🇬🇧Brits Guess Southern Slang! 🇺🇸 | American vs British
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
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Thank you to one of our amazing viewers for sending us this list of Southern slang from the USA for us to guess and have a bit of fun with! We go through some classic southern states words and phrases and guess what they mean! Such as, fair to midland, catawampus and clodhopper. Let us know down in the comments if there are any other slang words you want us to feature in a video.
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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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Being British: Joel & Lia BFE is definitely used a lot in the Southern States of the US
And for the record, Leslie most definitely didn't prank you guys on this one
Being British: Joel & Lia BTW: There's a whole lot more of these Southern slang terms that were totally Left out:
"Damn Yankee" is one of these examples
Why don't you use patreon for that? It seems the same thing, but more popular among youtubers.
We also have a Patreon page! :)
I have a whole list of slang terms that are specific to New England. I would love to see a Brits guess New England slang. Where can I email the list?
My family uses “piddlin” as a way to say you are messing around or taking to much Time to do a task. For example, “Stop piddlin around and get in the car!” Anyone else? We are also midwesterners and not southerners, though.
Interesting. I'm Canadian and I think we would say "fiddling around"
Yes and idk if it's a Texas thing we say piddlefartin
ashawn203 I could see someone in my family also saying “fiddling around!”
Chelsea Read oh my gosh, I love that. I’m going to have to bring that to the Midwest lol.
Kenna Hall by all means!
In Oklahoma, "bless your heart," tends to mean, "you poor thing," in a more sincere way.
That applies in Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia too.
That’s how we would use that phrase in Canada as well.
Same here with Texas. It's never meant sarcastically
Tennessee as well
I'm from eastern OK, I agree. I think it's applied condescendingly in movies and shows, mostly.
The term is not Fair to Midland, but rather Fair to Middlin'. It comes from the term fair to middling which was a grade of cotton or various other agricultural products. Middling came from the Old Scots word (about 15th century) which meant average in quality. Midland is a mispronunciation and is often accepted into use ... though a linguist like me finds that lazy. C'mon guys ... the 'g' isn't supposed to be silent.
@Wendy Hiler lol .. My family is from the South. My Ex was from the South. Ya'll is proper word in my vocabulary.
I'm glad you posted this, as soon as I saw Midland, I went looking for someone to clear this up, cuz I was going too lol...
Actually, both are correct depending on where you are from. However, the original phrase was "fair to middling" usually pronounced as the contracted "fair to middlin'". Link has info on it... www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fair-to-middling.html
I too thought, "Midland? That's not right!" But I decided to make sure. Indeed it's not, but in the process of checking, I learned that there was an obscure rock band called Fair to Midland!
I've lived in the south my whole life and I never knew this. I feel like a fake😂
Honky Tonk is a very specific place. It's where you would go "boot-scootin", AKA Country & Western bar.
I've heard mostly around New Orleans.
Dancehall
lol yeah, cant say ive seen any poofy dresses or dudes wearing suits at any honky tonk ive been to.
Watch “Urban Cowboy”
Another name for honky tonk is "juke joint".
The context of “bless your heart” is very important. It depends on who you’re with and what it’s about. It can be sarcastic, but when older people say it, they truly mean “bless your heart!”.
Yeah I was going to say there is a fair chance that in the US south they mean it genuinely and not sarcastically. A lot of the south is very religious still and just say it to be nice. It's part of that southern hospitality :)
it all depends if they say ah at the beginning "ah bless your heart" it's sacastic. "bless your heart" is genuine unless they saying it sarcastically.
I love saying “bless your heart” and some people just look at you confused. 😅
it either means they genuinely feel for someone who’s going through something bad, sarcastic “poor you”, or “that person is a mess, bless their heart”
@@lakersouthpaw I'm from the south and when I hear it it's usually if someone gets hurt like a kid they will "bless it's little heart" and stuff like that
and we dont say "Catawampus" lol we say "catty wampus"
Wankerjawed= crooked
Catty wampus = cock eyed = crooked
That we do!!
In Washington State we say kitty wampus. It means off kilter or out of wack.
Or Catter wampus. Anyone else hear it that way?
FYI: Texas is in the south but it's not really the south per se. It's Texas. It's its own thing.
Just like David S Pumpkins
... the south isn't "The South"... it is Dixie. Or Dixieland
Dang right
Then there is the "dangnabbit", which is southern for "damn it to hell".
I solemnly swear, as a South Carolinian, that Texas is it's own everything that it is. There are not many trees in Texas... but there are a bunch of Cowboys and Indians behind every one of them.
I’m from the south & we say “stop piddlin’ around” like stop wasting time and let’s get going lol
One thing that Southern kids feared hearing was the words "Go get a switch". If you heard those words you were screwed and God help you if you get a rinky dink switch.
Wait till you hear "Go get a switch......and leave a few leaves on the end." My grandfather and his brother were told by my great grandfather to not only go get "a" switch, but three of them....one for each of them and one for him....he then told them "you two start on each other, and if I don't think you mean it, I'll start in on both of you...." For a very long time afterwards, they treated each other with "brotherly" love!
I grew up in the SouthWest and those are still terrifying words
BIGBLOCK5022006 I'm not southern well south west I guess anyway, I had to pick my own switch a time or two. Never pick the little ones.
U ain't shittin
Eastern North Carolina here. You got that right! Either a switch or your daddy's belt, you were screwed!
"Bless your heart" is our aloha. We use it for a lot of things. It's not always sarcastic.
