Sand Mountain Terms – Then and Now 2001
Here again my subject came from an e-mail I received from a reader. The title was Livin’ in Alabama and it contained lots of terms and sayings that we hear here on Sand Mountain – such as: It’s not a shopping cart – it’s a buggy; onced and twiced really are words.
Well, you know the rest of the story – this got me thinking about terms we hear (or have heard) and use here on the mountain.
I heard about a man asking his friend what he was about to do and the friend replied, “I’m repairing to go to the store.” The man said, “You can’t say it that way – repair means to fix something.” The friend retorted, “I know it, I’m fixing to go to the store.” We use that term here on the mountain as though it’s one word – fixinto.
We don’t have “lunch” here on the mountain, but rather we have dinner and supper.
A fence straddler is someone who is undecided or refuses to take a side — it’s possible that person is lily livered.
My daddy used to have a saying he used often – “You need to live by a set of rules that’ll do to die by.” Another old saying that has lots of meaning is “Do your givin’ while you’re a-livin’, then you’ll be a-knowin’ where it’s a-goin’.”
A man’s word is his bond was something very ordinary in bygone days. Unfortunately, that does not hold true in our modern times, but I always tried to instill in my girls that if you tell somebody you’ll do something, then do it or let them know why you can’t do it.
Another old sayin’ that I respect: “If he’ll lie to you, he’ll steal from you.”
Words heard on Sand Mountain from time to time:
Loop leg-ged or high as a Georgia pine – meaning one he is drunk
Protracted Meetin’ – revival – possibly the protracted came about because it lasted two weeks and services were held morning and night.
In a family way – pregnant
Hope – past tense for help
Know’d
See’d
Hear’d
His’n
Her’n
Our’n
Dun – a statement of amount owed. It made my daddy furious to receive such in the mail.
Gatherin’ – meaning a boil or rising coming to a head.
Arn – iron
Tars – tires
Tar’s – tired
Give out – very tired
Wrench – John still wrenches his hands – he means rinse, but it’s impossible to teach an old dog new tricks. I tell him it would hurt if he wrenched his hands off and he just ignores me.
Conveyance – a means of transportation
Drayage Fee – shipping charges
Passel – large amount
Receipt – recipe
Yonder – in giving directions here on the mountain it might be something like: Go right down yonder and take that road that peels off to the right.
There is a difference in wisdom, knowledge, intellect and just plain old common sense, but let me share a recent happening. My young friend (and not so young either) and I were discussing a recipe when she asked me how I would chop something (I can’t remember what the item was). I said I’d put in the food chopper to which she replied, “I did, but it chopped some and the rest stuck to the sides.” The gray-haired one (me) replied, “Well, I’d just scrape that down off the side and turn the chopper on again.” My friend said, “I didn’t think of doing that.” Duh!!! It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out!!
To borrow a phrase from the e-mail I received and change it just a bit, everyone can’t be from or live on Sand Mountain – it takes talent. You might say it’s an art form or a gift from God. Pass some of these oldies on, your friends might find a use for them with their style of country living.