Can you speak Cliffside?

Every region of the country has its own peculiar words, expressions and pronounciations. Somehow, we natives of the Cliffside area feel ours are particularly special. (At least special enough to list them alphabetically on a website.) We hope you’ll submit your favorites by clicking here.

Word or Phrase	Meaning	Usage
A fine howdy-do	exasperated reaction to an unexpected or undesired circumstance	Now that’s a fine howdy-do!
A piece	some distance	The old sawmill is down that road a piece.
Ain’t got a lick a sense	stupid; foolish	Well, if he even thinks about marryin’ her, he ain’t got a lick a sense.
Ar	or	Who you gonna choose, him ar me?
Bad to	inclined to; has a propensity for	My uncle Bob was bad to drank.
Bedroom suit	bedroom suite	We bought a bedroom suit at Miller’s Furniture.
Been a bein’	past condition	She ain’t nearly as well as she’s been a bein’.
Bless your heart	you/that poor thing	Well, bless your/her/his heart
Boogerman	the devil	You better be good or the boogerman will come git you.
Bring	be worth	What do you think that cow will bring at auction?
Car shed	garage	We keep our lawnmower out in the car shed.
Come across	find; discover	Holler if you come across my missing car keys.
Come up a storm (or shower)	storm will occur	Looks like it’s about to come up a storm.
Continueds	movie serials	After the newsreel and the cartoon they showed a continued.
Cow horns will hook, doesn’t believe	Unrealistic, not in touch with reality	He doesn’t believe cow horns will hook.
Cut out the light	turn off the light	Wish you’d cut out the light so I can git to sleep.
Dibs	baby chicks	I bought me a dozen of them dibs at the hardware store.
Dinner	lunch	We’ll eat dinner right after the 11:00am church service.
Directly	after a while	She’ll be along directly.
Dope	soft drink	I’m gonna drank me a dope.
Drive … in the ground like a stob!	humorous threat	You keep foolin’ with me, I’ll drive you …..etc.
Eh, law	oh, well; too bad; alas	Eh, law. He’ll end up in prison, you wait and see.
Ellenber	Ellenboro	Jimmy Sparks lives up ‘air not too far from Ellenber.
Evenin’	afternoon	He’ll be here about two o’clock this evenin’.
Fall of the year	fall; autumn	Last time I saw him was in the fall of the year.
Far	fire	Put another log on the far.
Far board	fire board; mantel	Got a cigarette? I left mine on the far board back at the house.
Far City	Forest City	I think he lives in Far City.
Fell off	lost weight	You have fell off since the last time I saw you.
Futher	farther, further. To avoid confusion about which word to use, we adopted a hybrid word to fit all occasions.	And futhermore, you’ll find that the ocean is futher away than you think.
Git a wheel	Tear off in a car, spinning the wheels	Everytime he takes off in his Thunderbird, he gits a wheel.
Going to the store	going shopping	I’ll be back after ‘while, I’m going to the store.
Git Gone	Leave, be missing	I’ll put off sweeping the porch ’til y’all git gone.
Granny woman	haggard old lady	Pore Hattie, in the past few months she’s come to look like a granny woman.
Hard	hired	Cliffside Mills hard me on the day after Christmas.
Hawg-killin’ time	cold weather	You know, I believe it’s hawg-killin’ time.
Heck far	mild expletive	Well, heck far, I never seen the like!
Hen aigs	eggs	We gonna dye some hen aigs at Easter.
Henretter	Henrietta	She’s the purtiest girl in Henretter.
Hep	help	I can’t hep it, but I’m still in love with you.
Here ‘while back	some time ago. Not as long ago as ‘way back yonder, but prior to some date in the last week or two.	I run into him in Far City here ‘while back and he was wearing ‘at new wooden laig.
Hind end	posterior, butt	I wish somebody’d kick him in the hind end.
Hisself	himself	Ernest got hisself a new Studebaker.
Hoodoo	fool, deceive	Don’t you try to hoodoo me!
Humdinger	special or unique individual or thing	‘At ’55 Chevy I got is a humdinger.
I declare	good heavens, my stars	Well, I declare, I ain’t never seen nothing like ‘at!