That's right, I have said "bless your heart" all my life and NEVER meant it with sarcasm!
SupaYoda: Yeah, you keep thinking that, Bless your heart. LOL
Yeh it can mean u stupid poor u i feel bad and lot moor
True, my grandma would use it without a drop of sarcasm, and when I was used as a negative it was always with more concern than sarcasm.
@@stillnocouch Yeah and for a more aggressive attitude it's 'well, bless yer little pea pickin' heart dahrlin'
"Bless your heart" also has several meanings. There's always an unspoken connotation that someone needs divine intervention.
It can be completely genuine, if you've heard something that arouses your sympathy: "The baby is sick? Bless her heart... I hope she's better soon."
It can imply someone is doing their very best, but s/he is inadequate to the situation - which can be said sympathetically or sarcastically, determined by tone of voice: "He loves to sing, but couldn't carry a tune in a bucket - bless his heart."
It is often used to soften an insult, to make it more acceptable: "She's the ugliest child I've ever seen - bless her heart."
Bless her heart, she could eat corn through a knothole in the fence.
My Texan grandmother always says, “I am fixing to go to the store.”
I live in Texas and we do use this word all the time lol it’s hard to get out of the habit of it. It comes out a lot when I’m annoyed. If somebody asks me if I’ve done something already, I’ll say “I’m fixing to’!!! Give me a minute!”
Fixin is a Texas thing
Fittin to is another variant
@@ashleymarietv2 It's not incorrect. It's just not used frequently in all English dialects as it is in the Southern dialect(s.)
@@redneckturtle771 We use it in N FL
I'm from Texas. Piddling does mean trivial but in my experience has always been used in relation to time. If someone is piddling around, they are wasting time. It is the same as dilly dallying or dawdling - not sure if those are slang words native to the south or if those are more widespread.
Cheers Emily! Worth knowing either way
I love y'all's videos!!
I remember my grandmother saying that to me when I was young. "Quit piddlin', you're gonna be late for kindergarten!" She was from Oklahoma.
Emily that’s what I was going to say. I always tell my niece and nephew to stop “piddlin’ around and get (fill-in the blank - shows on, dressed, going, etc)”
Isnt it - fair to middlin'- ? (As in "in the middle")
I believe so
Yes, fair to middling / middlin' not midland.
Yes, it is.
yeah that's what I first picked up on its "fair to middlin''
No. It's fair to midland... as in Midland, Texas
"Bless your heart" isnt always sarcastic. I use it all the time as more of a "i understand youre struggling and God speed."
Haley Simpson, agreed. I first heard it used sincerely from my grandmother (a very sweet and sincere southern lady), so it’s definitely not always sarcastic to my mind either.
I’d have to say 90% of the bless your hearts I’ve heard didn’t mean god speed. In fact, I’ve heard things like, “He got fired/went to jail/got a DUI again, bless his heart,” a statement with a mixture of disgust and pity. I think this usage is the origin of the sassy bless your heart. Lol.
its all in the tone/delivery... it can mean tons of things lol very versatile phrase
I've never heard bless your heart used sarcastically.
When we say, “Oh, Bless” that’s a bit sarcastic. But usually, “Bless your heart” is more sincere.
My family friends and everyone where I’m from replace piddlin with lollygaggin’ and fiddlefartin’
Mom would tell me not to piddle aground. Probably it originally came from what you guessed first.
Muckin around
Nah lollygagging means to do something slowly
And piddlin is kinda just playing around and fucking off
Lollygagging is the one we use.
Bless your heart is something we say in Texas all the time. And it can be sarcastic or sincere.
I've only seen it used sarcastically by women. Men don't usually use this term.
In Tennessee, we also say it both sarcastically and sincerely :)
yes same
Men use it all the time. I'm not sure what pcnav is talking about.
South Carolina here, we say it both ways as well. Depends on the context. Most of the time we use it as a sincere sentence filler.
Piddlin'... It can also mean like, "doing nothin'" or "wastin' time"...
Y'all would ask me: "Hey John, what'cha up to??"
Me: "Nothin' much.. Jus' piddlin' ..."
In which case it is related to pissing around.
I say “quit piddle farting around”.
You have the meaning right, but three term is “fair to middling,” with middling pronounced “middlin’ “
@@nealkirkland6825 No, no.. it is indeed -P-iddlin' with a P. What you are referring to is a totally different meaning and phrase... Fair to middlin' is an answer as to HOW you are doing... But piddlin' is an answer as to WHAT you are doing.
Clint Atkinson, you are right on the money.
Lynnie Reeves, I say "quit fiddle-fartin' around", but piddle-fartin' would work, too I think.
Lol it's "middlin" like in the middle- basically means "ok"
oooo thanks Chris!
She’s right. It’s middlin. But there was a country song that was a play on the phrase called “fair to midland” because Midland is a town in Texas.
Being British: Joel & Lia ... love your videos!
Barbi Gathright, ah i didn't know about the song- been to Midland, tx, not the most exotic town lol
There is apparently a Texas rock band "Fair to Midland" that is also a play on this phrase!
When he was describing what he thought a honky tonk was he was describing a sock hop type thing I think. A honky tonk is a country bar
I immediately thought about the song and "honka tonk ba donka donk" reading this.
We said catawampus growing up but we pronounce it more like cattywampus.
and then they said BOGIE man, where we say boogie man. this is all great.
