Guessing What These Southern US Words Mean
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- Опубликовано: 18 авг 2024
- In which I try to guess the meaning of certain US southern words.
Original word list: bestlifeonline...
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I ran out of breath laughing at "doohickey". You were literally describing the word by saying you can't think of the name. It was pure art. Thank you.
You could say you were "plumb" out of breath. 😀
The doohickey is beside the thingamajig and the whatchamacallit
Can also be a “doowacky.”
@@charlenewright4912 Damn it Charlene! I clicked on reply to write a witty comment using the terms "thingamajig and whatchamacallit", but you beat me to the punch.
I hear it's close to the thingamabob
Which is an actual word... fun fact 😂
Lauence, I think you need to give yourself a point for defining "piddling" because it does indeed mean "trifling around doing things that are small and of no importance". You nailed it!
I would also say that the verb and the adjective are closely related. Piddling around is doing something trivial, whereas piddling as an adjective refers to a trivial amount.
Where we are in NC, piddlin is like 99.9 percent doing something super slow or doing trivial things when you're supposed to be something more important.
@@agoogleuser4443 similarly, a little farther north in Virginia we use "piddlin' around" and "pissing around" nearly interchangeably, depending on the number of beers that have been consumed
Yep, it's both of his guesses AND the dictionary definition.
In Tennessee we use it both ways, just like fixin
Just to clarify: All the definitions you gave for "Piddling" were just as correct as the one you read.
HAHA my thoughts exactly, and it all kind of comes from the same idea. Other than the urinating one which is probably just a minced oath for pissing.
My great aunt told a joke that goes like this v every little bit helps said the old woman as she piddled in the sea.
I always thought "druthers" came from the portmanteau of "I'd rather." Commode is the actual porcelain throne, not the room. Piddle can also mean pee, as in "The puppy piddled on the carpet," or "There's a puddle of piddle on the floor."
Exactly. "If I had the option of 'I would rather...'
Anyone that has ever walked a dog has witnessed it pee a little here, pee a little there... instead of just stopping and finishing the job in one spot. That is piddling around.
and hense why it can be used as a verb "stop piddling around" that is "stop pissing around" or in the mroe G rated form "stop messing/fooling around"
First time I heard druthers was when I was in the play “Little ABNER” and I played Daisy May. I had to sing a song called “If I had My Druthers”. It is a short for I’d rather.
@@linzalabamaawake5230 Lol, true. If I'd had my druthers I wouldn't have watched this video :)
> 2:29
As a Mississippian, I would agree that Hush Up is the politer version of shut up. A parent might tell a child to "hush up" when they're upset or acting out, while shut up is usually seen as a rude (and thus "adult") thing to say to someone.
Yes. When your parents was being nice would say "Hush!" When you made them upset, but they don't want say "shut up", they'll say "hush up!"
As someone who was brought up in a polite home in the Deep South, I'd never, ever tell someone to "shut up" and would be deeply offended if someone said " shut up" to me. I just perceive it as a particularly harsh and rude term.
I've heard a gentle "Hush now" as well :)
We'd say, "hush up! Can't you tell that the minister is prayin'?" But you'd never hear "shut up" in church.
We were flat out punished (or you know... got the MOM LOOK) if we ever got caught saying "shut up" to someone. It's rude. "Hush" or "hush up" is somehow nicer?
Piddling has two meanings. It means literally to urinate in small amounts. It also describes what you'd be doing with your time if you peed that way. Essentially, wasting time. As in "Hurry up, and stop piddling around!"
It's also an adjective: "a piddling amount."
Yep, I've heard it used all three ways, so he did well. 1) peeing, 2) wasting time (similar to "pissing about" so maybe that's why piddling can be used the first two ways), and 3) a small amount. Languages are fun!
Piddly is a small amount. Piddle, piddlin', and piddled is polite for piss, pissin', and pissed. Then there's piss-poor which can be exchanged for bad or really small, like "piss-poor attitude," or "piss-poor amount." At least how I learned growin' up in The Ozarks. American English is weird. We kinda just make shit up. It's the emotional context that really conveys the message.
@@cisium1184 AKA trivial.
Insignificant.
I've lived in the South all my life, and you ARE correct, that we do use the term "piddling" to describe when we are doing some "non-productive" as in, "I'm piddling around the house during COVID with nothing to do." We do *also* use it to describe a "small amount" of something.
And I have never heard the word "washateria." We've always said "laundramat".
Piddling around made into the Midwest, too. My parents accused me of that many times when I was a child. So, you can be proud that it caught on!
I’ve never heard piddling used to describe something small. I’ve only heard it used as piddling around
I have been saying this all my life not realizing that it was a regional word
Same in the Midwest in Indiana where I grew up
I'm 72. In Texas as a child, they were called washaterias.
As a southerner I have heard pretty much all of these. Fixin also can mean a food side item.
Oof. As someone from Atlanta, I'd hardly heard any of these. Just fixin', hissy, and hush up
Here in Georgia, black folk shorten "fixin' to" even more, to "fitna" or "finna". As in, "I'm fitna go."
Not just Black folk here in GA. LoL!
@@woodandwheelz or Virginia, quite a few folks around here shorten it that way
I saw that on Black Jeopardy
Just like other AAVE words for forever, there’s a fair number of white folks in the south that say “finna” now too. Both in speech and when typing.
I’ve been noticing it more and more often in recent years.
I’m always fitna…..
Okay, yeah piddling does mean that, but 99 times out of 100 we would use “piddling” as piddling around, so you can have that point!
It’s actually related as to be piddling around is to be doing trivial things instead of the important tasks you should be doing.
Where I come from it means raining. As in "It's piddling it down!"
I would use "Piddly" as the adjective form.
If you call people over 70 and ask them what they were doing that day. If it’s in the early spring or summer. They will say piddling in the yard or garden.
Agreed!
A note Laurence, fixins also means the extra items that are included with a meal your serving. As in we're having fried chicken with all the fixins. Or I have fixins for red velvet cake. As in the ingredients to make...
