Transcript

9.19.25 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. This is Radioized History Show and I'm
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your host and reader for today, Joseph Bolt. So happy
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to be with you for this time. And as you know,
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RADIOI is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. So let's get started. For today. I
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thought we'd lighten it up a little bit and talk
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about some old sayings, old phrases that we've heard most
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of our lives and what the history of some of
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those are. So the first source that I'm going to
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draw from comes from Southern Living mag dot com and
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the articles entitled sixty Southern Saints you Won't here anywhere else,
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and it's written by Mary Shannon Wells. Done so in
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August of twenty twenty five. So let's get the reading.
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Someone once said that when you visit the South, you
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need a translator. It's true. We do have quite a
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laundry list of sayings, and only Southerners sometimes understand. However,
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if you're from the South, you know that sometimes there's
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just no other way to get your point across. If
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you're trying to be nice but you just can't quite
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let it go. Bless your Heart is a go to
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when you've met the girl of your dreams. Chances are
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she's as pretty as a peach. If you just heard
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your mama come home and you haven't finished your chores,
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she will definitely be madder than a wet hen. Let's
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take a look at some of our favorite Southern saints
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and slang that we just couldn't live without. So we
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start off with bless your heart. Well, this can be
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deployed sincerely, But if you're hearing bless your heart in
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the South, that probably has maybe an edge to it.
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It's almost always accompanied by a good nature, perhaps slightly
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exasperated shake of the head. It can express empathy or judgment,
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or it can be said in place of a person's
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true feelings. Don't worry, though, everyone hears this every now
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and again. She was madder than a wet hen. Well,
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ever seen a wet hen in your life? If you have,
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you know that being madder than a wet hen is
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very mad. Indeed, some say farmers used to dunk their
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hens when they got broody. How about if I had
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my druthers. Druthers roughly translates to I would rather meaning
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if had things my way. The phrase is celebrated in
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song in the hilarious Southern inspired Broadway musical Little Abner,
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in which the title character sings, if I had my drothers,
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I'd drather have my brothers than anything else I know,
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And really wouldn't we all druther have our brothers. Full
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as a tick? If you just had a big Southern lunch,
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complete with corn bread and collared greens and pecan pie,
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you're definitely full as a tick. It's a vivid phrase,
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and it's an accurate one too. How about this one,
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worn slap out? When you're exhausted and I'm so beat
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I can't go long kind of way, you're definitely worn
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slap out. It is a physical and mental state of
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few degrees past weary and just this side of dog tired.
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It happens often during the Southern summer when the heat
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rises and and temperature shoot past one hundred. And we
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know about that this summer hankering. When you have a
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hankering for a tomato sandwich, you're in the mood for it.
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What's for dinner tonight? I have hankering for chicken pot pie?
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Tore up? She was tore up about not getting invited
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to the ladies luncheon, It truly upset her. What about Mike,
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could This is simply might with a Southern flare. I
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might could pick that package up for you. It's a possibility.
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Happy as a pig in mud? Have you ever seen
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a pig roll around in the mud. If so, then
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you know they're pretty darn content. If someone's happier or
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as happy as a pig in mud, they're having a
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grand old time, So don't burst their bubble. I don't
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have a dog in this fight. It's another way of saying,
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leave me out of it. Basically, you don't care one
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way or the other about the matter at hand. On
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the other hand, if you do have a dog in
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the fight, whoever you're disagreeing with, better watch out here
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we go. How about fixing to I'm fixing to tell
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you that this phrase is a southern as sweet tea.
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When you're fixing to do something, it's gonna happen. But
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you also may decide to take your sweet time over
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yonder when you're in the south. Over yonder is a
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distant direction, and it could be any direction. The phrase
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may be accompanied by a gesture indicating north south, east
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or west over yonder, down the road over yonder, past
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the field, over yonder, toward the water tower. This phrase
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can be intensified by the addition of the word way,
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as in way over yonder, Will the cows come home? Well,
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settle in, because whatever we're talking about is going to
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take all day. Cows aren't known for their speed, and
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they're usually out and about wandering until feeding time. Farmers
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know that if you do something till the cows come home,
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it's going to take all day. Let me let you go.
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Since we never dare hang up the phone while mama's
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chatting away, this may be the only way to end
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your conversation in a timely matter or manner. That is,
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carry me too. If you're not from the South, you
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might wonder why someone would carry another person to the store. Well,
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this phrase isn't literal. You simply take someone to the store.
