SL version

Burke Talk by Category

[List Alphabetically] [List by Category] [Search:

]

Dead to the world - Fast asleep
Looks natural - Compliment to a deceased person lying in a casket.
Old as Methuslah - Very old
Spring chicken - Young
Still wet behind the ears - young or inexperienced
Whippersnapper - A young person
Young 'un - A child
Young buck - A young man
Young colt - A young boy
Bless out - Cure
Burned up - Angered
Fit to be tied - Very angry
Fly off the handle - Get very mad, very quickly.
Get someone's (nanny) goat - Make someone angry.
Hair up ass - Angrey, irritated
Mad as an old wet hen - Very angry
Makes my butt want to dip snuff - Makes me angry
Pitch (throw) a fit - Show extreme anger
Red ass - anger
Scorched - Angered
Something stuck in your craw - The reason for anger
Turn your damper down - Calm down!
Wring someone's neck - Expression of anger
Biddies - Baby chicks
Brimmer - A brahma cow
Gap - A simple gate in a barbed wire fence in which wires are attached to a stick which is tied to a post with wire hoops top and bottom.
Heifer - A young female cow
Mammy cat - A female cat
Muley - A cow with no horns. Also "muley cow."
Settin' hen - A hen who is sitting on a nest of eggs to hatch them.
Vigorous ("v-eye-gorous" - Mean or aggressive
Yearling ("yurlin'") - A year old cow. Older than a calf but not full grown.
Big as the side of a barn - Very large, especially a person
Cute as a possum - Attractive
Dried up - Small person with wrinkled skin
Fat as a bear (or pig) - Very fat
Favor - Resemble
Get your ears lowered - Get a haircut
Looks natural - Compliment to a deceased person lying in a casket.
No bigger than a bar of soap - Tiny
Old as Methuslah - Very old
Painted up - Uses heavy make-up
Pore - Poor, meaning either in ill health or very thin.
Pretty as a little red wagon - Pretty or cute, as a child
Sight - Outrageous in appearance
Spring chicken - Young
Ugly as homemade soap - Really unattarctive. Refers to lumpy, unattractive homemade lye soap.
Whippersnapper - A young person
Ain't nobody come - Just ordinary, everyday people with no pretensions.
Big head - An inflated sense of self importance
Common - Plain acting; without pretense
Eatin' razor soup - Being sarcastic; being a wise guy or smart alec.
Fat, dumb and happy - Dangerously satisfied; oblivious to risks
Feet on the ground - Balanced, wise
High horse - Stubborn or haughty
Highfalutin' - Elegant; snooty
Nose in the air - Possessing an attitude of superiority
Put on airs - Act important or superior
Rotten - Spoiled
Sass - Speak to someone, especially a parent, with disrespect
Second childhood - When a middle aged person starts kicking up his heels. Now commonly called "middle age crazy."
Shoot a big gun - Boast or do things in an ostentatious way
Snooty - Haughty
Snotty - Rude
Strut like a bantee rooster - To hold a higher opinion of yourself than warranted.
Stubborn as a mule - Extremely stubborn
Thinks her s**t don't stink - Arrogant
Too big for his britches - Arrogant; inflated sense of self importance
Vigorous ("v-eye-gorous" - Mean or aggressive
Wash your mouth out with lye soap - Warning to a child who is sassy or says a naughty word
Chew - Chew tobacco
Dip - Use snuff
Drunk as Cooter Bill - Extremely inebrieated.
Drunk as a skunk - Severely intoxicated
Go across the river - To get drunk.
Higher than a kite - Drunk
Levi Garrett - A brand of snuff
Prince Albert (in the can) - A brand of loose tobacco for rolling cigarettes
Riz La - A brand of paper for hand rolling cigarettes
Roll - Make a cigarette using loose tobacco and cigarette paper
Tanked up - drunk
Three sheets to the wind - Drunk
Before God and everybody - Done very publicly
Bellerin' like a bull - Yelling or screaming loudly
Blowhard - A braggart
Born in a barn - Uncivilized or untrained.
Carrying a coal of fire - In a hurry
Caught with his pants down - Discovered in a compromising position.
Caught with your drawers down - Caught in a compromising or embarrassing situation
Conniption fit - Tantrum
Could have crawled in a hole - Deeply embarrassed
Cut - Do something
Cut a dido - Take a crooked or unusual path
Cut a rusty - Engage in vigorous fun
Cut off his nose to spite his face - Act irrationally revengeful
Cut up - Misbehave, often in a humorous manner
Cutter - A mischievious person.
Dead to the world - Fast asleep
Didn't go to do it - Unintentional or accidental
Double dog dare - The strongest dare. Stronger than a simple double dare.
Dry haircut - Holding someone's head, usually a child, and rubbing their scalp with the knuckles. Usually done as humorous hazing.
Dull as dishwater - Unexciting
Egg someone on - Encourage someone to do something wrong or unwise
Hen scratches - Poor handwriting
Hold onto your drawers - Calm down
Hold your horses! - Injunction to stop or slow down whatever is happening. Also calm down Also a statement of disagreement.
Keep your britches (or drawers) on! - Calm down! Be patient!
Kick the traces - Threw off all constraints..
Kick up your heels - Celebrate or live a suddenly lively existence
Light a shuck - Motivate
Like a hen building a nest - Indecisive. Jumps from one thing to another.
Mean as a snake - Very mean
Mischeevious - Mischievous
Money burns a hole in his pocket - He's a spendthrift
Monkeyshine - Stunt, often humorous
Naked as a jaybird - Completely naked
Odd duck - Someone who behaves in a peculiar or unusual way.
Pass and repass - Have a formal but not friendly relationship
Peck's bad boy - A mischievous child.