Yup, was going to post the same, though maybe because I'm now living in Florida it's been a good while since I've heard "fixin's" used that way (e.g. a house salad with "all the fixin's" maybe it's more common in Kentucky where I grew up), though you'll hear the phrase "fixin' to" down here on a regular basis!
I was going to make a similar comment. “Fixin” or even Fixing is highly contextual in the south. Fixin can mean you’re about to do something such as “I’m fixin to take the trash out” like in the video and it can be, as you pointed out, side items. “Fried chicken with all the fixins”(which I’ve even heard in some commercials). However, I think that’s an extension of another usage where verbs become nouns; you’ll hear people say “I’m fixing dinner” meaning that they’re preparing dinner. I think over time that continued to morph and the side items that were being prepared just became “fixins”.
I also think it’s a bit generational as almost everyone I know just calls them “sides” or “side dishes”. The substitutions for “about to” and “preparing” though are still fairly common.
Moving from the north to the south was like moving to a different world. The words they use for things are very different and regional.
I was born in the south where ive lived all my ,but my father was a Yankee when we vacationed up north the accent an fast talking I have to watch there mouth to understand what they were saying! It really is two different worlds ,they can keep that white stuff up there!!
I have heard "piddling" used in all three ways you described in these parts: urination, wasting time, and a small amount. And a variation of "catawampus" is "catty-corner."
In my southern childhood, "catty-corner" meant "diagonally across from" as in "his house is catty-corner from the laundromat." The English major in my blood dances!!
In SC, we put them together, and get "cattywampus".
And kittycorner, kittywampus etc
And kittycorner, kittywampus etc
Lifetime southerner and I've always said caddy corner
I’m from TN and use piddling for all 3 of those! And it’s not ‘plumb tired’ it’s plumb tuckered out!
In Southern AL it's pronounced "plumb tard" but meaning "tired" of course
@@tylarjackson7928 In TN too. Same pronunciation.
Or "plumb wore out"
One of my favorite southern terms is "Bless your heart.", or "Bless their heart." The phrases can have two meanings. The first is something like, "I'm so sorry that's happening to you or them." It feels like you're sympathetic. The other meaning is, "Wow! You (or they) are stupid."
My mom used to say, "Bless your pointed little head "
I worked with a woman from Arkansas. Her favorite insult was "Bless his/her/your pointy little head." I love it. Among the Southerners I know, "bless your heart" is largely used sympathetically.
"Bless his/her little heart" means a person is mean, selfish, inconsiderate or some such thing.
We sometimes shorten that now to "Bless it", when in reference to someone's common sense.
so very true.
You were right about piddling. Grandparents say it all the time and they use its definition almost exactly as you described it
I’ve lived in Louisiana my entire 56 years, and I never realized that “commode” is only used in the South! 😂 You did really well, Laurence!
It is used other places.
It's used in the North East as well, but not often. I think it may have gone out of fashion. I remember my grandmother using the word.
In the west as well, but yeah sounds antiquated
@@ljcl1859 THAT doesn’t make me feel old at all 😁
It's not. Commode is pretty universal, just not said frequently. It really comes from the old days, when you had to hide a pot in a cabinet to do your business.
fixin’ can also be a noun like, food accoutrements. Sides or toppings
Those are usually called fixin's, with an "s".
That's the definition I know. Except I only use it to describe the stuff you have to go on hamburgers and/or hotdogs at a cookout.
Yes, but I've never had a meal with a single "fixin"". It's always plural, as in turkey and all the fixin's.
That would be “fixins.” Fixin’ means you’re about to do something.
'Fixin' is to get ready to do something.
e.g. "Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin to die yet."
My Mother's father would make my grandmother so mad when he would say, "What have you been doing all day, piddlin' around?" With 8 kids and a house to take care of, this really made her very angry.
That would make me steaming angry too, even with 4 kids only. Each child is a 24/7 none stop full time job. Too many guys work hard some 8 hours and come home exausted and entitled to rest, quiet and respect, feet up with a cool drink, and demanding dinner. A man that loves his wife would have some compassion, and realize his clothes don't wash themselves, his dinner doesn't cook entirely on it's on, the house is not self cleaning, and kids need supervision, assistance and plenty of nourishing. Wife and kids need compassion, not some demanding narcissistic overly entitled jerk. That's why some women never ever get married a second time. Once burned... twice shy. Not to say there aren't some wonderful men out there, but yes extremely hard to find.
"Fixin'" can also refer to preparing or cooking, as in "I am fixin' breakfast." Of course, you can get a double whammy with "I am fixin' to fix breakfast," which means you are getting ready to prepare breakfast.
Well done Laurence! Druther is also described as a combination of “I’d” & “rather “ -druther 😂
Which, in many Southern accents sounds like 'I'd Ruther' (Speaking from experience here in Tennessee)
I used "if I had my druthers" today and my Pacific NW friends looked at me like I had grown horns.
@@deepinthewasatch66 They just don't know how to talk right!
My father grew up in Missouri, so I heard druthers all the time growing up in So. Cal. 😂
@@julieobrien4056 Heck, I’m in So Cal and learned it from TV (maybe Andy Griffith Shows?).
My Grandma used to say Coniption Fit She also said, "It'd take an act of Congress to get anything done". 😊
I say coniption fit to I add but don't step in the middle of it! I also say u need a act of congress to get anything done! I'm s southern ,an I lived in Rutherford County North Carolina for a while,they have there own language!! Back woods talk!!
I forgot about coniption (spelling?), but that is a good one he left off.
My parents would say that( & they were originally from Brooklyn 😅)
I grew up in Tennessee and recognized all of these. fun fact: "Mudding" is also called "Mud Bogging" lol
As a southerner, I didn't know half of these words existed.
Thank you for teaching me what southerner schools should've taught me.
Interesting. As a southerner, I knew all but two: “washateria”, and “hopping John”.
My family is from the Blue Ridge Mountains, and after a lifetime of travels, I realize we mountain folk had a rather unique vocabulary.
Honey, you just need to get out more!
Druthers is not a portmanteau, but that other combination of two words, a contraction - of a sort. If you can imagine someone with an extreme drawl saying "I'd rather" (and in certain drawl accents, many vowels morph to schwas so it would sound more like "Uh'd ruhther") you can see where it came from.
