I am Indonesian and ever since I taught myself English, I always love mountain talk. Visiting Appalachian region and your countryside is my life-long dream, I hope one day I will be able to do so. Thank you for this video, God bless y'all good people.
Bless you as well! Congratulations on teaching yourself.. honestly, there is so much slang and so many dialects, it can be confusing for native speakers. Often, people who learned English as an additional language actually speak it properly. Much love! Hope you get to visit some day! It's a very different culture depending on where you go. I've always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail which goes from southern Appalachia to New England. ❤❤
@@danamichelle1290 My wife and I hiked just little parts of the trail as we RV camped along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive a few times on vacations. Some of the RV parks along the trail have a pantry to store and donate food and supplies for hikers.
The Appalachian region is one of the most welcoming regions you can ever visit as a foreigner. Because while you are on vacation, here, people will want to know about you and where you're from. We have some of the best scenery so I would definitely recommend coming in the summer. Visit the lakes and rivers
I'm from Cincinnati, which in right on the edge of Appalachia. Many of the people here are descendents of Appalachia. Which is descendent of Scots Irish. German too.
@@meghoughton562 Meg it’s brilliant to hear all the words I love it , to think of all the people in that region are from good Scottish stock , hardy and honest people with a great humour ❤️
Been told that because of Irish, Scots, Welch and the like settling the region a few centuries ago; with the isolation the accent/dialect has remained pretty close to the original.
@Rob Mikels Sorry to ramble. Not so much myself but my Grandmother was from that region. She married and moved away. (Not too far) She had the accent. She died not 5 years ago at almost 104. The family has been in those hills since the 1700s. Some family used to joke that ancestors pointed the way to Daniel Boone; and newcomers. 45-50 yrs ago she was contacted by someone tracing the family. He could trace us back so far but we faded into the hills. Her name kept coming up. Her attitude was "Why didn't you call me sooner?" She had the family Bible but also knew the names of many previous generations. With that knowledge he traced us back to the 1300 or 1400s to the UK. Two years ago, my mom did a DNA test that was a gift. It came back almost all Scotland, Wales, Irish; the UK. She was like what did we expected? (She's 91 and in good shape too; like her mom was at that age.) I'm retired military, been in most states; traveled halfway around the world and back but I drive home through VA and WV and I just love it. Beautiful!
I’m not from Appalachia. I’m from Arkansas and have heard of, and still use, may of these words and phrases. I’m now 68 years old and still call a refrigerator an “ice box”. Plus I still say “yonder”, “anybody ta home”, and “little old”. May we never forget the way we speak. It connects us to our past, which we must never forget. Love your videos. 🙂💕
I find it totally fascinating that millions of us live in this one country and yet we all have different and beautiful ways of using a common language to express our thoughts and ideas.
Yes but in places like Chicago it's pretty devoid of colorful language, and pretty cold. So I find these playful expressions from Appalachia just what the doctor ordered.
I grew up with most of these phrases. My husband is Scottish and the Scots use a lot of these same words. The biggest one being kilt. "If you call a kilt a skirt, you might get yourself kilt."
A very country friend if mine was staying at a rather nice hotel while traveling. The bath towels had not been completely restocked in his room. He called the front desk asking for some "warsh rags". He couldn't believe that lady didn't understand what he was asking for.
I used to deliver cars for people wintering in Florida from Ontario, Canada. One of the most pleasant detours I had was when I gave a older guy a ride to his ural home when he broke down on the interstate (I-77 or I-79). I'll never forget the cammeradaire and friendlyness between us during the drive.
"yuns!" i often hear variations of that phrase, here in pittsburgh (which is appalachia but obviously very urban, not quite the same community but a lot of us have more rural appalachia family like i've got folks in WV) some people say "yinz" it's part of "pittsburghese" :)
@@Frothenbath1 My husband used to send the kids out to fetch their own switch and my daughter brought in a rock and said that she couldn't find a switch so maybe you can just throw this at me That's my Georgia girl
I love these people. I was born and raised in the deep south, but it seems Appalachia is the last remains of it. Good people, honest, moral, friendly, and right. What's left of America.
Scots-Irish most everybody I grew up with In Central Kentucky always said they were Irish, yet hardly any of them were Catholic. I always had to explain to them that they were Orange and not the Green.
There are a ton of Irish roots in our language here. It's so amazing to see my last name wasn't the only thing that got carried over from across the pond.
I am Ulster Scots / Scots Irish, from Carrickfergus , when we get startled we say that mad me jump and we say kilt as well and keep yer britches on , love how our sayings travel to Apalachia
Harry Williamson my great grandmothers maiden name was Williamson. Like a lot of my kin she was from the Southwestern part of West Virginia. She is of the Scots Irish bloodline
@@marybrowning5657 recently had my DnA Test, 71 % Scots south west Scotland 24% Irish 2% England and North west Europe, I am Ulster Scots trying to find out when my family came to Ulster , You never know we might be kin
These sayings, I use and are familiar to me except for Jim-Jams and Juberous.Its nice seeing the Family joining in on CELEBRATING APPALACHIA, another good one Tipper.
This is great! I'm old, originally from California, and grew up multilingual. I've lived in various parts of the world and the USA. I love language and languages come easily to me. In ever place I've lived, I strove and succeeded to learn both the history and the local language, with no accent, and all the idioms, enabling me to completely blend in. My first exposure to the Appalachian accent came 25 years ago when I was living in Guatemala(!). I met someone there, a traveler, who was originally from Western North Carolina. I was fascinated by the accent that came and went. I'd never heard anything like it. I loved listening to it. Now, I've been living in West Virginia for the past 15 years and I can say that the Appalachian accent is easily the most difficult to master of all. I've succeeded, and could write several chapters of a book about all the subtleties of it that I've learned. For years, I could not understand why it was so difficult. The basic answer is that it's full of subtleties and the intensity of the accent is itself variable, depending on emotional state. I've never run into this with any other language anywhere in the world. Anyway, I have a blast with it today. It's fun. Mah car ain't workin' raht. It caynt pool the heel. Hahahaha. Wut? Rule 1 of the accent is short "i" becomes long "ee". So you didn't kill it. You didn't killt it. You keelt it. Then ye poot the feesh in the skeelit and cook it. After dinner, ye wash the deeshes. But all of this is predicated on emotional state or desire for emphasis. Most West Virginians, when in a relaxed state, sound very much like Middle Americans or Californians -- plain American English. But when emotions rise, the accent appears. The accent adds to the richness of communication. There's a lot more, of course.
A stob......." Cut that sapplin closer to the ground and don't leave that stob stickin up...." A stob is a short stick or a short small stump...... Umpteen or umpteenth......a lot of times...." I've told you for the umpteenth time , close the door when you come in"
Staub. It's sometimes said here in TX too. The older meaning is a stick with tapered end, for plugging a hole or pipe. Later it was generalized to mean any short stick, including a small tree stump.
I was a truck driver for 30 years , all the big cities they can have it , give me the country any day , born and raised in the country , love it every day
NYC is pretty much exactly the same as West Virginia. The biggest difference I noticed is that the city has more yellow cabs, and WV has more gypsy cabs. I'm guessing it's just because NY is more stringent with their medallions.
I grew up some in NC and moved to NY. I am still made fun when I say certain words because my brain tries to go back and forth in accents and it turns out kinda British or like Arnold Schwartzenegger. One thing I don't miss is the heat.
I grew up with many of these phrases in Akron, Ohio. Many of the folks living here have parents that came from Appalachia to work in the tire factories in Akron and steel mills in Cleveland and Youngstown. Hard working folks with a great sense of humor. I enjoyed working with them....retired now.
Southerners stole a lot of our accent and phrases from English (and Irish too bc we have a pretty strong Irish heritage) but during the revolution, a lot of folks in the south weren't as upset as folks in the north were about england, and besides that, we thought english folks were fancy and all that so we tried to emulate them. Another reason we kept drinking tea, and we made sweet tea to be able to show off how fancy we were bc back in the day, sugar and later ice, were expensive. So if u were slingin sweet iced tea to folks, they knew you had it. Plus its hotter than hades down here
@@BritneyStinson I don't think Southerners stole them - Southerners originally came from England, Scotland and Ireland so they already were using those phrases an accents. It was passed on down thru the family when they came here to America to settle in the South.
