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OT: 19 sayings that only Southners will understand. I thought this might be fun

Freddie.B.Cocky

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2002
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and give us a chance to get our minds off the ballgame this weekend.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...rs-will-understand/ar-BBLGbaA?ocid=spartandhp

I would add at least one more. "We (or I) are walking in tall cotton". I was working with a couple of guys from our Corporate Office in Deerfield, Ill, which is a Suburb of Chicago, and made the comment when we reached a certain milestone on this project we would be walking in tall cotton. One of them replied "I'm not familiar with the metaphor "Walking in tall cotton". I explained the meaning of the metaphor "Walking in tall cotton" in the context in which I was using the phase.

Long story short, it became a running joke in that particular office. Those guys had their secretary call me one day and ask me if we were "Walking in tall cotton" yet, as a joke to kid me about our Southern sayings. The secretary said they just wanted to know if it was okay to precede with the project. LOL!

Yankees, what are going to do with them? Actually Chicago is in the Mid-West and I truly do love the Mid-West as well as the Mid-Western residents.

Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed the article as much as I did.
 
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and give us a chance to get our minds off the ballgame this weekend.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle...rs-will-understand/ar-BBLGbaA?ocid=spartandhp

I would add at least one more. "We (or I) are walking in tall cotton". I was working with a couple of guys from our Corporate Office in Deerfield, Ill, which is a Suburb of Chicago, and made the comment when we reached a certain milestone on this project we would be walking in tall cotton. One of them replied "I'm not familiar with the metaphor "Walking in tall cotton". I explained the meaning of the metaphor "Walking in tall cotton" in the context in which I was using the phase.

Long story short, it became a running joke in that particular office. Those guys had their secretary call me one day and ask me if we were "Walking in tall cotton" yet, as joke to kid me about our Southern sayings. The secretary said they just wanted to know if it was okay to precede with the project. LOL!

Yankees what are going to do with them? Actually Chicago is in the Mid-West and I truly do love Mid-Westerns as well as the Mid-Western residents.

Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed the article as much as I did.

An old Alabama tune...



We didn't know the times were lean,
Round our house the grass was green,
It didn't seem like things were all that bad,
I bet we walked a thousand miles,
Choppin' cotton and pusing plows,
And learnin' how to give it all we had.
As Life went on and years went by,
I saw the light in daddy's eye,
And felt the love in mamma's hands,
They kept us warm and kept us fed,
Taught us how to look ahead,
Now lookin' back I understand.
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten,
Those fertile fields are never far away,
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old time there are not forgotten,
Leavin' home was the hardest thing we ever faced.
When Sunday mornings rolled around,
We dressed up hand-me-downs,
Just in time to gather with the church,
Some times I think how long It's been,
And how it impressed me then,
It was the only day my daddy wouldn't work.
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten,
Those fertile fields are never far away,
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old time there are not forgotten,
Leavin' home was the hardest thing we ever faced.
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten,
Those fertile fields are never far away,
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old time there are not forgotten,
Leavin' home was the hardest thing we ever faced.
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old times there are not forgotten,
Those fertile fields are never far away,
We were walkin' in high cotton,
Old time there are not forgotten,
Leavin' home was the hardest thing we ever faced.
Walkin' in High Cotton
 
"We're college football national champions." That seems to be a phrase only Southerners say nowadays. Not all of us, of course, but it's been a while since I heard a yankee say it.
 
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Three sheets to the wind is a nautical term. A sheet or a sail that is in the wind has come loose from its mooring and is flapping in the wind like a flag. ... Hence, a totally inebriated person is out of control and in danger of crashing, just like a ship three sheets to the wind. A ship with its sails all loose and flapping around.
 
Three sheets to the wind is a nautical term. A sheet or a sail that is in the wind has come loose from its mooring and is flapping in the wind like a flag. ... Hence, a totally inebriated person is out of control and in danger of crashing, just like a ship three sheets to the wind. A ship with its sails all loose and flapping around.
Duh!! =;-p
 
Three sheets to the wind is a nautical term. A sheet or a sail that is in the wind has come loose from its mooring and is flapping in the wind like a flag. ... Hence, a totally inebriated person is out of control and in danger of crashing, just like a ship three sheets to the wind. A ship with its sails all loose and flapping around.
I thought it was "three sheets in the wind". Maybe that's a South Carolina variation.:D
 
I thought it was "three sheets in the wind". Maybe that's a South Carolina variation.:D

Maybe so. In literature it is always "three sheets to the wind".

three sheets to the wind

To be “three sheets to the wind” is to be drunk. The sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. If theline is not secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and control. If all three sails areloose, the ship is out of control.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
 
I'm a southerner by birth and I never heard "walking in tall cotton". I have however always heard "shittin' in high cotton"
 
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Well I swanee....perfect example of this thread...LOL

I heard this phrase for the 1st time when I was stationed at Moody AFB, in Valdosta GA back in the late 70s. A lot of the older women would say this often, thou I am not its used much now.
 
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I always heard it as "in high cotton" growing up. For example, "Bubba was in high cotton."

My grandfather used "John Brown" all the time. Like "Well I'll be John Brown!" to express aggravation at something.
 
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Monday week = a week from Monday (but I don't need to tell y'all that).

Nobody knows what I'm talking about around here.
 
I'm a southerner by birth and I never heard "walking in tall cotton". I have however always heard "shittin' in high cotton"

He's in high cotton, is how I recall hearing it. Never 'shittin' in high cotton, tho.'

I have heard, 'are you shitting me,' but not sure it's a Southernism.



And sort of OT, but does anyone know who sung a song with a lyric that goes 'you can kiss my ass till my hat pops off, but tonight I'm heading South,' or something like that.

And with that, I'm fixing to go outside and piddle.
 
Maybe so. In literature it is always "three sheets to the wind".

three sheets to the wind

To be “three sheets to the wind” is to be drunk. The sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship. If theline is not secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and control. If all three sails areloose, the ship is out of control.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Dialects vary.
 
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"We're college football national champions." That seems to be a phrase only Southerners say nowadays. Not all of us, of course, but it's been a while since I heard a yankee say it.

Just for curiosity, what would one say in that particular case?
 
I'm a southerner by birth and I never heard "walking in tall cotton". I have however always heard "shittin' in high cotton"

I have heard "walking in tall cotton" all my life and I grew up in Greenville, SC. I also worked with a couple of guys from the Lower Part of the State of SC and they always said "walking in tall cotton.

The only other way I have ever heard it used was as I said above "stepping in high cotton" meaning so and so is mingling with the social elite or he or she think they are mingling with the social elite - he or she is getting too big for their britches.
 
I'm a southerner by birth and I never heard "walking in tall cotton". I have however always heard "shittin' in high cotton"

I have never heard your version. We Southerners, are way too polite, well mannered and refined to EVER use your version.
 
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Well I swanee....perfect example of this thread...LOL

I heard this phrase for the 1st time when I was stationed at Moody AFB, in Valdosta GA back in the late 70s. A lot of the older women would say this often, thou I am not its used much now.

I haven't heard "swanee" in along time. I mean a very long time.
 
fixin' to mash that button

There was a guy we used to work with from Wisconsin who thought it was funny as heck to hear someone say they are going to mash a button. Why is "fixing" to mash that button so funny. I know why mash is funny. But why do yankees think "fixing" is so funny? It is because it is more proper to say "going" to mash that button?
 
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