In parts of the south, esp in the mountainous “hillbilly” regions, the soft ‘a’ gets pronounced like a hard ‘e’. Like my mom says “pokey dots” instead of “polka dots”.
@@loomofmetals i live in the more flatter regions and we say pokey dots, cattywampus, and "pank" (pank instead of pink)😂
means it's not straight,unlevel
Bless your Heart is something I say frequently and sometimes I mean it endearing and sometimes sarcastic. Depends on the situation.
49carol same with me (from S.C.)
It's a good way to get thy ass kicked by a Scottish-hybrid from the Midwest. The first World's Fair built the Kansas and Missouri territories and returned to find Levittowns built on our tobacco lands.
exactly! I'm from SC also and it's not always sarcastic!
sarcastic or endearing here in tx too
Same! 😊👍
I'm from Utah and I mostly use it as an endearment.
"Bless your heart" can be both sarcasm and it can mean exactly what it says. As when a child does something really nice or cute for mama, she may hug the child and say, "Aww, Bless your heart."
Emile Clede, I was going to say that as well. The term ‘bless your heart’ has to be understood in context. It can be said to a child, as you said, to a person who has been diagnosed with a dread disease, or to a drunk who has just said, “Hold mah beer ‘n watch this...” while he proceeds to do something stupid and gets hurt in the process. It’s all about context😁
Haha that is so my grandma. Normally when it’s sweet she says “bless your heart”. And when she’s being sarcastic it’s always “well bless your lil heart” lol
If your granny says it when you have a cold, she is being nice. If your enemy says it in church, it's sarcasm.
Yes! I was just thinking the same. It's not always sarcastic.
Indeed! "Bless your heart" has an interesting dual meaning. It can be genuine...or...be a backhanded insult. I've seen bless your heart delivered in a way that pretty much meant the same as idiot.
Bless your heart isn't rude where I'm from. It's more like a considerate way of saying, "You poor thing."
"Piddlin'" is used as a synonym for "puttering," as in "I was piddlin' 'round with nothing to do."
That is kind of like saying fiddle farting around. Which means puttering as well.
Exactly!!
To piddle is often to pee! "I just went behind a tree and piddled."
Piddle-fartin' lol
Piddlin I would say means messing around like in your garage - I was piddling around in my garage working on a project. I didn't know herding cats was a southern phrase. I say that all the time about my kids. :) Ha Yes BFE was used like 20 years ago...not sure if it's still around.
Panama Mama or just kinda slow
Slowly doing something
Panama Mama It definitely is still around. I use it all the time 🤷♀️
Lol me and my folks use bfe to describe a no name town way aways that we're driving to for a derby 😆
I agree
Piddlin should be spelled piddlin'. It's a contraction of piddling, which you correctly said means trivial.
Midland should be spelled middlin'. It's a contraction of middling, which you correctly said means average.
Americans generally, but southerners especially, often drop the G from words.
OK, I'm fixin' to shut-up now. ;-)
And 'fixin ta' is also a standard phrase. I'm fixin' ta go to the house now.
You beat me to it. grammarist.com/phrase/fair-to-middling-vs-fair-to-midland/
Well done!
Piddlin can also mean "Quit piddlin around and do your chores"
Like focus on doing your chores instead of messing about doing trivial things.
Piddlin' also means, messing around with something or.passing the time!
I love it when y'all slip into a southern accent.😂 Leia you put on such! a southern bell accent, and it just makes my day!
As I understand it "Bless his heart" is used to take a bit of the sting out of a slight or insult.
"He's sweet, but he's dumb as a box of hair, bless his heart."
Alan Endicott can be. But also, no. It's used more direct most of the time.
A girl thinks she's some kinda shit, tries to make herself look big and you'd just smile and say "oh honey. Bless your heart"
Or after you're done gossiping about someone, finish it with "bless her heart" so you don't sound so mean.
Someone who tries hard but fails, you don’t want to be too insulting, you say “bless her heart” (for trying)
Dumb as a box of hair!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂
Bless is heart means like oh bless his heart meaning he’s dumb or crazy or something
"Bless your heart" is used frequently when you realize someone means well, but it just too dumb to understand anything.
How about "Bless your pea pickin heart?"
In South Alabama we use piddlin' as wasting time. I'm just piddlin' around the house.
I'm from Indiana and we use it too. Sometimes w'ell use "putzin'" instead.
skovol007 "putzin" is a new one on me. :)
We use both in MN as well.
Same in Ohio
In Kentucky we use “swarpin’ ” as well! Like, “quit swarpin’ around” or “we’re just swarpin’ around.” Which we also use piddlin’ in the same sentences, just depends on circumstance or what you’re used to saying.
Piddling: messing around, wandering
"I'm just piddling around"
I'm from the midlands in South Carolina
Older English ppl always told me that the southern US accent was the only American accent that they could understand.
Bless your heart isn’t sarcastic per say. It is everything. It is actually meant when said, it is an insult, it is a term of endearment, it is anything. Depends on who says it, the situation, and the look in their eyes.
Piddlin is like dinking around, taking too long, wasting time, sweating the small details to kill time.
+Kayla Wyatt "per say" is actually "per se". Just thought you'd like to know!
per se
Kayla Wyatt I agree, Bless your heart isn't sarcastic most of the time. You can say, "He's suffered a lot... Bless his heart."