Pen - Prison
Pillar to post - Erratic, unreliable behavior
Piroot around - to go about idly or aimlessly, or to nose around or snoop
Pitch (throw) a fit - Show extreme anger
Poor excuse - Not very good. Bad.
Put a quietus - Stop a behavior. Pronounced "qui-ee-tus".
Put on the dog - Do things in a showy way
Put one foot in front of the other - When things are hard, keep going
Raise cain - Complain or cause trouble
Raise the roof - Make a lot of noise
Ring-tailed tooter - A wildly energetic person, or a person out of control
Ripped his britches - (1) Passed gas.(2) Got into trouble
Run someone ragged - Tired you out with activity or aggravation
S**t on - Treat badly
Sawing logs - Snoring
Show out - Engage in unusual behavior to draw attention to oneself.
Show your a** - Misbehave in an embarrassing way
Stepped in a cow patty - Made an embarrassing mistake
Stuck - Fined for a legal infraction
Sweat like a hog - Heavy perspiration
Up and ... - Did something unexpectedly or abruptly
Went and ... - Emphatic way of saying that someone did something
Worry the horns off a billy goat - Extremely annoying
Wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. - Have nothing to do with someone
Go outdoors (out of doors, or outa doors) or Go out - Go to to the toilet
Mess - To defacate, especially an animal
Poot - Pass gas
Ripped his britches - (1) Passed gas.(2) Got into trouble
Slop jar - Chamber pot.
Wet - Urinate
Be there with bells on - Excited response to an invitation to a social event.
Ain't got a pot to p**s in or a window to throw it out - Destitute
Busy as a cat covering up s**t - Very busy
Can't tell his a** from a hole in the ground - Incompetent
Couldn't pour p**s out of boot (with directions on the heel) - Incompetent
Full of s**t - Badly wrong
Grinning like a s**t eating dog - A strained grin, for obvious reasons.
Hissy, hissy fit, or shi****g hissy - A major fit as in "".
P**s ellum club - A mythical elm switch or stick for administering punishment. Usually used as a threat
Sh***ing in high cotton - Prosperous
Sh**ting over a ten foot rail - Diarrhea
Show your a** - Misbehave in an embarrassing way
Slicker than owl s**t - Very slick
Tallywhacker - Male organ
Thumb up his a** - Stupid
You're sh**ting me - You are joking!
Absotively posilutley - Certain
Dollars to doughnuts - Certainty
Fact of the matter - Fundamental truth
Figure - Speculate
Half a mind - Notion
Iffen - If
Jubilous - Doubtful
Liable to - May.
Like to - Almost
Nigh onto - Nearly
No ifs, ands or buts about it - Without any doubt
No way on God's green earth - Impossible
Of a mind to - Intend
Out and out - Total or complete
Plumb - Completely
Presactly - Exactly and precisely
Purty near,or pert near - Almost
Reckon - Guess
See further down the road - Wait for better information
Shore - Sure
Sure as I'm standing here - Totally certain
Sure as shootin' - Certain
Tee-totally - Totally certain
Up to snuff - Meet acceptable standards
When all is said and done - The essence of the matter. The result.
Wouldn't put it past him - Capable of something. Wouldn't be surprised if he did.
Amount to - Succeed
As good (or bad) as they come - Best (worst) or their kind
Crooked as a barrel of snakes - Dishonest
Crooked as a dog's leg - Dishonest
Egg sucking dog - A despicable person.
Good for nothin' - Lazy or dishonest
Honest as the day is long - Unquestionably honest
How I'm made - My moral code or ethics
Knot on a log - Useless
Lousehead - A lazy person
No account - Worthless
Not worth killing - Worthless
Peckerwood - A woodpecker. A rogue, but sometimes used as an endearment for a child
Poor excuse - Not very good. Bad.
Snake in the grass - Dishonest or untrustworthy person
Sorry - Worthless
Useless as a teat on a boar hog - Useless
Wouldn't trust him as far as I can throw him - Not trustworthy
Dead dog and no hot water! - Teasing phrase said to a sleepy child or pet
Droopy drawers - Pet name for a person with baggy pants, especially a child.
Peck's bad boy - A mischievous child.
Peckerwood - A woodpecker. A rogue, but sometimes used as an endearment for a child
Pump - Give someone a ride on the back of a bicycle.
Story - A child's lie
Tired little merchant - A sleepy child
Titty baby - An immature person. Used as a taunt by children.
Tumblebug - Pet name for a child.
Whistlebritches - Whimsical name for a young male
Young 'un - A child
Youngun' - A child
Drawers - Underpants
Dressed fit to kill - Well dressed
Dudey - Well dressed
Long handles (or long handle drawers) - Long underwear
Sunday best - Your nicest clothes
Sunday go to meetin' clothes - Best clothes, the kind you would wear to church (meetin')
Wrong side out'ards - Inside out
Can't find his butt with both hands - Incompetent
Can't tell his a** from a hole in the ground - Incompetent
Caught with your drawers down - Caught in a compromising or embarrassing situation
Could [mess] up a good train wreck - Incompetent
Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn - Incompetent
Couldn't pour p**s out of boot (with directions on the heel) - Incompetent
Cracker jack - A very competent or skilled person
Hen scratches - Poor handwriting
Jake leg - Amateurish worker
Messin' and gummin' -
Ran it into the ground - Abused or overdid
Running around like a chicken with its head cut off - Aimless or confused action. Refers to the actions of a chicken whose head has been severed with an axe to prepare for Sunday chicken and dressing or dumplings.
Shade tree mechanic - Amateur mechanic
Thumb up his a** - Stupid
All she wrote - The end
Blue in the face - Exausted
Fair to middlin' - Average. A cotton and tobacco auction rating meaning the product is average.
