Appalachian Mountain-speak Test

[ALAYMAN]

Just finished watching a documentary about the hillbilly/mountain culture of western North Carolina, and thought of several native FFF Carolinians, and figured we might have some fun.  Please define the following words without using googling...


1) poke

2) casin's

3) dopes

4) yahnder

5) si-gogglin

6) peckerwood

7) a jasper

8) airish

9) boomer

10) scald

11)gaum

feel free to contribute more expressions if you know of any, even those from non-appalachian terms.

 

[Sherryh]

I'm not ashamed to say I was born and raised until I was ten in Harlan, Kentucky. We moved to Pontiac, Michigan when I was 10 and that was a culture shock.........to this day I still say words that I have no clue where they come from............

Why is it that they pick a toothless man or woman to talk to and they know everything ..........I don't get it....Go talk to the coal miners that are losing their jobs..........

 

[ALAYMAN]

I'm not ashamed to say I was born and raised until I was ten in Harlan, Kentucky. We moved to Pontiac, Michigan when I was 10 and that was a culture shock.........to this day I still say words that I have no clue where they come from............

I think I told you once before of the fella from Harlan that got me the job I've now worked for over 20 years.  He had a strong hillbilly vocabulary, but make no mistake about it, if you were fooled by his Kentuckian slang you'd get taken to the cleaners real quick, intellectually speaking.  He was sharp.  I owe a lot to him.  He's retired now, and I haven't heard from him in quite a few years, but his Kentucky sayings still stick with me, and make me laugh.  One of my favorites was what he'd say right after a really loud sneeze.......


"scat-there-cat-ya-got-your-tail-in-the-gravy".


lol, he'd say it so fast that you could barely make out what he was sayin'.

Why is it that they pick a toothless man or woman to talk to and they know everything ..........I don't get it....Go talk to the coal miners that are losing their jobs..........

Well, though this documentary did talk about how often Appalachians get stereotyped as toothless dulcimer pickers, it really was mostly about the unique heritage and language of a group of hill people, and how that culture is now being lost due to advancements in technology and infrastructure.

 

[ALAYMAN]

welll... i don;t know about most of those words but a few of them look familiar to this island girl ....

poke' is a very delicious hawaiian snack made from fresh seafood and hawaiian herbs and spices... .. .  .. my favorite is tako poke' made from fresh octopus... ... .. oh .. and sorry .. but you misspelled it.. ..  it;s supposed to have a ' on the end.. .. 

and here in hawaii a  boomer is a nuclear submarine that carries intercontinental ballistic missles.. ..  ...  we use to see them going in and out of pearl harbor when i worked on the boat.... 

scald is what happens when the water is too hot and leaves you with very painful blisters.. .

don;t know what gaum is ..... but it kinda looks like guam spelled sideways...  sort of.. . ??? ... .  guam is an island to the far west of hawaii that saw heavy military action during ww2...  the jungles of guam was one of the last hold outs of japanese soldiers that refused to surrender after the war ended... ..they hid out for almost 20 years and claimed they didn;t know the war was over.. . : .... 

dopes... that;s what people called guys who would hide out in a jungle for 20 years, with nothing but birds singing and crickets chirping, then claim later they didn;t know a war was over...  ;D

lol, thanks for the light-hearted and creative effort, and the chuckle.

 

[Izdaari]

I only know two of those:

poke - a wild vegetable, mildly toxic, popular because it's free, particularly with Poke Salad Annie, because the gator got her granny.

peckerwood - a Southern rural white man, stereotypically poor, ignorant and bigoted (but sometimes the stereotype is wrong).

No clue at all on any of the others.

 

[Reformed Guy]

Some of these are East Tennessee lingo...

Just finished watching a documentary about the hillbilly/mountain culture of western North Carolina, and thought of several native FFF Carolinians, and figured we might have some fun.  Please define the following words without using googling...


1) poke Paper bag

2) casin's

3) dopes Soft drink

4) yahnder Yonder

5) si-gogglin Erratic, sideways

6) peckerwood

7) a jasper

8) airish nip in the air, cool

9) boomer

10) scald

11)gaum

feel free to contribute more expressions if you know of any, even those from non-appalachian terms.

...and I've heard a woodpecker called a peckerwood, and casin's is prolly the membrane into which sausage is stuffed.

 

[Reformed Guy]

Add

-- pert-nigh

-- shin-dig

--gumption

--holler

--crick

--joint (has nothing to do with weed)

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

fixin - about to (do something)
dinner - mid-day meal (lunch)
supper - evening meal (dinner)
heap - a large amount.
rile - anger
buggy - a cart (place your groceries in the cart)
tote - carry (there was a local convenience store called 'Tote a Poke' - carry a bag)
coke - any soft drink
mash - to press (mash the button on the elevator)
yankee - anyone who lives north of the middle of Virginia

 

[ALAYMAN]

...and I've heard a woodpecker called a peckerwood, and casin's is prolly the membrane into which sausage is stuffed.