Idey	idea	I ain’t got no idey.
I’ll be doggone	my heavens; I swear; I can’t believe it	I’ll be doggone, he run off with that hussy.
Jeet?	Did you eat?	Jeet yit?
Jerk a knot in … tail	punish, straighten out	If he keeps that up, Mr. Beatty will jerk a knot in his tail.
Kingdom come	end of time	It will last til kingdom come.
Knowed	knew	Hung hisself, eh? I never knowed him to do that before.
‘Light and come in	alight (from your conveyance) and enter our home	Why don’t y’all ‘light and come in? (Undoubtedly a term carried over from “horse and buggy” days, when one would alight (come down) from a carriage or stage coach.
Loaf bread	white bread	Put a slice of baloney between two slices uv loaf bread.
M’daddy	my father (pronounced MUH-DADDY’)	That old reed hook belonged to m’daddy.
Mess	portion, quantity	She picked her a mess of poke sallit.
Moseber	Mooresboro	Grandma is buried in Sandy Run cemetery over at Moseber.
Nanner pudd’n	banana pudding	I’m saving room for some of that nanner pudd’n.
No ‘count	worthless	Since my health turned bad, I jist ain’t been no ‘count.
Of a mornin’	mornings, on mornings	I always enjoy the sunrise of a mornin’.
Old as the hills	really old	Grandma is old as the hills.
Orten to	ought not	You orten to do that.
Outta whack	undone, broken	The links on this page are outta whack.
Paper poke	paper bag	She put my groceries in a paper poke.
Piccolo	juke box	Why don’t you play somethin’ on the piccolo?
Piled up in the bed	be, remain, in bed	I went over there at dinner time and he was still piled up in the bed.
Pitch a fit	express displeasure	When my sister came home late, Mama pitched a fit.
Pizzle-sprung	exhausted, tard, wore to a frazzle	I tell you, after following that mule around all day, I’m just pizzle-sprung.
Pore	underweight; skinny	Since she had her operation, she’s pore as a snake.
Puttin’ on the dog	being uppity	Look at that hat he’s wearing, ain’t he puttin’ on the dog?
Quare	peculiar	He’s a quare one.
Red as a gobbler’s snout	florid	His face was red as a gobbler’s snout.
Rinch	rinse	Rinch the soap offa your hands!
Rite smart	a lot, a goodly amount	There’s rite smart a cotton left in the field.
Roas’n’ears	roasting ears	Go down to the corn field and pick us a sackful a roas’n’ears.
Rulfton	Rutherfordton	You wanna ride with me up to Rulfton?
Scarce as hens’ teeth	in short supply	Snuff dippers are gittin’ scarce as hens’ teeth.
Show, or picture show	movies, movie theater	Let’s go to the show tomorrow night.
Squallin’	crying	She left the room just a squallin’.
Standin’	shut down	The mill is standin’ this week.
Straight shot	direct route	You jist turn left right down air and it’s a straight shot to Chesnee.
Suit a clothes	suit	I put on my best suit a clothes.
Sweet milk	milk	I love corn bread crumbled up in a glass a’ sweet milk.
Tard	tired	I can’t get up, I’m too tard.
Tater	potato	Most years we store our taters under the house where the pigs can’t git to ’em.
The house	home	I gotta git along to the house.
They	buildup to an exclamation	They, hellfar! He’s gonna kill hisself.
Tight as Dick’s hat band	stingy; miserly	Don’t count on him paying that high a price, he’s tight as Dick’s hat band.
T’mar	tomorrow	I cain’t thank about that today, I’ll thank about it t’mar.
Toenails	cashew nuts	When Tommy Hamrick and his daddy went to Spindale they bought some toenails.
Tote	Carry	How ’bout totin’ this anvil? My arms are tard.
‘Way back yonder	years ago; long ago	Grandpa bought that mule ‘way back yonder.
Whuppin’	whipping	You better behave or you’ll get a whuppin’.
Wore to a frazzle	exhausted	After climbin’ ‘at hill, I’m jist wore to a frazzle.
Yore	your	Is ‘at yore coat?
You’nses	yours	Is that little shoat one of you’nses?