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. Scat there: interjection Bless you! (used as a response to another person sneezing). “I used to think Miss Cindy made up the phrase scat or scat there or even scat there Tom your tail’s in the gravy for sneezing. But once I started writing the blog I discovered the usage is common in other areas of Appalachia.”
2. Scotch: to prevent movement from an object. “If I don’t scotch my garden wagon when I’m working on a hill it will flat get away from me and be gone before I know it.”
3. Scrooch: to crowd or squeeze into a smaller space; move over to make room for others; hug tightly. “If you two will scrooch up a little closer there’ll be room for me to set there too.”
4. Shank’s mare: to travel by walking. “Pap said when he was a boy whole families would go by shank’s mare to church or to visit with others in the community.”
5. Shine up to: to give special attention to someone to gain favor. “Matt shines up to me when he has a hankering for a good dessert.”
All of this month’s words are fairly common in my area of Appalachia with shank’s mare being the least used—maybe because not as many people go by shank’s mare today.
Hope you’ll leave a comment and let me know how you did on the test.
Last night’s video: Family History and Stories of Opal Corn Myers 25.
Tipper
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I heard all those from my grandparents. My folks would say “scat there Tom, your tail is in the gravy” when someone sneezed.
Have heared and said all of these all my life
Have heard them all ( or slight variations) except Shank’s Mare.
Love the comment someone said , “Make like a family.”
Always enjoy the vocabulary tests. so.e I have heard before, some not. Thanks
Daddy said “Scat” or “Scat, your tail’s in the fire” whenever we sneezed. I say it sometimes to my great niece and nephew. Tipper, has anyone ever shown you “how the cow ate the cabbage”? Daddy would grab just above my knee and squeeze and say that’s how the cow ate the cabbage. I’m ticklish so it would tear me up! He has a lot of old sayings, rhymes and songs that he teased us with when were kids. When he died my brothers and I wrote down as many as we could remember.
Here in Texas we say this is how the horsey eats the apple haha! Love how the cow eats the cabbage!
Rather than shanks mare we said, you’ll have to use Pat and Charlie.
Well, I failed this vocabulary test! I need to shine up to the teacher so I can pass the class!
Usually I’ve heard at least a couple of them, but this time it was just one. Scat was said when you sneezed by my older relatives.
I have heard all the words but not so much where I live now. I’m not sure I ever heard scrooch we said scrouge to mean the same thing. My parents said took a shine to, leaving out the word up. Cutting a shine usually meant someone was throwing a tantrum or it could mean they were very excited. I bet Matt cut the biggest shine when he saw those trees down in the cornfield.
Variations of a few of these are familiar to me. We’ve always said “Scootch over” or Scoot over “. I first heard Shanks Mare on the first television episode of the Christy series. I’ve always heard the term Shine used such as, ” He sure has taken a shine to that new puppy. ” meaning beginning to be fond of or like it.
I always enjoy hearing the various expressions from Appalachia, some of which have been common in my family from the South and Midwest parts of the country.
Growing up I heard, “Scrouge in or Scooch Up”, Scat Outta Here” when a baby or child sneezes and “Shine Up To” Or “Takes a Shine To” but I never heard of “Shank’s Mare” or “Scotch the Tire.”
I reckon I learned “shanks mare” from this blog a long time age. Don Casada might have been the first to write about it, I think.
We did use the words “hoofing it” if we had any distance to travel, otherwise we just walked. All the rest are and have always been a part of my Southern Appalachian vernacular.
Here in SW Missouri my ancestors and I use almost all the sayings youin’s do!! I always heard shanks pony and takes a shine to.
I’ve hearded em, but can’t say I’ve used em.
Not “adopted”! Blamed computer. ” sure-footed”.
I’ll say 3 of 5 split as 2 + 1/2 + 1/2. Do not recall ever hearing the “scat there” but may have and don’t remember. Sure do know about “scotchin” a wheel, just a commonplace when you live in the hills. “Scrooch” is a half because all I remember is “scooch” (or maybe “skooch”?) as in “scooch over and let me set down”. And I’ve rode shank’s mare many a mile, up hill and down. (She not as sure adopted as she once was.) ” Shine up to” is the other half. I recall it as “take a shine to” moreso meaning to have an initial liking for someone or something. I took a shine to you all way back yonder because I think we understand each other pretty well.
