Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Southern Appalachian Lingo


This little clip, outlining the unique language of the Southern Appalachian Mountain folks, popped up on my Facebook feed this morning. As I watched, I remembered what it was like moving here 20 some odd years ago. My coworkers, at the bank over in Tennessee, would make fun of me when I didn't know what the hell they were talking about. But now? Now, it doesn't seem odd or unusual to hear and even use these words.

Once, the head teller kept talking about going to the "fire" after work. I thought it was like... a wildfire or something. To myself, I kind of made fun of the poor hicks that couldn't wait to get off work to go watch the forest burn. Bless their hearts.

Turns out it was the County Fair, not a fire.

God help me if I ever move back to civilization.

Some of you may recognize the famous moonshiner Popcorn Sutton at the beginning of the clip. He passed away a few years ago, but his legend lives on 'round these parts. 

If you'd like to learn more about the language of the Southern Appalachians, check out Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community 


5 comments:

poopie said...

Bingo!

Joy T. said...

Ha! Peckerwood!

Mahala said...

I know right? I've heard that, but I never really thought about it before. I know a few of those lol.

kenju said...

Fire = fair? WOW. In my home state, worsh = wash.

Celia said...

Oh my, several of those words came down to us from my Dad's Momma. Peckerwood is still a family favorite. :)