left in the hills. When I was little, pants were “britches”. When my mom would go to the store she would call it “trading” or she would say “tradin”. You’ve brought up a lot of memories.
Hi Big Stone Gap ,Va . I spent my childhood in St .Charles (lee county) and in Woodway , later on in Big Stone Gap . My family comes from the this area so beautiful. Gods country!😊
For the record, us Appalachians pronounce it "app-pa-LATCH-ah" (like I'm gonna throw an apple at cha)
Some more clarification
Peckerwood- someone annoying or dumb. It's an insult. (Usage: the person in front of you at the market is taking too long and they don't know what they're doing even though they should. You would say to yourself or your friend "look at this peckerwood...")
Plumb- it comes from the tool plumb bob. It's a hanging weight used to make sure something is straight. Often used in construction to make sure a wall is straight and not skewed. So if something is plumb it's straight. So it's used like "she's plumb (straight up) dumb". As in thes no argument, it's a fact, it just is.
Gaum. The rest of the country spells it "gummed". It comes from the gum tree. Its sap is really thick and sticky which is why it's used to make rubber. So if it's gaumed (gummed) up, it's filthy, sticky, filled with crud and gunk
Nicholas Snider we used peckerwood for someone annoying or used as an insult when someone was being a jerk
There is also peckerhead, which, given the British meaning of pecker, means...head.
In the DICTIONARY, peckerwood is a poor white person.
Gaum is pronounced with an ah sound. But yes means gummed up or stuck up.
I live in WV and much like British, we have about five different accents depending on what state they border. Central WV has more of a hillbilly accent. Some communities have their own distinctive accent and slang used only there, so I may not recognize word meanings of some of these..
BTY I love the Brits and would love to visit there. she is down right purrdy and you seem a little light.. I'll holier at ya' later.
Great & Lia does the accent beautifully. 1 saying my dad always said "He's about a half a bubble off plumb" meaning he's crazy. Love y'all from a true southerner.
I've used that exact phrase. Plumb = level in this context (referencing a level with the bubble in it). Being a 1/2 bubble out of plumb is also used.
I want to hear Joel and Lia try to pronounce "gionoutahhere" LOL
And some of the places in West Virginia, like Kanawha, Monogahela, or Iaeger. Love your videos, guys. Keep it up!
"cattycorner"--"diagonally across"
Had no idea I’m this one either, been using it my whole life and didn’t know it was regional lol
I live in the Appilachian part of Virginia, and "pokey" is another word for jail/prison in my family. And yes, it's a beautiful place, especially in the autumn season when the leaves change.
Poke can also refer to Poke Salat, which is a plant that is eaten when it first comes up, but then becomes poisonous when older. When mature it has deep purple poisonous berries which were used to dye things. "I done picked me a mess of poke this morning."
If you go to the mountains go to Tennessee. The Smokey Mountains national park is gorgeous!
I am a native Virginian now residing in Kentucky. For years i have heard people from outside the region ( mostly from the northeast and west) call it Appa Laycha. Gosh that irritates me. ITS APPA LAYCHA (Appalachia)
Luna RikaRiko Yup very beautiful I’m in Western NC breathtaking!!!!
The Smokey Mountains, and Big Sur in Cali are the 2 most beautiful places ive been to in my travels in America.
Please come to West Virginia!!! You can stop by Pittsburgh Pennsylvania because it touches West Virginia and you can see a lot of nice scenery and city lights!
In western NC (where the Appalachian mountains come through) we use the term “soft drink” for your “fizzy drink”.
Ditto for me but I'm from Kernersville originally, not western NC.
Soft drink is more broad than soda or pop. It’s just any non-alcoholic drink. Sweet tea is a soft drink but it’s not a soda.
Yes, come to West Virginia! My home state. 💙💛 so many beautiful places. From Blackwater Falls, Dolly Sods, New River Gorge Bridge, Cass, Snowshoe. Too many places to mention!
karenmelissa98 West Virginia is also my home state and I still live here and all of those places are so cool to see.
Dolly Sods just magnificent
Beautiful and wilderness filled state that's plumb purdy
NAH COME ON DOWN TO SW VA BEST PLACER ERVER
It was funny that you guys didn't know Poke.