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When you provide transportation for someone, you're carrying them in
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your car or on your bike to the next location
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a month of Sundays. If you haven't seen your mother
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in a month of Sundays, it's been too long. This
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expression is another way saying something has taken a long
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time or that something is unlikely to happen. Better, visit
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your mom knee high to a grasshopper, as in the
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last time I saw Bobby, he was knee high to
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a grasshopper. You might hear a distant relative or one
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of your mom's hometown friends say this about you when
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you come home from a long time away. Basically, it means,
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last time someone saw you, you were are very small
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hell of beans. In the South, a hell of beans
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is its own measuring stick, whether you're talking about volume
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or value. A hell of beans isn't worth much. That
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means whatever you're talking about is worth less than very
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little more than Carter's got little pills. This one originates
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from the nineteenth century, when Carter Products marketed little liver
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pills all across the country. Apparently Carter had a great
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many pills, because the phrase found its way into the
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Southern vocabulary. It indicates there's a lot of something, from
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problems to money. You may still hear it if you
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stop into a country store and here we go. No
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bigger than a minnow in a fishing pond. When you
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arrive on the banks of the fishing pond on Saturday mornings,
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you're hoping for a good catch enough big catfish and
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bream to fry up for the family on Saturday night.
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If you find only minos, though they look even smaller
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compared to the heavy catch you hope for, no bigger
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than a minnow in a fishing pond is as tiny
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as can be. You can't make a silk purse out
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of a sow's ear. Now, we're not talking about purses here.
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This phrase has meant that if something isn't good to
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begin with, you can't make anything of value from it.
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How about plum You may not just truly completely as
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be absolutely tired, but you might be plumb tired. Your
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neighbor may be plumb crazy. This is the absolute of absolutes.
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How about hotter than blazes? Get you some sweet tea.
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It's hot, y'all. You may hear a declaration about the
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heat as hotter than blue blazes. Either way, it's a
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day for sitting and sipping on the porch. Ah, No,
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you know this one. Piddling. A piddling is a small
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amount that's not worth bothering with. Someone who is piddling
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in the yard is wasting time and not doing a
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whole lot. This is a high compliment in the South,
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since Southern states are known for there are peaches. Can
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you guess what this phrase might be? Pretty as a peach.
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In fact, Georgia and South Carolina produce more peaches than
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any other state in the South, And of course there's
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nothing prettier than a warm summer day picking peaches in
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the sunshine. I know you've heard Grandma say this, gimme
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some sugar. What grandma says when you pull in the
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driveway or pop out of the car and you come running,
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she's not looking for sweets. What does she want, you know,
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a hug and a kiss. How about gussied up? Well,
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this means you're dressing up and looking nicer than your
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everyday look. Whether you're going to church, a wedding, or
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some special event, you'll wear your best for the occasion.
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How about hug your neck. If you're talking to a
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long distance friend on the phone and she can't and
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she says rather, she can't wait to hug your neck,
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it simply means she misses you and can't wait to
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show you some love. In many cases, it literally means
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giving someone a big hug, but it can also more
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generally mean to show affection or display love for someone.
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Hold your horses stop right there. This one may be
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self explanatory, but we can imagine it originating in the
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days of stage coaches, when horse and buggy fill the streets.
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If you hear this one, it's best to slow down.
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And how about this, Well, I declare a multi purpose southernism.
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If you use this phrase, you could be declaring any
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number of things, surprise, descent, happiness. The only requirement is
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that you declare it loud and proud. He was funny
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as all get out all get out finds its way
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into Southern phrases constantly, and it intensifies any statement. I
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was surprised as all get out, it was bad as
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all get out. Anything to the degree of all get
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out is something to talk about. Here's another one, Heavens
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to Betsy, an exclamation of surprise, anger, happiness, really, any
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emotion that is appropriate in nearly every Southern scenario. Hush
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your mouth. Grandma might whisper this one over her hymnal
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if she sees you cutting up in church on Sunday morning.
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We admit that we've heard this southernism more than once.
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Well I swannye instead of well, I swear. Southerners have
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adopted a geographically inspired alternative. Well, I swannye evokes the
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southern Swanee River, or depending up where you live, it
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could be Sewanee, a small college town in Tennessee. I'll
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tell you what. This is a point of emphasis, an
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exclamation that often ends without any additional telling at all.
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It can also be the opening to striking a bargain,
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sharing a strongly held opinion, or offering a piece of
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advice you may or may not want to hear. Here's
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a good one. Well, butter my backside and call me
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a biscuit. If you told your grandma you came in
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first place in the big race, and this is her response,
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it has nothing to do with buttered biscuits. This is
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just a long and descriptive way to show surprise that
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something unbelievable, something you never thought would happen. The surprise
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is usually a positive one. How about I reckon? We reckon?
