It’s time for this month’s Appalachian Vocabulary Test.
I’m sharing a few videos to let you hear the words and phrases. To start the videos click on them.
1. Idlesome: shiftless, lazy. “I never have been idlesome. Even as a child I was always busy doing something or other.”
2. Ill: bad tempered, irritable. “I’m a telling you, you better steer clear of him. He’s ill as a hornet.”
3. I mean: I’ll tell you!, I swear! “The men are still working on cutting the trees back from Pap’s big garden. The progress they’ve made over the last two days has allowed more light to shine on the garden even under a gloomy sky in late winter. I mean we can’t hardly believe the difference!”
4. Ivy: Mountain Laurel. Time’s passing by so quickly that before I know it the ivy surrounding our mountain holler will be in full bloom.
5. Innards: guts, entrails. “When I worked at Lake Logan back in the day one of our evening chores was to drive to the gut hole and dispose of the fish innards we’d collected that day in. We usually had a few five gallon bucket fulls. One day one of my co-workers went in the hole with a bucket! I mean to tell you she was climbing back out before she ever hit the bottom! She looked like a carton character running in air.”
All of this month’s words are beyond familiar in my area, except for idlesome, but idlesome is a word I really like so I’m going to try to start saying it 🙂
Hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know how you did on the test.
Last night’s video: Harmony Singing & the Importance of Music with the Millsap Family in Robbinsville, NC.
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Wonderful.
Uears ago when campining the mountains of western North Carolina mountian men and women asked “What fer the youngin” when we went to the old wooden counter of a country store
All but idlesome I know and use. Your poor coworker!!! Ugh!!! Did she have to walk back to the kitchen? That would give me nightmares!!!
Lenora-luckily she lived nearby 🙂
Hey Tipper just an FYI I shared a few things with you on FB messenger about a few things one is crochet and the other 2 are garden tips…I love watching you in the garden on YouTube . I am having a total hip replacement on March 4 please whisper a prayer for me. Love you and your family and thanks for sharing your lives with everyone. I have learned so much from your videos!
I definitely use “I mean!” And I know what innards are, but don’t personally use that word—although I think the story you wrote is hilarious, as is the word itself. I have never heard anyone use the word idlesome. I just say lazybones. And, I have never heard mountain laurel called ivy until I heard you say it Tipper—but I like it very much! I have said someone is ill-tempered. So much fun to read and learn about the Appalachian language, which I am a part of for sure…just not every word.
My granny would say” They Lawwww”
Looking forward to meeting you guys again in Ringgold Ga
My people have used all of the words mentioned but I don’t remember anyone using the word idlesome.
Tipper, I have been watching seven or eight of your videos each day and sometimes more depending on the time I have. Enjoy the garden segments and Chitter and Chatter (the Pressley girls) videos, also.
I had chicken innards (gizzards, hearts, and livers) for supper last night! Boy, do I mean they were good!
I also love inards.Gizzards and hearts are my favorites.
I hear “I mean” a lot. When athletes are asked something about the game they just played they will start with, “I mean.” Another one I hear often is, “So”. The answer to a question is often begun by the younger crowd with, “So”. It seems they are just filling time while they collect the answer.
I have improved tremendously in the week since my Gaul bladder removal last Wednesday. Thanks for your prayers and God’s faithfulness.
Jackie-I’m glad you are improving!! I will continue to pray for you.
My post disappeared so here it is again. I knew all except ivy for mountain laurel–have to admit I’m a flatlander! My favorite is “ill”. Drawing water years ago, a hornet attacked me. I was trapped holding the well bucket chain and it dive bombed me three times. So painful and each sting made a little sore wit pus. That hornet was ILL and I was too.
Innards is the only one I have heard.
I’ve heard all of them, but idlesome is less common. The others are common, especially ill. I commonly hear and say”ill as a hornet”.
Innards, I mean, and ill still used in our vocabulary. I mean to tell you, we are still hangin’ on to our Appalachian vocabulary here in these parts. Recently heard somebody use “mark my word” to indicate stress on what they were forecasting, and I wondered if that was a regional expression. Sometimes my sis and I use some long ago saying we thought forgotten. These expressions are met with humor as we realize we never hear them anymore. It would be such a shame for our vocabulary to be lost, and I cannot thank you enough for keeping it alive and well. In a world that seems to have adopted strange ideas, I am totally comforted by everything about my heritage. I am a fish out of water when I stray too far geographically from the familiar. I have moved to another state, but still is a part of the Bible belt where I still feel I am dealing with “home folks.”
Not familiar with idlesome but all the rest are used or heard in in my area. Last night’s video was a real treat!! The music was wonderful and the interview with Scott Millsaps was very enjoyable. Thank you and Paul for sharing.
Idlesome is the only word I’m not familiar with on this test. I like it because it describes the way I’ve been acting right lately while I wait for spring. Ill is my favorite saying, one that Mom used often. She would say one of the children was ill and contrary or they were iller than a sore-tail cat.
I am familiar or use all the words this time. I am not sure if I hear them, or read them. I do use ill and innards myself
The only one I’ve heard and used is innards.
It’s alway fun to hear the colorful language of our sweet Appalachian people.
I have heard all of them but do not hear idlesome very often. I tell people I am not idlesome or lazy, but just being Energy Efficient! I will laugh and say I am irritable today and mean as an old wet hen. I will often say “I mean” when trying to explain something.
The word idlesome is not commonly used where I live! The other words are very familiar! Enjoyed the Millsap music video last night!
In Guilford County we do not use idlesome. Some folks are just plain lazy.
He wouldn’t strike a lick at a snake….means a lazy man…
I know and adore all the terms you familiarized us with this fine day! I might add you all look quite well and Chitter is absolutely glowing!!! What a beautiful and sweet bunch you really are and quite humorous as well!!! God bless you all and especially Corey, Katie and Granny! Do you garden barefoot?? I most certainly will be shoeless as much as possible if my plans work out! I see the bushes and brush starting to green up so I’m feeling less depressed…
Sadie-I haven’t since I was a child 🙂 thank you for the kindness!!
I always enjoy your vocabulary days.
I’ve never heard idlesome either. The rest are common around here.
Idlesome does not roll of the tongue but that is probably because it was not a common usage in my WNC community. Shiftless was a typical word to mean laziness. I think idleness implies a temporary condition while shiftless implies an overall tendency to laziness.
Love the vocabulary videos