Southern Expressions Archives

Get on the Stick

February 2, 2026 Diana Derringer Comments 6 comments

Did anyone ever tell you to get on the stick? You rested too long. Or were busy with something else. Or simply felt lazy. The person talking may have been a:

Parent
Boss
Co-worker
Friend

Whoever it was, they wanted you to do the job they had in mind.

To get on the stick means to get busy.

Make an effort.
Get organized.
Start working.
Quit wasting time and get the ball rolling.

Fixing to do something is not enough. You must get up and do it.

Get on the stick also applies to non-work activities.

Those include:

School
Sports
Anything you should do but keep avoiding

Put your best foot forward. You will be glad you did.

“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” (Hebrews 6:12 NIV).

Thanks to Darrin Jenkins for the suggestion and to Debbie Tapscott for the photo.

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My grandmother grew gourds. I did not understand why. What good were they? I thought they tasted awful. Plus, my grandmother often referred to people as green as a gourd. That expression was not a compliment.

As green as a gourd means not ripe.

Gourds need time to ripen before they become useful. People also need time to mature before we tackle certain tasks. Youth has its advantages, but so does maturity with its time and experience.

Similar expressions include:

Green behind the ears
Greenhorn

As green as a gourd also refers to the gourd’s color.

When we have stomach trouble, we turn green as a gourd from nausea. We feel and look horrible. Not a condition we desire.

Dried or cured gourds once served a variety of roles.

After time to mature, they became:

Dippers
Containers
Birdhouses
Musical instruments
Arts and crafts

They continue to serve some of those purposes.

The gourd in this picture belonged to my great-great-grandmother. She used it as a salt container. It has served and lasted well. May we also be worth our salt, serving long and well.

“Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14 NIV).

Thanks to Darrin Jenkins for the suggestion.

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Well Butter my Backside and Call Me A Biscuit!

March 10, 2025 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

Please welcome my guest writer, Tammy Whitehurst. I met Tammy at the Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. Fast-paced. Funny. Down to earth. Relatable. Tammy is a “hoot with a capital H!” From hilariously funny to seriously faith-filled, Tammy has been featured in Lifeway magazines, Christianity Today and other publications. She has spoken for Moody and Salem Radio Broadcasting. However, to those who know her best, she is simply Davis’s wife, an empty nest mom, and a former middle school teacher. She struggles like the rest of us with dust, dishes, cellulite, junk drawers, and wrinkles. Find out more at TammyWhitehurst.com.

Well butter my backside and call me a biscuit!

If we need a positive expression when good news takes us by surprise, this one takes the cake.

Oh, the joy of being surprised unexpectedly!

Perhaps the door swings open and someone we love dearly stands there.
Maybe an answered prayer that seemed impossible.
When someone pays for our meal out of the blue.
Or a text from someone we haven’t heard from in years.

In the South a grin would emerge that would be almost impossible to wipe away and we would say, “Well butter my backside and call me a biscuit!”

Whether we are southern as “all git out” or “suddenly southern” due to a move or vacation, one thing is for sure…. learning southern slang is crucial.

When the trials and tribulations of life have us up against the Red Sea….

God parted it for Moses so the Israelites could pass through (Exodus 14). He can part it for us as well. God can and does exceed our expectations.

Expect the unexpected.

Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

Thanks to Jeri Stone for the biscuits photo.

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High Water Pants Poor

November 4, 2024 Diana Derringer Comments 10 comments

All my life, I heard people talk about high water pants. They meant pants that were too short. Sometimes they bought them without trying them on for a proper fit. In most cases, they had either outgrown them or washed them until they shrank

When children outgrew their pants and families could not afford more, they were high water pants poor.

They had to make do until they could do better.

High water pant legs stop above the ankle.

I never considered that a fashion statement. However, many people desire high water pants. In fact, I have worn them without realizing they fit the definition. Various names include:

Capris
Cropped pants
Flood pants
Ankle pants
Kick flares
Clam diggers
Pedal Pushers

Like ripped jeans, what was once a sign of poverty became a fashion trend.

The high water pants poor are often richer than they think.

Like the dirt poor, they enjoy wealth beyond measure if they have:

Safe housing
Food for every day
Access to medical care
More than one change of clothes, fashionable or not
Family and friends who love them

Money cannot buy the greatest riches.

Peace, love, hope, and joy do not depend on stylish clothes or financial gain. Those signs of success never last. Rather, true riches come from following Jesus and finding new life and purpose in Him.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV).

Thanks to Ona Buckner Sidebottom for the suggestion and to Karen Atwood for the photo.

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Scarce as Hens’ Teeth

September 25, 2023 Diana Derringer Comments 10 comments

This photo, with lots of ducks and a rooster, has no hens. Hens are as scarce as hens’ teeth here.

Scarce as hens’ teeth means very scarce.

What we seek is:

Rare
Impossible or almost impossible to find

We seldom find a:

Mud puddle in the desert
Polar bear in Kentucky
Pessimist at an optimists’ meeting

Hens have no teeth.

That fact emphasizes how scarce an item can be. Finding what we want is like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, as with mud puddles in the desert, we may find them once in a blue moon.

We often give greater value to scarce items.

Supply and demand teach that demand (and prices) go up when supply goes down. We see that with:

One-of-a-kind art
Antiques
Limited editions of anything

Truth frequently feels as scarce as hens’ teeth.

Everywhere we turn, we find people trying to deceive us. Scams appear:

On our phones
In the mail
During business deals

Such occurrences make us mad as a wet hen.

Occasionally, we wonder if truth exists anymore.

However, one truth never fails.

God, who is truth, offers each of us grace and truth through the gift of Jesus. Hang on to that truth and never let go.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14 NIV).

Thanks to Emily Akin for the suggestion.