@@egrogan6482 I think we're saying the same things. In the south we have a lot of our words and the way we say our words from Ireland and england and things like that. But we , as opposed to the Yankees up north, were more pro English, especially at the onset of the revolution and as a whole, ofc there were parts that were for independence but for the most part, folks in the south made a lot of money with england in charge and their armada of ships. One state that is often left out of revolution talk, but was populated at the time, is my home state of la Florida, which remained loyal to the crown. At any rate, their is probably a billion ways we got our accents and we could talk until we turned blue about it
Reminds me of my younger years in Boone County, WV. My Dad was the principal of a local elementary school. Often at school I'd hear that some student wouldn't be at school today because they had a "head code", or a head cold. Often you'd hear that someone didn't "have a lick of sense" meaning they had no common sense. In my community there was a small grocery store where many coal mining families had an account where they could buy groceries on credit. The store owner kept track of our purchases on a tablet. Although Mr. Waller owned the store, everyone called his store "the jotem down" because he would jot down (write) everything you bought on the tablet. Many times I would run across the road to the jotem down to get a loaf of "lite bread". Sometimes when we kids would play baseball in the yard, we would throw or hit a ball through a window and that was known as breaking a "winder light". We had many other words coined locally that most outsiders never understood.. Sometimes you'd get invited to go somewhere with a group of people. Someone would say, "We're going swimmin', yonto?" That meant would you like to go too. We had some interesting personal pronouns such as We'uns, you'uns and they'uns. If someone was a really bad person, they "waren't no good". In those years, you either worked for the coal mines or the government. There wasn't much in between. Sorry, didn't mean to write a book, but maybe I should. Today, I tutor English online. What a transition from my youth.
This is just wonderful... My first visit... I just love THE WAY PEOPLE JUST TURN A WORD/PHRASE ...I call it...and you doing this is a TREAT for me. Back in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania... growing up... Mom would tell us to " red up "our room...(red up = clean up, order, make presentable) "I red up that side yard, the broken tree limbs were removed." More...More...MORE 🙋🌹8-12-22 GA USA
I served with the Marines in Vietnam and in our platoon we had a young man ( slim as a willow and resilient as hickory) from the borderlands of Kentucky/Virginia and a Lance Corporal from Brooklyn or some neighborhood near there. Hearing them try to talk to one another was classic. At one time or another each one said of the other something akin to, "how'd he get in the Corps? Can't even speak English." Wish I could write in their vernacular. It's great. Both very dependable and courageous. Eventually they began to understand each other. Only in America.
I am a Northerner (MinnesOda) and I think it's great that you keep your culture & dialect alive! Keep your britches on, My dad used to say that. He was from Iowa.
I grew up in Atlanta in the 1970s and heard many of these expressions. Even though it was a metropolitan place, you still had plenty of people from the mountains, and an urban mill community called Cabbagetown (where tear-down cottages are now worth over half a million dollars).
Jim jams is in Huxley's Brave New World, "A doctor a day keeps the jim jams away." My daddy was from central TX but he said all those things. He claimed his people came to TX from Appalachia.
I love the way you mention "kilt" without it even occurring to you that the phrase "It liked to've" is regional as well, and that everybody doesn't just say that. What a delightful channel, and gracious family. I can't stop watching, makes me nostalgic for my Grandmother.
I live in Northern California now (since 1978), but my mother was from Whitesville, Kentucky. I recognize a lot of these expressions from her. Sure brings back memories. Thank you for these videos!
This blows my mind. I'm a 33yo Black dude from Indiana and so much of this I hear from older relatives and had no idea it had Appalachian roots. Language and culture is so precious, love this channel
In London, England, we say "keep your shirt on" for "don't lose your temper". I think this is because men who were going to have a fist fight would take their shirts off.
In Canada it’s the pants. When they take their pants off, a fight is definitely happening. Trailer Park Boys taught me this important lesson so I don’t mess around and get my oil checked. Which is a whole other thing.
Just want to say how much I enjoy yalls videos. They remind me of my papaw and the hours he used to spend just talking, all the while teaching us grandboys how to be men of honor and integrity, us hanging on every word non the wiser the important lessons and old time skills he was teaching us. Thanks for bringing up these great memories for me.
It’s amazing to learn some of these words and terms I learned from my father were likely passed down to him over the generations from our Appalachian ancestors. I’ll eventually pass them on to my children, and Appalachian dialect will be alive and well in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm 65 years old, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, by grandparents from the Appalachian country. I grew up with this language and know (and use) them all. So do my children and to a lesser extent, my grandchildren.
Don't anyone else beside people in my family say the word "pretty" as like it is a measurement? As like "That is a pretty ugly thing to say", I am pretty sure you are right" or "they live pretty close to you to you".
@@ourtubesocks well it is said that when the Great Depression hit then almost 1/4th of the Oklahomans and Arkansans moved to California. I am from Tulsa and we all say it that way here. So I guess when the Okies and the Arkies moved west then they took that kind of talk with them to California. Even though I say it then it still sound oxymoronic to say "that is a pretty ugly dog". Are you saying it is pretty or ugly?
It’s common *pretty* much everywhere. The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of ‘pretty’ includes its use as an informal adverb: “to a moderately high degree; fairly.”
Cute video. Thanks for making it. I've heard/used "kilt" a lot. For us "English" near Cornwall Mines, Pa. it would be like "killed" but, instead of the "ed" we just pronounce it with a "t" at the end. A sentence would be "I fell through the barn floor into the stable an' it damn near kilt me!"
I'm from Ky, but I live in MN, and I miss hearing a lot of these sayings. My buddies at work like to poke fun at me for some of the things I grew up saying, that ain't right or whatever. It's all in good fun though😆
@@xxdrewxx6 where were you from in ky? I'm from southwest va. That little point where ky/va/wva meet. I was born and raised just a few miles from the va/ky line.
Odd thing is , I was a middle Tennessee farm boy growing up in the 50’s and 60’s and we said most of these words too . And dinner was the noon meal , supper was at night . Never heard of a lunch bell . Now that’s purt nigh all I can thank of
Here about sixty miles north of Birmingham, Alabama the language is virtually identical, to this day. Having been in my half century of living around people from all around our great nation, I’ll say that I love the language of the South better than any other.
@@randyblackburn9765 similar here, but I usually hear it “fair TO middlin”, and truthfully my back pains are on a sliding scale from day to day so I guess that’s accurate lol. And have you ever heard someone say they’re “tolerable” or “tollable” when asked how they are? An old boss of mine told me that meant “Well enough to eat but not well enough to work”. I love that and have decided that will be my retirement slogan when and if that time ever comes! 😂
@@k.b.tidwell right you are , fair (to) middling is what they said , never heard tollable tho . Daddy grew up in the hill country of north west Maury County Tennessee and he claimed that breaking a new ground was new cut woods with stumps dug up or dynamited out and the mule would pull the plow and hit roots and it was hard on man and beast. Also a single tree in front of the plow was a sangle tree , and brand new was bread new , and cousin Erma was cuddin Erma . And the Natchez Trace was Notchez Trace . I knew hill folks in Tennessee that could not read or write, had no electricity or running water , never put the old folks in nursing homes either, they’d take the back seat out of the car and put straight back kitchen chairs in the back , two strong grandsons would carry Granny’s chair and put it on the floorboard and carry her to church, funerals and the country store , walk her right up to the grave sight and she’d make her little speech about the deceased having to crawl on earth but crawling no more .
Thanks for sharing. I've heard a few of these used in general American slang ("little old," "liquored up," "new ground"), but most are new to me. I hope to visit Appalachia someday. I'm sure I've got ancestors who made their way from there to Missouri, where I'm based. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
I am from Appalachia and I just wanna say we love all people from across the globe don’t believe the stereotypes that we’re all prejudiced, we’re very loving and caring people ❤
My mom was from the Virginia/Kentucky border up yonder near PIKEville Kentucky and we grew up using the language. Your videos made me realize how much my momma influenced us young’ ins especially since living in a northern city and everyone looks at me when I talk.
We from the rivers of Western Kentucky (the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Mississippi) have a dialect inherited from North Carolina (by way of West Tennessee: many North Carolinians first migrated to West Tennessee in 1818, then migrated northward into West Kentucky in the following 40 years). The Kentucky dialect where my people are from has some in common with Appalachia (North Carolina, is, after all, in the Appalachian mountain range), but the tuneful nature of pure Appalachian intonation is somewhat depressed in West Kentucky: there is still tone, but it is closer to a monotone than the beautiful melodic up and down tonalities of speakers like the ones in the video. Not to say that the West Kentucky voice is devoid of tonal inflection, it is not, but the West Kentucky speaker hears the voice of an Eastern Kentucky speaker as if it were the voice of a beautifully singing choir member. Look at the success of Loretta Lynn, and her voice. One of the speakers in this video sounds just like her. Love to Appalachia from Central Kentucky and the Mississippi Valley. Your voices are ones we love to hear, and always will.
