Friday, March 25, 2011

Southernisms

A dear sister in our church and I have been going back and forth for a couple of weeks now describing our past week with "southernisms" as I'll call them.  Then, we try to describe what they mean.  We wind up just laughing and laughing.  Here's a few we've come up with:

  • Middlin' - this means to just be doing fair.  You don't feel great, but you don't feel poor either.  It's somewhere in the middle, thus you are middlin'.
  • Piddlin' - this means to be doing something with no particular purpose.  Twidlin' your thumbs is a perfect example.  Whitlin' is another example.  I'll cover both these next.
  • Twidlin' - twirling something, usually in reference to your thumbs.  But I suppose it could be any other object as well.
  • Whitlin' - this term is used most often in reference to wood and cutting away at it with a knife.  I think it probably originally comes from the word "whetting", which means to sharpen.  Most people are "whitlin" with no particular purpose, thus they are "piddlin' while they're whitlin".
  • Fiddlin' - this term has two meanings.  It could mean to play a musical instrument, namely the fiddle.  Or, it could mean to attempt to fix an object.  You may fiddle with a radio, a car, or anything else electronic or mechanical.
Which words have I forgotten?  Do you have a different definition for some of these?  Please do share!