"Never buy a pig in a poke" is an old expression that means examine something before you buy it. The story is people thought they were buying a pig but would open the bag to find a cat inside. I have always thought of this as an English expression.
"Poke is still in use in several English-speaking countries, notably Scotland and the USA, and describes just the sort of bag that would be useful for carrying a piglet to market." - www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/a-pig-in-a-poke.html
When i was young here in Florida, everyone ordered a coke and didn't care if it was Coke or Pepsi. It wouldn't apply to something like Fanta, though. Or Sprite. Or even an RC (Royal Crown Cola). Just Coke and Pepsi.
Gaum is short for Gummed as in Gummed Up. I never heard Gaum, though.
Yeah lots of people have said poke came from the British but we had no idea!
Probably most Americans don't know what a Poke is either. They just know what the entire phrase means.
Here's another example - Macaroni. In the song Yankee Doodle Dandy Yankee Doodle "sticks a feather in his cap and calls it Macaroni." In London in the 1770s Macaroni meant something that was very fancy. So putting a Feather on a regular hat wouldn't actually qualify.
I never understood as a child why someone would put a feather in their hat and think it made it a cheese-covered noodle (Macaroni and Cheese) in their hat.
Lol! I know I always thought it was strange. Thanks for the info! Poke is new to me. Thought for sure Joel and Lia were gonna say some moving slow like being pokey.
The "Yankee Doodle" song was the British poking fun at the colonists in that era. The way of life in the colonies was primitive compared to England.
Your southern American accents are so hilarious! Love these videos, guys!
hahaha thanks so much ❤️
Yeah they are not a bit close lol
John Denver, lol.
And you are right that WV is fully Appalachian and there are 12 additional states that have counties in Appalachia--13 states all together.
I grew up calling all soft drinks coke.
- "Would you like a coke?"
- "Sure, what kinds do you have?"
Random one I learned recently was a phrase used in Alabama I think...
"If I knew company was coming I would have 'put on the dog.'" - means to get real dressed up. This one cracks me up.
Thanks for the fun videos!!
I did too when I was growing up in B'ham, AL. It's not that odd if you think of it like this, it's the same thing as asking for a "Kleenex". Even if I didn't have the Kleenex brand of tissue, I'd know what you were talking about. Or a Q-tip. I don't have the brand Q-tip, but you still call most ear swabs Q-tips.
Southern Ohio here, Ive always used Soda, and most ppl I know, I've never heard it called dope lol.
@@ionlyeatbrainsdummy9858 I've never heard it called dope, either. Everyone north of Columbus definitely calls it pop.
In the old days Coke had cocaine in it. Old timers still call ot a dope
In the Rocky Mountains, we just call it “pop” 😂
Good to see you back! Missed ya 😊 so cool you studied Appalachian linguistics 🧐
Thanks Sean, good to be back!! ❤️❤️
As a native West Virginian, I can tell you that some of the slang is only used in certain parts of the state. For example, si-gogglin isn't a phrase I've heard here in central West Virginia and suspect it to have come from the eastern panhandle due to the population of Dutch immigrants. In this area, the term dope is used to refer to either illegal substances or someone who has done something "stupid" a usage example would be "stop being a dope.". a slang term you may be interested in would be bumfuzzled which means confused or flabbergasted. a usage example here would be " he traded a working car for a junker, it just has me bumfuzzled." and another would be "yonder" meaning a location of some distance from your current placement. ranging from a few yards away to several miles away. an example would be "The mayors' house is over yonder next to the post office on the other side of town."
"Peckerwood" is an old, black slang (insult) for a Scots-Irish (white) red-headed man (red-headed woodpecker). My grandfather called me a peckerwood sometimes. Peckerwood is prominently used in the movie, "Mandingo".
Peckerwood is another name for DumbA$#
That's what I was thinking it meant too!
@@jamesmc6883 Yeah. That's basically how it's used here in Oklahoma.. Mostly used in a light-hearted way though.
Usually means small and annoying- referring to a little guy trying to act big.
Suggestions for part two: Cyarn - Derived from carrion or rotting flesh. Old timers use it to describe anything that is nasty.
