"The devil is beating his wife": Dialect maps document U.S.'s many linguistic divides

[Show Me]

Also, just want to throw in: I've heard "bless your/her/his" heart used the way y'all have been talking about, but I've also heard it used more kindly -- truly expressing empathy/sympathy and compassion. I use it that way myself, and I think I have used it that way a time or two on WS -- now I'm worried someone probably thought I was throwing a subtle insult!

My grandma used 'bless your/her/his heart in that way. Say a grandchild was learning to ride a bike and fell off, she'd say, 'Bless your heart.'

I think the USA would be very boring if we all spoke the same way.

 

[my_tee_mouse]

I once had a neighbor who was from Tennessee, one day she sent my younger sister into the house to ask me if I had some black "paints" she could borrow. Since we were both into pottery and ceramics, I put a few jars of black ceramic "paint" in a bag and sent it over to her. A few minutes later she arrived at my house "paints" in tow and said "I ripped my black "paints" and I have to be to work in an hour and you send me "ceramic paints"?

Yeah, I busted a gut (laughed real hard)...she needed to borrow a pair of PANTS as in "slacks" for work. :floorlaugh:

:floorlaugh::floorlaugh::floorlaugh::floorlaugh:

Oh this soooooo reminds me of a story I was thinking about just the other day:

I still lived in the Big M, but the rest of my family had already moved to Ar-kan-saw. One Thanksgiving I was at my sister's house in Ar-kan-saw. I was outside admiring the improvements she'd made to shrubs, etc. around her house. My (then little) nephew comes out and says, "Momma wants you to take care of the rocks." "Rocks?" I said. "Yes, rocks. Momma wants you to take care of the rocks." Well I look at him and I look at her new landscaping, and I look at a pile of rocks which were being added to the landscaping, and I thought, "I'll be dayum if I'm gonna spend my Thanksgiving toting rocks into her shrubbery!"

So I put on my best chin-stuck-out-and-up-I-ain't-gonna-do-it-face. Nephew ignores this warning sign (no doubt knowing that "Buddy Bubba" was going to be included in my next response), dug his little feet in for the fight and said insistently, "Momma wants you to take care of the rocks!" So I think, what the heck, I'll tote a few, head over and pick up a shovel. "Rocks!" He yells. "Rocks! That white stuff we grow here in Ar-kan-saw!"

The kid was saying.......rice! :facepalm:

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Skeeters. Skeeters bite us up in he-ah. And....does anyone know why the Miss'ssippi Delta's so flat?


Because the skeeters need landing strips.
:drumroll:

 

[mimimama5]

As a transplant to Missouri from CT I run into this trouble a lot! the thing you push in the grocery store is either a buggy, wagon, carriage, or cart. And don't get me started on the bag and sack discussion. We have some lively pop vs soda vs sucker arguments too. My poor kids were born in a yankee state, with yankee expressions. When someone asks them if they want a pop, they are expecting a lollypop or a popsicle, not a soda, which mom doesn't let them drink lol. A sucker to me is a pacifier or a binky. They get all offended if somebody offers them a sucker, like its a slight against them they are acting like a baby. The pen, pin, set, sit thing is funny too. They pin the dogs here and they set down. If my daughter asks me for a pin, Im going to get her a safety pin, not a writing implement! And what do you call the bag that ladies carry around? I call it a purse, but some call it a pocketbook, some call it a handbag, some call it a wallet. Its a wild world of dialect around here. West Central Missouri seems to have an eclectic mix of all kinds of dialects. They do roundabouts, I take the rotary. Its a crayfish to me, but a crawdad to them. I say kittycorner, here it is katywhompus. You can imagine my husbands delight when I attempted to find katywhompus in the GPS! They laugh at a lot of my expressions, and I just shake my head at some of theirs. After 5 years I am almost blending in.

 

[wfgodot]

In my neck of the woods, it was never "do you want a pop." It was, rather, "do you want some pop."

 

[AlwaysShocked]

And how did woods get necks, I wonder?

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

And how did woods get necks, I wonder?

The same way problems got roots. :floorlaugh:

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Saying "overhauls" instead of "overalls."

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

Many people around here drive their vee hickle to work.

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Many people around here drive their vee hickle to work.

And your point is...?:floorlaugh:


Guilty as charged.

 

[RoseRed]

Many people around here drive their vee hickle to work.

For crying out loud my hubs changed the oi ell in his vee hickle just before suppah. He spilled a little of the oi ell and ruined his new britches, sat on the couch on top of my pocketbook and crushed it.

 

[CHERIE.T]

For crying out loud my hubs changed the oi ell in his vee hickle just before suppah. He spilled a little of the oi ell and ruined his new britches, sat on the couch on top of my pocketbook and crushed it.