Agreed. It never was sarcastic when I was growing up. It really meant you were sad for someone's misfortune. Maybe just the last 10 years or so the sarcastic became common? But now it's SO OFTEN sarcastic, that you almost can't use it when you're really concerned about someone, for risk of sounding like you're sarcastic.
And it's not just mildly sarcastic... It usually means you think the person is an absolute idiot.
Kayla Wyatt like fuck !
Southerners also judge distance by time. So you’d never say- thats miles away- you just say- it’s 5 minutes down that road or 6 hours south or what have you.
Californians judge distance by time too.
So do Albertans.
This is an American thing probably because we all have cars. For instance from my house, it's 30mins to Canada and I'm 8 hours away from New York.
It's a North American thing, and it drives (heh) Europeans NUTS!
Yep! Midwesterner here and "town" is 12min down the road, work is 6min, downtown is 45 🤣
I think it might be that speed limits vary so much from A to B that saying the miles really doesn't mean much.
“Quit making all that noise walking around here in them clodhoppers.” Is an example
Dude, that is so accurate I just read that in my mom's voice!
"Bless your heart" is only sarcasm for the cold hearted. In polite circles it means "I'm empathizing with you". Bless your hearts for trying to understand.
Bless your heart is what my grandma who has been dead for 20 years would say.
No. It doesn't.
"God bless your heart, because I never will." is about as clear as I think it'll get to what it means. The phrase allows "polite" people to still seem classy, when they're actually being catty.
@@casemcdonald2152 Not true. As a Southerner, I say and hear "Bless your heart" as a statement of empathy often. "Bless your heart, Sugar. I'm really sorry that happened". Very empathetic, very sincere.
@@americanmorning4035
You're wrong, and I've heard southern expressions misused by southerners too. It'll probably get a new meaning before long, but that's what it means.
At the time, it was very important for people to maintain "class". Saying something mean demonstrated one was low class. To be able to say something hurtful without hurting someone's feelings was a sign of extensive education and class.
Something like, "You must be a very brave person to be able to live with such limitations." Is more acceptable than insulting someone, because it's a compliment. "Backhanded compliment" comes from this.
So, yeah. Now you're life can be a little bit better, knowing the history of southern phrasing.
@@casemcdonald2152 As a southerner, I've heard it both way...which was my original point. Your cynicism notwithstanding.
I’m from North Carolina and we say pilddlin when someone is going slow or taking their time.
Kristy Harkey Same in Texas, but we kinda use both of the actual meaning sometimes too.
There's also piddlin around as in tinkering with a hobby
Exactly
Kristy Harkey yes this exactly
We say it in Texas too.
"Clodhoppers" are more like work boots. Big, heavy work boots.
Agreed. It has nothing to do with the "shoe size" (as in, the length to fit one's foot) but the style of shoe. Heavy soles with deep tread, good for walking around farms or other work areas with lots of clods of dirt.
Light For Japan Productions totally agree! Along with “waffle stompers”!
pensnut08 true and if your poor you get them hand me downs.
Clod-Hopper refers to a backward country person. Example: A farmer in a field stumbling over ‘dirt clods’
When I was little, my grandma used to say "stop steppin' on my feet with those clodhoopers" everytime I went up a shoe size.
Clodhopper is like a chunky shoe... Or if you trip over someone's shoes in the middle of the floor you could yell "move your clodhoppers!!".
Clodhopper also can be a derogatory term, meaning a big doofus, stupid, ignorant, naive in a goofy sort of way
The last is how my kin always used it. A clodhopper meant an uncoordinated person, usually of large stature.
The most common use of the term "Clodhoppers" was basically used like if someone took off their shoes, especially if They have really big feet, and had left their shoes in the middle of the floor:
"Would you get your Clodhoppers out of the middle of the floor, so I'm not tripping over them"
Yeah, it helps to remember that it's sort of related to "clods" of dirt. So, like work boots up here in the north. (Or at least, to me) :)
Also, it helps to note whether singular or plural. I would automatically know you meant shoes if you used the plural - clodhoppers. But if you used the singular, clodhopper, I would naturally think it related to a person.
In Georgia, we use "Bless your heart" in a sincere way. It kinda means that we feel genuinely bad for someone.
It's used that way a lot in England too I don't know what thease two are talking about.
Yes!!
i’m from georgia and i use it both ways lol
Yep same in SC but when we say bless your LITTLE heart then that is a game changer and it really means F you. 😆
Piddlin is like fiddlin:
Answer to "Whacha doin"
Just piddlin around.
I'm originally from rural Ohio...piddlin means going slow at getting ready or just messing about. We'd say "stop piddlin around"
Sunflowers Are Awesome that’s how we use it in SC
That's what I said too. Indiana here.
Same In Tennessee
Same in Oklahoma
Or the old standard, for piddlin, 'Shit or git off the pot.'
I decided to wear a tux to my prom, and my boyfriend at the time said: 'What, am I supposed to wear, a dress?' And I just told him 'Whatever floats your boat!' So that is a combination comment on the clothing and a type of slang that I was brought up with.
Bless your heart, that depends on the inflection. It CAN be genuine.
Some Southerners simply do not possess Sarcasm. With them, a 'Bless your heart' would be sincere.
Other Southerners have mastered Sarcasm... from them it would be more of an insult.
Awww, bless your heart dear
In general, if an older woman is saying Bless your Heart, it's probably sincere, if anyone else is saying it, it probably is sarcasm.
Exactly. Depends on inflection. Get a gift you really you like..."bless your heart." Get a gift you don't like..."bless your heart."
