Way back when I first started the Blind Pig & the Acorn I made a page for collecting Grannyisms. Here’s what I share on the page:
In Appalachia Grannies are famous for their healing, cooking, sewing, gardening, and for their sometimes quirky ways and funny sayings. I grew up with a dear sweet Granny named Gazzie. She fit the bill for the typical Granny characteristics. Gazzie was famous for her Sunday dinners with potatoes shaped like boats, her biscuits, her stick candy and her crocheting. She was also someone who didn’t put up with nonsense and showed no pity for anyone who hurt those she loved.
My girls are fortunate to have a Granny too. Their Granny (Gazzie’s youngest daughter) is famous for her green beans, crocheting, gardening, sewing, and for her strange, ridiculous, funny, and precious sayings. As I post some of both my Grannys’ sayings and quirky ways of doing things I hope you too will post things about your Granny.
I didn’t mention my other grandmother in the text on the page. We called her mamaw and her name was Marie. She died when I was in 5th grade so I don’t remember as much about her. But the things I do remember are her gentleness, her love of being outside, and her confident wisdom. She never got out of sorts no matter what happened and always knew exactly how to handle any situation that arose. Pap was a lot like his mother Marie.
When I first started the blog I added funny things Granny said to the Grannyism page fairly often, but I haven’t in many years. Instead I focused on sharing anything about Granny directly on the main page of the Blind Pig in a blog post. In fact the last time I submitted my own Grannyism was way back in 2020.
Here’s a few of the things I’ve shared over the years.
- Over the weekend we planted Granny’s tomatoes for her. When she came out onto the porch to watch us she saw Corie laying on the ground. Granny said “Lord get up off that ground you’ll have bugs crawling all over you!” Corie said “Oh no I won’t and they won’t hurt me no way.” Granny about came down off the porch and made her get up.
- We decided to do Christmas lists for our present exchange at Granny’s this year. That way it would be easier for the shopper and the receiver would get something they truly wanted or needed. Granny’s list was really short: “Money. You all know Granny loves the green stuff.” We’ve all got a good laugh over that one.
- Granny made peach jelly today. I made peach jelly about a week or so ago from peaches she insisted I take from her. This evening she was trying to give me a jar of peach jelly. I said “No I don’t need it you keep it. Remember I made jelly too.” Never missing a beat Granny said “Well how do you know mine ain’t better than yours?”
- The other evening I was talking to Granny and Paul and it was looking stormy. Granny kept telling me I better go home before it started storming, but Paul and me kept talking. Finally Granny said “Tipper I’m begging you to go home before it starts storming” and I said okay okay and left. You can probably tell Granny doesn’t do storms. But she does love me!
- The girls have had the flu this week. Although I haven’t come down with it, I’ve tried to stay away from Granny just in case I’m about to. The flu would be really hard on her. When I talked to her yesterday she said “Now listen. You tell the girls if they go any where next week when they get to feeling better they better dress warm. If they don’t they’re liable to take a backset.”
- Granny is always worrying about somebody taking a bad cold. Today the girls went to the gym to swim and Granny is convinced they will be sick. She said “Nobody ought to swim in the wintertime.” I said “It’s inside they have a dome they cover the pool with during the winter. It keeps it really warm.” She said “That don’t matter nobody ought to go swimming in the winter or they’ll take a bad cold.”
- Unusual for me to be home alone-especially all night-but I will be tonight. I was down at Granny and Pap’s earlier. When I was leaving Granny said “Now I’m going to walk out on the porch so I can see you get home. And you call me as soon as you get in the house.” In years gone by that would have annoyed me, but not now. I said “OK” and started up the hill. I smiled all the way home at Granny watching out for her 45 year old daughter and believing she could stop anything that tried to harm me by simply watching when she can’t hardly get out of the house anymore. What a blessing to be loved.
Yes what a blessing to have a mother that loves you like no one else really can.
You can see the Grannyism page here.
Last night’s video: Cleaning Up The Junk Piles.
