-Not long ago, I asked my boyfriend to "pull the door to" when he came into my room. He stopped and looked at the door and then shrugged it off. I asked again, "Pull the door to, please." Again, a puzzled look. Once more I said, "Pull the door to!" He responded, "Pull it to where?? Are you even speaking English??" Finally I yelled, "Close the door!"
-One time he wanted to use my laptop, but I had already packed it to go on a business trip. He asked if he could use it and I said, "It's already put up." He asked again and I said, "I'm sorry, I've already put it up for the trip." He got a sneaky look on his face and started looking on the top shelves of my closet to see where I "put it up." I started dying out laughing because I then knew he didn't know I meant that I had already "put it away."
-Recently he and I were talking about what I was going to do one Saturday. I said, "Oh, I don't know... I might catch a wild hare and go shopping." I don't even think he responded with words, only the most puzzled look I've ever seen. I again knew he had never heard the phrase "catch a wild hare." This one really confused him. He could not understand what "catch a wild hare" had to do with "if I'm feeling spontaneous."
This was hilarious to me, I couldn't believe that he had never heard someone ask him to "pull the door to" or that something had "been put up." I had to see if it was just him, or if other people had not heard these phrases either. I asked around my office if anyone had ever heard someone say "pull the door to" instead of "close the door" or the other phrases. I asked local Northern Virginians as well as people from other cultures. Apparently, EVERYONE thought I was crazy.
So this got me thinking if other common phrases I've heard in the South were normal here. I looked up a list of Southern phrases and picked out the ones I've either said before or heard someone else say. I took a poll and here are some that at least one person had never heard of before:
- I'm as serious as a heart attack
- Meaner than a skunk
- You don't have a dog in this fight (you don't have any business being there)
- Madder than fire
- Shit or get off the pot (either do it or forget about it)
- A bit left of center (a bit odd)
- Sweating like a whore in church
- Pop a squat (sit down)
- The devil is beating his wife (when it is raining really hard outside, but the sun is shining)
- I'm just plum tired
- Saying "cut the light off" instead of "turn the light off"
- I'm "fixing to go there" instead of I'm "about to go there"
- I don't know him from a whole in the wall (I don't know him at all)
- Up shit creek without a paddle (you are screwed)
- He had a "shit eating grin" on his face (he had a huge grin, or looked like he did something sneaky)
- Don't "sass" me (don't talk back to me)
- Drunker than cooter brown (very drunk)
- You can dish it out, but you can't take it
- You're getting too big for your britches (acting like a big shot)
- "I have a mind to go do that" instead of "I think I might go do that"
- Dead as a doornail
- "Will you carry me to the store?" instead of "Will you take me to the store?"
- It's hotter than blue blazes (it's very hot outside)
- Thicker than thieves (two people are very close friends)
- She could argue with a fence post (the person would argue with anyone)
- I'm about to "bust a gut" laughing (laughing so hard your stomach hurts)
And last, but not least, a phrase I've only heard my Dad and one other friend's family say.. but no one else..
- He looks like Ned and the First Reader (he looks like a nerd)