:floorlaugh::rockon:

 

[Justiceforever]

As a transplant to Missouri from CT I run into this trouble a lot! the thing you push in the grocery store is either a buggy, wagon, carriage, or cart. And don't get me started on the bag and sack discussion. We have some lively pop vs soda vs sucker arguments too. My poor kids were born in a yankee state, with yankee expressions. When someone asks them if they want a pop, they are expecting a lollypop or a popsicle, not a soda, which mom doesn't let them drink lol. A sucker to me is a pacifier or a binky. They get all offended if somebody offers them a sucker, like its a slight against them they are acting like a baby. The pen, pin, set, sit thing is funny too. They pin the dogs here and they set down. If my daughter asks me for a pin, Im going to get her a safety pin, not a writing implement! And what do you call the bag that ladies carry around? I call it a purse, but some call it a pocketbook, some call it a handbag, some call it a wallet. Its a wild world of dialect around here. West Central Missouri seems to have an eclectic mix of all kinds of dialects. They do roundabouts, I take the rotary. Its a crayfish to me, but a crawdad to them. I say kittycorner, here it is katywhompus. You can imagine my husbands delight when I attempted to find katywhompus in the GPS! They laugh at a lot of my expressions, and I just shake my head at some of theirs. After 5 years I am almost blending in.

:floorlaugh: @ katywhompus!

 

[Dewey2Me1MoThyme]

At what temp chur does awl bawl?

 

[my_tee_mouse]

For crying out loud my hubs changed the oi ell in his vee hickle just before suppah. He spilled a little of the oi ell and ruined his new britches, sat on the couch on top of my pocketbook and crushed it.

:floorlaugh::floorlaugh::floorlaugh:

Spot on!

 

[my_tee_mouse]

This might not just be a suthun thang....it might even be a universal one, but I never seem to hear someone simply say, "I'll see you later; I've gotta go to Walmart." It's usually something along the lines of, "Gawwwwwwd help me....I've gotta go to Walmart."

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Just posted on another thread that something was "larapin good," as they say back home.

What the heck is "larapin exactly," I asked myself. So I looked it up for the official definition:

http://www.definition-of.com/larapin

"(Adjective) Larapin is an Adjective, describing a noun...peach cobbler, ribs, gravey & biscuits. Not a verb, a verb shows action.
Should be noted this is a Mid Western & Southern term commonly used to describe tasty po' folk foods, not drink. Northerers don't have anything that is "larapin"
Usage: Pass me some more of 'dat larapin gravey n' biscuits.

(Adjective) wonderful
Usage: the food was absolutely larapin

(Adjective) delicious food
Usage: How was those brownies that Susy made?
Larapin!

A good flavor
Usage: Those are larapin good collard greens

(Adjective) Something that tastes very delicious.
Usage: The meal I had at the restaurant was larapin.

(Adult / Slang)
(Adjective) Good-tasting vittles.
Usage: That sandwich was so larapin.

(Verb) Over the top in delectable flavor, seasoning, and texture., Superior taste in the food, sauce, drink, or dessert.,Memorable meal.
Usage: That sausage gravey made those biscuts larapin. The vanilla icecream was larapin on the peach cobbler.****Note: Collard greans could never be "larapin".

(Adjective) Food so good it would make you slap yore Pappy. [mytee's note: Nonononononononono! You don't "slap yore Pappy!" You "slap yo momma" when something's really good! Actually, to be specific, something can make you wanna slap yo momma, but I wouldn't recommend doing so! lol]
Usage: Them biscuits was larapin!"

 

[Justiceforever]

Hush your mouth! Collard greens CAN be larapin! If they are mixed with turnip and mustard greens! I know. I've slapped my Momma over some :slapfight:

Note: Chitlins can never ever be larapin!

 

[my_tee_mouse]

Hush your mouth! Collard greens CAN be larapin! If they are mixed with turnip and mustard greens! I know. I've slapped my Momma over some :slapfight:

Note: Chitlins can never ever be larapin!

Hahaha! And let the record reflect that it was not me who said collards couldn't be larapin...it was whoever wrote that definition. Any kind of greens cooked by experienced southern hands is larapin to me! lol I could live off greens, cornbread, butter beans, corn on the cob, field peas, and tomatoes all summer long....with watermelon or home-made, hand-churned peach ice cream for dessert, of course!!!:rockon:

 

[Justiceforever]

Hahaha! And let the record reflect that it was not me who said collards couldn't be larapin...it was whoever wrote that definition. Any kind of greens cooked by experienced southern hands is larapin to me! lol I could live off greens, cornbread, butter beans, corn on the cob, field peas, and tomatoes all summer long....with watermelon or home-made, hand-churned peach ice cream for dessert, of course!!!:rockon:

OMG you are making me hungry!