Love this video! Isn't 'kilt' just a different pronunciation of 'killed?' "It like to have killed (kilt) me!" That makes more sense than "kill." It sounds past-tense.
That's how we use it in Louisiana, "he kilt him a deer', or "it liked to have kilt me", but strangely enough you will not hear kilt when regarding the loss of a loved one of something really cared about.
I wonder if its a long removed derivative of the word "Jew". I remember my late grandmother from the Midwest talking about when she moved to DC in 1940 she told a story at a party about "jewing down" a businessman that was trying to overcharge her. It caused a scandal and she was deeply embarrassed when she realized what was considered an innocuous phrase in the little town she was from was actually an ethnic slur. She had no idea.
I'm thinking "kilt" is for "killed" (past tense of kill) .. and a T is often substituted for the "ed" on the ends of other words too such as "burnt" instead of "burned" and so on. Also, could it be that "juberous" came from "dubious?" Would make sense.
My granddad was 100% Irishman that came over here from Ireland in the early 1900's. He eventually settled in the Ozarks, but seems like it should have been Appalachia, ( which he may have live there, also) dying in a freak accident, but not before he had two son. All the words, except for one, are as common to me as saying the Lord's Prayer. He always said, "Gade be dang! Bee Jeezus", sad to say, that's all I remember, but I wasn't allowed to repeat it! Thanks again, for the walk down Memory Lane.
Oh my....I understand and have heard most of the sayings on these videos! My parents left the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina in the fifties and moved to the Tampa Bay area. My father was a real "hoot". He told us when he "carried" our mother to see Tom Jones, mom threw her "drawers" up to the stage, they covered his head , and Tom Jones "nearly" fell off the stage! Keep the videos coming!
Oh, and I forgot "airish," meaning chilly. Chimney was pronounced "chimbley." Pot likker, hog waller (not wallow), banty chickens, not bantam chickens, which my grandmother raised. Ever been flogged by a rooster? We had a mean one at one time and he'd flog you in a hearbeat.
@@CelebratingAppalachia So have I (been flogged by a rooster) because it's a daily job hazard for me, since I work in poultry research. Usually it's the hens who are more bitchy though, lol. Roosters usually leave me alone.
Chimbley is an Irish word for chimney.I recognize many of the words you mention because my Irish hubby uses them.Its interesting to learn that they use those expressions in Appalachia.The Irish settlers must have passed them down.
Hey, you brought up another good one. "Dipstick." Definition: a stupid or inept person. The word dipstick is used a lot in the South. I can think of a lot of people in Washington DC who are dipsticks...
I'm a native Floridian with ancestors who came from South Carolina and settled down in NW Florida. So, I've heard/used most of these my entire life, but must say I've learned a few new ones! Thank you! Brought back such memories of my childhood. My husband was raised in Georgia and after a few years of being married (33 years and counting now) he said something like "Yeah, you know the scuttlebutt is that they're divorcing bc he ran around on her." I was like what the heck did you just say?! 😳 😂 He said scuttlebutt. I literally had to look it up to see if it was an actual word, and yes it is. It means a gossip/rumor. (The Rumor Mill) Had NEVER hear that word before in my life, but I've heard it a lot since then. His mother has used it a few times, and I was like "THAT'S where he got it from!" 😂
Hey from Hayesville! I'm up cher wid my folk for a good ole time. We're the relatives of Jimmy Rogers. We already has some poor do, biscuit n sawmill gravy and flapjacks although the biscuits were the sorriest I've ever et. Later on the family is having our own all day singin' and dinner on the ground at my cousin Ricky's church. Then up to PawPaw's place where we'll et some poke sallet, cornbread n onions in buttermilk. Don'cha hate it when outsiders call us all sorts.
My mom used to use the phrase "catty wampus" but she was an Iowa farm girl. I had a friend who was going to the Scottish Games, and I ask him why he was wearing a skirt. His answer was, "It's a kilt and if you ever call it a skirt again; you are going to get kilt." The word "kilt" for kill or killed has traveled some. It got all the way to San Diego Ca.
I was born and raised in Ypsilanti Michigan, during ww2 tens of thousands of Appalachian folks moved here to work in the willow run bomber plant. So many stayed after the war that the whole area had a southern accent, including myself.
I have never felt so impressed and somehow connected to a region in the USA than to Appalachia and its people. I just love the way they speak, their accent, their love for nature, culture, music, calmness, ans do many more... it just amazes me. Hope one day I'll visit this region! Stay blessed folks!
My wife and her family came from a farm in Minnesota to Illinoiz. I'll swear theyz from the back side of the Smokey Mountains. They talked jist like y'all. An when we moved our young un to Florida it got even wursun. My wife did get liquered up and knocked up. Thaz why she becume my wife at 17.
@@robertmorency6335 Yabutt. It surenuff worked good fer me an my wife. I larned her to stop drinkin liquer much after thet right there. She pretty much stuck ta beer drinkin when in public. 62 years together ain't nuthin ta sneeze at.
I love my southern culture. My line goes back to Traphill NC in the foot hills. I like to read about the early settlers like the Scots-irish or English. I see where we get our words from! Love this. Beautiful.
I’m from KY and in my 30’s and I remember spelling tests in elementary school would usually be something to laugh about when a “t” is added so many words. I remember one year it was supposed to be “found.” The teacher gave her sentence to us as, “ I lost my dog but I fount him at the river.” 😂
This was a fun video to watch! My family came from Appalachia prior to settling in middle Tennessee and a lot of these expressions have persisted through our speech and I even still use some today!
I live in the Appalachian mountains, small coal mining town called Grundy, VA. A lot of the younger generation have almost stopped using the old saying's. Your channel reminds me so much of my Grandmaw Jean, I sure miss her.
Every time I hear the word "kilt" I think of my Granddad who used to tell the dumbest but funniest joke to me as a kid: A boy and his grandfather were sitting on the porch talking. The Grandpa shouts, "Did you see that, boy? A cat done run up that dog's ass." The boy corrected his Grandpa saying, "You mean rectum." Grandpa answered back, "Wrecked 'em hell! Damn near kilt 'em both!" 🤣 I dunno why that is still so funny to me. Probably just from remembering my Granddad. He was quite a character and a real rascal lol...
@@CelebratingAppalachia Now I'm a grandpa tellin my grandkids how we didn't have TV, internet, Game boards, and stuff. We'd sit listenin to the radio and playinn with sticks n rocks. So my six year old granddaughter went out and played with sticks n rocks. She looked happy as a pig in mud.
I watched the creek rock video and was completely enrapt in your story. I have a tremendous love of rocks too. How beautiful your jewelry stones turned out. Thank you for taking me through your process!! I was most impressed with your philosophy of appreciation for your land and your family connection. You are so sweet, Katie! ❤
The "kilt" example reminded me of another one: adding a 't' to off, as in "he done run oft." Also, this practice can be found in other regions as well; e.g., in Michigan and thereabouts they add a 't' to across ("it's 23 inches acrost"). Actually, I've heard that one all over the country.
I just love your channel. My Moms side is from Eastern Ky and my fathers side is eastern TN. Im up in Ohio, but Appalachia is definitely my heritage and you all (yawl) are right on about all your posts. I learn so much. I havent even heard of half of these sayings and the other half I use every day! One I use, and I dont even know if this is appalachian or not, is “fit to be tied”. When someone is stressed, or angry, and its showing, you are “fit to be tied”, and you need to “calm your britches”. Love you guys. Thanks for giving me a reason to remember my childhood vacations in the eastern Ky. Hollers.
Actually it's a teamster who yells "jayhole". On skid roads they would have turnouts (jayholes) where the draft animals could get off the skid road and come disconnected from the log train they were pulling if it started sliding on its own on the steep mountainside. Draft horses, mules and steers were valuable and if the logs ran over them chances are they would die or have to be killed if they were maimed. The animals were trained to turn into a "jayhole" when the teamster yelled that word. When a log was let go on a steep mountainside in an uncontrolled slide it was called a "ballhoot". That's what the logger would yell if there was anybody below him. The best thing anyone could do if a log got away like that was to stand still and watch to see where it was going. If it came straight for you it was best to wait until the last second to dodge it because it's impossible to predict where it will go. If you're running away you can't watch it.