Go haywire - To fail in a puzzling way; to lost ones senses; to go insane
Go to the dogs - Deteriorate
Green as a gourd - Inexperienced
Nothing to write home about - Unremarkable
Slicker than owl s**t - Very slick
Soppin' wet - Soaked
Tolerable - OK
Up to it - Capable, not healthy enough
When push comes to shove - When action must be taken, as in "When push comes to shove, we'll have to buy a new truck."
tired, pronounced "tard" - tired
Beat the fire out of someone - Whip someone severely
Beat the tar out of someone - Give a severe whipping or beating. "Tar" refers to "tarnation," which is a contraction of "eternal damnation." So to beat the tar out of someone is to beat them sufficiently to put them back on the path to righteousness.
Bless - Curse
Bless out - Cure
Burned up - Angered
Cooked someone's goose - Made them look bad
Crow (bone) to pick with someone - Have a reason to complain or disagree
Dough pop - Hit someone hard
Fall out, or have a falling out - Have a dispute
Fight like cats and dogs - Loud intense fight or dispute
Fly off the handle - Get very mad, very quickly.
Get someone's (nanny) goat - Make someone angry.
Give him a talking to - Have a stern conversation with someone; criticize someone about their behavior.
Haul off - Draw back or get ready for (usually violent) action
Heifer - A belligerent or difficult woman
Hissy, hissy fit, or shi****g hissy - A major fit as in "".
Hold your horses! - Injunction to stop or slow down whatever is happening. Also calm down Also a statement of disagreement.
Horse's ass - A disagreeable person
Horsewhipped - Given a severe beating
Hot water - Trouble.
Knock down, drag out - A ferocious fight.
Let bygones be bygones - Forgive and forget
Loaded for bear - Prepared for a major fight
Pass and repass - Have a formal but not friendly relationship
Raise Old Billy Hell - "Raise hell" means to protest or reprimand someone angrily. To "raise Old Billy Hell" is to raise hell of the intensity of the devil (Old Billy).
Raise the devil - Complain loudly
Red ass - anger
Scorched - Angered
Allow - State an opinion
Bless your heart! - Expression of gratitude
By the by - Incidentally, by the way
Cat got your tongue? - Why are you silent?
Come again. - (1) Please repeat what you just said. (2) Are you serious?
Dead dog and no hot water! - Teasing phrase said to a sleepy child or pet
Ears are burning - Somene is talking about you
For Pete's sake! - Expression of surprise.
Full of s**t - Badly wrong
Give him a talking to - Have a stern conversation with someone; criticize someone about their behavior.
Going on - Continuing to talk about something or talking about something that others do not want to hear.
Hear tell - Heard a rumor
Hold your horses! - Injunction to stop or slow down whatever is happening. Also calm down Also a statement of disagreement.
Hurrah - Tease.
I declare! - Expression of wonder or surprise
I'll swan! (or I'll swanee) - An exclamation of surprise or recognition
It don't make no nevermind, - It doesn't matter, or I don'tcare.
Jabber - Speak incomprehensively
Let on - State or give an indication of
Looky here - Look here. Or pay attention, this is important.
Oh, foot! - Expression of dismay or disappointment.
Okey doke (Okey Dokey) - O. K.
Pop off - Boast or make a rude comment.
Pull someone's leg - Tease someone by stating an untruth
Scat! - Statement made when someone sneezes. Equivalent to "geshundheit!" Also warning to a cat to leave the area.
Shoot the breeze - Talk casually
Shuckins! - Expletive of regret or frustration
Smoke follows beauty - Humorous campfire saying
Sooner - Rather
Sooner (or just as soon) - Rather
Speak of he devil and his imps appears - Someone you have been talking about unexpectedly appears.
Speck so - Probably
Squealed like a stuck pig - Complained loudly or made a lot of noise
Talk up a storm - Talk a lot
Tell 'em how the cow ate the cabbage - To forcefully tell someone an unpleasant truth
Throw it up to - Reproachfully remind someone of a mistake
What in the Sam Hill? - Expression of surprise
Windy, or windy as a bird dog - To talk excessively, especially telling stories that are not true.
Y'all, or You all - Third person plural of you, but sometimes singular
Yesiree, Bob! - Enthusiastic agreement
You're sh**ting me - You are joking!
Blamed - A polite substitute for "damned"
Dadgum, or dad blamed - A spoonerism for a well-known curse.
Dagnabbit - Nce way to say God damn it
Dang - Swear word damn.
God knows! - A mild expletive form of "God only knows."
Hot dang - A swear word invoking God's name in anindirecdt way.
Lordy! Or Lordy Mercy! - Short version of "Lordy mercy!" Often used multiple times as a statment of resignation, as in "Lordy! Lordy! Lordy!"
All eat up - Consumed by or extensively damaged.
As all get out - Very
Clean - Completely
Come down with all four feet - Full ferocity
Drop in the bucket - A small, usually inadequate amount.
Flat as a flitter - Very flat. Flat as a fritter.
Going on - Continuing to talk about something or talking about something that others do not want to hear.
Hard as a rock - Extremely hard
High heaven - The greatest degree
Hold on for dear life - Hold tightly to something
Hoot nor holler - Something of little value
Just about - Nearly
Lick - A small amount
Like a dog on a bone - Fierce, determined
Mighty - Very
Nyelly 'bout (Nearly about) - Almost
One - Adds emphasis to an adjective
Peediddley - Small or insignificant
Pretty - Somewhat, as in "pretty good," "pretty near," "pretty sure". Usually pronounce "purr-ty
Pure-dee - Completely, as in "
Right and left - In large number. Everywhere
Rough as a cob - Very rough
Scared the cush out of me - Very scared. Probably refers ot the food dish cush.
Scared to death - Very scared, as in ""
Smidgen - A small amount
Strong as an ox - Very stong
Thick as hair on a dog's back. - Very thick
Tight as Dick's hat band. - Very tight
Tight as a drum - Extremely frugal.
