Last week we talked about a few old-fashioned Southern sayings and promised at the end of the column to discuss a few more this go-round, before moving on in future articles to other topics and interests. The final saying we discussed last week was, “too big for his britches,” which we indicated was an expression aspersion for one who has demonstrated arrogance in his accomplishments.
That brings us to, “outgrown his raising,” which is somewhat like, “too big for his britches,” but which usually conveys more of a sense of someone’s being ashamed of what was an honorable but perhaps somewhat financially strained or unsophisticated background. Most Southerners would only commend someone who rose above intense adversity of background to create a successful, fulfilling, and generous life, but we would say someone who turned his back on, or was ashamed of, an honorable but poverty-stricken or unsophisticated family of background had outgrown his raising.
“Get tickled” – become amused, often at an inappropriate time.
“Take” vs. “carry” – Many Southerners from the generation of your compiler’s late parents used these terms interchangeably, although there is admittedly a modicum of difference in the two words. “Take” means to remove someone or something from one place and convey him or it to another, while “carry” means the same thing, but with lifting added to the mix. Your compiler’s late father often said something along the lines of, “I can’t help you with that tonight. I’ve promised to carry your mama to La Grotta at 7:00 to celebrate her qualification as a Master Gardner.”
Naturally, your compiler’s father did not pick the mother of his children up and carry her in his arms all the way from their house to the restaurant – they got in their car and he drove them there. But he never would have said, “I took Jane out to eat” – he would have “carried” her, without actually lifting her. Most folks of his generation and older in this part of the South would have spoken similarly.
“Directly” — this was even an older term, used by people the age of your compiler’s grandparents as an indication of timing. “We’ll scoot to the park directly,” a Southern grandmother might have told her grandchildren. And her grandchildren would have known that meant, “We’ll go to the park pretty soon, but not right this minute.”
Sometimes this is spelled T-E-R-R-E-C-T-L-Y – noted Georgia writers Flannery O’Conner (1925-1964) and Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949) both spelled it that way in their works; however, your compiler believes that is a phonetic spelling and not a fully genuine word.
“Already” – Southerners only use this word as an adverb, which the reader may recall from grade school grammar is basically an adjective for verbs. “I’ve already done that,” is a good example of this usage, which your compiler would imagine is fairly standard in the English-speaking world. But there are folks among us – none of them Southerners (unless perhaps they have outgrown their raising) – who use “already” as an intensive: “Enough, already!” we all have likely heard someone say in exasperation. Please do not succumb to the temptation to use “already” in this ear-grating way!
“Dressing” – a mixture of cornbread and white bread (usually biscuit), sauteed onion, celery or celery seed, beaten eggs, turkey broth, salt, pepper, and sage that is mixed, put in a metal pan at approximately an inch and one-half in depth, and baked till lightly browned. Served with giblet gravy and roasted turkey, it is a staple of holiday feasts in the South and is so good it is liable make one slap his grandma away from the table!
“Stuffing” – cotton or synthetic batting used to upholster furniture. Most Southerners would not dream of eating anything that had to be dug from a turkey’s backside with a spoon!
“Soda” – a white powder known as sodium bicarbonate, which is often used with plain, all-purpose flour to help breads rise.
“Pop” – (1) What bags of corn kernels do in the microwave. (2) What the weasel did after being chased around the carpenter’s bench in the kids’ song. (3) A nickname one occasionally hears in the South for a father or grandfather.
“Soft drink” – a non-alcoholic beverage that is usually carbonated.
“Tempus sho’ do fugit!” – a down-home Southern take on a venerable Latin phrase noting the swift passage of time. And to think: people from up north do not tend to think of us as an intellectual people!