@@CelebratingAppalachia I lived some of that old logging stuff. I was a kid so I was more in the way than anything else but I learned a lot from just watching and listening. A log train was a line of logs in a row that were connected together by "grabs" which were driven into the logs. Grabs were made so that when they were in the log they dug in deeper if they were pulled in one direction but pulled out easier in the other. I remember trying to ride the last log on the train. Daddy let me because I couldn't fall off and get run over.
All our land was uphill from the barn which means that when you had a sled load of hay for the horses to pull to the barn, it was downhill. You had to be careful if the sled was on wet grass or something slippery or it would "ballhoot" and slide on its own. When that happened, you had to keep the horses well ahead of the sled so the sled wouldn't run up on them, which would have been a catastrophe. One of my un-fondest memories is having a huge sledload of hay ballhoot down the hill with the horses going at a full gallop. Only way I got everything stopped was to steer them out into another hayfield at the bottom of the hill where it was not so steep. Tore up some hay, but avoided a disaster. Decided right there, on the spot, that I didn't want to be a farmer when I grew up!
I used to travel around the US doing temporary assignments practicing medicine. I enjoyed hearing the way my patients described their ailments. For example, a boil or abscess might be called a "risin" in certain parts of the country.
I was a Yankee transplant to SW Virginia 50 years ago and went on to teach 5th grade in a rural area. My kids kept journals (correct spelling optional) and one girl always spelled "think" as "thank; as in, "I thank we're going to Ma-Maw's on Sunday." One day it dawned on me that when she talked, she never said "think" but always said "thank." The teacher got schooled. Good memory.
Thanks! I think jim-jams is actually from the UK (and probably came with original settlers) -- have been listening to audio books by Dorothy Sayers, English novelist, written in the 1920's & 30's, and have heard it used several times -- such a great phrase!
I am Indonesian and ever since I taught myself English, I always love mountain talk. Visiting Appalachian region and your countryside is my life-long dream, I hope one day I will be able to do so. Thank you for this video, God bless y'all good people.
Bless you as well! Congratulations on teaching yourself.. honestly, there is so much slang and so many dialects, it can be confusing for native speakers. Often, people who learned English as an additional language actually speak it properly. Much love! Hope you get to visit some day! It's a very different culture depending on where you go. I've always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail which goes from southern Appalachia to New England. ❤❤
@@danamichelle1290 My wife and I hiked just little parts of the trail as we RV camped along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive a few times on vacations.
Some of the RV parks along the trail have a pantry to store and donate food and supplies for hikers.
The Appalachian region is one of the most welcoming regions you can ever visit as a foreigner. Because while you are on vacation, here, people will want to know about you and where you're from. We have some of the best scenery so I would definitely recommend coming in the summer. Visit the lakes and rivers
Sama kita bro, gw tau org redneck sm Appalachian cm dr film2 Hollywood. Unik bgt logat mereka ya, kayak santai2 gmn gtu dialeknya lol
I'm from Cincinnati, which in right on the edge of Appalachia. Many of the people here are descendents of Appalachia. Which is descendent of Scots Irish. German too.
As a Scotsman myself this video is brillliant to see how my own local words have an influence in your language, so many words we use here .
Love that!
Wow, what an interesting connection!
@@CelebratingAppalachia it’s so similar , a poke of chips in Scotland is a bag of chips from the fish and chip shop . 😂👍
@@meghoughton562 Meg it’s brilliant to hear all the words I love it , to think of all the people in that region are from good Scottish stock , hardy and honest people with a great humour ❤️
@@gordonsmith1845 😀
I could honestly listen to these Appalachian ladies rattle on all day. A beautiful, musical accent.
Been told that because of Irish, Scots, Welch and the like settling the region a few centuries ago; with the isolation the accent/dialect has remained pretty close to the original.
@Rob Mikels Sorry to ramble. Not so much myself but my Grandmother was from that region. She married and moved away. (Not too far) She had the accent. She died not 5 years ago at almost 104. The family has been in those hills since the 1700s. Some family used to joke that ancestors pointed the way to Daniel Boone; and newcomers. 45-50 yrs ago she was contacted by someone tracing the family. He could trace us back so far but we faded into the hills. Her name kept coming up. Her attitude was "Why didn't you call me sooner?" She had the family Bible but also knew the names of many previous generations. With that knowledge he traced us back to the 1300 or 1400s to the UK. Two years ago, my mom did a DNA test that was a gift. It came back almost all Scotland, Wales, Irish; the UK. She was like what did we expected? (She's 91 and in good shape too; like her mom was at that age.) I'm retired military, been in most states; traveled halfway around the world and back but I drive home through VA and WV and I just love it. Beautiful!
How 'bout just plain beautiful. 😉 (themselves physically)
Remarkably folksy for the 21st Century.
I seriously want some sort of app that reads me bedtime stories narrated by these guys. I love this. Hands down, best American accent.
Thanks! Check out my Mountain Path playlist-I'm reading the book so it would sort a be like a bedtime story 🙂
Such a beautiful accent, and such beautiful language. Like all local vernacular, just wonderful to learn.
I’m not from Appalachia. I’m from Arkansas and have heard of, and still use, may of these words and phrases. I’m now 68 years old and still call a refrigerator an “ice box”. Plus I still say “yonder”, “anybody ta home”, and “little old”. May we never forget the way we speak. It connects us to our past, which we must never forget. Love your videos. 🙂💕
My mama is from Dallas and says icebox too. We say over yonder all the time.
I was born in Ga and hv a lot of relatives there that use these words. A lot are just the way southerners talk.
well said!!
I find it totally fascinating that millions of us live in this one country and yet we all have different and beautiful ways of using a common language to express our thoughts and ideas.
Me too! Well said Andrew 😀 Thank you for watching!
Some places even have their own regional languages, I hope America can keep hold of the wonderful linguistic diversity
Yes but in places like Chicago it's pretty devoid of colorful language, and pretty cold. So I find these playful expressions from Appalachia just what the doctor ordered.
I grew up with most of these phrases. My husband is Scottish and the Scots use a lot of these same words. The biggest one being kilt. "If you call a kilt a skirt, you might get yourself kilt."
Generally is used the same way as "killed".
I could quite happily spend a few days with these folks, salt of the earth. from Scotland
A very country friend if mine was staying at a rather nice hotel while traveling. The bath towels had not been completely restocked in his room. He called the front desk asking for some "warsh rags". He couldn't believe that lady didn't understand what he was asking for.
I'm from canada and my mother used that expression a lot.
I used to deliver cars for people wintering in Florida from Ontario, Canada. One of the most pleasant detours I had was when I gave a older guy a ride to his ural home when he broke down on the interstate (I-77 or I-79). I'll never forget the cammeradaire and friendlyness between us during the drive.
YOU TALK MY LANGUAGE, 😄Born and live in Kentucky ,I’m a 65 year old great granny,, I love all of yuns
😀 So glad you enjoy the videos and that we speak the same!
"yuns!" i often hear variations of that phrase, here in pittsburgh (which is appalachia but obviously very urban, not quite the same community but a lot of us have more rural appalachia family like i've got folks in WV) some people say "yinz" it's part of "pittsburghese" :)
Mama & siblings all now gone 2 be with God were from the south east part in Pike, KY beautiful State.
@@KENTUCKY-MAMA Well, Mama. we dun ustta camp at Pike County. I think I member it's down yonder.
And we all love our southern blue grass ol' ladies. Thank you ma'am for giving Kentucky such love.
Daddy would say I'm gonna fetch a switch. He wasn't talking about no lectric lights either!
Or worse, having to go and fetch your own and learn a lesson the hard way! :O
@@Frothenbath1 or cut your own and have to go back a 2nd time if you cut a wimpy one
@@Frothenbath1 My husband used to send the kids out to fetch their own switch and my daughter brought in a rock and said that she couldn't find a switch so maybe you can just throw this at me That's my Georgia girl
"go cut me a switch" that's what my grandmother would say.....and she knew how to use it!
@@Frothenbath1 and better pick one they would or holy cow.
I love these people. I was born and raised in the deep south, but it seems Appalachia is the last remains of it. Good people, honest, moral, friendly, and right. What's left of America.
Yes. I love having such a beautiful background: Alabama and Kentucky
I grew up and lived in McDowell County West Virginia for 33 years. You're speakin my language! Appalachia has the finest people on earth!
my dad was born and raised in McDowell county. Family names Stacy/Stacey, Vance, Fleming, Riffe/Rife.