I'd say it's more of a portmanteau than a contraction. We never use it intending to say the "I" part of "I'd", drawl or not. It's a distinct whole word using part of "I'd" and all of "rather" (or "ruther", which is because of the accent.)
So one might say, "if I had my druthers, I'd rather go to the beach." And exactly that construct is very common.
@@aleatharhea I think it started as a contraction, but was split up later. Sort of like "nother" as in "a whole nother" which, of course, started as "another".
If I had my druthers, I druther not think about it.
@@aleatharhea "druthers" is synonymous with "preferences." Unlike 'preference' it is never singular.
When you have your druthers you are usually content.
The single rule that all people use: If not content do something else.
If you don't got your druthers do sumpin' 'bout it.
@@George4943 You're trying to impose too much precision with regard to plurality. "If I had my druthers" was always intended as a cutesy way of saying, "if I had my way". When you're being cutesy, you take a lot of freedom with language constructs. Like I say "Is it cold on a kitty?" when I mean "Is it cold for a kitty?"
Buggy can also describe the amount of flying insects outside as in, “It’s awfully buggy outside” meaning lots of mosquitos. :)
Shopping cart
Skeeterbit, that'll happen if you go outside when it's buggy
Buggy can also mean crazy. In the old days an insane assylm was called a bug house. In a sentence:
That guy is buggy. Or ..He's gone bugs.
First thought was bad code.
@@SteveBarcomb That is a very modern idea. In "the old days", that phrase had more to do with actual insects, or mental health problems..
My first drive to Florida from NYC, once in the south, stopped to buy a ""soda". I was asked: you 'all need a sack for yur pop.
Had no idea what I'd been asked. Moved to Florida 35 years now. I have to learn the lingo and enjoy all my new vocabulary words.
Thank you for highlighting more words I've enjoyed using over the years.
I've even helped vehicles stranded in mud pits... What fun
Laurence, there is a tiny spot on the map near the intersection of the Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee State Lines, named Plum Nelly. The way I first heard it when my family decided visit there in the early 1960's, it was Plum outa Alabama and Nelly into Georgia. The folk art works were hanging on ropes from pole to pole like clotheslines on the very steep hillsides. A strong breeze made looking at the art problematic. Researching it as an adult, I found this true story.
It began in 1947 at an outdoor art show held at Fannie Mennen’s house on the back of Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Ms. Mennen’s property had years earlier been named Plum Nelly when her brother-in-law, Louis Marks, after driving, what to him seemed a long way from Chattanooga, remarked, “Fannie, your place is plum out of Tennessee and nearly out of Georgia.” (Louis’s Virginia Tidewater accent was responsible for the change from nearly to nelly.)
Oh, that "Plum outa Alabama...." made me laugh right out loud! What a great line!
The meaning of 'plumb' - as in "He's plumb crazy!" actually comes from the Latin word, plumbum, for lead (the metal).
A lead weight was suspended from a string and the string would go straight to the ground, providing a "true" vertical line - thus "truly". Another expression from this is from spirit levels, where one might say, "He's a bubble off of plumb".
I was born and raised in the south and never heard any of that before. I have heard of "He's plumb crazy", but, it means he is completely crazy. In the South it means "completely". "I plumb forgot", means I completely forgot. I bet if you ask anybody from the South they'd say the same thing. They would not agree with anything you just said.
@@J_Chap
I actually grew up in Baton Rouge, so, yeah... the south.
And we agree, generally, on the meaning. How is "He's completely crazy," different from "He's truly crazy"?
I was just speaking about the etymology. Don't believe me? Open any dictionary. "Plumb" comes from the Latin word "plumbum" which means lead (the metal) where we also get "plumbing" as water pipes were once made from lead.
Eh, sorta.
But it also is used as a synonym for fully/completely/totally in the sense that “I’m totally out of luck” and “I’m plumb out of luck” mean the same thing.
Plumbs are a tool still used today for all kinds of things.
@MikeDindu
Such as making sure that things aren't catawumpis
I've lived in the south most of my life. I've heard "piddling around", meaning that you're wasting time. A few of these I've NEVER heard. The south has many states, and we're all quite different, though quite the same, at the same time.
Very well put.
I am from the north and we used piddling .
Yeah, I've lived in the South all my life and never ever heard of "hoecake"
@@Skye_Writer
Texas caviar.
Piddling doesn't refer to humans relieving themselves. It's used to reference when cats and dogs relieve themselves. Cats piddle in their litter boxes. Dog piddle on trees, fire hydrants, fences, car tires, humans they hate, bushes, and just about anything else.
Or so it's used in Canada. Don't ask me about the southern U.S. Their language usage is just plain weird.
Enjoyed this video. Knew them all living in TN. My wife loves British tv shows and I spend half the time figuring out what they said.
I'm from Virginia, so depending on who you ask, may not be considered Southern (though if you spend 5 seconds listening to anyone in my family speak then you will say yes), and I've more often heard 'piddlin' used to mean something close to what you described. When I'm visiting my mom she'll start doing small things like picking up little bits of trash or straightening things on the shelf and I'll ask if she needs any help and she'll say "Oh no, I'm not really cleaning up I'm just piddlin."
Also, I'm surprised that wherever you were looking didn't mention "fixin'" as a noun, as in "turkey with all the fixin's"
Plumb is also a word that describes an object that is "aligned" or "true" with another object or the Earth. An example is when a string is attached to a point on a wall and the other end is attached to a weight and allowed to be suspended unimpeded. That string is said to be "Plumb" as it is 90° or totally perpendicular to the Earth. It is a vital maths function when erecting buildings.
The string-and-bob tool is called a "plumb line" because the Romans used lead ("plumbum" in Latin) for the weight. Pipes used to be made of lead too, which is why we have words like plumber and plumbing. Going full circle, you might need a plumb line to ensure your plumbing is installed perfectly vertically.
@@auldrick my grandpa called them plumb-bobs
Plumb in that sense is neither regional nor an idiom.
@@auldrick In other words, that your plumbing is plumb plumb.
