Americans who live in the southern states have the most colorful colloquialisms in this country! Some need a bit of translation, but most describe a given situation clearly and colorfully.
Here are some examples:
If you want to say a thunderstorm is coming, say: "It's comin' up a bad cloud."
If there was a lot of rain: "That was a sure 'nuff frog strangler."
He looks like someone rolled a log over him.
He looks like he's spent a few days under the porch with the dogs.
He was so spun around, he didn't know if he was afoot or horseback.
Swelled up like a tic on the back of a dog.
Swooped down on it like a duck on a June bug.
He's so clumsy he'd trip over a cordless phone.
He's about as handy as a back pocket on a shirt.
That's about as useful as a trap door on a canoe.
He couldn't carry a tune if he had a bucket with a lid on it.
She was so tall she could hunt geese with a rake.
She was so tall if she fell down she'd be halfway home.
He was so fat it was easier to go over top of him than around him.
It happened faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.
I feel like I've been run hard and put away wet.
I don't know whether to scratch my watch or wind my butt.
It is permissible to say anything about a person, no matter how mean, as long as you add the words "Bless her heart." "She never could cook a decent gumbo, bless her heart."
When my Alabama mother-in-law gives directions, it sounds something like this:
"Go on down a little ways 'til you get to the paved road. Take that on past the power lines, then go left at the cut-off and it's a good little ways* 'til you come to the sign that used to have a cow on it." Huh?
*"A good little ways" is somewhat farther than "a little ways". I love my mother-in-law even though I sometimes need a minute to translate what she's saying. She never could give directions, bless her heart. Don't tell her I said that or she'll go out back and cut a hickory!
Do you know any humorous expressions, southern or otherwise, that you can add to this collection? Post them in the comments, please, so we can all laugh!
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Comments: 24
She's slower than molasses in January.
Of course, I don't really pronounce the whole word "than", just the "n" sound.
Go get washed for dinner. :)
Regards,
Doyle I <~~~~~
Did you eat yet? Let's go eat.
Courtesy of a group of Tennessee carpenters.
Do you want to?
(Usually preceeded by Jeet yet? as above, (did you eat yet.)
I heard evera thang is a coke down there, its like all sodapop is cocacola...? Only sweet tea beats it.
Wilka
Thank you for posting to Make me Laugh
"Purtier than a spotted dog," is one I remember, and when my father wanted me to get something for him when I was younger, he'd say, "Get it for me. You ain't got no bones in your legs."
Thank you for posting this to the LOL Stuff Group
Thank You Glitter