My Momma used the word britches the same way. AND she'd often say- "Boy, you're get getting too big for your own britches" when I was acting up.
In Ontario, we were threatened with getting our britches tanned if we didn't behave.
In England we use that phrase too.’Getting too big for your britches’!😅
“Little old” is also a common phrase used in Northern Ireland to this day. Also ‘kilt’ is very Ulster Scots , ‘killed” would be pronounced “kilt”.
Not to mention, that they wear em too
Scots-Irish most everybody I grew up with In Central Kentucky always said they were Irish, yet hardly any of them were Catholic. I always had to explain to them that they were Orange and not the Green.
We say it in Australia too ☺️
There are a ton of Irish roots in our language here. It's so amazing to see my last name wasn't the only thing that got carried over from across the pond.
I always took kilt as past tense of kill.
Y’all are refreshing and down to earth. Wish more people had the same values
I am Ulster Scots / Scots Irish, from Carrickfergus , when we get startled we say that mad me jump and we say kilt as well and keep yer britches on , love how our sayings travel to Apalachia
Harry Williamson my great grandmothers maiden name was Williamson. Like a lot of my kin she was from the Southwestern part of West Virginia. She is of the Scots Irish bloodline
@@marybrowning5657 recently had my DnA
Test, 71 % Scots south west Scotland 24% Irish 2% England and North west Europe, I am Ulster Scots trying to find out when my family came to Ulster ,
You never know we might be kin
How do you think we came to be, and how we got the name redneck?
These sayings, I use and are familiar to me except for Jim-Jams and Juberous.Its nice seeing the Family joining in on CELEBRATING APPALACHIA, another good one Tipper.
Thank you Donald!!
ditto for me. I have never lived there, but was raised in several places overseas, and in the West (CO). most of the words are normal to me.
This is great! I'm old, originally from California, and grew up multilingual. I've lived in various parts of the world and the USA. I love language and languages come easily to me. In ever place I've lived, I strove and succeeded to learn both the history and the local language, with no accent, and all the idioms, enabling me to completely blend in.
My first exposure to the Appalachian accent came 25 years ago when I was living in Guatemala(!). I met someone there, a traveler, who was originally from Western North Carolina. I was fascinated by the accent that came and went. I'd never heard anything like it. I loved listening to it.
Now, I've been living in West Virginia for the past 15 years and I can say that the Appalachian accent is easily the most difficult to master of all. I've succeeded, and could write several chapters of a book about all the subtleties of it that I've learned. For years, I could not understand why it was so difficult. The basic answer is that it's full of subtleties and the intensity of the accent is itself variable, depending on emotional state. I've never run into this with any other language anywhere in the world.
Anyway, I have a blast with it today. It's fun. Mah car ain't workin' raht. It caynt pool the heel. Hahahaha. Wut?
Rule 1 of the accent is short "i" becomes long "ee". So you didn't kill it. You didn't killt it. You keelt it. Then ye poot the feesh in the skeelit and cook it. After dinner, ye wash the deeshes. But all of this is predicated on emotional state or desire for emphasis.
Most West Virginians, when in a relaxed state, sound very much like Middle Americans or Californians -- plain American English. But when emotions rise, the accent appears. The accent adds to the richness of communication.
There's a lot more, of course.
A stob......." Cut that sapplin closer to the ground and don't leave that stob stickin up...."
A stob is a short stick or a short small stump......
Umpteen or umpteenth......a lot of times...." I've told you for the umpteenth time , close the door when you come in"
My Dad called a stob A metal pole driven into the ground to mark the property line (NC)
Staub. It's sometimes said here in TX too. The older meaning is a stick with tapered end, for plugging a hole or pipe. Later it was generalized to mean any short stick, including a small tree stump.
I was born and raised just outside NYC. I moved to SC 30 years ago. My biggest regret is not being born here. I love country.
I was a truck driver for 30 years , all the big cities they can have it , give me the country any day , born and raised in the country , love it every day
NYC is pretty much exactly the same as West Virginia. The biggest difference I noticed is that the city has more yellow cabs, and WV has more gypsy cabs. I'm guessing it's just because NY is more stringent with their medallions.
I grew up some in NC and moved to NY. I am still made fun when I say certain words because my brain tries to go back and forth in accents and it turns out kinda British or like Arnold Schwartzenegger. One thing I don't miss is the heat.
"Like too" --I like too broke my leg when I fell.
That's a great one 😀 Thank you for watching!
I liked to have broken.....
We use that one alot
I grew up with many of these phrases in Akron, Ohio. Many of the folks living here have parents that came from Appalachia to work in the tire factories in Akron and steel mills in Cleveland and Youngstown. Hard working folks with a great sense of humor. I enjoyed working with them....retired now.
it appears many of them spread out across the whole country - or at least their lingo has.
I’m proud to be here! Thank you for sharing this lesson to help us expand our Appalachian vocabulary! Blessings...
You are so welcome 😀
fun fact: many southerners use the word "reckon". So do English (British) from Birmingham.
Stuart Ashens uses it all the time!
Reckon is super common in Australia too!
Southerners stole a lot of our accent and phrases from English (and Irish too bc we have a pretty strong Irish heritage) but during the revolution, a lot of folks in the south weren't as upset as folks in the north were about england, and besides that, we thought english folks were fancy and all that so we tried to emulate them. Another reason we kept drinking tea, and we made sweet tea to be able to show off how fancy we were bc back in the day, sugar and later ice, were expensive. So if u were slingin sweet iced tea to folks, they knew you had it. Plus its hotter than hades down here
@@BritneyStinson I don't think Southerners stole them - Southerners originally came from England, Scotland and Ireland so they already were using those phrases an accents. It was passed on down thru the family when they came here to America to settle in the South.
@@egrogan6482 I think we're saying the same things. In the south we have a lot of our words and the way we say our words from Ireland and england and things like that. But we , as opposed to the Yankees up north, were more pro English, especially at the onset of the revolution and as a whole, ofc there were parts that were for independence but for the most part, folks in the south made a lot of money with england in charge and their armada of ships. One state that is often left out of revolution talk, but was populated at the time, is my home state of la Florida, which remained loyal to the crown.
At any rate, their is probably a billion ways we got our accents and we could talk until we turned blue about it
Reminds me of my younger years in Boone County, WV. My Dad was the principal of a local elementary school. Often at school I'd hear that some student wouldn't be at school today because they had a "head code", or a head cold. Often you'd hear that someone didn't "have a lick of sense" meaning they had no common sense. In my community there was a small grocery store where many coal mining families had an account where they could buy groceries on credit. The store owner kept track of our purchases on a tablet. Although Mr. Waller owned the store, everyone called his store "the jotem down" because he would jot down (write) everything you bought on the tablet. Many times I would run across the road to the jotem down to get a loaf of "lite bread". Sometimes when we kids would play baseball in the yard, we would throw or hit a ball through a window and that was known as breaking a "winder light". We had many other words coined locally that most outsiders never understood.. Sometimes you'd get invited to go somewhere with a group of people. Someone would say, "We're going swimmin', yonto?" That meant would you like to go too. We had some interesting personal pronouns such as We'uns, you'uns and they'uns. If someone was a really bad person, they "waren't no good". In those years, you either worked for the coal mines or the government. There wasn't much in between. Sorry, didn't mean to write a book, but maybe I should. Today, I tutor English online. What a transition from my youth.
Gary-thank you for sharing!! And YES you should write a book 😀
Gary all that stuff sounded normal to this Illinoiz guy.
You should please let me know if you do
In Monroe Ga
I have fond memories of "yontu?", good times.
This is just wonderful... My first visit... I just love THE WAY PEOPLE JUST TURN A WORD/PHRASE ...I call it...and you doing this is a TREAT for me. Back in the Pittsburgh area of Pennsylvania... growing up... Mom would tell us to " red up "our room...(red up = clean up, order, make presentable) "I red up that side yard, the broken tree limbs were removed." More...More...MORE 🙋🌹8-12-22 GA USA
Yankee neighbor couldn’t stop laughing when I told her that I was “fixin’ta go over yonder”.
My mother in law was from Minnesota and moved here to Illinois. I'd swear they came from way down yonder. My stars they sure-nuf talked funny.
I have heard the fixin to go over yonder actually said by somebody in person. I have known a few people originally from Appalachia.
