topic "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey in Among Friends

"Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

ECBG — Wed, 09 May 2018 18:28:43 GMT

I grew up with several of these sayings. What are some sayings you grew up with?

Sweet Sayings for the Southern Mama

Southern mamas give some of the BEST advice – even if it doesn’t always make sense (at first)! We rounded up a list of common Southern sayings that our mamas have said to us over the years. Read on to find out what your mama really means when she says you’re “madder than a wet hen.”

“Hold your horses”

No, we don’t mean literally. This saying means “wait a minute” or “slow down.” It comes from days of old when people would travel via horses or carriages.

“You catch more flies with honey than vinegar”

We have yet to actually test this one scientifically, but the concept is that you’re more likely to get what you want (the ‘flies’) if you are sweet and kind, rather than sour and rude.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch”

A lot can happen between a hen laying her eggs and the chicks hatching from them. Sometimes they don’t all make it out. You shouldn’t take anything for granted until you are sure you have it!

“Too big for his britches”

If you’re overly confident or cocky, you may be too big for your britches (AKA your pants). If your mama says this about you, it’s probably time to stop taking yourself so seriously and have a little fun!

“Pretty is as pretty does”

Someone may be physically attractive, but if they are rude or otherwise ‘ugly’ (see #9) then they will never be pretty!

“Madder than a wet hen”

When a hen either won’t lay more eggs or let the farmer take her existing eggs, the farmer’s solution is to throw a bucket of water on her and break her of her “broodiness.” We’re no experts, but we can imagine this would make the hen very mad indeed. Use this phrase to describe your rage!

“Bless your heart”

This sounds sweet, but it all depends on the speaker’s tone (or what she says afterwards). It can be a heartfelt phrase full of sympathy or gratitude, or it can imply the subject is dumb or pathetic.

“There’s more than one way to skin a cat”

We’re not sure why’d you skin a cat, but apparently there are many ways to do it! This phrase suggests there are often multiple solutions to a problem; you simply must find the one that works for you.

“Quit being ugly”

This one has nothing to do with how you look, but how you’re acting! Someone is ‘being ugly’ if they have a nasty attitude. If pretty is as pretty does, ugly is as ugly does, too.

“She’s like whiskey in a tea cup”

This is a phrase every Southern belle aspires to hear uttered about herself. Tea cups are often dainty and beautiful, while whiskey packs quite a punch. Use this phrase to describe someone who is sweet and ladylike on the outside, but has a fierce personality.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

Imaoldhippie — Wed, 09 May 2018 19:24:38 GMT

I grew up hearing these north of the Mason Dixon.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

riley1 — Wed, 09 May 2018 19:44:21 GMT

I'm from NJ and heard many of these sayings from my Mother and she was from Mass.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

OKPrincess — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:16:15 GMT

Many of the above plus

Well I swannee (I don’t know how it’s spelled only how to say it). Pronounced swan ee.

Well for goodness sakes

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

cherry — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:35:03 GMT

My mother used to make my sister so mad ,when she complained about how something looked. Mama would always say, it won't be seen on a trotting horse

ANother thing was ,water off a ducks back, when she wanted us to ignore something

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

blackhole99 — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:46:25 GMT

As scarce as hen's teeth is the only one I remember that has not been mentioned.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

ECBG — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:47:49 GMT

@Imaoldhippie @riley1I'm surprised these sayings were so northern as well. Still, there were decades of the US being a nation of mainly farmers and hunters!

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

shoptilyadropagain — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:57:49 GMT

@OKPrincess wrote:
Many of the above plus

Well I swannee (I don’t know how it’s spelled only how to say it). Pronounced swan ee.

Well for goodness sakes

My mom used to say this only it was just swan as in...."Well, I swan". As a kid, I used to think this was one of the dumbest things she ever said.....LOL!

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

jannabelle1 — Wed, 09 May 2018 23:10:25 GMT

I think many of us have grown up with most of these sayings no matter what part of the country we're from! I was an Iowa girl growing up and the only one I haven't heard of is the whiskey in a tea cup.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

mustang66lady — Fri, 11 May 2018 04:53:22 GMT

I live north of the Mason Dixon as well; just east and a little north of St. Louis. These phrases as well as some I am too tired to think of at the moment are phrases that I am all too familiar with; it was how I was raised.

