BY KYLE LOVERN
In Appalachia we have a certain language – or linguistics and a way we say certain words that those city slickers may not completely understand. It’s a long tradition passed down through the years.
I’m afraid we’re starting to lose these quaint terms or phrases with our younger generation. But we need to hang on to it, even if it may not be proper pronunciations.
So in your best hillbilly or mountain slang, here are a few of my favorites.
That was a real “gully-washer” means that was a very hard rain or storm. It rained so hard it made ditches down the hillside or the dirt road.
One I used to hear a lot, but I haven’t in many years is “roashanears,” which is about roasting ears of corn on the cob. Now the spelling of “roshneers” could be different for some.
Fold those clothes and put them in the “chesterdrawers.” This refers to a chest of drawers to go with your bedroom dresser.
Of course we say “holler” for hollow. But this can also mean I’ll holler at you. Or to explain, I’ll contact you in the near future.
“Light bread” – means sliced bread from the store-bought variety.
Pawpaw and Mawmaw always had a loaf of light bread on the dinner table. I joke with my wife Vicki about her using this term. I ask, “If it’s so light, why doesn’t it float?”
He is “agin it” means opposed or against.
She was just “pullin’ your leg,” which means to pull a joke on someone. “Ah, he don’t mean nothing. He’s just pullin your leg.”
A “buggy” means a shopping cart. Put your groceries or vittles (food items) in the buggy.
“One of you young-ins go get momma a buggy for my groceries.”
Can you put my groceries in a paper “poke?” Which means a paper bag. Of course nowadays they are all plastic.
I’ll get to that chore “dreckly,” which means I’ll do that task very shortly. “Yes ma’am, I’ll get to that dreckly.”
I don’t think he is the “sharpest tool in the shed.” This means you don’t think a person is very smart.
“The lights are on, but nobody’s home” is another reference to someone who may not have the highest IQ.
She “dropped him like a bad habit” says that she broke up with her boyfriend and didn’t waste any time doing it.
He has “got a hitch in his gitty-up,” which means someone has a bad leg and is limping along as they walk.
She is “grinning like a possum eating peaches,” or, as my dad said, persimmons, which was a fruit common to the region back in the day. But it means someone is smiling because they are extremely happy.
Or he is “happier than a pig in slop,” which describes someone very happy with a situation. I’ve also heard this as a pig in something else, but this is a family newspaper and we won’t use that word.
Or if you “wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.” This means if you hang around the wrong crowd or with a certain type of people, you’ll end up getting into trouble like them.
“He knocked him into next week” means someone was hit so hard it knocked them out. The boxer hit knocked him into next week, which means he was knocked unconscious for a while. Or he “hit him so hard his mother felt it.” I think you get the picture here.
That boy is “dumb as a coal bucket” means you think someone is not very smart. You’re comparing them to an object that has no brains.
It’s “colder than a well diggers butt,” however many use a term other than butt. But it tells us it’s pretty cold outside because the farther you dig a hole, the cooler it gets.
That “don’t make me no never-mind” is a phrase that means a person doesn’t care about a certain situation.
How about, “I’m all yourn, and you’re all mine.” You can hear that in a song written by eastern Kentucky native and songwriter Tyler Childers. Or you could hear someone say, “That is not yourn; that is mine.”
I’m sure you have heard other words or phrases over the years. If you have, comment on Facebook and let us hear your favorite.
Until next time.
(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)