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 related to the south:
“Is it not the chief disgrace in the world, not to be an unit;Mnot to be reckoned one character;Mnot to yield that peculiar fruit which each man was created to bear, but to be reckoned in the gross, in the hundred, or the thousand, of the party, the section, to which we belong; and our opinion predicted geographically, as the north, or the south?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
Related Phrases
Related Words