American English: Funny Southern Expressions (with translation)
I grew up in the American south; in Tennessee to be exact, and the culture there is unlike the culture in the rest of the country. But like the rest of the States, we have our own unique words, phrases and expressions. Most of which, do not have a very clear translation. So with this article, I want to explain the top 6 southern sayings.
1. Pitching a hissy fit: I grew up hearing my mother saying "Stop pitching a hissy fit!" Basically it is the southern way of telling a child to stop misbehaving or having a tantrum.
2. Buggy: This one really needs some translating. It is not a bug or anything close to that. It is actually a shopping cart. You will only hear this phrase in the south, and if you try to use it up in the Northern states, most likely, residence won't understand what your saying.
3. Fixin' to" Short translation is fixin' to = preparing to do something. "I'm fixin to go to the grocery store." "I'm fixin to cook dinner." If you're about to do something, you're "fixing".
4. Ain't: Ain't is a contraction of "am not," "are not," or "is not." Growing up, I heard ain't on a daily basis. Followed by my english teachers correcting me saying "Ain't, aint a word." Well the joke is on them, because "Ain't" is in officially in the English webster dictionary.
5. Ya'll: Ya'll is the second contraction on this list. It is the contraction of "you all." The history is that it is left over form the old english "ye all." I could go into a long history lesson here, but I'll save you the misfortune. Ya'll is probably the most used southern phrase in all the south.
6. Bless you/his/her/its heart: Contrary to how it sounds, this is not a blessing. It has two completely different translations and it depends interlay on the context of the conversation.
- On one hand, southerners are famous for backhanded complaints. In other words, they are good at making insults sound sweet, and that's what this is. Its a nice way to question you intelligence.
- The second translation can be a sense of genuine sympathy.
The two translation completely contradict one another. So when using "bless your heart," it is important to understand the context. This is also probably most famous southern saying ever.
July 9, 2018