When you see an ugly baby or ugly child. Or if someone is incredibly stupid, you say "bless their little hearts!"
TheClimbTo1 its funny in
Greetings from South Carolina, definitely a very southern state. The expression is "fair to middlin'" , as in the middle. Not Midland.
Well duh it means different thing s in different states
I'm from Texas & we absolutely say a lot of these! I used BFE yesterday in a text to my sis when I met her at the mall & couldn't find parking bc it was so packed "sorry I'm late, walking in now, parked in BFE" aka I may as well have parked in Egypt. lol
I am in Texas as well. Never heard of BFE or Catawampus.
Yes! I was literally about to use the mall parking lot reference too!! I’ve said that a million times. “I had to park in BFE!!!”
Or if you get lost driving around you can say you’re somewhere in BFE.
Coming from the Northeast, we say West Bumblefuck. Egypt never comes into it haha
I'm not from the South, but I think the term "honky-tonk" is more used for country western bars, the kind you'd see real Southern cowboys in boots and ten-gallon hats attending regularly. With the occasional square dancing and mechanical bull. At least, that's what comes to my mind when I hear it.
Yeah, it's any type of hangout, (bar, club, etc.) that plays old style country music.
It’s not “ Fair to Midland” it’s “Fair-to-Middlin’.” Middlin’ is actually “Middling,” which means Average. So the phrase means fair-to-average.
Nope
Bless your heart
Fair to middlin’ is a term used in the grading of the quality of unprocessed cotton.
Sarah Hardy so fair to middle
Correct!
Clodhopper means a boot like you would wear about the farm. While hopping over overturned clods of dirt in the field.
It has a sort of derogatory meaning, too. Saying someone is a clodhopper is saying someone's a rube.
I can also be used as, "get your clodhoppers off the table." Meaning to remove your enormous feet from the table.
True. They were usually large work boots with high tops. Clods were the clumps of dirt you see after a field is plowed and harrowed.
I believe clodhoppers would be analogous to your Wellies. Wellington boots.
I’ve only used it when annoyed like “come get your big ole clodhoppers out of the way!” When shoes are left in the hall.
"She takes after her daddy, bless her heart."
Piddlin’ is a verb that means to engage in trivial activities, often to the point of avoiding something, “oh, he’s just piddlin’ rather than doin’ his chores.”
Love this!! I’m a southern girl!!! I use these every day!!! Southern accent girls click like ❤️❤️
That’s not what piddlin means in Tennessee. “I’m not doing much today. Just piddlin around in the garage.”
Bless your heart can be when you feel sorry for someone too. “She broke her ankle? Bless her heart.”
Clodhopper is used when you’re laying on the couch and someone lays on the other end, and hits you with their clodhopper. “Get your clodhopper off of me!”
Honkytonk is a country music party or bar.
Never heard of skew wiff lol maybe it’s here?
BFE the f isn’t pronounced like the dirty word. Everybody around me says “Bum fuct Egypt” no k. I think it came from the Army? Idk lol
Same on this side of Appalachians in NC..
N ain't that special...means shut up, don't care.😁
I thought it was fair to middlin' too
Howdy neighbor... Western NC here.
Same here in Georgia
You missed out on the saying “fixin’ to”. Like “I’m fixin’ to go to the grocery store” or someone asks if you have completed a task and your response is “I’m fixin’ to do it”
FootballJunkie one of my best friends lives in Alabama (I am in Minnesota) and she’s got me saying “fixin’ to” now XD
FootballJunkie I've also heard it said as finna gonna... I'm finna gonna go to the store.
FootballJunkie "fixin' ta rain" translates to: "it's about to rain" out in North Carolina
All these out of staters had me believing "fixin' to" was just a Texas thing. Lol.
FootballJunkie I say that all the time. In fact im fixin' to ssy it now.
Arkansas we say “kindly”. Like “ thank ya kindly” or “ he’s kindly makin’ his way”
That's the way NC mountain people say it too
Finally another Arkansan, I swear they're extinct online. But yeah we do do that.
hey y'all from Tennessee... clodhopper also means a clumsy ungraceful person, prone to accidents lol...
and a country bumpkin. (Chattanooga)
Hello fellow Tennesseeans!
Country bumpkin is one of my favorite phrases (and songs). Lol.
I've also heard that a clumsy ungraceful person, prone to accidents is called a "codknocker" at least in my part of Tennessee.
Clodhopper means without any class or grace in my “neck of the woods” 😉
"Clod hopper" to me is boots. Like mud boots. Or water boots. Because when you wear them out in the mud they collect mud clods. Hence the name clod hoppers.
Me too
This is correct.
@@vinnylashley7394 nope
Yea cause I’ve never heard this meaning actually large shoes always boots
We also often use it here in Tennessee to refer to an actual person who's a country bumpkin, i.e "He was such a clodhopper, he had never seen a grocery store."
Piddlin' means "wasting time" or "messing around." Doing something pointless and small.
Feel it still
mrmoocher777 Yup! My mom will still tell my siblings and I to "quit piddlin around!" Haha!
mrmoocher777 Pudderin' can also be used for the same meaning
Also "piddle-farting". Similar to "lolly-gagging".
mrmoocher777 yes!!! We say piddlin too in Missouri
In Arkansas we used "clodhopper" to mean a person who was clumsy, tending toward one whose manners weren't refined.