The chemical symbol for lead, Pb, comes from the Roman usage of lead in plumb bobs, used during construction to ensure vertical alignment.
Grew up in AL and live in ATL now: I don't know anyone who would say "hissy" without "fit". Also, depending on how old the Southerner is, "buggy" can mean just about anything with wheels, including an older car, as in: Gonna take the tin buggy down to the feed store."
A friend of mine from Indy always says "hissy" because she assumes that everybody understands it means hissy fit
Funny but most of these words like if I had my druthers, I'm fixin do go here do this do that, hissy fit are pretty well known in California. You gotta remember California used to be pretty hick and lots of people in the Central Valley are country like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard etc. It's more like plum tuckered is more country than plum tired.
@@LindaC616 When I've heard hissy used alone, it was usually a perjorative from a very old Southerner (like my great grandma born circa 1900) related to a male being effeminate and implying homosexuality: I hear tell that Victor moved up to San Francsico. He always was a little hissy.
Generally though, buggy is a grocery store cart, or a garbage bin.
@@willkittwk Yeah, he didn't get into deep, dark Southernisms. Where I'm from it's more full phrases than words: That Damn Yankee Pam is dancing on my last nerve. She's as messed up as a football bat! Going down to mamanems for some supper. Didjeatyet?
25 years ago, I had a friend from the deep south back woods of Georgia. He was almost 60 at that time. He told me about a phrase his father often used and all his life he never figured out what it meant. I guess his father was the kind of man you just didn't ask. The phrase was "G'shanged", emphases on the latter part. It didn't immediately come to mind but when he gave me the context, then its became obvious. If my friend said "I want to do this" or "I wish I had that", his father would often reply with "G'shanged." I told him his father was staying "I guess your hanged" or stuck. What he was really saying is go figure it out for yourself. My friend didn't believe me. Maybe it was out of embarrassment for not having figured it out for himself?
I've never heard of just "hissy" but hissy fit or conniption or conniption fit are words I used very often. Excellent words. Good southern words! Love it.
I moved out of the South in my adult years, but occasionally it comes out of my mouth. I called something a doohickey one day and my children (who have lived in NY for their entire lives) laughed so hard at me and were just like "what are you talking about?!". I will also unintentionally slip into "y'all" "over yonder" and "plumb tuckered out"
The Delfonics have this late 60s song called He Don’t Really Love You which I loved but I actually can’t stand to hear someone say that
Over yonder is old English.
Same here. I moved to Kansas though and a lot of the things I grew up still get said here. But, there are some things my kids have heard me say that they've never heard anybody else say. They laugh at me sometimes too.
Many Southern expressions have shown up in Southern New Jersey.
Welcome, its official!! your family now 🤣🤣🤣
“Mudding” is also the process of applying joint compound to drywall. As in “I’m going to be mudding these walls today”. Or usually “I’m going to mud these walls today”.
I plumb forgot about that. Yep, that's true.
@@J_Chap Oh well, nothing to get hissy about!
Yes, in western Canada 🇨🇦 where i live mudding is very common for cars and walls
Whatcamicallit and thingamigig and dohicky were common words in the early 90s not sure 🤔 if still is. But i use them.
Oh, you're saying "buggy." I thought you said boogie. Lol
Yeah - buggies for kids; buggies for groceries; buggies for bag ladies and so on.
Funny & I've never been to the south. I know all those words & use some of them quite often. In my family we used the word "fixin" to mean a side dish of food. "What fixins are you making for the chicken?" We also used the word "cattycorner" to mean diagonal & cattywampus to mean wrongly/awkwardly positioned.
Love your videos!
Lawrence, I was born in Texas, raised in Arkansas, lived in Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, and now living in Mississippi. Somehow I knew what every word meant.
You are soaked in South! I'm a Texan living near the Louisiana border and my grandma was raised in Tennessee and Chicago. You can imagine what I have heard.
Me too!
I'm a Texas native born and raised and the only one that I didn't know was piddle
I’ve lived in Texas and now Oklahoma and the only one I didn’t know was hoecake.
Yes...as a Southerner, I knew them all. And they were all correct. Though we always dropped the "g" and just called it Muddin'
I'm proud to announce that I use all of these words. I'm from the deep South . Also, I live in Louisiana where Cajuns have some doozies. ( Doozie - something extraordinary, impressive, unique, or problematic) I was in the 11th Grade of High School before I found out that "dreckly' wasn't a word that is commonly used. It means 'Directly or fixin to happen. ( Y'all kids go wash your hands. Dinner will be ready dreckly. 'Pass' means to go past, to die, or speed up and get in front of the car that is currenty in front of you.
I have found the perfect spot for my "Lost in the Pond Memo". We trace words such as "Anglo", "Anglican", "Anglophile", etc. back to the Angles. The land they controlled became somethin' like "Angleland" which later became mispronounced as "England". Their language must have been "Anglish" which was later morphed into "English". By speakin' "Anglish", we USA Southerners have preserved the mother tongue, so now all y'all can stop tawlkin' funny. Y'all are welcome. Bless your hearts.
My grandma used to use the word “directly” all the time. I’d say when is supper grandma and she would say “directly.” As children we never knew how long “directly” meant. I think she meant whenever she got ready
Directly means shortly.
Directly can also be suddenly. I hear it a lot where I come from
This! And it was always pronounced "dreckly”. 😂
@@J_Chap In other words, without any diversions.
Correct, but in my family it was pronounced "dreckly".
Southern dialect has a fascinating economy of speech and meaning.
Wait until you get those Appalachians lol
@@SonOfTheDawn515 I'm an Appalachian and actually like in a small town named Appalachia VA.
It really is, aye. My theory is that it's a combination of the existing dialects of the early Scots-Irish who settled down here, plus the heat and humidity making anyone want to expend as little energy as possible, resulting in a dialect that tends to take a lot of 'shortcuts' with its words and phrases.
@@NoobsofFredo That's what I mean. It's like shorthand!
I use these words daily. Have a good evening.
As a Georgian, I knew all of these and use most. Thanks again, Lawrence, for a wonderful video!!