To death - Completely, or very
Whole shebang - Everything
A ways - A long distance
Creation - A large area
Hop, skip and a jump - A short distance
Piece - Distance. Ex: "
So far back in the woods that we don't get the Grand Ole Opry until Wednesday night - Way back in the woods.
Batching - A man making do without a woman in the house
Big mama - Grandmother
Dog kin - Distantly related
Drove her horses to the wrong stream - Did not marry well
Paw Paw, or Pappaw - Grandfather
Run around - Cheat on your spouse
Settle down - Get married and start a family
Shack up - Live together without benefit of marriage
Spitting image - Identical or strongly resembles
Split the sheet - Divorce
Take after - Resemble in appearance or behavior
Take up with - Cohabitate without the benefit of marriage. Also refers to a cow adopting an orphan calf.
Woods colt - A child born of wedlock
Barnyard fertilizer - Dried, decomposed cattle or chicken droppings used to fertilize gardens. Chicken droppings were especially strong and had to be used sparingly.
Biddies - Baby chicks
Bottom - Fertile, lowlying land near a creek or river
Break - Plow land for the first time of the season
Brimmer - A brahma cow
Cackleberry - Humorous term for egg
Corn crib - A building or barn used to hold corn
Cow pattie - Cattle droppings. Sometimes called "pasture lillies."
Crosscut saw - A two man saw used for cutting trees
Cut a calf - Castrate
Dipping vat - A long hole filled with insecticide through which cattle are moved to treat them for pests
Frames - Fencelike cage installed on a pickup bed to haul livestock
Gap - A simple gate in a barbed wire fence in which wires are attached to a stick which is tied to a post with wire hoops top and bottom.
Gee - Command to a mule to go right. Opposite of "haw."
Georgia stock - A small, wooden beam plow used for lightly turninng the soil over a wide area.
Goobers - Peanuts
Halvers - A split between a landowner and sharecropper to split a crop evenly.
Hammock - A low hill in a pasture or field.
Haw - Command to a mule to go left. Opposite of "gee."
Heifer - A young female cow
Hen scratch - Chicken feed comprising mixed grains.
Hog killing time - The time in the cool fall weather when hogs were slaughtered to make bacon, ham and sausage.
Horse apples - Horse droppings
Junk house - Storage building
Lay by - The last cultivation of a crop before harvesting.
Mammy cat - A female cat
Mark a calf - Castrate a calf
Middlebuster - A large plow that turns soil to both sides. A double turning plow.
Muley - A cow with no horns. Also "muley cow."
Nubbin - An undermatured ear of corn. Sometimes used as an affectionate name for a small child.
P.O. - Veto a sale at an auction barn
Pasture lilly - Cow droppings
Pick off peanuts - Remove dried peanuts from the dried vines.
Popping Johnny - A small 2 cylinder John Deere tractor with a distinctive popping engine sound. Called a "Johnny popper" in the Midwest.
Prize pole - A pry pole
Ring - The semi-circular pen inside an auction barn in which livestock are held during sale.
Sah! - Command to a milk cow to calm down or stop moving.
Sale barn - An auction building with pens for holding cattle for sale.
Scovill hoe - A heavy duty hoe also called a "planter's hoe". Named for the maufacturer D. & H. Scovil Company.
Settin' hen - A hen who is sitting on a nest of eggs to hatch them.
Shorts - A flour-like wheat feed mixed with slop and fed to hogs.
Side dress - Fertilize a crop on the side after it has started to grow.
Slop - A mixture of table scraps and dishwater that was fed to hogs. Often kept in a large "slop bucket."
Sook, or sook cow - A call used to lure cows to the barn. as in "Sook, sook, sook" or "Sook, cow, sook, cow."
South end of a northbound mule - The mule's rear end
Springing - To show that a cow is carrying a calf . A cow that is showing strongly is said to be "spinging heavy." Probably refers to spring when calves are usually born.
Tank - A pond for watering cattle
The signs - The signs of the zodiac
Thirds and fourths - A crop split between a landwowner and a sharecropper in payment of rent
Tow sack - Burlap bag. probably derives from "tote sack."
Turning plow - A plow that cuts a deep furrow and moves the soil to one side, in contrast to a middle buster plow which turns the soild to both sides.
Work on calves - Castrate calves
Yearling ("yurlin'") - A year old cow. Older than a calf but not full grown.
Ain't got a pot to p**s in or a window to throw it out - Destitute
Ain't got a row to hoe - Destitute
Ain't got two dimes to rub together - Broke, penurious
Between a rock and a hard place - A difficult financial situation
Big money - High wages
Bird's nest on the ground - An advantageous or easy situation
Busted - Financially destitute
Cleaned his plow - Took advantage in a business deal
Day late and a dollar short - Failure, or an ironic description of the hard life
Down to the nubbins - Consumed all the good ones and down to the scraps.
Get by - Have resources to cover your needs
Got it made - Successful
Hard row to hoe - Difficult
Hard up - Lacking essential economic resources
High as a cat's back - Expensive.
High on the hog - Living well.
Hubbin' a row of stumps, or nubbin' it - Experiencing hard times.
Life of Riley - Easy life
Like putting money down a crawfish hole - Wasteful
Lost his shirt - Lost a large amount of money
Make it - Have resources to cover your needs
Not worth a hill of beans - Worthless
Poor as Job's turkey - Very poor
Poor as a snake - Poverty stricken
Rip your britches - Fail stupidly
Scrape by - Barely make ends meet
Sh***ing in high cotton - Prosperous
Sitting on easy street - In very good condition
Sitting pretty - In very good condition
Sleeping in a feather bed - Well off
Sucking hind teat - In a disadvantageous position.