Clodhopper does mean a heavy shoe or boot, like something worn on the feet for farming. It can also be slang for a farmer or field worker. The word "Clod" means a lump of firmly packed soil, like when you break up hard soil it breaks into large clumps or clods. So, A Clodhopper would be someone who walks over broken ground, or Hops over the Clods.
Emile Clede, haha. I live in Cali, I use this to say someone is clumsy. Lol!!
Knee high to a grasshopper it usualy references when someone is talking about their childhood or youth. Example , my grandfather told me he was working the farm when he was knee high to a grasshopper. He started work at a young age
I have never even heard of that
I've always used piddlin' to mean wasting time. So you would say for example "quit piddlin' and hurry up!"
I've heard that and the definition they used. Something like "a piddlin' amount of money" comes to mind, like if you find 3 cents on the ground. It's just about not even worth bothering with.
Qwerty 88 that's exactly what it means. I live in south alabama and have never ever heard it used by their definition.
"Quit piddlin and get in here. Im fixin to goto the store and need you to watch the baby."
piddly (sp) means small amounts of something piddlin means you're pissin off somewhere when you probably should be doing something better
It definitely derives from "piddling" or peeing. The notion of something being worth less than a pot of piss is definitely there somewhere in the cultural matrix.
There’s a lot of other ones too! Like eat corn through a picket fence, madder than a wet hen and living on high cotton 😂
Here in the south Va and the Carolinas we say "shittin in tall cotton" which is the same thing u know like u know comfortable or high class or nice. Also like eating high on the hog. Haha.
Don't forget about "i am as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room of rockin' chairs." or "I could 'poop' through a screen door right now" meaning I have liquid poop. I can't spell the correct word due to a disability i have.
Not cattawampus. Catty-Wampus
Something that is upside down, backwards and crooked. It's Catty-Wampus.
Yep! This was the one I was going to correct lol
This. It's cattywampas.
All i know somethings f'ed up if its that word no matter how you spell it
It's actually both.
When I trip over my husband’s shoes that are in the middle of the floor, “Move your clodhoppers!”
Out of everything in this video, the one thing I can't get over is they way Joel pronounced Addidas!
Yeah, good luck with that argument. No idea how a reasonably prominent company name got to sound so different on each side of the Atlantic.
Yes it a deetas in the US.
Me too!!!! 😂😂😂
In the US our pronunciation is unique. The rest of the world says Ah dee Das not a deetus!
If you’d like to know how to spell Adidas correctly, just think of this acronym: All Day I Dream About Sex.
Just discovered this channel. Loved it. Subscribed. And yes, BFE is absolutely used in Georgia and South Carolina, and it predates cell phones. Usually used by southerns as to avoid actually verbally being vulgar.
And BFE is not offensive. It has to do with distance. Egypt is like 10,000 miles away from the States. So when the we say we're in BFE it means we are far from where we need to be....in other words we're most likely lost! lmao
I’m from Georgia, and I live in Alabama,. I’ve never heard “mucking and gumming.” However, I do love the expression that we do something for “shits and giggles.” That means you do it just for the hell of it. No real reason.
Artemis Chemistry I'm from s.c. and I've never heard it either.
I’m from Alabama and I have never heard it but, I have heard mucking around or mucking about and also “shits and giggles”(my personal favorite).
Im from Georgia I was cringing when he said Alaboma i was shouting
A L A B A M A
Lol southern problems
me too, my family is from Alabama and i was screaming
This is funny watching this being from the south
I’m just imagining Tom Hanks yelling “greenbow, alaBAMA” from Forrest Gump
I find it funny that he is in the southern part of England and their South doesnt get our South, but their North does. So wild!
Oh! Buck wild! Another one to translate.
I live in Alabama and I thought it was hilarious
Im ibby yes😂😂😂😂😂
“Get your clodhoppers off the couch!”
"Fair to Midland " should actually be "Fair to middlin' (middling)," as in not great, not bad, but in the middle.
I have found that it's usually used in response to, "How's the weather?"
What makes 'Bless your heart' such a special phrase is it can be BOTH sincere and sarcastic. Example - If we hear someone is in the hospital and the family is struggling, we would say 'bless their hearts' and mean it very sincerely. Or in a positive way - if a child brings their mother a flower (or you hear they did so) you would say 'bless your heart'. On the flip side, if someone bad happens to an asshole, instead of saying something directly nasty, you say 'bless their heart' as a way of being more politely/indirectly nasty, lol.
BFE is really common, especially with those who prefer not to say fuck. It's also faster to say than the full phrase. Bumfuck Egypt, just means out in the middle of nowhere and far away. Egypt because it's both far away and famous for it's desert landscape, Bumfuck because the area being referenced is so remote it doesn't have a real name. Of course, many remote small towns WITH names get referred to as BFE. It's not inherently insulting, though, unless the speaker is using a nasty tone. An example of usage might be 'I'd like to visit my grandparents more often, but they live way out in BFE.'
The Canadian version would be "Armpit, Saskatchewan"
That is very true because my mom always says bless your little heart when I do something she asked or I was being considerate and thought ahead about something and did it for her or got an item for her.
Bless your heart is a Southern polite way to say "Aren't YOU special? 🤪"
Someone once told me it was southern for f***you
Andrea Delong lmao yup if you translate the passive aggressiveness in it than, basically. haha
I'm not from the south but I often say "Bless your stupid little heart" when I'm arguing with someone who is very ignorant and rude.
Lol, or a polite way of saying F’ you depending on circumstance and tone on which it was said.