Scrooch up reminded me of a saying I adopted from someone. “Make like a family” We were going somewhere and had a car load so someone shouted , ” get close, Make like a family”
Heard all of them used here in East TN, been quit a spell since hearing “Shank’s mare” , but knew what it meant immediately. Keep the test coming !
I have always heard scrooch and scotch the tire, shine up to and Shanks mare are new ones I’m not familiar with. My Papaw used to say Dad burn it when he could not get something to go right like attempting to drive a screw in and it strip out or hit his knuckle. I also heard him say the old devils just trying to mess with me today.
We made Schotch Wheels to play with. We scrouched up close to each other when we all got to go for a ride. For sure we said scat there. Never heard the other phrase. God bless.
Scat there, scotch and Shank’s mare were unfamiliar but the other two more so. I use scooch myself occasionally.
Well, I guess I get an “F” grade on this month’s words. Growing up, I heard a derivative of scrooch and said scooch. Have never heard the rest of the words.
In my area and memory, we say “scooch up” without the “r” for get closer and make room. But it would be understood either way.
Good morning! My Mom used to say, “Ooo, scat!” If one of us did a great big sneeze when we were little. Hadn’t thought about that in a long time. When we lived in the mountains, our friends would say, “Scooch over and let me get in there.” I hadn’t heard “Scotch the tire” or “Shine up to”, but they were easily understandable in context. I love the Vocab Quizzes. Have a great day!
My grandma from the Ozarks would said Scat! when somebody sneezed. i don’t remember anything coming after it.
I know “shank’s mare” from reading but I don’t know that I’ve heard somebody say it. I hear “scootch” for that same meaning. not sure about scrootch.
Good morning. I remember you talking about Miss Cindy saying “scat there” for sneezes. That’s the first time I ever heard it. I have never heard or used any of the others, except I have heard “scrooch” used to mean to squeeze in together…as in taking a photograph of a large group and you need to scrooch together to get everyone in. We got another pop up storm last night with quite a downpour. Our cucumbers are happy.
My granny and my daddy would often say “Scat Tom! Your tail’s in the gravy!” when someone sneezed! Instead of “scrooch up” we say “scooch up”. Daddy would also say to us, “square your judgement” when he wanted us to move over, make room for him or someone else, or just move out of his way. Where did that even come from?? It doesn’t make the least bit of sense to me, but, at 65 yrs old, I sure know what to do when I hear it!!
Scrooch up is the only one I know.
“Shanks’s pony” is something my grandparents used to say: we’re from Kent in southern England. The phrase is used in the song “Strollin’ ” by Flanagan & Allen, who were a British musical comedy double act during the 1930s and 1940s. It’s lovely to know how far across the world the phrase is used!
I have heard and used all of them. I have also heard “buttering up” instead of “shine up to.” This has nothing to do with anything that has been posted before, I was just now looking at the weather forecast for today hoping for a good chance of rain and saw where overnight there was three separate shootings with deaths within a 25 mile area of my home. I don’t understand the mindset of so many people in today’s world.
We always said, “Scat that cat! Git your tail outta the gravy!” I’ve also heard it as”scooch” up close, without the “r”. Scotchin’ tires is exactly what I’ve done here, my whole life. If my brother Brandl and I were showin’ off, our Papaw’d say we were “cuttin’ a shine.”I’ve never heard the one about “shanks mare,” though. Have a beautiful day. I’ve got a serious hankerin’ for a sandwich piled high with Cherokee Purple tomato slices. Yummmmm!
Bethany, I heard my Daddy say “scat cat, your tail is in the gravy” many times. He died on Jan. 20, 1991. I miss him so much and still see things around the old home place (now my home) that remind me of things we did together. It was not Cherokee Purple but I had a craving today for tomatoes sandwiches, Dukes mayonnaise and sweet ice tea for my dinner – lunch to high society folks. My tomatoes were Early Girls, they were the first to get ripe on my plants. I satisfied my craving!
I’m not familiar with shine up to. The closest thing I have heard to that is “takes a shine” as in, “When she takes a shine to something, it’s hard to get her attention.”
I first heard about Shank’s Mare on the tv show Call the Midwife, but they said Pony instead of Mare. Maybe that’s a British difference. In our family, it’s always been “Scitty scat, there, kitty cat!” when someone sneezes- at least that’s what’s said to a sneezing child. And I still say scrooch, but drop the “r” when I just need a bit more room, as in “Scooch over a bit and I’ll sit with you in the back seat.”