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. Backjaw: to reply disrespectfully, sass, back talk. “I’d never let my children backjaw me the way she does.”
2. Backside outwards: wrong side out. “My family teases me about wearing my sweater backside outwards. I always tell them not to worry the next time I put it on it’ll be frontside outwards.”
3. Backstick: large log put at the back of a fireplace to keep fire going over night. “As fast as this year is going Matt will be looking for backsticks to use in the woodstove before we know it.”
4. Barlow knife: single-bladed pocket knife (occasionally two-bladed). “Barlow knives were so common in days gone by that someone made up an old time tune about them. You can hear a version of it here.”
5. Bean breaking: people gathered to break beans. “The only bean breakings I attend are family affairs. They are fun nonetheless and many hands sure make the chore go quicker.”
I’m familiar with all of this month’s words and phrases. However they are on their way out of regular use in my area.
Hope you’ll leave a comment and tell me how you did on the test.
Tipper
Subscribe for FREE and get a daily dose of Appalachia in your inbox
Corie, I would enjoy going to a bean breaking too!
I think that Mary V. s comment “AWWWW, Biscuits.” wins the internet. That is precious.
I told my 6yo grandson the other day he had his shirt on wrong way round. He looked at me like I was crazy until I showed him the front was in the back and the back was in front. He said awww biscuits. lol
I have heard all of them but Backstick. I always enjoy these vocabulary tests. Thanks for sharing.
I carry a Case XX 6202½.
My Grandma used the word Snap for breaking beans
When I was a child she always said come sit a chair down and snap some beans with me
Only 2 of 5, “backstick” and “barlow” are common to me. I would understand the others just fine but can’t say I recall hearing them in recent memory. As already noted, I’d have no trouble with the many forms of garbling ‘inside out’ into all kinds of twisted forms. I reckon they are all just having fun with words and also a way to defuse an aggravating situation. [PS: Judging by the way this machine tries to “fix” Appalachianisms I’d guess we are headed in the direction of censorship with AI. Maybe we ought to think of it as “Aggravating Interference”.]
These words and phrases are all easy to understand, but I don’t really hear them around here. We always said bassakwards or inside out—and Mama always wanted us to help her “string the beans”—and she was very particular about it.
We said strang beans too
Sadie, you are so funny and I agree with all of it!
Lehman’s store located in Ohio sells Barlow knives they claim to be a true Barlow knife like they used to be. This store caters to the Amish community. They have an actual store but also have an online website and sell ($5 or 6) printed paper catalog. The catalog is worth the price just to browse and see so many items of the past that are new and they still have for sell. I think Tipper would really enjoy looking at it.Before my wife died 5 years ago, I liked to tease her and tell her I was going to buy her a new washing machine and dryer from this store for her birthday, she could wash clothes and exercise at the same time-it was a galvanized wash tub, scrub board and paddle, manual turn wringer rollers and a clothes line. If I had, she would have probably used the paddle on me!
I enjoy looking at the Lehman’s catalogues too! I’d love to visit their store someday!
Heard all the words mentioned and I especially know what a Barlow knife is. My grandfather and father had one and I assumed every man had one:) I have precious memories of sitting on my grandmother’s porch with mother and aunts breaking beans. It was a wonderful time! My mother was the Queen of cooking green beans. They were cooked for many hours with meat and it was absolutely the best eating I’ve ever had. Praying for you Norman and Papa Tony.
Thank you Dee, God bless you very much,
I hadn’t heard the term “backjaw”, but sure knew of back talking and back sassing.
There’s a sweet little fiddle tune called “Barlow Knife.” I wonder if the girls play it.
My Mama held plenty of bean breakings under our big oak tree in the summers. However, the only guests were me and my two sisters. We figure we have broken enough beans in our lifetime to fill a small house!
Praying for Papaw Tony.
I’d recall hearing any of my people say any of these, so I’ve learned some new Appalachia vocabulary. I heard back talking, sassing or don’t be smarting off for when we would say things back to an adult. I remember sometimes a knife was called a blade. We had bean stringing when we helped my mom prep the green beans for eating or canning. We’d say inside out or backwards if we put our clothes on wrong. It’s funny how each area of the Appalachia has its own lango and yes, that’s what we called our language.
I’m familiar with most of these words or similar words. We learned early on not to back talk. I recently read that one of the best replies to youngsters who try that is
not to raise your voice, stay calm and simply say, “try again”, or with a very young child to tell them why that is not acceptable then tell them to try again. Wish I had known that years ago. Randy, my daddy said the same for backside outwards, usually with a smile. He always put a big backlog in the fireplace, sometimes so big he could hardly carry it. He explained that it moved the heat from the fire forward and also made the fire last longer. I grew up hearing about Barlow knives but never had one. I expect he and my brothers did. We never called it a bean breaking that I remember but some of my fondest memories are when family members sat around breaking beans and telling stories. And I am still particular about the way I was taught to break and especially how to string beans. We don’t leave brown spots, tips nor strings on the beans. Thanks for the memories, Tipper and family.