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How the Sausage Is Made

October 10, 2022 Diana Derringer Comments 8 comments

Please welcome my friend Harriet Michael as today’s guest writer. Harriet and I met at Kentucky Christian Writers Conference. She is an award-winning author and freelance writer. Harriet currently has ten books on Amazon with another coming out next year. She also has hundreds of articles, devotions, and stories published in numerous magazines and books. Follow her on her website, blog, or Amazon author page.

How the sausage is made refers to the way something is created behind the scenes.

The process contains components a person might consider unpleasant. Usually the end product is pleasant, but the process involved in making it may have unpleasant steps.

How the Sausage Is Made

When delicious sausage is made, the process includes

Cutting up animal meats
Grinding them
Adding spices

Cutting up and grinding animal meats may be unpleasant even to those who love sausage

The Expression’s Use

I recently used this expression when I shared how an article goes from an idea in my head to being in print. The finished product — the article beautifully laid out and printed in a magazine — is pleasant. However, the work can be unpleasant:

Writing
Rewriting
Submitting to magazines
The possibility of rejections before finding a magazine that accepts it

Letting people peer into that process is like letting them see how sausage is made.

In our lives we sometimes go through unpleasant experiences.

Like the process in making sausage, though unpleasant at times, those experiences end in something good. All who follow Jesus have a promise that the challenges we go through will ultimately end in good. Romans 8:28 (KJV) tells us, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Image by ivabalk from Pixabay.

Do you have an expression you want explained or a thought about this one? If so, please comment below.

On Saturday, October 22, I will randomly select the name of one person on my mailing list to receive a free copy of Harriet and Shirley Crowder’s devotional book, Glimpses of the Savior: 50 Meditations for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year. If you are not already on my mailing list, you can sign up here.

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This Here

May 16, 2022 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

This here frog stared at me from outside our kitchen window. I stared back in amazement. He was so tiny, and he stayed in that same spot for hours. He appeared out of the blue around the same time and place the year before.

I don’t know where he stays between his yearly visits. He does not know I used to be terrified of frogs. They gave me the heebie-jeebies. Yet, his visits brighten my days.

“This here” points out someone or something.

It is an informal way to say “this” and refers to a specific person or object.

Other examples of its use include:

We are going fishing on this here boat.
I want to buy this here phone.
My family loves this here farm.

I usually hear this expression spoken in casual country conversations.

However, I have not heard it for a long time.

Whether I say “this” or “this here” matters less than the rest of my words.

Are they true and kind? Do they honor God? Like my frog friend, do they brighten someone’s day.

“The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but gracious words are pure in his sight” (Proverbs 15:26 NIV).

Thanks to Catherine Nicholson for the suggestion.

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In the Sticks

May 17, 2021 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

In the Sticks-leaf-covered road through trees Many of us grew up in the sticks. We had to travel several miles to the closest town. Our travel time increased to reach a city. Some of us remain in the sticks or visit often.

In the sticks means in the country.

It describes life in the middle of nowhere. Business usually involves plants and animals, not stores or factories.

People who hate country life describe it as:

Unsophisticated
Culturally backward

People who love country life call it:

Rustic
Back to nature

Nothing compares to country living.

Work is usually hard. However, the calmer, slower lifestyle makes such hard work worth it.

Our family loves our garden spot of the world. A few relatives remain where we grew up. Others live closer to modern conveniences … but not too close.

Whether we live in the sticks, visit when we can, or travel through them, we can all enjoy our time there.

Thanks to Janna Babak for the suggestion.

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It Don’t Make Me No Never Mind

March 15, 2021 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

It Don't Make Me No Never Mind-Neapolitan ice cream cake with berries on top “Do you prefer ice cream, cake, or both?” “I’m leaving now. Is that okay?” “Mind if I change the station on TV?” For all these questions, we might answer, “It don’t make me no never mind.” Of course, we don’t give that answer if we prefer correct grammar.

Other ways to say “It don’t make me no never mind” include:

It does not matter to me.
I don’t care.
It does not bother me.
Makes no difference to me.

It don’t make me no never mind means either choice is okay.

We have no strong feelings about a decision. It is six of one and half a dozen of another.

Many choices in life don’t matter.

If they don’t matter, we usually don’t care. Although many probably disagree, the following matter little:

House size
Car model
Clothing style

What difference will those make years from now?

Other choices matter a great deal.

How we choose could mean the difference in life or death. We never want to:

Abuse another person
Lie, cheat, or steal
Neglect someone in need

The results could last for generations. Not everyone will like our actions. However, right choices mean we must occasionally make waves.

May we always choose well when our choices matter most.

“Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32).

I don’t know its origin, but I think of this as a southern expression. Have you heard it used other places?

Thanks to Timothy Lewis for the suggestion. Image by Bernhard Mülhens from Pixabay.

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Two Shakes of a Lamb’s Tail

February 1, 2021 Diana Derringer Comments 10 comments

Two Shakes of a Lamb's Tail--two lambs Lambs are small and have short tails. I don’t know if that has anything to do with the origin of two shakes of a lamb’s tail. However, it makes sense to me.

Two shakes of a lamb’s tail means a short period of time.

We use the expression if we plan to do something quickly:

Work
School assignments
Home chores
Exercise

However, anything completed too quickly leads to problems.

Haste makes waste if we do a poor job. We frequently give a lick and a promise when we need to take one step at a time and do our job right.

Fast work is good. Correct work is better.

Moving too slowly also causes problems.

If we dislike what we do, we are tempted to put it off as long as possible. We become slow as molasses starting and often slower finishing.

Whatever we do, whether fast or slow, let’s give our best.

“Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind” (Proverbs 21:5 MSG).

Thanks to Liz Gray for the suggestion. Image by Michael Grundmann from Pixabay.

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