I often get the urge to go yondering, to drive the dirt roads and explore places that aren't terribly far away but which I never explored.
I told a Yankee that I bought a, Pig in a Poke, he was totally clueless.
I served with the Marines in Vietnam and in our platoon we had a young man ( slim as a willow and resilient as hickory) from the borderlands of Kentucky/Virginia and a Lance Corporal from Brooklyn or some neighborhood near there. Hearing them try to talk to one another was classic. At one time or another each one said of the other something akin to, "how'd he get in the Corps? Can't even speak English." Wish I could write in their vernacular. It's great. Both very dependable and courageous. Eventually they began to understand each other. Only in America.
I am a Northerner (MinnesOda) and I think it's great that you keep your culture & dialect alive! Keep your britches on, My dad used to say that. He was from Iowa.
How about "pertneer"? Jimmy was mindlessly swinging his baseball bat and pertneer took my head off!
"Ding nigh" is pretty much the same. "Reckon I'll head on home, it's ding nigh midnight already." Sort of an alternate to "dang near."
Slang for "Pretty Near", yep that's in my Brogue...
@@OgamiItto70 Purnt near is, I'd figure.
"right nearly" which is degeneratin into "rat nearly" 🤔
YES YES ,,YOU GOT IT,,, I PERTNEER RUNED OVER THAT DANGED OLE CAT
I grew up in Atlanta in the 1970s and heard many of these expressions. Even though it was a metropolitan place, you still had plenty of people from the mountains, and an urban mill community called Cabbagetown (where tear-down cottages are now worth over half a million dollars).
Jim jams is in Huxley's Brave New World, "A doctor a day keeps the jim jams away." My daddy was from central TX but he said all those things. He claimed his people came to TX from Appalachia.
My dad claimed we emigrated here from Hungary because his grandpa knocked up some girl
I love the way you mention "kilt" without it even occurring to you that the phrase "It liked to've" is regional as well, and that everybody doesn't just say that. What a delightful channel, and gracious family. I can't stop watching, makes me nostalgic for my Grandmother.
Oh my gosh LOVE this 💖💖 Haven’t heard “JUBEROUS” since my mother passed. Thank you
I live in Northern California now (since 1978), but my mother was from Whitesville, Kentucky. I recognize a lot of these expressions from her. Sure brings back memories. Thank you for these videos!
I never got jobbed in the eye by a limb but manys the time I got sworped acrost the face with one.
I've been sworped too 😀
Me too! Lol But I was more worried about getting my eye jobbed out;)
@@CelebratingAppalachia I got my butt sworped more n onect
lol yea but if you go sworping then you might get sworped
This blows my mind. I'm a 33yo Black dude from Indiana and so much of this I hear from older relatives and had no idea it had Appalachian roots. Language and culture is so precious, love this channel
So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching 😀
In London, England, we say "keep your shirt on" for "don't lose your temper". I think this is because men who were going to have a fist fight would take their shirts off.
Or, "Keep your hair on!"
@@TheRuthParsons Or, 'Don't get your knickers in a knot'.
In Canada it’s the pants. When they take their pants off, a fight is definitely happening. Trailer Park Boys taught me this important lesson so I don’t mess around and get my oil checked. Which is a whole other thing.
There are so many in the U.S. but don`t get your panties in a wad is common.. usually referring to angry males.
Just want to say how much I enjoy yalls videos. They remind me of my papaw and the hours he used to spend just talking, all the while teaching us grandboys how to be men of honor and integrity, us hanging on every word non the wiser the important lessons and old time skills he was teaching us. Thanks for bringing up these great memories for me.
I'm so glad you enjoy them 🙂
It’s amazing to learn some of these words and terms I learned from my father were likely passed down to him over the generations from our Appalachian ancestors. I’ll eventually pass them on to my children, and Appalachian dialect will be alive and well in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm 65 years old, born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, by grandparents from the Appalachian country. I grew up with this language and know (and use) them all. So do my children and to a lesser extent, my grandchildren.
Don't anyone else beside people in my family say the word "pretty" as like it is a measurement? As like "That is a pretty ugly thing to say", I am pretty sure you are right" or "they live pretty close to you to you".
Gary-we use pretty just like that! Thank you for watching 😀
I think that’s pretty common everywhere (born and raised in Southern California).
@@ourtubesocks well it is said that when the Great Depression hit then almost 1/4th of the Oklahomans and Arkansans moved to California. I am from Tulsa and we all say it that way here. So I guess when the Okies and the Arkies moved west then they took that kind of talk with them to California. Even though I say it then it still sound oxymoronic to say "that is a pretty ugly dog". Are you saying it is pretty or ugly?
Its very common in Australia.
It’s common *pretty* much everywhere. The Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of ‘pretty’ includes its use as an informal adverb: “to a moderately high degree; fairly.”
“Fixin to”- preparing for, taking the necessary steps, just before doing (something).
I’m fixin to break your nose!
or "im fixin to doctor up that frozen pizza, because it tastes so bland".
Being from SC, I say “gettin’ ready to fix some supper”
That's and "over to the"
We say fixin to so much that my daughter got me a decorative plate that says it.
Cute video. Thanks for making it. I've heard/used "kilt" a lot. For us "English" near Cornwall Mines, Pa. it would be like "killed" but, instead of the "ed" we just pronounce it with a "t" at the end. A sentence would be "I fell through the barn floor into the stable an' it damn near kilt me!"
I'm from Ky, but I live in MN, and I miss hearing a lot of these sayings. My buddies at work like to poke fun at me for some of the things I grew up saying, that ain't right or whatever. It's all in good fun though😆
Thank you for watching Daniel!
@@CelebratingAppalachia your videos take me home. Thank you!
They take me home too, Daniel. I'm down in Florida, and as homesick as I can be. 😭
@@gidget8717 well, you're not alone. I'm up in Minnesota in the same boat.😉
@@xxdrewxx6 where were you from in ky? I'm from southwest va. That little point where ky/va/wva meet. I was born and raised just a few miles from the va/ky line.
You ladies are so honest and sweet... I just melt. Bless your hearts..♥️
Odd thing is , I was a middle Tennessee farm boy growing up in the 50’s and 60’s and we said most of these words too . And dinner was the noon meal , supper was at night . Never heard of a lunch bell . Now that’s purt nigh all I can thank of
It was that damn TV that changed us , 6 miles south of chatternooga in n gawga here....
Here about sixty miles north of Birmingham, Alabama the language is virtually identical, to this day. Having been in my half century of living around people from all around our great nation, I’ll say that I love the language of the South better than any other.
@@k.b.tidwell old folks here used to ask “ how ya doin “? You’d answer “ fairly middlin “
@@randyblackburn9765 similar here, but I usually hear it “fair TO middlin”, and truthfully my back pains are on a sliding scale from day to day so I guess that’s accurate lol.
And have you ever heard someone say they’re “tolerable” or “tollable” when asked how they are? An old boss of mine told me that meant “Well enough to eat but not well enough to work”. I love that and have decided that will be my retirement slogan when and if that time ever comes! 😂
@@k.b.tidwell right you are , fair (to) middling is what they said , never heard tollable tho . Daddy grew up in the hill country of north west Maury County Tennessee and he claimed that breaking a new ground was new cut woods with stumps dug up or dynamited out and the mule would pull the plow and hit roots and it was hard on man and beast. Also a single tree in front of the plow was a sangle tree , and brand new was bread new , and cousin Erma was cuddin Erma . And the Natchez Trace was Notchez Trace . I knew hill folks in Tennessee that could not read or write, had no electricity or running water , never put the old folks in nursing homes either, they’d take the back seat out of the car and put straight back kitchen chairs in the back , two strong grandsons would carry Granny’s chair and put it on the floorboard and carry her to church, funerals and the country store , walk her right up to the grave sight and she’d make her little speech about the deceased having to crawl on earth but crawling no more .
Thanks for sharing. I've heard a few of these used in general American slang ("little old," "liquored up," "new ground"), but most are new to me. I hope to visit Appalachia someday. I'm sure I've got ancestors who made their way from there to Missouri, where I'm based. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular
I bet that will take the starch out of his britches. Meaning settle or calm down.
I am from Appalachia and I just wanna say we love all people from across the globe don’t believe the stereotypes that we’re all prejudiced, we’re very loving and caring people ❤
I grew up with many if not most of these in the Ozark Mountains
Me too 👍🏻😊
@@nikimoss8675 ♥️
My mom was from the Virginia/Kentucky border up yonder near PIKEville Kentucky and we grew up using the language. Your videos made me realize how much my momma influenced us young’ ins especially since living in a northern city and everyone looks at me when I talk.