Does anyone remember the Barlow knife being called a Ten Cent Barlow? It harkens back to a time when that was the actual cost. Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Chapter IV, mentions the knife as having a 12½ Cent price tag new. That would translate to about $5.00 in modern money. Of course the knife had been around for a long time when Samuel L Clemens was writing so it was probably inflation that had raised the cost from 10 to 12½ cents.
I have only heard of Barlow knives and bean breaking. Whether it was a bean breakin’ or corn shuckin’, folks turned them into a social gathering, often hiding a small treasure to be found by the lucky finder-keeper, according to Mom. “Backside outwards” is too hard to say, so we just said backards. Backjaw is a word that is easy to figure out even if you’ve never heard it. If we backjawed or sassed our parents, our backside would pay the price. We heated our house with coal, placing a large chunk towards the back that served the same purpose as a backstick.
I’ve heard of a Barlow knife. We called it snapping beans, and I’ve snapped many a bean in the back yard. The others I have never heard.
My grandparents would say ” backside fomost”. I could never understand what they meant till someone told me they were really saying, “backside foremost”. They were from the deep hollers of Southern WVA.
I knowed ’em all too!
Backstick was new to me. We called it a backlog. (One word otwo; take your pick).
We often referred to split wood as a stick and unsplit wood as a log. We used both backlog and backstick depending on which one we put in the heater. That only applied to heater wood. Wood for the kitchen stove was all just “stovewood”
my Mamaw was always good for breaking beans when I was still working on a job and did’nt have much time to do it. Later, after she had gone home to be with the Lord, my Mother-in-law would do it for me. they loved sitting and breaking those beans for me to can. I’m sure it took them back to their younger days and memories so dear to them. At first I felt bad about leaving them with all the beans to break but soon realized it made them happy and feeling like they could still help with the canning.
I have heard all of them and also have a couple of Barlow knives. My Daddy had his own word for being backward, it was backa**wards. Tricia I remember sitting on my Grandparent’s front porch and breaking beans. Later on in my adult life we would help my wife’s parents break green beans, they would can well over 100 quarts each year. Sometimes my mother in law would add a touch of vinegar to some of them, I especially like those. Like Tricia wrote, to have good beans they have to be cooked slow and long with a chunk of country style ham/ hambone or fatback/sidemeat added to them. Green beans like this, unsweetened cornbread, and a quart mason jar of sweet ice tea can’t be beat even with a stick!
We said “bassackards” and carried Kabar knives.
It might have been y’all’s word but either way it was close. Daddy liked to carry a single blade Tree Brand pocket knife. The blade was similar to a miniature straight razor blade and was usually just about as sharp. I got some scars on my fingers for evidence! Did Boker make the Tree Brand pocket knives?
I love the vocabulary words. Your vocabulary videos were the first ones I watched which led me to subscribe!
“Bean Breaking” is the only one I’ve ever heard. My mother, daddy, me, and one or two siblings used to sit out in the yard and break beans. Daddy had a large garden every year and harvested bushels of beans for Mama to cook, can, and freeze. My mother always cooked the best green beans. She would use side meat or bacon and cook them half the day. She cooked the beans down until the liquid was almost gone. This left them with a coating of grease and a wonderful flavor. I cook mine like that too. Fry up some potatoes, cornbread, and serve with fresh onions and tomatoes, chow chow or Cole slaw and you have a meal fit for a queen. Mama will be 97 August 10 and although she has slowed down a lot, she still will fix us a pot of beans when I visit her.
Thanks for reminding me of these vocabulary terms, Tipper. I remember all of them and have heard my parents and grandparents use them all. Unfortunately, not many of today’s younger generation would know what any of them mean. They’re a thing of the past. I hope all of y’all are well. I’m glad you all enjoyed your camping trip. I went on many camping trips in my younger days and enjoyed them but am too old to do that now. I enjoyed your garden tour video. It looks as if you folks have had more rain than we have here in the foothills because your garden is lush and green. It’s beautiful. I’m praying for you folks in Wilson Holler and also for Papaw Tony. God bless each of you with a wonderful day.
I’m 2/5, but I do have words and phrases that are probably local I use in place of this morning’s phrases. I know what Barlow knives are. I have two old Barlow’s, but the phrase dates back to the earliest settlers of America when it seems almost all folding/single bladed knives were referred to as Barlow’s. I know what a “backstick” is. Our entire house was heated with a fireplace when I was a boy. My Daddy would always put on a huge backstick and most often there would be a bead of coals come morning time. We used “backtalk” or “don’t talk back to me” for backjaw which I’ve never heard that term except on TV westerns. “Inside-outdards”/ “bottomside upards in place of “backside outwards”. I have never heard of “bean breaking” though I think I know how it is used. It is kinda like a “toenail pulling”, but different. LOL!
God bless you friends, yesterday I got two x-rays on my back, the doctor wants to do an MRI on my head, and he also wants to do a CTA, we’ve got to talk about that, the emergency room doctor had done told me I had too many CT scans, that they cause cancer, there is another option but it’s kind of scary, but the doctor said it might be worth it to make the picture and see what is in my head, please pray for me, that everything will be okay, that everything I choose to do will be safe and well in Jesus name, God bless you all and thank you for praying for me
Glad you got more information! I will keep praying for you.
thank you Tipper
Continuing to pray for you, Norman.
thank you Regina