I am from the South and I call the shopping cart a buggy. I use hissy as having a fit. A word we often use is "ill." It doesn't mean sick, it means aggravated, irritable or out of sorts. "She is so ill, she needs a nap." "I am ill because I paid too much for my car." Also, "ugly," and it isn't about appearance, it refers to behavior. "You're being ugly." Don't act ugly."
"Druthers" indicates having a choice. Start with the phrase "I'd rather not". Southern drawl it as "Ah druther not". Refer to the process of choosing as your "druthers". Your entire sentence becomes "If ah had mah druthers, ah druther not!"
a case of rebracketing and truncating for brevity. I like it. Did you know "an apron" was originally "a napron" and when you think about it... it now makes sense that napkin and apron have shared etymological roots.
There's a song from the Broadway show, "L'il Abner" called "If I Had My Druthers".
...why are y'all using a two syllable word for "choice" when you could just use "way"?
If I had my druthers I’d screw that chimpanzee, call it pointless.
@@dmnemaine Cartoonist Al Capp popularized (& may have originated) the phrase in his newspaper comic strip upon which the play and movie are based.
Bad example for the usage of "plumb." The source on the phone should have read "I'm plumb tuckered out."
Buggy, also adj. - Software that is full of bugs
Fixin's, noun - An array of various toppings and/or condiments which complement an entree
Piddling, adj. (also Piddly) - Small, frivolous, unimportant
Doohickey, noun - Replacement name for any object or contraption (usually small) for which one does not know the proper name
Plumb, adj., From the word meaning vertically square/straight - Meaning basically, plainly, obviously, fully
My southern relatives in Virginia and North Carolina use the word buggy to indicate something isn't working properly, the blender won't spin right, it's buggy. They call the rolling basket in grocery stores a grocery cart. When I heard piddling used by relatives it always meant wasting time just as you guessed. I've heard my relatives say they were "Plumb tuckered out".
As long as it’s not the honey wagon that’s not buggy, we’ll be okay
My father (born 1919), used the term “fair to middling”, when he was asked how was doing
My mom still says it! Don't hear it much anymore.
My great-grandma used to say that to mean “so-so”. Wow, that’s brought back a memory.
Thank you for that. 💜
Gene, mine did too!
I used to hear that all the time but in a more ironic way. It was something that younger people picked up from older people (and older pop culture) and liked to say because they thought it was hilarious. But now those younger people are the older people lol
I've always heard that one as "fair to midland".
Heeelarious. I'm a Southerner, living abroad for many years. These words bring back memories. "Fixin'" (or "fixins") also means side dishes. A turkey with all the fixins. "Druthers" comes from "would rather". I remember my great aunt saying "I'd rather not hear that music. But you don't always get your druthers." "Hoecakes" is from "ponecakes". "Piddling"... you were right... it means messing around wasting time. The others were either spot on, or I don't know them at all. 😉
Hoe cakes originally were cooked on hoe over a campfire.
I learned it as ponecake
Hi Laurence! Re: WORDS. I've always used 'piddling' (meaning small/little) & I've lived in LONDON, UK for 80+ years! So it's not so specifically a 'Southern USA' only, word.
You do make me smile. Barbara, London, UK.
Having grown up in the South, the one slang that most all others get wrong is "y'all". This refers to a group, but most others use it singular. When I lived in the North people would say to me " y'all have a good day". Causing me to look for the others. Daddy said it's because my accent. Never heard that. LOL. After my time in W. Germany I adopted the Brit "Cheers" for hello and goodbye. Better than the German "wiedersehen" or "tchüss". Cheers Mate.
"Mudding" is used throughout rural America, as it's a favorite summertime activity for anyone with a four wheel drive, and even for plenty of people who don't have four wheel drive.
@@abcxyz8116 In the rural South or in a big city?
Mudding means to apply spackle while creating a plasterboard wall
@@purplealice No one said the word didn't have multiple meanings. But the meaning referred to in this video is used in places other than the South.
As as NC native, I can say hissy is in fact a fit. It can be used to say "he's having a hissy" (short for hissy fit) but we do not say "He's getting hissy." The only people I've ever heard use the word like that were from New York & such. For instance, my husband says the kids get hissy when they are getting a little disagreeable about something.
I've never seen a boy or man throw a tantrum and think "hissy fit". Definitely has female aura in my mind.
@@RonJohn63 cats, though do get hissy.
@@christophersmith8316 that they do.
I agree with that.
I’ve always heard it as in a child is getting fussy and threw a hissy fit.
I don’t recall hearing it about any adults.
-From Alabama
"Piddling" as you first used it is also correct, because it refers to 'not very much', so when you're "piddling around" you're not doing much. It also refers to a small amount of something.
Having lived almost 40 years across the southern US I've heard maybe half of these words ever actually used.
Fun fact: I grew up pronouncing the word "lawyer" as "loy-yur," but here in the south it's pronounced "law-yur". Which makes more logical sense, come to think of it...
Grew up in south texas all my life and have only heard "law-yer" in old westerns and fog horn leg horn cartoons. I say loyyur
You do have phonics on your side! It is "law yur" in my neck of the woods. Which reminds me I had a friend in college name Laura. She pronounced it Law-ra. However, apparently, many would pronounce this Lor-uh. I still scratch my head on that one. I usually defer to the mother's pronunciation on these type things!
Another Yankee pronunciation of that word is
"lorr-yuh".
@Austin Gee we have the most interesting accents and a colorful vocabulary that cannot be matched by the flat nasal tones of the midwest or the grating whines of the north
Here in Michigan we pronounce lawyer like this......high priced thief.
Is it just us??
as a southerner I caught my self using/pronouncing a word I hadn't thought of today, instead of "doesn't" I said "dut-ton." I realized I use this all the time so that's interesting. Anyone else do this?
I do 😊
I do too!
I say it, but different, mine comes out ...dudin-it.
Yes!! And "didn't" is "dit-un". For sure.
Excellent list! I am Southern, and have used most of these! Most are rural Southern terms. "Laundromat" is used all over the South. I never heard "mudding" before, but I have heard the classic "Ugly as a mud fence" thousands of times! Nice video, Laurence!