You ladys have the prettiest smiles.
We from the rivers of Western Kentucky (the Tennessee, the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Mississippi) have a dialect inherited from North Carolina (by way of West Tennessee: many North Carolinians first migrated to West Tennessee in 1818, then migrated northward into West Kentucky in the following 40 years). The Kentucky dialect where my people are from has some in common with Appalachia (North Carolina, is, after all, in the Appalachian mountain range), but the tuneful nature of pure Appalachian intonation is somewhat depressed in West Kentucky: there is still tone, but it is closer to a monotone than the beautiful melodic up and down tonalities of speakers like the ones in the video. Not to say that the West Kentucky voice is devoid of tonal inflection, it is not, but the West Kentucky speaker hears the voice of an Eastern Kentucky speaker as if it were the voice of a beautifully singing choir member. Look at the success of Loretta Lynn, and her voice. One of the speakers in this video sounds just like her. Love to Appalachia from Central Kentucky and the Mississippi Valley. Your voices are ones we love to hear, and always will.
Love this video! Isn't 'kilt' just a different pronunciation of 'killed?' "It like to have killed (kilt) me!" That makes more sense than "kill." It sounds past-tense.
That's how we use it in Louisiana, "he kilt him a deer', or "it liked to have kilt me", but strangely enough you will not hear kilt when regarding the loss of a loved one of something really cared about.
that was the way I take it too. Many people pronounce words different ways.
“Ahhh, you’ve kilt meh”
Draco Malfoy when Bugbeak broke his arm.
Yep, I think it's substitute for "killed".
mom from NC mountains, Dad from Wv mountains...I just stepped back into my childhood...THANK YOU :)
I grew up with every one of these except "juberous".
Could juberous come from dubious?
Same
I wonder if its a long removed derivative of the word "Jew". I remember my late grandmother from the Midwest talking about when she moved to DC in 1940 she told a story at a party about "jewing down" a businessman that was trying to overcharge her. It caused a scandal and she was deeply embarrassed when she realized what was considered an innocuous phrase in the little town she was from was actually an ethnic slur. She had no idea.
@@AutumnLocks It's a very old bit of a comedic script that corrupted 'dubious'.
I'm thinking "kilt" is for "killed" (past tense of kill) .. and a T is often substituted for the "ed" on the ends of other words too such as "burnt" instead of "burned" and so on. Also, could it be that "juberous" came from "dubious?" Would make sense.
My granddad was 100% Irishman that came over here from Ireland in the early 1900's. He eventually settled in the Ozarks, but seems like it should have been Appalachia, ( which he may have live there, also) dying in a freak accident, but not before he had two son. All the words, except for one, are as common to me as saying the Lord's Prayer. He always said, "Gade be dang! Bee Jeezus", sad to say, that's all I remember, but I wasn't allowed to repeat it! Thanks again, for the walk down Memory Lane.
I actually live right here on Memory Lane. And that's the truth! It tian't but 1/8th mile long.
Oh my....I understand and have heard most of the sayings on these videos! My parents left the Appalachian foothills of South Carolina in the fifties and moved to the Tampa Bay area. My father was a real "hoot". He told us when he "carried" our mother to see Tom Jones, mom threw her "drawers" up to the stage, they covered his head , and Tom Jones "nearly" fell off the stage! Keep the videos coming!
Oh, and I forgot "airish," meaning chilly. Chimney was pronounced "chimbley." Pot likker, hog waller (not wallow), banty chickens, not bantam chickens, which my grandmother raised. Ever been flogged by a rooster? We had a mean one at one time and he'd flog you in a hearbeat.
Yes being flogged is no fun LOL! Thank you for watching and for sharing 😀
@@CelebratingAppalachia So have I (been flogged by a rooster) because it's a daily job hazard for me, since I work in poultry research. Usually it's the hens who are more bitchy though, lol. Roosters usually leave me alone.
We used to say chimley in Newfoundland as well.
Chimbley is an Irish word for chimney.I recognize many of the words you mention because my Irish hubby uses them.Its interesting to learn that they use those expressions in Appalachia.The Irish settlers must have passed them down.
Nothing better than pot likker with a pone a cornbread in it!
Youns don’t know how much I enjoy these they remind me of home so much Thanks for Lil old video ❤
“Skeered” (Afraid) “I ain’t skeered (or skeer’t)...”
😀
Yea its how you say it more than how its written,, another is I'm,
a feared. Of that meaning your afraid. Of it,,,,
Well, I ain't askeered an I ain't afreared of you ner nobody else!
You sound like my grandpa! He was skeert he’d kilt a deer with his truck!
@@duaneholcomb8408 I'm from Illinoiz and I worked with a bunch a guys from Albertville, Ala. The all done talked kinda funny. Bless their hearts.
Love it!! Seems like y'all are finally starting to get appreciated more in Appalachia. Glad to see it. God bless.
Can't forget "Raising Cain," to cause a fuss or stir. "He was raising Cain 'cause some dipstick runt over his dog with a truck!"
Awesome info. What a great name for that chicken place, it's so true.
Hey, you brought up another good one. "Dipstick." Definition: a stupid or inept person. The word dipstick is used a lot in the South.
I can think of a lot of people in Washington DC who are dipsticks...
@@johnw2026 that word was used when I lived in Minnesota. Not so much here in California.
To get a whipping: Im gonna stripe those legs...
My grandmother used that one all the time.
More good stuff. Learning something every time I watch this channel.
I'm a native Floridian with ancestors who came from South Carolina and settled down in NW Florida. So, I've heard/used most of these my entire life, but must say I've learned a few new ones!
Thank you! Brought back such memories of my childhood.
My husband was raised in Georgia and after a few years of being married (33 years and counting now) he said something like "Yeah, you know the scuttlebutt is that they're divorcing bc he ran around on her." I was like what the heck did you just say?! 😳 😂
He said scuttlebutt. I literally had to look it up to see if it was an actual word, and yes it is.
It means a gossip/rumor.
(The Rumor Mill)
Had NEVER hear that word before in my life, but I've heard it a lot since then. His mother has used it a few times, and I was like "THAT'S where he got it from!" 😂
😀
Wow my grandpa was from marianna Florida… he taught me all these phrases too must be similar heritage to Appalachia
Hey from Hayesville! I'm up cher wid my folk for a good ole time. We're the relatives of Jimmy Rogers. We already has some poor do, biscuit n sawmill gravy and flapjacks although the biscuits were the sorriest I've ever et. Later on the family is having our own all day singin' and dinner on the ground at my cousin Ricky's church. Then up to PawPaw's place where we'll et some poke sallet, cornbread n onions in buttermilk. Don'cha hate it when outsiders call us all sorts.
That sounds like so much fun!!
My mom used to use the phrase "catty wampus" but she was an Iowa farm girl. I had a friend who was going to the Scottish Games, and I ask him why he was wearing a skirt. His answer was, "It's a kilt and if you ever call it a skirt again; you are going to get kilt." The word "kilt" for kill or killed has traveled some. It got all the way to San Diego Ca.
Heard the term catty wampus many times , I was taught the term whamper jawed Which meant something that was crooked or not straight (NC)
I use catty wampus today but I've no idea where I picked it up.
Ya, and I've heard the opposite in Tennessee...Wampus Cat
@@grassshadow1 I first heard that in Texas as slang for a wild cat. But I also heard a wild woman called a wampus kitty.
I was born and raised in Ypsilanti Michigan, during ww2 tens of thousands of Appalachian folks moved here to work in the willow run bomber plant. So many stayed after the war that the whole area had a southern accent, including myself.
I've heard and used a lot of these words here in Pa. farm country.
I have never felt so impressed and somehow connected to a region in the USA than to Appalachia and its people. I just love the way they speak, their accent, their love for nature, culture, music, calmness, ans do many more... it just amazes me. Hope one day I'll visit this region! Stay blessed folks!
I would think gettin’ knocked-up would be worse than gettin’ liquored-up, although the latter often leads to the former.
🤣
My wife and her family came from a farm in Minnesota to Illinoiz. I'll swear theyz from the back side of the Smokey Mountains. They talked jist like y'all. An when we moved our young un to Florida it got even wursun.
My wife did get liquered up and knocked up. Thaz why she becume my wife at 17.
Oh, I do 't know - getting too liquored up can be worse than almost anything.