Up against it - Destitute
Went under - Failed
Butterbean - A large flat bean similar to a lima bean.
Calling for water - Thirsty from eating salty meat
Chittlins, or chitterlings - Fried hog intestines
Corn dodger - Corn bread
Cracklin' - Fried bits of pork fat resulting from lard rendering, often used to make cracklin' cornbread.
Cush - A dish made by frying or boiling cornmeal or crumbled cornbread with grease and often other ingredients such as pieces of meat or onion.
Dinner - The mid-day meal. The evening meal is "supper."
Eyes bigger than your stomach - Took more food than you can eat.
Fartin' dust - Thirsty
Feed your face. - Eat
Goobers - Peanuts
Hankering - A desire
Hits the spot - Good, referring to food or drink
Hog's head cheese - Food made from hog brains. Also called souse.
Larupin - Lip smacking good. Ex: "That pie was larupin."
Light bread - Store-bought sliced white bread, as in "
Make you slap your pappy down - Insanely good.
Mayhaw jelly - A delicioius, tangy jelly made from the fruit of the mayhaw, a wild apple-like fruit that grows only in river bottoms that frequently flood.
Mess - An amount of food necessary for a meal.
Peas - Cowpeas, such as purple hulls, blackeyes, crowder, cream, and whippoorwills. Not green peas as grown up north.
Poke salad - A wild green, also known as poke week, that is picked and eaten. It is available when there are no greens in the garden. Must be parboiled to remove toxins.
Polly pop - Kool Aid.
Pot liquor - The liquid left after boiling greens or other vegetable.
Pulley bone - Wishbone from a chicken or turkey, or the cut of meat containing the wishbone when cut separately from the remainder of the breast meat.
Push and grits. - Nothing to eat
Put up - Can or preserve
Rat cheese - Low quality cheddar cheese often used for bait in a mouse or rat trap
Ribbon cane syrup - Syrup made from ribbon cane, a type of sugar cane. Delicious with butter on a hot biscuit on a cold winter morning.
River coffee - Coffee made with muddy river water.
Soda water - A carbonated drink, such as Coca Cola. What people call "pop" or "soda" in other parts of the country. Often pronounced "sody water."
Souse - Hog's head cheese, which is made from hog brains.
Supper - The evening meal
Sweet milk - Regular milk, so called to distinguish from the sour taste of buttermilk.
Swig - A drink or sip of anything
Took [food] and had [food]. Somebody's coming hungry - Said when someone takes a food item when they already had it on their plate.
Absent minded as a goose - Forgetful
Doohickey - Something whose name you cannot remember. Comparable to "thingamajig"
Doomaflotchie - A person whose name you can't remember. Also an unidentified thing.
Hootsie dootsie - A person whose name you can't remember
I'm like a goose. I wake up in a new world every day. - Forgetful
Thingamajig (or thingamabob) - An unidentified thing
Like two peas in a pod - Very close friends
Run with - Spend time together
Thick - Maintain a very close friendship
Tight - Very close friends
Antegodlin - Postioned crosswise or severely out of alignment
Bass ackards - Backwards. Spoonerism for "ass backwards."
Cattywampus - Severly out of alignment
Not enough room to cuss a cat - Small
Scrunch up - Squeeze together
Whomperjawed - Severly out of alignment
Hidey - How do you do? The East Texas way of saying "Howdy."
If the Good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise - Strong intentions to do something if possible. Often said in parting.
Look what the dogs drug up! - Friendly greeting among close friends.
Y'all come, or Y'all come to see us - Invitation to visit, usually upon parting.
As happy as if I had good sense - Extremely happy
Grinning like a possum - A big smile
Grinning like a s**t eating dog - A strained grin, for obvious reasons.
Hog heaven - A state of extreme happiness.
Hunky dory - Excellent
Tickled, or Tickled to death - Pleased. "Ticked to death" means extremely pleased.
You make your own happiness - No one else can make you happy. You have to do it yourself -- Gertride Johnson Murrah
All blowed up - Suffering severe intestinal gas attack.
All eat up - Consumed by or extensively damaged.
Blind as a bat - Poor vision
Colly mobus - A serious, messy illness, involving vomiting and diarrhea.
Deader than a doornail - Absolutely dead. Refers to old time nails that were unsalvagable when a house was torn down. From Shakespeare
Down - Bedridden with illness
Get up and go has got up an gone (went) - Vigor is lost
Head is swimming - Dizzy
Hitch in your gitalong - A limp. Not doing well
Horse pills - Large pills
Laid up - Sick in bed.
Lay a corpse - The period between death and burial
Loose as a goose - Has diarrhea
Peaked - Pale or drawn
Pert - Right. In good spirits or health.
Pore - Poor, meaning either in ill health or very thin.
Puny - Sick
Risin - A boil
Sh**ting over a ten foot rail - Diarrhea
Sick as a dog (or horse) - Very sick
Sit up with - Stay all night with someone who is ill.
Spell - (1) An indeterminate period of time. (2) A brief illness
Stove up - Stiff or immobile
Took - Caught or became infected by an illness
Trots - Diarrhea
Up to it - Capable, not healthy enough
Cistern - An underground or overground tank for holding rain water collected from the roof of the house.
Coal oil - Kerosene
Coal oil lamp - Kerosene lamp
Divan - Couch
Draw - Lift water from a well or cistern using a bucket
Feather bed - A very soft bed stuffed with chicken feathers.
Frigidaire - Refrigerator. From the brand name of a popular early refrigerator.
Homemade soap - Lye soap
Ice box - Refrigerator. Derived from original coolers, which were cooled by blocks of ice
Iron bedstead - A bed with head and foot board made of cast iron.
Junk house - Storage building
Line - Clothes line
Lye soap - Home made soap made from hog fat and ashes.