What part of the south? I'm from Kentucky and we have giant "parks" (DOZENS of acres) dedicated solely for mudding. It's a pretty big pastime up here in rural areas.
You grew up with the wrong friends if you've never heard/been muddin
@@emilypresleysee I live in SC, not far from Augusta. The reddest, slickest mud here you ever saw! Brick is made commercially from the local clay. I am 82, and a lot of my childhood was spent getting vehicles out of ditches. Nothing to laugh about. VERY few paved roads here when I was a kid. So I was intimately involved with the unintentional mud-related events without giving it a name. Mud was serious business back then, not a sport or something to laugh about!
Growing up in eastern North Carolina in the '70s, one of the big things was the Emerald Isle Beach Music festival. (Beach music being kind of like early 50s easy listening music along the line of "Under the Boardwalk" for example). My mother's brother-in-law grew up in NYC, got one of his degrees in theology at Oxford, and knew very little about Southern culture (especially our little corner of it) in spite of living in Atlanta and being married to a Southerner. They were visiting one summer, and I was all excited about going to Emerald Isle to watch my friend's parents in a shagging contest. I think an appropriate word to describe his reaction might be godsmacked? My mother quickly explained to him that it was a couples' dance. She never would tell me at the time why he was so shocked, and it wasn't until many many years later when that Austin Powers movie came out (sorry, not a fan) that I realized why the thought of a teenage girl watching hundreds of adults shag on the beach was so shocking to him.
Lol! 😂😂🤣😂🤣🤣
I understood it to be "gobsmacked" not godsmacked
You are also right about piddling meaning messing around with something when bored. My dad constantly told me to stop piddling with stuff because I was the kid who wanted to take everything apart.
Right, I’ve never heard it used to mean “small.”
Right never heard that
I wouldn't call that piddling it sounds more like tinkering
Before plumbing and flush toilets, commodes used to be the cabinet that stored chamber pots, then the chairs that had a chamber pot under the hinged seat.
Plumb to me means testing if a surface is exactly vertical; i.e. make sure the fence post is plumb before setting it in concrete.
You can see how plumb in the sense of perfectly vertical became plumb as in absolute(ly).
Plumb comes from the Plumb Bob used to test verticality. A little lead weight at the end of a string. Lead in Latin being Plumbum. That is also where the term plumber comes from as they would have worked with lead pipes in the past.
Commodes are still used in hospitals or by people with limited mobility at home.
@@poppyshock And when you're "plumb tired", you mean there is no variation, or room for compromise.
@@peadarruane6582 And that's why the chemical symbol for lead is Pb.
I'd have thought everybody knew that "druthers" comes from the Li'l Abner comic strip. But I'm not sure that's true. "I'd druther do that" means "I'd rather do that."
Being Canadian, I haven't heard of several of these, except perhaps in movies, but piddling certainly has the same meaning here (trifling, small) though wee is common too. Mudding was interesting too and is very similar to the term, mud bogging here. Great channel, always enjoy it!
I love hearing you relate these words to British phrases. "Throwing a Wobbler" sounds so fun, in a way.
Sounds like abuse of a turkey
I intend to use this phrase!
I first heard that on the Osbornes. Described Kelly as having a daily wobbler
i could be wrong, but i think the word is actually warbler, possibly in reference to the warbler bird.
@@mizztanya2763 I would never throw a warbler. They can fly by themselves. But Laurence might. Maybe a British thing?
I'm from Tennessee, and grew up with the phrase "fixin' to (do something or go somewhere)." I went to college in the Midwest and a girl in my dorm ridiculed me for saying that. So what did she say? "Gonna take and" "I'm gonna take and go to the library or I'm gonna take and do my laundry." I thought "gonna take and" was worse than fixin' and told her she had no right to criticize me. It seems that every region of the U.S. has its own funny way of saying things.
i like the way you talk dont ever stop keep it going pass it down you know :D
Never heard of "gonna take." I grew up in Maryland.
😂🤣🙃 that's hilarious!!
Sometimes said as “Finna” as in “I’m finna do this…”
From the midwest and never heard that.
Piddling around means EXACTLY what you said, it means messing around ,not doing much
There is no way that was unintentional. That was outstanding.
As a true Texan, I can confirm the usage of these words although I don’t use them in mixed company. Don’t want to confuse folks 😃
And don’t forget the classic Southern phrase, “Bless your heart,” which has several meanings depending on how you say it. 😂
Yep 👆😂 .... And my mom always said "y'aint" too... as in... _What do you mean y'aint coming over?!? I cooked supper for you!!"_
Aye, always amusing to see non-Southern folk not get it when someone says it.
Yes I have come the learn this when I moved here to the south... heeheehee
Fun fact, 'namaste' is used the same way in California, lol. And yeah, re 'bless your heart' if you don't want to confuse anyone, there's nuances- in the mild way, it's used thusly most often, not AT someone, but indirectly- say, you hear an old lady at church got robbed by her junkie son. 'Oh, bless her heart.' No one in the south thinks you're cussing her out, context is everything lol
For those wondering the various meanings of "bless your heart", this video from "It's a Southern Thing" explains it:
ruclips.net/video/w4nRIw_ATJA/видео.html
"Piddlin' about" is definitely something I've heard my mother say numerous times. We are both born and raised TN w/ deep family history here. The other meaning you gave I've never heard of. I realized, though, after I met my Irish husband, that we get that word from them. In Irish English, it's equivalent to "pissing", so "piddle about" and "piss about" both mean "messing about". Also you're dead on about caddywampus/cattywampus, which is how I and I believe most southerners say it. As you've mentioned in prior videos, southern dialect (particularly in Appalachia/Blue Ridge) is most closely related to Irish dialects, and so many of our words and pronunciations come from them. This is why I can understand my husband's full-on Scots-Irish parents pretty easily :) Except when they say the word "mirror" (miir). That one I will never understand the first few times.
Edit: Wanted to add that my favorite southernizations I get from my dad; common ones like "fridgidaire", "yonder", "stowed up", and less common "sugar in the tank", "knee-high to a grasshopper", "as the crow flies", "crick in my neck", and "up shit creek"--that last one is actually from my mom.