The "funny" (sic) thing is to most people in IL if you live south of Chicago, you live in the "South." That said, I'm proud to be a Northern Southerner or a Southern Northerner!

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

Kalli — Sat, 12 May 2018 16:40:30 GMT

I’m a northerner through and through. Have heard all of these except the tea cup whiskey one.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

AngelWhispers — Sun, 13 May 2018 03:36:37 GMT

Wow what a blast from the past! I live in the South and the funny thing is some of those sayings are still being used today! I am guilty of using "Bless your/their heart" all the time and I say "hun", not meaning anything negative by it. It's just who I am and a part of me as a gal raised in the South.. And yes we love sweet tea!

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

Mistic — Sun, 13 May 2018 00:48:36 GMT

@ECBG

"Bless Her Heart" ~ "LOL!" I spent 10 years in the Smoky Mountains of NC. That "BHH" really gets a work out. It's like anything goes, as long as when you are done, you say "BLESS HER/HIS HEART!"

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

ECBG — Sun, 13 May 2018 00:52:29 GMT

@Mistic wrote:
@ECBG
"Bless Her Heart" ~ "LOL!" I spent 10 years in the Smoky Mountains of NC. That "BHH" really gets a work out. It's like anything goes, as long as when you are done, you say "BLESS HER/HIS HEART!"

@MisticExactly. It's either "I feel or I feel sorry" for that person, or "they couldn't do any better than that!".

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

ECBG — Sun, 13 May 2018 04:02:46 GMT

My great aunt would exclaim "law" or "Law" when she heard something extreme or was trying to put emphasis on a statement she made.

"Laaaaaw, she was the best cook!". It always hit me like "Lordy", (not to be irreverent).

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

Mistic — Sun, 13 May 2018 04:50:17 GMT

@ECBG

AWE LAAAW! LOL. Did we live in the same place? How about "Eat Chet?" ~ Have you eaten yet? Or one of my favorites. I had not been there long, and my boyfriend (Husband for almost 41 years now) tells me "Gotta git Earl." I thought it was someone that I hadn't met yet. Earl was OIL for his car! I needed a translator for months. Very Kind People, but I could not understand many things they were saying.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

ECBG — Sun, 13 May 2018 16:17:59 GMT

@Mistic wrote:
@ECBG
AWE LAAAW! LOL. Did we live in the same place? How about "Eat Chet?" ~ Have you eaten yet? Or one of my favorites. I had not been there long, and my boyfriend (Husband for almost 41 years now) tells me "Gotta git Earl." I thought it was someone that I hadn't met yet. Earl was OIL for his car! I needed a translator for months. Very Kind People, but I could not understand many things they were saying.

@MisticSomewhere I have heard "Ja eat Chet?". I don't know where that came from, though. We didn't speak like that. My students always complained if I corrected their written work because of the grammar and especially verb tenses. Once, a student asked me if I taught English. I just smiled and said "I teach YOU!".

My great aunt grew up in Morgangton, NC.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

Mistic — Sun, 13 May 2018 17:33:57 GMT

@EGCB ~

Small World. I was just in Morganton last October for my Son's Wedding. We stayed in a beautiful rental home up on a secluded mountain top. All 3 of the new big homes were rented out for all to stay... The wedding took place on the overlook at Wisemans View, just off the Parkway, near Linville Falls. A long drive from home for all (PA), but they love that place, so that was the final destination.

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

BettyNewbie — Mon, 14 May 2018 11:52:23 GMT

"I dont know them from Adam"

"Katie bar the door'

and "So help me Hannah"

Re: "Sweet Southern Sayings" From Tupelo Honey

reynie — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:17:46 GMT

@Imaoldhippie wrote:
I grew up hearing these north of the Mason Dixon.

Same here. I've heard most of those. Cute to read though. Thanks for posting them @ECBG!