Mosquito bar - Mosquito net, commonly made from cheese cloth and used to cover a bed for sleeping mosquito-free. Necessary before screened windows were common and often used on camping trips.
Rag - A cloth, such as a "wash rag" or a "dish rag."
Rat - A rat or a mouse
Rich lightered pine - Heartwood from a rotted pine tree that contains resin and burns very easily. It was chopped into splinters and used to start fires
Sack - Bag, as in "feed sack," "grocery sack," or "tow sack".
Sleeping porch - A screeed portch used for sleeping during the hot part of the year
Slop - A mixture of table scraps and dishwater that was fed to hogs. Often kept in a large "slop bucket."
Slop bucket - A large bucket in the kitchen for scraps and dish water
Straight chair - A simple ladderback wooden chair, often with a cowhide seat.
Whatnot - A small decorative object.
Yard broom - A leaf rake
Dead dog and no hot water! - Teasing phrase said to a sleepy child or pet
Funny as a barrel of monkeys - Very funny
Hold your mouth right - THe way to catch sish.
Hurrah - Tease.
Pull someone's leg - Tease someone by stating an untruth
Snipe hunt - A coming of age hunting ritual usually played on naive young men. The older men take the youngster to the woods and ask him to hold a tow sack open on a cow trail while they go drive the snipe into the sack. The older men, of course, go home leaving the youngster "holding the bag" until he realizes he has been tricked and sheepishly sneaks home to face the laughing tricksters.
Come hell or high water - Statement of determination, as in "I
Damned and determined - Determined beyond all reason
Fixing - Getting prepared to do something.
If the Good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise - Strong intentions to do something if possible. Often said in parting.
Might as well - Decision to do something.
Take a notion - Decided
Place - Someone's farm or property
Smack dab - Exactly
South end of a northbound mule - The mule's rear end
Stomping ground - Home territory
Summers - Somewhere
Yonder - A place removed from here
Drove her horses to the wrong stream - Did not marry well
Hug someone's neck - Hug
Quit - Desert or divorce
Run around - Cheat on your spouse
Set her cap for - Pursue romantically
Settle down - Get married and start a family
Shack up - Live together without benefit of marriage
Sow wild oats - Live a wild single lifestyle, especially sexually.
Spark - Court
Split the sheet - Divorce
Sugar - A kiss
Take up with - Cohabitate without the benefit of marriage. Also refers to a cow adopting an orphan calf.
Afflicted - Mentally retarded.
Broke up - Confused or grieving
Bumfuzzled - Confused. Probably a corruption of "befuddled."
Could have crawled in a hole - Deeply embarrassed
Crazy as a bat - Crazy
Crazy as a bessie bug - Extremely crazy
Crazy as last year's bird nest. - Insane.
Doesn't have the sense God gave a goose - Foolish
Doesn't know which way is up - Confused
Floored - Shocked
Go haywire - To fail in a puzzling way; to lost ones senses; to go insane
Goofy - Silly
Got a loose screw - A bit crazy
I see, said the blind man - I understand
Light under the hat - Mentally deficient or lacking intelligence
Like a blind dog in a meat house - Happily confused
Looney - Crazy
Lost his marbles - Went insane
Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, or Nervous as a cat - Extremely nervous
Not all there - Slightly mentally deficient
Not right/Not right in the head - Slightly mentally deficient
Nutty as a fruit cake - Crazy
Off - Not mentally normal
Off his rocker - Mentally ill
Touched in the head - Mentally deficient
Slap out of his mind, or slap crazy - Nonsensical as if addled from a blow to the head
"A" Model - A Ford Model "A" car
Bar ditch - A place from which fill dirt was taken to build a road. Mispronunciation of borrow ditch.
Cut on/off - Switch
Grandma gear - Low-low (lower than normal low) gear in a truck
Grocery buggy - Grocery cart
Hoopy - An old car. Probably derived from Hupmobile, an early car brand.
Light bill - Electric bill
Peckerwood sawmill - A small sawmill
Puddle jumper - Small car
Shivalay - Chevrolet
Show - Movie or movie theater
Sireen - Siren
Store bought, or store boughten - Not homemade
Turtle hull - Automobile trunk
Bit - 1/8 of a Dollar. "Two bits" = a quarter. "Four bits"=a half dollar. "Six bits" = seventy-five cents.
Boot - Something given in a sale or exchange to equalize the value of the exchange.
Cash money - Cash
Money burns a hole in his pocket - He's a spendthrift
Money don't grow on trees - Money is scarce and has to be earned
Squeaks when he walks - Frugal.
Stand good for - Be responsible for someone else's debt
Tight - Frugal
Trade - Purchase from a commercial establishment
Turn loose of money - Spend
Wagon wheel dollars - Big money. Often used to mock someone who boasts of making big money on a job.
A cat will kill a baby by sucking its breath -
Booger man - A mythical evil man who would "get" children if they were bad.
Consuming fish and milk products together will make you ill -
Hold your mouth right - THe way to catch sish.
Knock on wood - Expression accompanied by knocking on something made of wood to invoke good luck.
Snipe hunt - A coming of age hunting ritual usually played on naive young men. The older men take the youngster to the woods and ask him to hold a tow sack open on a cow trail while they go drive the snipe into the sack. The older men, of course, go home leaving the youngster "holding the bag" until he realizes he has been tricked and sheepishly sneaks home to face the laughing tricksters.
The signs - The signs of the zodiac
Bee tree - A hollow tree in which bees have established a hive.