I'm from Georgia so I can't wait to watch this! I knew what "piddling" meant right away on your video's thumbnail (which, btw, is indeed what you had guessed: doing nothing significant, akin to "farting around") ... Ok I'd never heard of "hoecakes" before lol. But I grew up on buttermilk cornbread, not the sweet kind. "Catawampus" was "cacky-cornered" in my neck of the woods. In addition to "doohickey" we'd sometimes say "doomaflotchy". My grandfather used to say things like, "He ain't just ugly, he's plumb ugly," or "She ain't just stupid, she's plumb stupid." 😂 My parents and I still say it! Never heard of "Hoppin' John" but like any good southerner, I always have greens and black-eyed peas on New Year's Day (for good luck in finances: greens = paper money, black-eyed peas = coins). I don't think "washateria" made it out to Georgia. 🤣 And when I grew up, "mudding" was called "mudboggin'". Very fun video! ❤
Also in GA. I've always heard cockeyed or cacky-cornered, not catawampus. I've done plenty of muddin/mudboggin. Both are pretty common.
I've lived in the south my whole life, I eat black-eyed peas and rice a couple times a week, and I've never heard the term "Hoppin John". We actually call it "Black-Eyed Peas & Rice". The name comes from an old Southern tradition of using the dishes ingredients in the name.
yeah here near Chattanooga its BlackEyed peas, and turnip greens on New Years day for good financial luck throughout the year...
NW GA girl here: Druthers is "would rathers." Here it's "catttywampus." Piddling has a number of meanings depending where you are. Here, "piddling" is kind of "not doing much," but here is often "doing something small but slightly significant," kind of like "tinkering." "Loafering" is more "not doing much" typically than "piddling." A buggy can be either a shopping cart or a baby buggy. "Plumb" is derived from the engineering tool (plumb bob - "plumb bobber" here) or the state of being "plumb" or straight. Which of course expands to "absolutely." (A plumb bobber is a heavy weight usually with a pointed end that points you straight down to the center of gravity - or if you want to be grandiose, the very core of the earth.) I'd love to see you visit the mountains down here. You would hear all manner of odd phrases.
Southern Appalachia has a beautiful vocabulary.
@@amethyst5538 Oh, I love it. My grandmother had a great accent and wonderful ways of expressing herself, and her family originated in Northeast GA and southern parts of NC. Dialect and word history, etc. are among my favorite subjects. What's great is Appalachian speakers carried on the Old English compounding that is pretty unique to English. Toys are "play-pretties," for example.
@@yourweirdauntperfumeryskin3236 my grandmother was from way northeast Alabama (Sand Mountain). I grew up in north central AL. Mamaw was the only person I ever knew who used the word “treckly” for “directly”. She was forever ‘’a fixin get dinner treckly’. Translation: I’m going to prepare lunch soon. My favorite saying of hers was “its coming up a cloud”. Translation: It looks like it might rain.
I’ve never heard the word ‘cattywampus’ and I’ve lived in the south of coastal NC for over 40 years. I would never ever have guessed correctly it’s meaning!!
@@CornbreadOracle It was always "dreckly" with my grandmother. We all used it, really. I still do. 😆 Grandmother used to say, "Don't that beat all," all the time. Short for, "Don't that beat all I ever seen." And if she was going to the store (particularly smaller stores/shops), she would say, "I'm going to the merchants."
A "fixin" is a side item or dish accompanying a main meal. I love the channel!
I don't live in the "south" but in central/southern Illinois and when you mentioned "piddling" it reminded me of the first time I used the word and my then girlfriend now wife, who is from the east coast, was like "Whaaat did you say??" 😂She'd never heard the word before in her life and I couldn't believe it, I just figured everyone knew that word. Since then we've kept a running list of words or phrases I use that she's never heard of! It makes things fun. It's interesting how dialects and word usages are so different between different regions in the US.
I'm from Michigan and instead of using piddling in the context you used it I would say I got a piddly raise. Lol.
Yes, here in ohio i hear "piddly" as an adjective more than "piddling," to mean trivial or small. I only hear is as a verb when "piddling around" AKA wasting time or doing nothing much.
Ya…piddly…small…scant…insignificant
I grew up in rural Appa-LATCH-ian Tennessee, and have lived in North Carolina for the past ten years. Lots of colorful sayings for sure! We never used "cattywampus" but instead if something was off kilter or sideways, it was "sigogglin'" (rhymes with hi goblin.)
Buggy - definitely a shopping cart, though it was occasionally used as "baby buggy."
There used to be a restaurants chain named Druthers, which I'd completely forgotten about until I saw it here.
Piddling - we always used like "piddling around, wasting time." Good job!
I !I've in North Carolina, for awhile I lived in the foothills in Rutherford County, u would think ur in a foreign country bcuz they have there own back woods language, its unbelievable!!
Kimberly Guinn am old enough to remember buggy was also used at times for a horse drawn vehicle. But have not heard it for decades. This from the grand parents and they stopped using it that way also. It became baby buggie, no longer hear it at all. Grand parents born in later 1800s.
@@donnagoring250 That's how I learned "Water closet".
@@Robert08010 Thanks for sharing! With one parent from New England, the other from California, some words have different contexts. New England, dinner meant lunch, while California dinner meant supper. Early to mid 1900s.
I love the word si-gogglin, or sigoggled. Learned it from a language video several years ago. I don't think that word crossed over into Osage English.
As a Southerner, I have never heard of anyone saying “piddling” to mean something trivial. I always heard it used in the sense of doing something non-productive.
You were right about Piddling. We used piddling around as well. Doing something of small importance.
You can also use “hissy” to just abbreviate “hissy fit”. As in “Sarah had a hissy at preschool today because somebody stole her yellow crayon.” Or “don’t have a hissy.” Most often “hissy fit” is used either to refer to a temper tantrum had by a child or in a very childish way by an adult.
Also, if your mama told you to “hush up” in church no one would think anything of it but she would never say “shut up” in church. The former is considered gentler. The latter is almost treated like a cuss word. And if someone says “shut your mouth” run!
No. I have never heard "hissy" without the word "fit." Hissy fit. No variations.
