I was talking to one of the agents in our office the other day about how much I enjoy hearing “Yankee” voices. I’d just finished meeting with a gentleman who was from Queens, NY, and my agent friend was from Long Island, NY. We have lots of New York and New Jersey natives moving here. When I first began working in real estate, I was struck by how many people I talked to had come from some part of Long Island, NY. Oddly enough there used to be a mill community on the Catawba River nearby here called Long Island, over next to East Monbo. I had to get out the map to understand just how long Long Island is. Anyway, I told my friend that I’ve heard Yankees say they like to hear my southern accent, and I feel the same way about their northern version.
My LI friend says she’s been here for around 4 years and is slowly adapting to the language. I told here I’ve helped may other people of a northern persuasion adjust, and I could help her, too. I loaned her a page from the Charlotte Observer from 1991 (sorry, I was born with a “hang on to it” gene) with a big article entitled “You Said a Mouthfull.” It’s all about “Southernisms”, many of which I use in daily language. Like all such expressions, they are seasonings that make language more tasty and fun.
Here are a few of my favorites:
- Fine as frog’s hair
- Busy as a long tailed cat in a room full of rockers
- Better than a sharp stick in the eye
- Old as dirt (that’s starting to get a bit personal for me)
- Every chicken has some bones
- You can’t beat that with a stick
- Deader’n a door nail
- Cute as a bug’s ear
- She’s so ugly she’d make a freight train take a dirt road
- Fast as all get-out (pronouced git-out)
- Fit to be tied
- On it like a duck on a June bug
- Dad gummit or dad burn-it (expletive substitute depending on how I’m feeling that day)
- Slow as cold molasses
- Cute as a speckled puppy
- Tight as a tick
I could go on, but the point is that when you move to an area, you can feel more comfortable and accepted if you learn some of the local expressions and use them once in awhile. I’m sure this is true if you move to Lake Norman, Texas, Vermont, Oklahoma or anywhere else.
Click HERE for a link to a web site that is very useful and educational for those moving to the South. Now, some of those expressions shown in that web site are not common to Piedmont (French for Foot Hills- Lake Norman is in the foot hills) North Carolina, so if you’re not sure, call me, and I’ll help you through this.