Chip fell out of the red oak - Call of the whippoorwill
Devil's horse or Devil's walking stick - Praying mantis
Dirt dobber - Mud dauber wasp
Ellum - Elm
Frogs are calling for rain - Statement made when frogs are croaking heavily
Hickornut - A hickory nut
Hoot owl - An owl
Mosquito hawk - A dragon fly
Peckerwood - A woodpecker. A rogue, but sometimes used as an endearment for a child
Piney Woods rooter - Feral hog, wild descendants of domestic hogs. A razorback
Polecat - Skunk
Rat - A rat or a mouse
Rat pills - Mouse droppings
Slough - A small, naturally occurring body of water, usually in a creek or river bottom. Pronounced "slew."
Switch cane - Small cane suitable for making a switch to spank a child.
Wiggle tails - Mosquito larvae
Test phrase 2 - Test definition 2
Boocoos - A large number or amount
More than Carter's got pills - A very large number
More than you could shake a stick at - Many
Scarce as hens' teeth - Extremely rare
Taken - Took
And them - A group of related people, such as a family.
Any and everybody - Everyone
Aunt - A respected older woman not related to you
Big shot - An important person
Blowhard - Braggart
Dirty dozen - Large family that live in squalor
Doomaflotchie - A person whose name you can't remember. Also an unidentified thing.
Droopy drawers - Pet name for a person with baggy pants, especially a child.
Get up and go has got up an gone (went) - Vigor is lost
Heifer - A belligerent or difficult woman
Hide or hair - Presence, as in ""
His'n, Her'n, Your'n - His, hers, yours
Hootsie dootsie - A person whose name you can't remember
Horse's ass - A disagreeable person
Hussy - A shameless or promiscuous woman
Ma'am - Madam. Respectful way to address a woman.
Pistol - A spunky person
Rough customer - A mean person
Shade tree mechanic - An amateur mechanic who often worked on his car under a shade tree.
Sukey - Old fashioned nickname for Susan or Susannah, but often as a generic name when addressng a girl.
Suzy Q - Pet name for a woman
Titty baby - An immature person. Used as a taunt by children.
Too old to cut the mustard - Physically diminished by age
Trash, or Trashy - Dissolute. People who do no care about themselves or their property.
Tumblebug - Pet name for a child.
Uncle - A respected older man not related to you
Whistlebritches - Whimsical name for a young male
Widow woman - widow
Young 'un - A child
Young colt - A young boy
Sh**ass - A treacherous or disagreeable person
Behind - Buttocks
Bow-tee - Bottom.
Female trouble - Medical problems with a woman's reproductive organs
Goober - Male organ
Goozle - Throat
Piles - Hemarrhoids
Private(s) - Sex organ
Pump - Give someone a ride on the back of a bicycle.
Smellumgood - Perfume or cologne
Tallywhacker - Male organ
A tall - At all
Bow-tee - Bottom.
Brung - Past tense of "bring"
Dost - Dose, as in ""
Dud'n - Doesn't
Ellum - Elm
Hickornut - A hickory nut
His'n, Her'n, Your'n - His, hers, yours
Hit - Old fashioned way to say "it".
Holp - Old fashioned past tense of "help," i.e., helped.
Hot dang - A swear word invoking God's name in anindirecdt way.
Lit - Landed, as in "" or "The bird lit on the power line."
Nary - None
Naw - No
Nyelly 'bout (Nearly about) - Almost
Once-st - Once
Ort - Ought
Pore - Poor, meaning either in ill health or very thin.
Shed, shed, or shut - Rid
Shivalay - Chevrolet
Sireen - Siren
Summers - Somewhere
Summers - Somewhere
Taken - Took
Taken - Took
Y'all, or you all - The plural of you. The definitive Texas word.
Box someone's ears - Slap
Bust someone's butt - Spank
Cut someone's water off - Squelch someone's behavior
Dust someone's britches - Spank
Fix someone's wagon - Give someone their comeuppance
Get the razor strap - Threaten to spank a child.
P**s ellum club - A mythical elm switch or stick for administering punishment. Usually used as a threat
Switch - A small, flexible tree branch used to spank someone
Tan someone's hide or behind - Spank or whip someone
Wear someone out - Spank or whip someone
Wet your plow - Punish
Wring someone's neck - Expression of anger
Annie over - Game involving throwing a ball over the roof of a building
Coon huntsing - Hunting raccoons at night using dogs and lights.
Hide and go seat - Hide and seek
Hold your mouth right - THe way to catch sish.
It - The seeker in a game of hide and seek or tag
Mumbly peg, or Mumblety Peg - Game involving flipping a two-bladed knife and attempting to stick it in the ground
Play pretty - Toy
Pump - Give someone a ride on the back of a bicycle.
Tom walkers - Stilts
Tree - In hunting, when a dog locates a squirrel or raccoon in a tree. Dogs make a characteristic yelp when they have treed an animal.
Brother - Minister (usually Baptist)
By and by - 1. Eventually, as in "We'll get there by and by." 2. Eternity, as in the gospel song "in the Sweet By and By"
Campbellite - An early name for the Church of Christ or Christian Church, which was founded by a man named Campbell.
God knows! - A mild expletive form of "God only knows."
Lordy! Or Lordy Mercy! - Short version of "Lordy mercy!" Often used multiple times as a statment of resignation, as in "Lordy! Lordy! Lordy!"
Meetin' - A church service, often a revival
Once in grace, always in grace - Statement about Calvinist predestination as interpreted by Baptists
Postolic - Apostolic (Pentecostal) church
Singing - A church service, usually at night, devoted to congregational singing.
Barking up the wrong tree - Mistaken
Curl your toenails - Very frightening or disgusting
Can't find his butt with both hands - Incompetent
Can't tell his a** from a hole in the ground - Incompetent
Couldn't pour p**s out of boot (with directions on the heel) - Incompetent
Dumber than a post - Not very intelligent.