It wasn't called a hissy fit, but it was called showin your butt. Sarah showed her butt when someone stole her crayon.
Yeah, we use "don't have a hissy" a lot. My Grandma Lil rarely used "fit" after "hissy". She also used hussy, but that's a whole different word, isn't it? Lol!
@@angelabarnes7588 ROFL! 🤣🤣
My grandma would tell people "don't work yourself into a hissy" when people were angry. We're from TN.
I never thought I’d see the day a British man learning southern culture.
Brilliant!
Popular southern culture, apparently. I know/have used the majority of these words up here in WA.
I was born and raised in Kentucky and a few addiitional definitions for your consideration:
Buggy - something that has a lot of issues associated with it. "This computer software program is buggy>"
- a lot of insects in a given medium "The night air was buggy.."
Pretty - a relatively large number of items. "The night air was pretty buggy."
Fixin - associated food items that complete a meal "The chicken dinner had all the fixins (mashed potatoes, corn, hoecakes, cole slaw, and a piece of pecan pie."
Dohickey - an improvised device used to temporarily solve an unanticipated problem. "Your dohickey for the egg drop challenge was ingenous."
Mudding - applying adhesive material to brick, sometimes referred to as grouting.
A southern (or more appropriate a Southern Appalachian) word is fourty-eleven which means a large unspecified numer of items.. "I had fourty-eleven things os my to do list."
Switch - a semi-rigid vegatative rod used to inflict corporal punishment "I backed talk my grandmother and she made me go out and get her a switch to whip me."
As a transplant to the South via Southern California, I can say that the word fixin was my first southern word I found myself using. I was in a phone conversation when I used it and the person on the other end called me out and asked, did you just say “fixin”? Why of course I did! A Southern dialect is easy to unintentionally pick up.
I was raised in Texas and was familiar with all of these. I think my favorite expression I’ve never heard anywhere but Texas is “knee high to a June bug” meaning when I was a child. I haven’t heard that since I was knee high to a June bug.
I always heard it as “knee-high to a grasshopper”.
@@emdusha5590 Me, too.
Our family first said, "knee high to a June bug". My first dog, Chiefie, absolutely loved to eat the June bugs that "hatched" in our lawn. After eating 42 of them, he then threw up each and every one separately!! on the carpet.
We then changed the saying to "knee high to a grasshopper".
I’ve been in NYC forever. I’ve heard “knee high to a grasshopper.”
We used knee high to a grasshopper.
A number of these are not necessarily specific to the South. I grew up in rural New England, and several of these were common parlance, especially among older folks.
I'm a NYer and I know most of them too! 😊
I grew up in east central Illinois and I heard some of these often
Southeastern Michigan, and I've heard & used most of them.
Me to NH an Maine here...
Yes, my mother said 'peakéd' for ill or wan looking, and she was never near the south in her life.
Hey Lawrence, thanks for having fun with our American ways is this humorous but still respectful way so that your wife won't kick your butt.
You nailed pidlin’. It just has more than one meaning, as many words do.
While he was growing up, my grandma called my uncle Potfer. She came from deep Oklahoma roots and he figured it was a term of endearment from an old Okie saying. One day he finally asked her “What is a potfer?” Her response “Cooking”. Ladies and gents, my grandma! 😂
I’m glad I come from people with a sense of humor. It’s helped me more than once in my life!
That's like the age old joke that goes:
Guy 1: Do You know where I can get a Henway?"
Guy 2: "What's a henway?"
Guy 1: "Oh about two and a half pounds."
That's not vulgar enough. We used to ask non buying customers (guys) if they wanna pussyfor. When they said what the hells a pussyfor. We'd say some smartass thing like you don't know what a pussysfor. Lol kinda trailer trash humor but funny and a good icebreaker. Get em laughing and you get em buying.
Hmmmm... I've heard similar nicknames amongst the older folk here in ireland... it usually means a person who is impoverished, eg, he doesn't have a potfer piddling in... in this instance, a pot here means a chamber pot, also known as a commode or a guzunder (ie, a potty that goes under the bed)... its all about the lavatory today....
@@annl.8909 Living in Georgia, USA, I heard someone say that a Southern expression is, "If you lie down with dogs you're gonna get fleas". Later on while reading Irish sayings I found that again. A lot of us here are of Irish descent and apparently some of things we say were passed down from our Irish ancestors.
I must say, you have learned to speak English quite well--almost like a native.
Native American? I'm confused.
@@simonpowell2559 I suspect you are not from the US...LOL
🤣
@@simonpowell2559
American person: Oh wow! You're British?! I have to say, you speak American real gud, what language do they speak in Britain?
British person: *stares blankly, assuming the bloke is taking the piss*
I've only used piddling in a 'doing nothing' sense and thought that when using it in reference to a small amount it was a British way to use it! I feel like I'm learning so much about my margin from you! 😂 Great videos! Thank you!
Plumb also means, on the level. Or referring to someone who's crazy. "That one is a half-bubble off plumb. Southern speech is more complicated than folks think. 😉😂😂🤣🤣😂😂
Druthers, "I would rather"... "I'd rather"... "'d rather" ... "Drather"... "Druthers"
Southerners are many things, and lazy with our speech is one of em😂
That is how I'd define "druthers" also!
My dad LOVED this word.
Lol now you say like that I heard that plenty times growing up🤣🤣🤣👍
While in college I went to a washateria, that was a laundromat and cafeteria. I'd get my laundry started and then go over to the cafeteria side and order a meal. The wall that separated the 2 was basically a whole bunch of windows, so I could watch my laundry (make sure no one messes with it) while eating. It was a good way to multi-task. Especially since I was going to school and working full time. So I didn't have a lot of free time.
Druthers is an evolved idea that started with the phrase “I’d rather…” that changed into the collective noun “druthers.” So, “l’d rather do this and I’d rather do that” turned into “my druthers.”
As an American, gazing at the word doohickey, I am deeply amused that my first thought was even more slang. Word for word, "A doohickey's a thingamajig! ...Or a whatchamacallit." and then you said thingamajig! And you looked it up and we were both right.