The South
See also: Southern American English- alligator pear - avocado
- banquette (southern Louisiana) - sidewalk, foot-path
- billfold (widespread, but infrequent Northeast, Pacific Northwest) - a man's wallet
- cap (also Midlands) - sir (prob. from "captain")
- chill bumps (also Midlands) - goose bumps
- chunk - toss or throw an object
- coke - any brand of soft drink
- commode (also Midlands) - bathroom; restroom; particularly the toilet itself
- crocus sack (Atlantic), croker sack (Gulf) - burlap bag
- cut on/off - to turn on/off
- directly - in a minute; soon; momentarily
- dirty rice (esp. Louisiana) - Cajun rice dish consisting of rice, spices, and meat
- fais-dodo (southern Louisiana) - a party
- fix - to get ready, to be on the verge of doing; (widespread but esp. South) to prepare food
- house shoes - bedroom slippers
- lagniappe (Gulf, esp. Louisiana) - a little bit of something extra
- locker (esp. Louisiana) - closet
- make (age) (Gulf, esp. Louisiana) - have a birthday; "He's making 16 tomorrow."
- neutral ground (Louisiana, Mississippi) - median strip
- po' boy (scattered, but esp. South) - a long sandwich, typically made with fried oysters, clams, or shrimp
- put up - put away, put back in its place
- yankee - northerner; also damn yankee, damned yankee
- yonder (esp. rural) - over there, or a long distance away; also over yonder
Read more about this topic: Regional Vocabularies Of American English
Famous quotes containing the word south:
“I don’t have any doubts that there will be a place for progressive white people in this country in the future. I think the paranoia common among white people is very unfounded. I have always organized my life so that I could focus on political work. That’s all I want to do, and that’s all that makes me happy.”
—Hettie V., South African white anti-apartheid activist and feminist. As quoted in Lives of Courage, ch. 21, by Diana E. H. Russell (1989)
“Biography is a very definite region bounded on the north by history, on the south by fiction, on the east by obituary, and on the west by tedium.”
—Philip Guedalla (1889–1944)
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