All of your guesses in green were right, but these last two ain't.  Izzy was right (pretty close at least) about peckerwood.

Add

-- pert-nigh (very close)

-- shin-dig (party)

--gumption (chutzpah, savvy)

--holler (hollow, which I live up)

--crick (creek, which I live across)

--joint (has nothing to do with weed)

I'd guess that "joint" is a waterin' hole?

fixin - about to (do something)
dinner - mid-day meal (lunch)
supper - evening meal (dinner)
heap - a large amount.
rile - anger
buggy - a cart (place your groceries in the cart)
tote - carry (there was a local convenience store called 'Tote a Poke' - carry a bag)
coke - any soft drink
mash - to press (mash the button on the elevator)
yankee - anyone who lives north of the middle of Virginia

I knew all of those, which shows what a real redneck I am right?

And ya forgot "cut", as in "cut the lights off".

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

airup
Figure on it
I swanney
near bout
washeteria
yonder
druther

 

[lnf]

How about this one?  Crowns = crayons

aleshanee, I inherited a recipe box.  Some of the recipes are written just like that.  They stay in the box.   

 

[JrChurch]

I got sugar-

I got blood-

I have trouble with smutherin'

 

[JrChurch]

I got sugar-

I got blood-

I have trouble with smutherin'

These are "medical terms" my husband had to learn when we moved here to the Appalachian (must be said 'Appa-latchin' )
Mountains.  If a person says the above in a pre-op exam, it means he has diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. 

 

[ChuckBob]

...and I've heard a woodpecker called a peckerwood, and casin's is prolly the membrane into which sausage is stuffed.

All of your guesses in green were right, but these last two ain't.  Izzy was right (pretty close at least) about peckerwood.

Add

-- pert-nigh (very close)


Being from Tennessee I actually understand what you're talking about.

-- shin-dig (party)

--gumption (chutzpah, savvy)

--holler (hollow, which I live up)

--crick (creek, which I live across)

--joint (has nothing to do with weed)

I'd guess that "joint" is a waterin' hole?

fixin - about to (do something)
dinner - mid-day meal (lunch)
supper - evening meal (dinner)
heap - a large amount.
rile - anger
buggy - a cart (place your groceries in the cart)
tote - carry (there was a local convenience store called 'Tote a Poke' - carry a bag)
coke - any soft drink
mash - to press (mash the button on the elevator)
yankee - anyone who lives north of the middle of Virginia

I knew all of those, which shows what a real redneck I am right?

And ya forgot "cut", as in "cut the lights off".

my dad says cut the lights all the time...  .. .  and i rmember him in the kitchen one time when we were kids telling about pinches, smidgins.. handfuls .. heaps.. messes and whole messes... . as it related to cooking... ??? .. .(i think i got them in the right order)...  and how so many of one added up to 1 of the others.. and so forth.... :-\...  my sister just stood there with the measuring cup and spoons in her hands and said... "dad.. whose cooking dinner.... you or us?".. 

Being from Tennessee I actually understand what you're talking about.


ChuckBob

 

[Sherryh]

Add

-- pert-nigh close up,

-- shin-dig  barn dancing ,square dancing

--gumption my mom says someone that is stupid!! LOL! He doesn't have any gumption

--holler is where my granny lived between the mountains...Watch for snakes!!

--crick a body of water that flowes down the mountain where the holler is

--joint (has nothing to do with weed) we laughed at this one ...... bones hurting ?

 

[ALAYMAN]

airup (???....put air in your tires)
Figure on it (meditate)
I swanney (sha-zzam!)
near bout (close to that)
washeteria (public laundomat)
yonder (over there)
druther (I'll choose that option)

These are "medical terms" my husband had to learn when we moved here to the Appalachian (must be said 'Appa-latchin' )
Mountains.  If a person says the above in a pre-op exam, it means he has diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. 

Never heard any of those before.

 

[prophet]

I got sugar-

I got blood-

I have trouble with smutherin'

Ah caint have tat, hawny, ah gots sugar.

Anishinabe

 

[Sherryh]

This has been a great thread...........my mom and I laughed so hard..........that has to be a southern term  LOL!

 

[patriotic]

Many in my area who are on disability,  refer to it as their "crazy check". 

"I cain't afford abuy it til my crazy check gits here!" 

Rural Georgia will say things like:

carry - "She had a green nose, so I carried her to the doctor to git some med'cine." 
tote - "I toted the whole groceries in by myself."
lik'ta - "I lik'ta ("like to") have fell down."  (Never have figured out why they like to fall.) 
slap out - "He worn them boots so much he wore 'em slap- out."  or "I'm wore slap-out." 

and don't forget

tarred - "It's late, and I'm tarred." 

 

[JrChurch]

carry - "She had a green nose, so I carried her to the doctor to git some med'cine." 

When we lived in Florida, a lady called and asked if I could carry her to church.  She was a heavy lady and I was not quite sure how to answer her.