Gumption - Common sense
Head full of sense - Smart
Head screwed on straight - Has good judgment
Horse sense - Common sense
If it had been a snake, it would have bit me - Remark upon overlooking something obvious or close by
Lick of sense - Intelligence
Light under the hat - Mentally deficient or lacking intelligence
Put on your thinking cap - Concentrate. Think hard.
Put two and two together - Figure something out. Reason by inference.
Smart as a whip - Very intelligent.
Smart duck - An intelligent person
Thumb up his a** - Stupid
Wakes up in a new world every day. - Absent-minded
Carrying a coal of fire - In a hurry
Get your britches on! - Hurry!
Like a bat out of hell - Very fast
Like a dose of salts through a widow woman - Fast.
Ninety to nothing - Very fast
Ran like a scalded dog - Fast.
Shake a leg - Hurry
Slow as Christmas - Very slow.
Slow as grandma - Very slow
Slow as molasses - Very slow
Slow as the seven year itch - Extremely slow
Watched pot never boils - Too much attention seems to slow the passage of time.
Ain't nobody come - Just ordinary, everyday people with no pretensions.
Big shot - An important person
Common - Plain acting; without pretense
Dirty dozen - Large family that live in squalor
Highfalutin' - Elegant; snooty
Look down on - Pity
Trash, or Trashy - Dissolute. People who do no care about themselves or their property.
Doohickey - Something whose name you cannot remember. Comparable to "thingamajig"
Thingamajig (or thingamabob) - An unidentified thing
After a while (or after while) - Later, as in "I'll do it after while."
By and by - 1. Eventually, as in "We'll get there by and by." 2. Eternity, as in the gospel song "in the Sweet By and By"
Can to can't - From dawn to dusk
Coon's age - A very long time
Dark thirty - Just after dark
Directly - Soon
Dusk dark, or dusky dark - Dusk
Evening - Afternoon
Forty forevers - A very long time
Month of Sundays - A long time
Old Timey - From an earlier era
Rock along - Bide time
Spell - (1) An indeterminate period of time. (2) A brief illness
Til the water gets hot - short time
When all is said and done - At the end or conclusion of anything
When push comes to shove - When action must be taken, as in "When push comes to shove, we'll have to buy a new truck."
Galavant - Travel or roam,usually ostenatiously or without purpose
Lit - Landed, as in "" or "The bird lit on the power line."
Lit out - Left in a hurry
Saunter - to walk about in an idle or leisurely manner, stroll
Traipse - Walk aimlessly or carelessly
Bet your bottom dollar - You can bet you last dollar that it is true
Building air castles - Telling tall tales
Cross your heart and hope to die - Swear
Go on! - Tell tall tales. Also and expression of skepticism.
Gospel truth - Absolutely true. As true as the Bible.
Hits the nail on the head - Correct
Honest to God truth - Absolutely true
I'd be lying if I told you that ... - I'm telling you the truth.
Lying like a dog - Clearly lying
Pulling your leg - Putting you on
Put that in your pipe and smoke it - The truth
Right as rain - Absolutely correct
Story - A child's lie
Windy, or windy as a bird dog - To talk excessively, especially telling stories that are not true.
Clabber up - To become threateningly overcast
Cold as a well digger's tail - Self explanatory
Devil is beating his wife with a frying pan - Explanatory expression used when it is raining while the sun is shining
Fair off - Sky clearing after a rain
Gully washer - Heavy rain
Hotter than the Fourth of July - Very hot
The bottom dropped out - It rained very hard
Toad stringer - Heavy rain. Mispronunciation of "toad strangler."
When the wind comes whistling through the peach orchard - Cold
Beggars can't be choosers - One who is dependent on someone else loses the right to make choices about what he is given.
Charity begins at home - Help family and those close to you before others.
Don't bite off more than you can chew - Do not be overly ambitious; stay within your limits
Don't count your chickens before they hatch - Be prudent. Don't take action until you are certain.
He made his bed. Now let him lie (sleep) in it. - Let someone suffer the consequences of their foolish actions.
I've always heard... - Opening for a pearl of wisdom
Leave well enough alone - Be satisfied with a good though not perfect result.
Let sleeping dogs lie - Don't stir up trouble unnecessarily
Rolling stone gathers no moss - Jumping from one thing to another is not productive
Watched pot never boils - Too much attention seems to slow the passage of time.
You make your own happiness - No one else can make you happy. You have to do it yourself -- Gertride Johnson Murrah
Another day, another dollar - World-weary comment on routine toil to earn a living.
Back up your ears - Get prepared to do something difficult. Probably refers to the way a dog folds back it ears when getting ready to fight.
Big shot - A high ranking person in an organization, as in
Blowin' and goin' - Making rapid progress or doing extremely well
Busy as a cat covering up s**t - Very busy
Cooking on the front burner - Easy
Easy as falling off a log - Very easy
Easy as pie - Very easy
Give out - Extremely tired
Give someone a run for his money - A strong contest
Go to town - Tackle a job very efficiently or successfully
Go whole hog - Pursue something to the maximum
Got the bull by the tail on a downhill drag - Has an extremely advantageous situation
Grab the bull by the horns - Meet a problem head on
Hard row to hoe - Difficult
Hit a lick - Work a small amount
Jake leg - Amateurish worker
Made - Became a member of a profession
Make hay while the sun shines - Take advantage of an opportunity
Messin' and gummin' -
Ran it into the ground - Abused or overdid
Rat killing - Routine work
Root, hog, or die - Ones must work or face the consequences
Running around like a chicken with its head cut off - Aimless or confused action. Refers to the actions of a chicken whose head has been severed with an axe to prepare for Sunday chicken and dressing or dumplings.
Shade tree mechanic - Amateur mechanic
Tote - Carry
Tuckered out - Tired
Turn a hand - Work

© 2006-24 Burke History Project
M. Lee Murrah, Editor
Email a comment