Tipper
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when someone was mad, Grandma always said Katie bar the door….I always wondered who Katie was…ha
Oh how precious! She was a very kind and caring person. I love the story about her watching you walk home. That reminds me of my sweet Daddy. He would always say if we were going to town after dark… Now you find a light to park under, be careful and call me when you get home.❤️ I miss him every day.
Love these Grannyisms and Gaylia Green’s statement of relative would ask ‘what did they allow’ meaning what did they have to say. I grew up in a small town in Upstate South Carolina with a large family on a small farm. I have many fond memories of both my grandmothers and their instructions & comments. My paternal grandmother was widowed at age 40 with 7 children! She taught school and lived very frugally. She lived to age 104!
I was fortunate to also have my great-grandmother, Granny Pace, who smoked a pipe (which was also intriguing to us!).
2 stories: While my oldest brother was in the Air Force, he met and married a girl in Nevada. When he got out of the service, he decided to return to South Carolina. He sent his wife to South Carolina by plane while he drove his old pickup truck cross country. My sister in law was a young woman, far away from home, meeting SC family for first time. When my dad asked my S-I-L what did her husband ‘allow’ – she was very confused. Took a bit to explain the meaning of the question.
The other story relates to me, now a grandmother. My 9 year old grandson is diagnosed with several things including autism. I find that he takes my instructions very seriously. My husband and I chuckle often about this grandson’s responses based on my ‘Grannyisms’.
Miss Tipper, When I think of my Grandma’s I always remember how much I loved both of them. One was a great Christian and loved her Lord so much and served him every single day of her life. The other wasn’t so much or at all like the other. She carried a little flask of whiskey in her purse, she carried it everywhere and also chewed tobacco and had a spittoon, in her house, she use. I can’t explain why she did these things, but all I know is how much I loved her and still do. I will miss them both forever, with all my heart, or til God allows. Miss Allie I pray for the family and friends of the young mother who passed so suddenly. My heart breaks thinking of how her babies will be without their momma. God be with them always. Praying also for Miss Louzine’s family.
Oh my goodness so many funnies & so cool that many of us probably share similar ones 🙂 praying for all .
I Loved my Grandma’s, they were both very different personalities! But equally Loved!❤️
Blessings after blessings that our precious Mother’s and Grandmother’s are and were to us all!
I have heard myself say so many of these wonderful thoughts to my grandchildren!
I miss my Mama. Anyone with a Mom still living needs to make the most of the time they have with her.
What a beautiful post. I spend Wednesdays with my grandson. Hopefully he’ll have many loving memories of us one day.
Cathy, I have said this many times”I hope my grandsons will remember and enjoy their time with me just half as much as I remember the time I spent with my Granddaddy Kirby.”
“What a blessing to be loved.” Powerful words. TY. Love ya.
My Daddy always like to laugh tell about his mother, my grandmother, telling him when he was a boy “don’t go to the river until you learn to swim!”
My grandmother called peonies piney roses, called anything deep in mud as being “marred” up, was steadfast about planting by the signs and on Good Friday and declared no lady would dare wear a dress in public without a slip or serve chicken salad with dark meat. I do miss her!
I loved all of the sayings from everyone! One of my grandma’s died when I was six, so I don’t have many memories of her but oh my other grandma was something else. She firmly believed that if you washed your hair and went outside with it damp, you would “catch your death.” Same with running around playing on a cold, windy day while getting over a sickness. “Bundle up” she would say. Kind of funny the other day my son brought my granddaughter over after school. It was a cold day and the first thing, I said was “where is your coat?” Then my husband spoke up and said, “you might catch a bad cold it you don’t wrap up.” So, I guess we are continuing the tradition 🙂
She was such a sweet lady and had an impact on so many. Even though I never met her in person I’ll surely miss her ❤️
I hope you can see my E Central IL smile all the way to the Appalachian Mountains, love it!!!
