"He doesn't have a lick o' sense," she'll say, and immediately I feel right at home. Chuckling, I will listen a bit more closely for another nugget, and usually I'm not disappointed.
"She's so picky, the devil himself couldn't please her," she'll say and I'll say:
"Oh Lord, don't I know it."
She reminds me of other sayings, some well known, (such as "He's two bricks short of a full load") and others not so much (such as "We'll need right smart o' line for that reel"). Papa used to say "right smart" any time he referred to "plenty" or "lots" of something.
"Did it rain good yesterday, Mr. Johnny?" one of the men in barber chairs would ask.
"Oh, right smart I guess," my grandfather would answer, clearing his throat first.
They dubbed things from long ago, or out of style, as "old-timey." That struck me as very funny, as I just couldn't make the connection from old-times to out of style.
"You know," they would say, "she wears those old-timey leggings, hotter'n sin and I can't fathom how she can stand them."
"She's just gettin' on up there. Hon, would you hand me my purse, it's over yonder on the chiffarobe."
"OH me! I ain't had so much fun since the hogs ate my little brother." That shockingly funny one came from the proper mouth of my paternal grandmother, Mema. More on her later, but she was a spitfire. She was funnier than a crutch.
Someone would hear a piece of shocking news, and all they could say was "Well, I'll Swan," which came from "I'll Sewanee," according to some sources, but "I'll swoon," some others say. Wherever the saying comes from, at times I would just love to hear somebody say, "Well, I'll Swan," just to be reminded of some of the old-timey talk.
When I get a "right smart" of the sayings together, I'll scribble them all down into one article. For now, I got about forty-leven things to do. I can't sit here all day like a bump on a log. But I do wish it would come a good frog-strangler. If it would rain, I'd be hoppin' round faster than a knife fight in a phone booth.
My favorite saying of my mother's was "There's a lid for every pot", when we would see a rather unattractive couple.
ReplyDeleteAh, shuckins, you did good, girl.
ReplyDeleteHAhaha!! I still say 'a lick and a promise' and no one knows what I'm talking about. Sayings I grew up on (not sure if they are southern or not) "give 'um hell"-always my fathers advice and "you're not made of sugar"-from my grandaddy who was always out to toughen me up. :) And my grandmother still says "teef" for those white things in your mouth and winder for that glassed hole in the wall. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post!