Haint- Ghost
My grandmother, from Evarts my said many times “ that just smells like charm” when I was little I would laugh so hard hard, only found out few years ago what it meant
As a West Virginian, I died laughing😂😂😂
Me to cause I talk like this but I say words like dawg, wassup homes.
We pronounce guam “gum”....so something is guamed up, would sound like, “that fan is so gummed up it can’t even turn.”
West Virginia or as some people call it, West By God, it is a whole different country. There are places in that state that are roughly 20 years behind society. I have family from there. My Great Grandmother was a Hatfield.
20 years behind? Get real, with mass media and now with the internet, that no longer applies.
I'm from West Virginia we pronounce it like gummed up
It's, "gommed up".
Coke is soda in TX. What kind of Coke do you have? Dr Pepper is the soda of choice
Love Dr. Pepper myself up here in Iowa!
@Drakilicious - Say you wanted Choke-a-Choela..? :p
The conversation has to disambiguate cokes.
a: Pick up some cokes at the store.
b: What kind of cokes do you want?
a: Oh, get mostly Dr Pepper, but maybe some 7-Up or Mountain Dew too, huh?
Haven’t seen all the way through yet, but as a native Kentuckian I have to say, it’s App-a-latch-a not appalaSHia :)
I'm from TN, and I'd use peckerwood pretty much interchangeably with "putz"
I have lived my whole life in Appalachia between Virginia and West Virginia. I believe this is the least accurate list I’ve heard yet. Most of these are extreme examples that most people just don’t know. I’ve felt I needed to respond to every one of these as the words I did recognize mean something different than the definitions you were given.
Si-goglin
Never heard it. I’ve heard catywampus plenty in Appalachia.
Peckerwood
I’ve only ever heard it in the context of a generic insult akin to dumbass or idiot.
Poke
I’ve never heard it in the context of a shopping bag. I have heard it often in the context of Lia’s first guess to have sex with someone. A variation, poky, means tardy as in the young children’s story The Poky Little Puppy.
You commented about Southern American vowels sound like British. Southern America owes a great deal of its accent to southern English ancestors.
Plum
Probably derived from plum meaning exactly vertical maybe interpreted as certain. As in “I’m plum tuckered out,” meaning, “I certainly am tired.”
Airish
Never heard it.
Dope
I’ve never heard this in the context of soda, pop, coke or fizzy drinks.
I usually think of the California version. “That’s so dope,” meaning, “That’s so cool,” or in my mother’s generation, “That’s neat.”
I do know someone in West Virginia who refers to Mountain Dew as liquid crack, but that’s probably a reference to the high caffeine content, and he was born in Italy.
Gaum
This is just bad spelling. It is gum. This is all gummed up. I would especially think of an engine with buildup causing it to fail or not operate at peak potential as all gummed up. And gum would be practically literal with burnt oil causing things to stick. Perhaps it doesn’t so much mean messy as messy with a sticky substance, perhaps some sort of gum.
You've never heard dope be used to describe a dumb person. "What a dope."
I've lived in the southern coal fields of West Virginia my entire life and can attest that this list is extremely accurate. Airish means chilly/windy. Peckerwood and sigogglin is more common in the border counties along north Carolina. There are a lot of panhandle people who are about as WVian as a cronut. They're too much influenced by Maryland, PA and OH culture to speak for the whole of the state. Nobody under the age of 90 calls soda pop/cokes "dopes" anymore but it is heard on rare occasions, that's more Carolina/Tennessee.
Im born and raised in WV. Haven't you ever heard the phrase don't buy a pig in poke?
Have you ever heard the expression "pig in a poke"? A poke refers to a small bag or satchel. The expression refers to buying something unseen or unknown. Buying a used car could be, buying a pig in a poke. You're taking someone's word for the value of a purchase.
Poke is more common on west side of the state,Ky,Oh in the eastern pan handel alot of people aren't native to the state so different slang gets mixed in
It’s pronounced like “ I’ll throw An “ Apple-atcha” not appllycha” just saying 😀😘
Lol! Liked the way you showed the proper way to say it. Apparently I've been saying it wrong all this time!