@@robertmorency6335 (
@@robertmorency6335 Yabutt. It surenuff worked good fer me an my wife. I larned her to stop drinkin liquer much after thet right there. She pretty much stuck ta beer drinkin when in public. 62 years together ain't nuthin ta sneeze at.
I love my southern culture. My line goes back to Traphill NC in the foot hills. I like to read about the early settlers like the Scots-irish or English. I see where we get our words from! Love this. Beautiful.
Thank you Scott 😀
@@CelebratingAppalachia ❤
I’m from KY and in my 30’s and I remember spelling tests in elementary school would usually be something to laugh about when a “t” is added so many words. I remember one year it was supposed to be “found.” The teacher gave her sentence to us as, “ I lost my dog but I fount him at the river.” 😂
Ohio bit older gets funny younger one's looks at me like got 3 heads some days
This was a fun video to watch! My family came from Appalachia prior to settling in middle Tennessee and a lot of these expressions have persisted through our speech and I even still use some today!
I remember my daddy coming home liquored up and mama would holler he's high as a Georgia Pine! Haha
😀
Yep, I remember both of them sayings.
Or "Drunker than Cooter Brown!"
Shame I don't know exactly who Cooter Brown is....
@@johnw2026 I use to say that!! Haven't heard it in years.
I live in the Appalachian mountains, small coal mining town called Grundy, VA. A lot of the younger generation have almost stopped using the old saying's. Your channel reminds me so much of my Grandmaw Jean, I sure miss her.
Aww these videos are so fun keepem coming!😂
So glad you enjoyed the video!
This channel is bringing my childhood back.
Every time I hear the word "kilt" I think of my Granddad who used to tell the dumbest but funniest joke to me as a kid:
A boy and his grandfather were sitting on the porch talking. The Grandpa shouts, "Did you see that, boy? A cat done run up that dog's ass." The boy corrected his Grandpa saying, "You mean rectum." Grandpa answered back, "Wrecked 'em hell! Damn near kilt 'em both!" 🤣
I dunno why that is still so funny to me. Probably just from remembering my Granddad. He was quite a character and a real rascal lol...
Sounds like you had a great Grandpa 😀 Thank you for watching!
Lol
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@@CelebratingAppalachia I got to enjoy my grandparents for many years and I miss them dearly now.
@@CelebratingAppalachia Now I'm a grandpa tellin my grandkids how we didn't have TV, internet, Game boards, and stuff. We'd sit listenin to the radio and playinn with sticks n rocks.
So my six year old granddaughter went out and played with sticks n rocks. She looked happy as a pig in mud.
im from the kentucky side of appalachia and its great to hear words from home. this is great keep it up.
Taint nobody gettin liqueured up in this house or y’all gettin kilt.
😀 Thank you for watching!
Thankyou tain,t. That's word I used to use allot. Lotta folks don't use it much any more they say I'm old timmey reckon,that I am at that,,,
Slang for "It Ain't"...
Do not touch the trim!
I understand that perfectly from across the water in Scotland. Take care of yourself and your kin
I watched the creek rock video and was completely enrapt in your story. I have a tremendous love of rocks too. How beautiful your jewelry stones turned out. Thank you for taking me through your process!! I was most impressed with your philosophy of appreciation for your land and your family connection. You are so sweet, Katie! ❤
The "kilt" example reminded me of another one: adding a 't' to off, as in "he done run oft." Also, this practice can be found in other regions as well; e.g., in Michigan and thereabouts they add a 't' to across ("it's 23 inches acrost"). Actually, I've heard that one all over the country.
I just love your channel. My Moms side is from Eastern Ky and my fathers side is eastern TN. Im up in Ohio, but Appalachia is definitely my heritage and you all (yawl) are right on about all your posts. I learn so much. I havent even heard of half of these sayings and the other half I use every day! One I use, and I dont even know if this is appalachian or not, is “fit to be tied”. When someone is stressed, or angry, and its showing, you are “fit to be tied”, and you need to “calm your britches”. Love you guys. Thanks for giving me a reason to remember my childhood vacations in the eastern Ky. Hollers.
So glad you enjoy our videos 😀 We say fit to be tied too!
Whenever Uncle Joe didn’t wanna do something and was pressed to give an answer, he’d say slowly,” I prolly might “. Lol
Thank you for posting this video. Love hearing your expressions in how you talk! ~Laura
Okay, I only knew 8 of the 10 on this one. "Juberous" absolutely threw me (was one of the two!) Thanks, and I'll keep watching.
Do you think it derives from 'dubious' or doubtful?
I love this channel. It makes me feel like I'm home with my granny again. Thank you
Glad you enjoy it!
Actually it's a teamster who yells "jayhole". On skid roads they would have turnouts (jayholes) where the draft animals could get off the skid road and come disconnected from the log train they were pulling if it started sliding on its own on the steep mountainside. Draft horses, mules and steers were valuable and if the logs ran over them chances are they would die or have to be killed if they were maimed. The animals were trained to turn into a "jayhole" when the teamster yelled that word.
When a log was let go on a steep mountainside in an uncontrolled slide it was called a "ballhoot". That's what the logger would yell if there was anybody below him. The best thing anyone could do if a log got away like that was to stand still and watch to see where it was going. If it came straight for you it was best to wait until the last second to dodge it because it's impossible to predict where it will go. If you're running away you can't watch it.
Papaw-thank you for explaining it! I was hoping you would 😀
@@CelebratingAppalachia I lived some of that old logging stuff. I was a kid so I was more in the way than anything else but I learned a lot from just watching and listening. A log train was a line of logs in a row that were connected together by "grabs" which were driven into the logs. Grabs were made so that when they were in the log they dug in deeper if they were pulled in one direction but pulled out easier in the other. I remember trying to ride the last log on the train. Daddy let me because I couldn't fall off and get run over.
All our land was uphill from the barn which means that when you had a sled load of hay for the horses to pull to the barn, it was downhill. You had to be careful if the sled was on wet grass or something slippery or it would "ballhoot" and slide on its own. When that happened, you had to keep the horses well ahead of the sled so the sled wouldn't run up on them, which would have been a catastrophe.
One of my un-fondest memories is having a huge sledload of hay ballhoot down the hill with the horses going at a full gallop. Only way I got everything stopped was to steer them out into another hayfield at the bottom of the hill where it was not so steep. Tore up some hay, but avoided a disaster. Decided right there, on the spot, that I didn't want to be a farmer when I grew up!
I thought I had heard( and used) most Appalachian terms, but Y'all came up with 3 I had never heard. You learnt me something.
"Come go with us!" which usually means, "we are fixin' to leave to go home."
I used to travel around the US doing temporary assignments practicing medicine. I enjoyed hearing the way my patients described their ailments. For example, a boil or abscess might be called a "risin" in certain parts of the country.
That's what my Momma called them too! We're from NW Florida.
Here's one I remember. "I believe I'll cogitate." Means I'm going to think it over.
My dad used to "sit on the throne and contemplate the universe."
For sitting on the toilet.
I was a Yankee transplant to SW Virginia 50 years ago and went on to teach 5th grade in a rural area. My kids kept journals (correct spelling optional) and one girl always spelled "think" as "thank; as in, "I thank we're going to Ma-Maw's on Sunday." One day it dawned on me that when she talked, she never said "think" but always said "thank." The teacher got schooled. Good memory.
Another one from SW VA:
"I've got a mind to..." means I'm considering something.
"I've got a mind to cook some dinner later on"
and " I reckon I'm gonna..." means you've made a decision
We use the same expression in Alabama.
Or, "I'ma fixin' to..." (do something)
and If you'll be there soon, "I'll be there directly"
@@crochet9100, I'm from the US Midwest and we use "be there shortly", which many tease me about since I'm 4'11".
We say that one as well in Newfoundland…as well as you had a like to…
I use all of these I’m from LA. That’s Lower Alabama. We use the term “Fixinto” around here. “ Did you change the oil in your truck? I’m fixinto”
As a child from Manchester England we used to say keep your knickers on. For calm down. Jim jams for pyjamas.
How about "don't get your panties in a wad." 😂🤣 Same as calm down, or don't lose your cool.
Same here Oz, Jim jams are pjs
@@johnw2026 We say that her in NC too.
We used to call pjs jammers
We would say kealed for killed
Thanks! I think jim-jams is actually from the UK (and probably came with original settlers) -- have been listening to audio books by Dorothy Sayers, English novelist, written in the 1920's & 30's, and have heard it used several times -- such a great phrase!