These are all great! I don’t remember one of my grandmothers but the other and my mother said many of the same things posted here. One thing my grandmother said that I never heard anyone else say was when someone was in her way and she had to ask them to move she said, “take here”. How was that supposed to convey that the person in the way should move? But those around her learned what to do.
What a special lady! I have said many of the same things to our boys (men) and to our grandchildren. Mothering doesn’t stop until you go Home to be with Jesus! Take care and God bless
Oh, my Grandma had a whole slew of ’em! At one time I actually thought about putting out a book called “Things my Grandma use to say”
Alas, the only one I can remember now is from the time we were talking about something where she was taking about how hard they worked at doing something, “We went at it like we was killin’ rats!”
I really enjoyed rhis post today, especially the comment made by Granny about her Peach Jelly possibly being better than yours. There have been so many occasions you have talked about her green beans and tater cakes being rhe best, I wonder what her secret was. When I was younger my Grandma would serve me delicious Chicken A La King, when she passed I found out it was actually from a can.
Thank you for sharing your stories, they make me smile.
All I can say to this post Tipper is: Absolutely PRECIOUS!!
My Granny would cut a shine if we girls washed our hair on a damp or cold day when it wouldn’t dry fast. She just knew one of us would take a bad cold or newmonie running around with damp hair. At that time, I never thought about that sweet and gentle woman’s real concerns being love.
My grandmothers were so precious to me. Strong women that loved their Lord and Savior, worked so hard raising their children, growing and putting up food, and using healing methods they had been taught that actually worked before we had antibiotics. My grandmothers used all the words I’ve seen you mention on your blog. Even my Mother would tell me you can’t wash your hair and dry it and then go out right in the freezing winter air or you will take a cold.
Tipper you and Matt did a really nice job cleaning up under the porch. I am afraid of snakes so you better believe I would keep that area cleaned out, especially with those little ones that are going to be running around there this summer:) I am trying to clean out and pare down and I sure have a lot to do but that’s o.k., as I don’t move as fast as I use to:) God bless ya all!
Tipper, your granny loved to get greenbacks; mine loved gifts, including money. One time she dropped a reminder that her birthday was coming up. She said, with an impish grin, “If you can’t come, send.”
Tipper, this post made my morning! Love all the Grannyisms, and yes what joy a mother’s love brings!
I am 65 years old and my 84 year old mama always makes me call her when I get home after visiting. She always gets on me for not wearing a coat, or for not wearing a heavy-enough coat because I will catch a cold. One day I was telling her about Hubby going places a few days, and she made the comment that “he’s a little ‘gatabout’ lately”. She has lots of funny things she says and does…and as a ‘Grammy’ myself, I am sure I do too.
The Jewish people have an expression, “bubbeh meises,” which literally means “a grandmother’s fables,” and is generally taken to mean “old wives’ tales,” but it can also mean “stuff my Gran says.” The perfect example is “Chicken soup cures everything!” “Grandmother, how could it possibly help when you’re in an irreversible coma?” “You’ll never know till you try– how could it possibly HURT?”
(PS, I’ve also heard a variation on that joke with a drunk showing up in a hospital to visit a friend while carrying a flask of ‘shine. He gets to the bedside just as they’re pulling the sheet over the friend. “I’ve come t’ warm his spirits with a little bit o’ spirits…” “Mister, at this point, it ain’t gonna make a difference…” “But it couldn’t possibly hurt him none, could it!”
I love those “Grannyisms”!
I loved these sayings Tipper. My momma was like that. All my brothers have a genetic disorder called Night Blindness. As long as they lived at home momma would tell them that she would keep the porch light on for them. She was the most hard working woman I ever knew. Daylight to dark she worked for dad and us 7 kids. She was funny, had many funny sayings, but dead serious when it came to things about the Lord.