Rosa Kremper you very welcome. It’s the best way to describe how to explain how to pronounce it. Sins I’m from The Great Smoky Mountains. Most TV people pronounce it incorrectly 🤠
Great WY to hear it in my head. Thanks!
Family from SW VA have similar pronunciation. Yep. 👍
LTSJR1 I went to Appalachian State and so glad someone mentioned this!
There’s a wide array of variation as Appalachia’s a huge and fairly loosely defined place. The accents are very different throughout WV and eastern KY where I was raised, much less northern states like southern PA and the actual southern states like NC, all the way down to northern GA. Then, when you throw in the generational aspect it gets positively cryptic. Not to mention country vs town etc. I thoroughly enjoyed this though. Well done.
There was a rhyme back in the day, "Peckerwood pecking on a long leaf pine see his pecker but you can't see mine." I hadn't thought about that in years lol....
This is a conversation that I have heard many times:
“Would you like a Coke?”
“Yes”
“What kind?”
“Dr. Pepper”
,expect that very question in Michigan when at a restaurant.
"would you like a COKE ?" "What kind ?" 7up. Just like the "soda" vs "pop". dialects amuse me. lol.
So annoying when I hear that...lol
Yup. Unless youre out west. You say “a pop”. East Coast we are “soda”.
@@LaSmoocherina IL we say pop
In georgia we only drink coke, our showers use coke, our lakes are filled with coke, theres no escape
So West Virginia is very split and what I mean is that half is very northern and city like and the other half is more southern and farmy so not all of these references are used by West Virginians😂
Hi Joel and Lia! Love this as a fellow Appalachian! However, much of this must be very regional to a particular part of WV. I live in south eastern Ohio, about 40 minutes from WV, and I haven't heard many of these before.
Thanks so much Jill! ❤️
Ohio is not WV no matter what a lot of people say, lol. I joke about it myself too, but you know there are places DEEP within WV that could be likened to another country!
Right, totally understood and didn't mean to offend. I was just commenting on it since Appalachia does span 12 other states and therefore, regionally, slang would be quite different. I was merely commenting how different it can be just 40 minutes away.
I'm from WV, lived here my whole life, and haven't heard most of these but I figure it's just where I'm located looking at all these people who know what they're talking about. I'm right near Charleston. Maybe it's because I'm more near the city? But now I live a little further out and I've also lived in Tornado which people have REALLY thick accents. So idk. XD
It's still really cool they did a video like this. Dope where I am is meth, though. XD Plum is the only one I actually know and have heard as they explained. And also used. Lol
Let’s start at the top : App-uh-latch-uh 😂😂😂
Ok that’s all! ♥️♥️♥️
Yes! Haha
He didn't learn that in college.
Praise the heavens above someone got it right!
I lived most of my life pronouncing Appalachia the wrong way... but it makes sense now. I was born in Wenatchee. It's a small city (pop. 31,000 or so) which is part of the Greater Wenatchee area with a total population around 100,000. It is located at the confluence of the Columbia river and one of it's main tributaries, known as the Wenatchee river. Yep. Wen-ATCH-ee. The spelling of Appalachia needs the "T" in it, so people wouldn't make that pronunciation mistake. Love how the different tribes can sometimes share common words!
I will be hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2020. 2190 miles from Georgia to Maine.
Wow! Good luck!
Hey, I'm from West Virginia!! Friendly people. 😊
Hi guy, glad to see you back.
I thought "Peckerwood" was derogatory for calling an annoying person male anatomy.
Thanks Vanessa, so happy to be back! ❤️❤️❤️
That's what it means out here in Colorado too. Has nothing to do with selling anything.
Down here in SC it means something that's not quite an A-hole, but is a couple of levels above a jerk. And like "bless your heart" it depends on intonation.
Examples? You get cut off in traffic, Deliberate=A-hole, Not being totally aware of anything beyond your reflection in the mirror=peckerhead.
1969Vanessa G I feel the same and I've lived all over the country, maybe the sells person thing is just how it originated.
Same here (Illinois)! Saying, "He's such a peckerwood!" is like saying, "He's such a dickhead" or ". . . a-hole"
I live in Berkeley County in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
I always heard the word "POKEY" referred to as a jail cell.
