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. Quartly: Sunday School Quarterly. “I forgot my quartly.” “Don’t worry there’s always extrees in Sunday school.”
2. Quit off: to stop; cease. “He dipped snuff for years but quit off as he got older. Funny thing is not a one of us noticed it till sometime later.”
3. Raise up: to rear and educate a person or family. “My grandsons will be the fourth generation of our family to be raised up in this holler.”
4. Raised in a barn: uncouth, lacking manners. “I reckon that boy was raised in a barn! When he visits he never shuts the door nor kicks the mud out of his boots.”
5. Ramrod: the person in charge of an organization, meeting, or movement. “I finally met the ramrod of that place. Now I can see why their having such a time.”
All of this month’s words/phrases are beyond common in my area of Appalachia. Hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know if they are in your area.
Tipper
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I’ve heard “born in a barn” all my life. Another saying for someone who talks alot is “she must of been vaccinated with a victrola needle”.
I’ve heard raised up and raised in a barn used. Never heard ramrod to describe a person, very interesting. I’ve read quartly, but never heard it said until now. Overall, I failed the test this month, but I’m happy I gained some new words! ❤️
Tipper, my brother’s 72 birthday is tomorrow. I’m having a small party for him tonight. Can I make your biscuits early and refrigerate them and bake later? I enjoy all your recipes and use several of them. Best meatloaf and biscuits ever! I’m also planning a small garden using all your plans and suggestions.
I also now use flax seeds as a substitute for eggs. I still use eggs some but it’s really a savings now that eggs are so expensive. Thanks to Chitter for that hint. It really works.
Sandra-I’ve tried freezing them and that works well, but I’ve never tried just putting them in the fridge. Seems like it would work. I sure hope your brother has a wonderful birthday!!
I bake mine and either freeze or store them in the refrigerator them heat them in the microwave for a minute or less. They’re not quite as good texture wise as hot from the oven but the flavor is the same.
A guy enters a bar and leaves the door open. The bartender yells, close the door, wuz you raised in a barn?
The guy closes the door, returns to the bar, and starts crying his eyes out.
The bartender apologizes and says “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings with the comment about the barn”.
The guy says, “You didn’t hurt my feelings, I was raised in a barn and I get home sick every time I hear a jackass bray”.
Clint, my close neighbor has at least 10 donkeys/jackasses. When they get stirred up and all start braying together, you can say you have now heard a racket. I am surprised some of the “newbie neighbors” don’t complain about the noise, I just think they are funny and laugh.
I love it!!!
My parents used to say “were you born in a barn” instead of raised in a barn.
I liked to answer “I wish” which got me in trouble.
I’ve heard and used them all except “quit off.” Always enjoy these Appalachian vocabulary tests. Have a great Friday everyone!!
All the phrases are quite common in my area except “quit off.”
Our SS department uses the same “quartly” as your church. Most of us just say Sunday School book.
If we ever left a door open that we should have shut, my mom would ask if we were raised in a jail.
And if another kid was acting impudently, my mom would have said that child wasn’t raised, he just grew. My favorite ramrod was Rowdy Yates, as well! Keep up the great work of teaching/reminding us of our country roots!
I wasn’t born, they found me under a rock!
I’ve heard and used “raised up.” I’ve heard and used “were you born in a barn? Shut the door!”
Growing up I heard “ramrod straight” for something that was extremely straight. A example might be, “that girl’s hair is so hard to curl. It’s ramrod straight.”
I have never heard either “quartly” but have “quarterly” and never heard “quit off”. Know the last three though. Always have heard “raised” as being what is done to and for a child but it most of the time means quality, not just any ole way. My memory of “raised in a barn” is connected to having left the outside door open for the flies to come in but it took the form of “you wasn’t raised in a barn, now shut the door.” To me, “ramrod” sounds Western though historically the thing itself fits Appalachia even more securely. When I think about it, there is a very large number of words that mean “boss” and probably more being made up all the time. I wonder if that is because nobody likes being “bossed” but it’s OK to be told by the ramrod?
Ramrod can also be a drift.
I’ve heard of “raised in a barn” and “raised up” but haven’t heard of the other terms.
I remember being told that hogs were raised and children were reared
I don’t know if this is Appalachian but fixen throws me every time I hear it. As in I’m fixen to do this.
I think of “raised in a barn” when someone leaves the door open when it shouldn’t be. All of the others are familiar, too, except “quit off”. Don’t remember ever hearing that one. That would definitely mean to stop. Thanks. These are always fun.
Quit off is the only one I’m unfamiliar with.
I have heard of all of these but the only ones I hear often, and use are ‘raise up’ and ‘raised in a barn’. My dad always said “shut the door, it’s cold. Were you raised in a barn?” I was ‘raised up’ to respect my elders.
I can’t seem to recall “quit off”. Mostly I’ve heard “quit that nasty {insert ugly word here}”.
I did grow up hearing “raised up” and “raised in a barn”. One year at the NC State Fair I saw a young man working in the cow exhibition building wearing a T-shirt that said, “WHY YES, I WAS RAISED IN A BARN.”
Raised in a barn is the only one I heard growing up. And I do not hear any of these anymore.
Hi family!
Have heard and used all those except Quit off.
just wanted to say, my hubby has really been enjoying the shed build. he wants to jump in and help!
praying daily for Granny
Lisa, I also enjoy doing or helping others do things like this. I will be glad to let Matt climb around on the rafters by himself. Nowadays, if I get much higher than knee high off the ground I get shaky. Now because of my bad arthritis knees and back, I sometimes feel like I am no longer good for anything or to anybody.
I have never heard any of these, but I do know “brought up in a barn.”
I have heard and still say 1,3 and 4. I will more often say Sunday School book, or raised in a barn as a question…if an entrance door is left open, where you raised in a barn?
Ed, I have got you confused. The logs drug to the sawmills I mentioned were used for saw timber and cut into building lumber such as 2×4’s, 2×6’s etc. These logs would be large pine trees, oak, popular or some other tree, Pulpwood was 5 ft sticks of pine loaded behind the cab across the frame of a beat up truck (read Gene’s comment about the trucks). The pulpwood was often hand loaded onto the truck ( 3-4 cords on the larger trucks) and then be carried to a “pulpwood yard” beside railroad tracks, unloaded and at a later time be loaded onto flatbed railroad cars to be carried to the paper mills by train. Pulpwood was cut with the bow saws right where the tree was cut, flatland, hillside, mountain side, wherever, the tree would be cut into 5ft lengths up to to the top, the tops would not be trimmed and be left for scrap. Whenever I was cutting oak trees for firewood I would cut the tree down and up to the top with my bow saw and then use another smaller straight blade chainsaw to work up the top. The trucks were beat up because of being driven in the woods as close as they could be to the trees that had been cut for pulpwood. This was how it was done around here. If you really want to see a dangerous looking saw, look up two man bow chainsaw, my neighbor was a logger back in the 40’s up to 60’s and had one. His had something similar to handlebars attached to the front of the bow, I have no idea of how you cut with it.