LMAO I've always used it to insulate I'm shocked they are walking around and aren't drooling on themselves. 😂
I’m from rural North Carolina, maybe I can elaborate a little bit for you guys. Firstly, ab half of these words or phrases never get brought up in conversation; And a couple I’ve never heard. The ones I list and talk ab get brought up occasionally.
Piddling: Pid•len - To mess around, or do something at a leisurely pace. “He’s just piddling around in the yard.”
Gumming (guam/ guammed) Ga•um - If something is “guamed” up, then its cluttered or stopped up. “Call the plumber, the sink is all guammed up”
Bless your heart : Y’all we’re right on this one. However, the context was wrong. It can be said snarky for sure, but a lot of sweet old ladies around here will say the phrase sincerely.
Catawampus : Yes you got this one right too, but it’s a pretty dated term. Only gonna here it from old timers. Another word for “catawamus” is si-goggling. Means to be off to the side, or just not straight. “That old road starts si-goggling after you get up the hill.” This is another term you’ll still only here old timers say.
Bonus terms, one you’ll actually here in frequent conversation if you head to the more rural south.
Plumb: something drastic, or bolding. “My neighbor wasn’t paying attention on his lawnmower, and ran it plumb through my fence!”
Kindly: Though this is already a word with it’s own definition. Some w thick enough accents when saying “kind of / kinda” will say kindly in place. “I don’t quite know how to explain what I saw, it was kindly unworldly.”
And btw, NASCAR sucks. It’s only somewhat enjoyable if your plastered. If I’m gonna sit around and watch loud cars turn left for hours, best believe I’ll be drunk off my ass.
BFE = farther away than "yonder" We say B.F.E. to keep from saying the F-word. It's more polite. The F-word is for emphasis to imply that you have to drive so far to get there and so far away from any known landmarks that you could be in Egypt by the time you get thefe and not know the difference. "Where the "F" am I? Did I miss my turn?"
Shannon Logue, Best answer, loved your comment. 💖👍👍
Steve Slade, yup! That too!
BFE basically means in the middle of nowhere and we actually also sometimes say “bum f*** nowhere” instead - which is nice if one wishes to avoid, you know, OFFENDING anyone in/from Egypt 😉 But no one ever abbreviates that phrase to BFN
Just curious, did anyone else grow up hearing "halfway between BFE and you gotta purty mouf"? I mentioned it in my comment, but I haven't seen anyone else mention it. Born SC, raised Virginia, unsuccessfully adulting in TN. Have lived in Florida, NC, too, and I've heard this my whole life.
BFE = Timbuktu
Fixin is a thang! Fixin to go home! Fixin to go over to see my friend! Fixin lunch! Heard fixing more in Texas!!
Yes because Southerners, especially Texans drop their g's, & make up their own contractions...
I'm from Texas and until this I didn't realize fixin was it's own thing in the south I had thought everyone said it
It's not just Texas. It's anywhere in the South
@@skelatonking953 yeah I also thought others talked like that for awhile
Until my friend told me
Just piddlin around. Just messin around not doing anything in particular
Kymberli Shea thanks what I thought. Stop piddlin around lol
Exactly!
I’ve never heard “bless your heart” sarcastically😭
yes, you have
You just didnt know it. Bless your heart.
Come to Texas
Oh bless your heart.
Think of it this way: it’s what you when you can’t think of anything nicer to say. It’s not necessarily negative, but it can be.
Piddlin' means 'wasting time' "Stop piddlin' around! Get ready to go!":
Exactly!!
I've heard it used as an adjective as well. If something is piddlin', it's not worth worrying about. E.G. "That shit is piddlin', forget it." In the case of the verb, it is essentially used to say stop doing things that are unimportant.
Kilt Joel.
Herding cats is almost as difficult as nailing jello to the wall.
Mk Shffr lmao... there is a South African wine called Herding Cats .... I first heard it from a dispatcher. He said I feel like I’ve been herding cats all day... Me I’m stealing that. Lol
First i've heard of the jello part I LIKE IT!
OK I just flashed on comedy skits on TV, doing some of these things ..... nailing Jello to wall, herding cats etc..
Tennessee here. Piddlin means goofing off or tinkering around. In a sentence you would say..Im in the garage piddlin around with this old lawnmower.
we just use dumpster divin or hoarding .
Tarkeema Lewis Never heard it used for that. Learn something new everyday
Rebel Provost TN here ....exactly spot on with description...
Rebel Provost My Mama piddles around in the kitchen all the day long.
Yes, this is what it means to me too.
Haha when bless your heart or bless it are said in the south is usually genuine and not sarcastic. Usually said by some southern bell
2:35 It's not "fair to Midland," it's "fair to middlin' " as in the "middle." "Fair to Midland" would be a West Texas weather forecast as in "Fair to Midland and partly cloudy to Odessa."
11:22 It's "catty wompus" not "catawumpus."
As a fourth-generation Texans, you can trust me on this. (and in 70 years, I've never heard "Bumf*** Egypt" expressed as "BFE.")
I am also from Texas and lots of people say fair to Midland just to add some humor. Especially those of us who have work in Midland.
:-)
I was thinking the same thing “it’s cattywampus not catawampus.
So BFE is kind of a you usger thing to say. My grand dad says bum fuck no where or egypt, where as i usually say somethin like "way out in f***in bfe"
It's fair to midline
Frequently pronounced "catty-wampus"
Clodhopper can also refer to someone who is awkward and clumsy.