For instance.... if you keep on breaking the law you're going to end up in the Pokey.
Or it can mean slow
I’m from Berkeley county too
We call jail the clink but pokey is like to be slow. Like “why are you poking along” or “your being too pokey” or “get on, dont poke
@@KateBates22zabu yep that’s what we use it for. WV/OH border
Joel, if you have interest in seeing Appalachia and like to hike, you might want to look into hiking all or part of the Appalachian Trail. It runs through the Appalachian Mountains starting in Georgia and ending in Maine. Hi to Lia. Keep up the videos, I really enjoy watching.
Joel & Lia #NetflixOriginal ????
Still waiting for the call...
Come to LA and make it happen... :) Best wishes to you both.
Cameron Gonzalez
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS IDEA!!!!
I love BEING BRITISH ♥️🇬🇧♥️
You guys deserve it.
"Poke" is actually old English -- like buying "a pig in a poke." Buying some unseen.
Poke means a sack, or bag. Hence a pig in a poke....which would be sight unseen of course.
A poke would be like a "stash"...you might stash your jewelry or money in your poke.
"You let the cat out of the bag" (revealed a secret) it's from the same source. They were about to sell you a cat in a bag instead of a piglet.
Also poke hole (hidden stash of money)
Joel & Lia, keeping it sassy but classy
hahah that's going on a tshirt ❤️❤️❤️
I found your channel cause I might move to London so I was terrified... You guys are so sweet I can't help but subscribe. You need your own tv show!!
I grew up a couple hundred miles outside Appalachia and had only heard 3 of those words, but used a little differently than described here. Growing up I often heard the saying "buying a pig in a poke", meaning buying or getting involved with something without inspecting or thinking about it. Only years later did I hear that a poke was a bag.
Plumb (or plum, I'm not used to seeing it in print) is a stereotypical Appalachian word that I grew up hearing as "plumb tuckered out", meaning very tired, and "plumb crazy" meaning plain crazy. (This phrase is well-enough known that Fiat-Chrysler's Dodge car brand offers "Plum Crazy" as a shade of purple in some of its cars.
I've never heard of something spelled "gaum", but "gummed up" is a fairly common phrase I didn't associate with Appalachia. One common phrase is "gum up the works" meaning messed up as if something gummy had gotten into the gears of a machine and caused it to not work. You could use it to describe where one mistake that someone made caused ea whole series of problems.
A Plum Crazy car:
ruclips.net/video/Z4E51jWJ68w/видео.html
I’m from West Virginia, but I know none of those words nor use them...then again I don’t know what region of West Virginia you did
I was born and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas (on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi river, across from Memphis, Tennessee) and we only ever used plumb in a "negative" sense. Like, "I'm plumb tuckered out!" or "That boy is plumb stupid!", not "That cologne is plumb nice."
Growing up, I never heard fizzy drinks called anything except for "Coke". If you ordered a coke, the server asked, "What kind?" Occasionally, I would hear a very old person call it "sodie pop". I moved to Indiana when I was 17 and everyone called it "pop". Then, when I was 27, I moved to Arizona and everyone called it "soda".
my step grandmother called all soft drinks co-cola. "Do you want a co-cola?"
I have lived in AZ my entire life and I swear I get more shit for saying pop than anything else I do. I have no idea where I got it from either.
In Iowa if you ordered "Coke" you'd get a Coca-Cola.
That’s interesting 😅 in Indiana we skip the whole plumb business and just go straight to “flat out.” He’s flat out stupid. The dog is flat out slow. The stove flat out doesn’t work.
I'm originally from southern West Virginia (Logan County), but have lived in Florida for many years now, and I must say I got quite a giggle from watching this video, lol! You were spot on with the words, and there are so many more that I could probably write a book about it. I hope you get to visit West Virginia some day, but I highly recommend going in either the Autumn when all the leaves are in full fall colors, or during the summer when the mountains are at their most breath taking. I really enjoy watching your channel! 😁
The word “Blinkie” means in the process of going spoiled or bad.
As in- Is this milk bad? Well it’s a little blinkie but you can still drink it. I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains. The area where Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and North Carolina come together.
Virginia is my state
My Grandma said "blinked", for sour milk.