What a sweetheart Granny was. How wonderful for you to have had a mother who is always watching over you
God bless you, God comfort the family, pray for my brother ,pray for me ,thank you very much, God bless all
Once we were on a trip to the mountains. My grandmother was in the back seat next to my four-year-old daughter. My daughter had a doll and one of those play milk bottles where the milk disappeared when you turned it upside down. My daughter wasn’t paying attention and had the bottle tip on the baby’s rear end. My mother noticed and said. “You’ve got the bottle in the baby’s butt.” My grandmother looked down and said, “Well, shes’ a takin’ it alright.”
LOL
❤️
Such a sweet update to the original post. I know your heart was full when putting these words down and the love you know of your mother is a void that will never be filled. We all miss granny and always will. God bless.
I was fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with both sets grandparents as well as with two great grandmothers. I heard all the usual reminders from them “You need a jacket. It’s too cold to be running around outside in short sleeves.” (This said while I was wiping sweat.) “Don’t go outside with your head wet. You’ll catch a cold.” “Keep the yard clean to keep snakes away” “Don’t be climbing that apple tree. You’ll fall out and break your neck.” You’ll have a belly ache from eating those green apples.”
My great-grandmother Floda was the one who had most of the funny sayings in our family, many of which are unrepeatable, but a couple that come to mind immediately are “Dry as a popcorn fart” and “For every old pot there’s a lid.” My great-grandfather was a hard-drinking, rough man, but as mild and easygoing as Floda was she handled him well. He worked for awhile in a coal mine and every evening he would wash off in the big washtub on the back porch before he came into the house to eat supper. Floda wanted new linoleum for her kitchen floor and he refused to buy any, so one day while he was at work, she ripped all the linoleum off the floor, took the broom and swept against the grain of the pine boards until the splinters were standing straight up. When he walked barefoot across the floor that evening, he cussed and “ouched” all the way across, then told my grandmother and her brothers to hurry up and eat supper because they had to go buy new linoleum for the floor.
Loved reading this. My grannies died when I was young and they lived too far away fot me to remember much about them.
Grandparents are our ‘living history’, our bridge to the past. They, and in our turn ourselves, give grandchildren a personal connection to history as their own family story. In my own case, my grandparents lived WWI, the Depression and WWII and what that meant in Appalachia. My brother and I lived with our paternal.grandma for two years while Dad worked in Covington, KY at a foundry. Those days are treasured memories. We were wild woods boys, rambling for miles back through the woods, climbing around on the cliffs and fishing for minnows in the tiny creeks. We didn’t know the how rich a childhood we were having.
Ron, my paternal grandparents that I lived beside were both born two months apart in 1888. They not only lived through everything you wrote but also the Korean War and some of the Vietnam War. They had tons of wisdom and common sense. I think many of today’s people have more education than sense. I was born and raised and have lived all of my life in the country- nearest country town is 14 miles away, city 30 miles- both too close. I spent many hours of my youth fishing for minnows (horney heads to me) in the creek on our property when I was growing up. I have had a hankering to go back and do it again before I kick the bucket. I have two young nephews that I might take with me.
These memories of Granny are totally and completely heartwarming. I enjoyed reading them so much this morning. Thank you, Tipper. ❤️
What are potatoes shaped like boats? Never heard that before.
🙂 They were quartered potatoes that had been stewed. They looked like boats to Paul and me. They were always cooked to perfection, not too hard nor too soft 🙂
Thank you. I imagine they must have been quartered length wise. My one grandma always cut her potatoes that way.
I don’t really remember any old sayings from my grandma’s but grandma Massey would make paper roses with “Kleenex” and a Bobby Pin and sprinkle them with talcum powder. She would also sing silly songs to our delight. Granny Georgie was a little bitty thing who sewed pretty dresses on her old treadle sewing machine. She had asthma and snored like a bear. It didn’t bother me, though, when I slept with her in her feather bed, where I sunk like a rock. She lived up the road from us so I saw her every day. I was called Little Georgie because I looked like her. Both my grandmas passed away when I was 17, both 79 years old. So sad to lose them just months apart.