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I reckon can replace any number of phrases such as
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I guess, I suppose, I think, and I imagine. It's
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a Southern phrase said by family and friends on porches
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and in rocking chairs all across the South. Oh my Stars.
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If you've tapped out on well, I declares, or have
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to Betsy's, consider using this shortened and southernized version of
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England's favorite, Oh my Stars and garters exclamation of surprise
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and astonishment. Here's my favorite. It'll make you want to
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slap your mama, used to describe something that's so good
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that you might do something unthinkable or extreme as a result.
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It's often used to describe food that's insanely delicious. There's
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even a Southern spice called slap your mama Cajun's seasoning
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that's named for the famous expression too big for his breeches.
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This one as an unarguable Southern criticism. Translated, it means
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he sure to us think a lot of himself. If
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you hear this one, you should probably pause a moment.
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Southerners tell it like it is, no matter what it is,
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So if someone utters this phrase about you, think of
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it as a learning moment. She's got gumption. Gumption is spirit, courage, spunk, boldness,
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and initiative. Someone tells you you've got gumption, you should
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thank them and then walk a little taller because you
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just received a lovely Southern compliment. Southerners adopted this phrase
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wholeheartedly from its early usages in the seventeen hundreds England
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and Scotland, where it meant common sense. In the nineteen hundreds,
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the word evolved, taking on a sou and spin as
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new meanings such as courage and get up and go
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a rooster one day and a feather duster the next.
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This is our creative way of saying that you shouldn't
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crow like a rooster about your wealth and belonging today
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because it could all disappear tomorrow. Quit being ugly. No,
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we don't mean you need to go fix your hair.
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This phrase isn't about physical appearance. Rather, when this phrase
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is used, we like to mind your manners and stop
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acting inappropriately. You'll most often hear it coming out of
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mama's mouth when the kids are running amok. He thinks
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the sun comes up just to hear him crow. When
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you hear this phrase, it's the Southern way to say
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a person thinks highly of himself. Person in question is
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cocky and thinks when they talk everyone wants to hear
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what they have to say. Here's one living in high cotton.
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If a person is living in high cotton, it means success.
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It comes from the Antebellum South and refers to plentiful
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cotton that grew high and promised a good crop, which
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meant a good prophet. This phrase is used to mean
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life is good, the porch light's on, but no one's home. Well,
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there are many ways to say it. This is a
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polite and colorful way to say a person's not very bright.
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He ain't got the sense God gave a goose. That's
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another nice way saying that someone's ignorant or isn't using
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their brain. Y'all all contractions. When talking to two or
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more people in the South, you don't refer to them
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as you or even you all. It's y'all, And if
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you're writing it down, it's always why all, not why
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a LLL pretty as pretty does. Similar to the phrase
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quit being ugly, this one alludes to the fact that
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it's what's on the inside, not the outside, that matters.
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High falutin another word for pretentious or pompous. This is
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an insult used to describe someone who thinks they're fancier
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or more important than there really are. In other words,
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they're too big for their breeches. That's catty wampus. While
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this phrase may sound made up, it's simply a multi
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syllabic manner of saying something is a skew. This nineteenth
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century phrase was once used to refer to some fierce
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imaginary beast, until it went off course and adopted the
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current meaning of a rye. How about hissy fit? If
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you've ever had a tantrum because Grandma's mic and cheese
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ran out before you got a second helping, you know
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what a hissy fit is, even if there's nothing left
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to scrape in the pan, using your manners and move
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along a proper Southern behaves. No hissy fits are allowed
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preaching to the choir. When you are preaching to the choir,
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you're trying to convince someone who already agrees with you.
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Save your breath. You're all in solidarity. Drunker than Cooter Brown.
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As you can imagine, this phrase is usued to refer
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to someone who's had one or few too many cocktails.
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It all originated fact during the Soul War, where the
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story goes that a man named Cooter Brown, who lived
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on the Mason Dixon line and had family both north
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and south, stayed drunk to avoid being drafted in the military.
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It'll all come out in the wash. Just like dirt
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and stains, worries and problems will wash away. Whatever is
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bothering you isn't serious and it will eventually be resolved
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with no lasting effects, so don't worry. Well, I guess
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it's time to close now. Oh that's not a Southern phrase.
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That's just the way I'm going to end today. I
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sure hope you enjoyed today's program as much as I
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did read reading it to you and researching. I thank
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you for listening and giving me your time today. I'm
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your host, Joseph Bolt, and I'll be back with another
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chapter of Ready u I History. Until then, happy trails,