Stuie Malan Yeah, a bumpkin! I’ve never heard of it to describe shoes.
clod-hoppers are especially heavy shoes or work boots.
"Put on your clod hoppers it raining cat and dogs outside."
And Bum F Egypt is a real thing that is said.
Indeed! We typically shorten it to just “BFE”
I have heard butt F of nowhere as like middle of no where
YEE HAW!
Or “East buddah” in Alabama, bfe is pretty common too lol
Over yonder is further than you can throw a rock, but not quite as far as a fur piece.
Jaquin Pappageorgio omg that is literally EXACTLY how my grandpa explained it to me lmao
"Piddlin' around" can also refer to idling.
Delilah Hart that's how I always heard it too "quite piddlin' around"
"What'r you up too?"
"Oh, just piddlin' around."
Doing something but not accomplishing much of anything, "Piddlin around".
I swear I've heard Karl Pilkington say piddlin'.
Delilah Hart you are correct
I use BFE when going to the store. "Aw man, all the parking spots are taken. I gotta park way out in BFE." Just means very far away (I guess 'cause Egypt is really far away).
It’s just fun to say when you we’re a kid! And then get slapped by your Mama 😂
Lost in the middle of BFE! Yes, it's an actual phrase. We can be up a creek... we can be up a creek without a paddle, but despair doesn't set in until we are in Bum-Effed Egypt.
Why is it Egypt? I have no clue. And yes, the Bum-Effed portion would literally mean "I'm so lost I'm in a region of Egypt where I fear being sodomized". The reason this is funny/ironic is because we have our own 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'Deliverance' type areas in our Desert and Mountain areas... low populated places, potential in-breeding, and the fear of strangers being raped and murdered. So the idea that we have such places we could reference right here in America ourselves, that are absolutely stereo-typed in the same way... but then I guess Egypt is even further away than those places, lending to an 'even more lost' tone.
So one could be 'up a creek where the hills have eyes', 'up a creek without a paddle in Deliverance'... and those would be BAD... but when you're in BFE, you're not even on the right Continent anymore.
Oh, and you always seem to be IN THE MIDDLE of BFE. There's no taking two steps one way and being out... you're IN THERE. So, good luck to you!
TheClimbTo1 the way my family and the people I know use it is more in the sense that your so lost you could be in Egypt for all you know it's never had the sexual contexts behind it, the bum f**ked bit was always just to Emphasize exactly how lost you were and nothing more. But hey that might have just been my family and friends
TheClimbTo1 I actually think BFE is an old Brit military term copied by American soldiers.
Which would make a ton of sense, as Colonialization would have Brits familiar with Egypt.
Just makes it curious as to how this is a Southern expression and not something used across all of America.
BFE is at least understood in the US, but not commonly used outside of the South apparently.
BFE originated as US military slang. Probably during WWII, by soldier fighting in North Africia.
“Clodhoppers” came from the big boots farmers wear in the fields to navigate the big clumps of dirt called “dirt clods. It also means big shoes.
A "Clodhopper" is also a nickname for a backwards, rural person. See Red Skelton's "Clem Kadiddlehopper" as an example. A simpleton. "Janey-Sue's new beau is such a clodhopper!"
it means NOT steppin in / on shi#
So, it is not "Fair to Midland" but rather, "Fair to Middling." It has morphed into many folks now saying "Fair to Midland", but the original phrase using "Middling" goes back to the early 1800s, and the expression using "Midland" is something much more recent and stems from folks originally just not hearing the correct work "Middling." The nicer alternative to being in the middle of nowhere is "We were out in East Japeepee!"
How interesting. I've only ever seen "fair to middling" shortened to "fair to middlin.'"
East BF is always the construction that I heard in New York, never Egypt.
Thanks for typing it out before me.
I live in England and we use fair to middling
Very true, Gretchen! I myself say "Fair to Middlin;"! The actual text is "middling", but "Middlin" is an acceptable abbreviation of "middling"! Midland came about originally from folks mishearing the correct version.
her : its like texas slang
me , a texan : *smiles evilly*
Alabarrrrrma? We can't be friends.
Thumbs up this comment to make Joel wear a suit!
Hahaha that one cracks me up!
LoseitlikeLauren Bless his heart 😟
LoseitlikeLauren, it's queens english.
Allah bomber is how he says Alabama LOL
I cringed for him when he said Alabama that way.
But did you know the american southern accent comes from the British accent. Also , we totally say bless your heart. it can be sweet or totally mean and sarcastic
Oh don't I know! A syrupy "bless your heart " from an angry Georgia girl can cut hotter than a steel knife .
Actually the american southern accent comes mainly from scots and irish, or if you’re from Louisiana like me its a lot of french (which is why we sound the best)
@@SwampRattler08
Tennessee uses old English words and sayings
Such as I sweaggy( means I declare)
Greta Bruno are you sure thats what it means because i cant find that phrase anywhere
@@SwampRattler08
It is cause I may not have spelled it right.
The expression is "fair to middlin', " not Midland. That's why the expression made no sense to you. Middlin(g) is or was a grade of cotton fiber. So fair to middlin' was a pricing grade, important when selling a cotton crop.
Joe Phillips 😂 thats what I thought!! They were making me think I had been totally wrong for decades. I’m glad you cleared it up man. Gracias.
Thanks for sharing that Joe about fair to middlin. I'm from Georgia and we say that but I didn't know it's origin.