I enjoyed watching you and Matt clean up under your porch and near the big garden. Things will pile up before you know it. I also watched Paul and Pap sing and play last night . They harmonized so well together. I really enjoyed that video.
Please pray, Acorns. Last night a good friend of mine passed away extremely unexpectedly with no warning or explanation. Her husband came home and found her not breathing. We are in shock and heartbreak. She has two small children, 4 and 7 and was only in her 30s. Our hearts are completely broken. Please pray for her husband Brady. Thank you so much.
Allie, I’m so sorry. I will pray for her husband and children and you all. So very sad.
Allie, I am so sorry to hear this sad news. I will pray for the family and you also.
So sorry Allie. Praying for you all.
Prayers for this young family.
Thank you all for your prayers. I mean it when I say, it means a lot and is truly appreciated. God bless you all.
These are so sweet and I love the term Grannyisms, it’s quite fitting!!
These are all lovely memories. I miss the days when I would leave my mother’s house and she would tell me to call when I got home. “Let it ring twice”, the days before cell phones and texting. Granny is still watching you walk home and looking out for you. The ones we love never really leave us.
Hey Tipper, I haven’t been reading much since your “Granny” died. Its something nobody can tell you about til you live it but when your momma dies it leaves a hole and you’re not the same after. My mom died 2 years ago this April. Like any relationship we had our ups and downs. I would give anything to have just one more day with her. It feels almost like I am a boat floating around aimlessly and I’ve lost my anchor. Many of my mom’s grannyisms arent fit for sharing but thinking about them makes me smile. Thanks for sharing some of yours.
I remember hearing my grandmothers saying similar things. I was lucky enough to live beside of my maternal grandparents, there was very few days I was not around them, especially my granddaddy. We would go and spend every Sunday afternoon after the morning church services with my paternal grandparents (Due West, SC) before coming home in time for the Sunday night service. There are no words to describe the love we had for one another. I was also lucky enough to grow up in church and be around my wife’s grandparents. Her paternal granddaddy would always have something nice to say to me and the rest of us children at church and her paternal grandmother was so much like Granny.
I don’t know if I have ever ate peach jelly but love peach preserves. I have looked the world over trying to find those spicy peach pickles that tasted as good as the ones my grandmother and mother made from small whole peaches, they would leave the seed in them. I find plenty of pickled peaches but none as good as theirs.
Granny is so missed! You are truly blessed to have had her so close for so long. I long to see my Mama again. I feel the hurt almost every day. For me it is the little things that bring on the tears. I even find I laugh like her ever once in a while.
Thank you for sharing her with us and letting us get to know her too.
My grandma was full blood German, when anyone sneezed grandma would say ‘kachoomie’….when she was holding a little one she would use one finger to make small circles as she moved her hand toward their belly and would say ‘getchie getchie goomie–I’m gonna get your goomies’
she had many things she said that was unique to hear unfortunately I can not remember many at this time but I do remember once I borrowed a book on German words and phrases and was shocked to find some of grandma’s sayings were actually either exactly a German word or phrase or maybe just her version of said word or phrase—–we use to make fun of her calling Weimaraner dogs ‘wemiers’ until I saw in that book that was actually another German word for that breed of dog.
Of course grandma always said to not go outside with a wet head or you will catch a cold, and after being sick she would tell us to bundle up or we will have a setback…and of course no going barefoot outside either until well into summer months. She too wanted us to call when we got home, she also would speak of being lonesome for us when we were not there–she would have preferred all of us to be at her and granddads constantly…my aunt is a year younger than me so we are more like sisters but she has all the same feelings grandma did, only difference is Shirley does not say to her kids or grandkids that she is lonesome for them nor does she ask them to call once they have made it home safe but secretly she wishes they would call, and longs for them to visit more often….and she says all the other things we grew up hearing grandma say so all grandmas sayings are still alive and well in her and I—-I don’t know if this is actually a grannyism but if she knew one of us had seen or talked to another relative or someone grandma knew she would always ask ‘what did they allow’ meaning what did they have to say.