Gazzie Truett Jenkins my grandmother (wearing a dress Granny made her)
In yesterday’s post I shared some Grannyisms I documented from Granny over the years. I enjoyed the comments from everyone. Several folks said their grandmother shared similar things with them when they were young.
Back in December Kathy Patterson left the following Grannyism which includes more folklore and advice from grandmothers.
Our Grandmas are long since passed away but I will never forget their sayings which we believed would really happen. To this day Charles and I practice some of them and say them off the top of our heads when we experience it. You probably have heard all of them but here goes:
1. Snow that is left after all the other has melted is waiting for another big snow.
2. Buzzards are bad luck when they circle your house.
3. If you have a dream that is scary don’t tell it until you eat something.
4. When it is that time of the month don’t go in the water.
5. Don’t chop down a Dogwood tree. It is bad luck.
6. Don’t sweep under a single person’s feet or they will never get married.
7. Don’t go to bed mad at your husband or wife they may die in their sleep.
8. Always tell the family member who is leaving your house to be safe and you love them.
9. Mahogany (black birch) twigs are good toothbrushes. (so true)
10. When a child is sick don’t let them go outside.
11. Wear long underwear and long sleeves beginning the first frost and pull it off at the last frost.
12. Crows holler when it is about to rain.
13. Save what you don’t use for another day.
14. Boogers get mean children.
15. Cut trees for wood in the summer so the leaves will draw out the sap.
There are more, these are the ones we use. Enjoy. Kathy Patterson
I hope you enjoyed the ones Kathy shared. Many of them were often said by Granny.
Last night’s video: February in Appalachia: Death, Snow, & Family.
Tipper
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Miss Tipper, Love Granny Gazzie entire name. I happen to think it’s beautiful. Today I turned 79. Looking forward to this coming year my Acorn friends. Y’all I love the Grannyisms.
Jennifer Lee, Happy Happy Birthday to you 🙂
Awe! Thank you my dear friend. Praying for you and the family. My momma pass in 2016 on my birthday. It was so hard at that time and sad. Even though it being my birthday, I thought the reminder made it seem I’d never get through the pain, God got me through, a still does, and I talk to her through Him. I still miss her greatly but know she is in a much better place than me. God be with you too Miss Tipper and your entire family. Y’all just keep her in your memories and hearts. That way you’ll have comfort and peace throughout the rest of your lives, because she is with you always. Love and hugs to you dear Tipper. JL
Love the old sayings! Lots a wisdom in them.
My mom would always ask my dad in the morning if he went out and that isn’t going outside. iykyk
That is a very nice picture of you Tipper sitting on the porch.
Tipper,
Thank-you for using our “grannyisms”. Both of us enjoy reading your articles and trying your recipes.
Over the years I still wear long sleeves from frost to frost. We always tell each other ” careful, be safe, and I love you” when either of one of us or our family leaves the house. I honestly can’t reach the black birch (mahogany) twigs because I have broken them off and chewed on them. Yes, things we learned as children can never leave us. Seriously, I never want them to leave either. I am glad you helping all us refreshed with our Appalachian ways and means. Your reader, Kathy Patterson
Tipper, Your Granny Gazzie looks just as pretty and sweet as can be…just like your Mama.
I was thinking the same thing. Granny sure did resemble her mama.
My Daddy taught me to cut wood in the Winter when the sap was down because it burned almost as good as seasoned wood would.
Tipper, what was Granny Gazzie’s middle name? I have it as Suzann and also Jane. North Carolina Find-A-Grave is where I got the Suzann but her obituary in the Asheville Citizen-Times has it as Jane. Could your middle name have come from her middle name?
She was named after all 4 grandmothers since she was the first grandchild 🙂 Gazzie Susie Anna Martha Jane Truett.
That’s cool!
Why did they cover all the mirrors in a house when someone died years ago? I never understood that. Love the sayings and I have heard a lot of them. My grandmother passed away when I was 12 and she was born in 1881. I wished I had paid attention more. She knew all the different herbs and things to do for being sick. She mad a burn salve out of elderberry, lard and I can’t remember what else. It worked and never left a scar. I fell into a wood heating stove when I was young and caught myself with my hands. Needless to say they were a mess. My grandmother took care of me. I raised in a house without running water, wood heat, no bathrooms and cooking on a wood stove. Finally in 1964 we moved into a new house with electric heat, running water and a bathroom. We sold that house after my parents passed. I wish we had not. My Dad kept a wood stove in the basement and it would heat that whole house. He said in case the electricity every went out. We knew how to survive. I am 73 years old
A whistling woman or a cackling hen neither will come to a good end.
A woman doesn’t get in water when it’s her time of month.
A bird gets in the house someone is going to die.
Dish towel falls in the floor, company’s coming.
Both my grandfathers died before I was born; both grandmothers died in the same year when I was 4. I have no recollections of anything they said, but I’m sure that many of my mother’s sayings came from her mother.
I’ll add that putting a hat on the bed is bad luck. I also remember that if you sing before breakfast you’ll cry before supper.
The family resemblance is well and truly passed on in your maternal line, Tipper.
Two things I remember being told were “wait at least 1 hour before going swimming after eating” and the other one “don’t eat ice cream right after eating fish.”
My grandmother would say the following:
– If you see a Robin in your yard, it means you’re going to have company.
– Don’t count cars in a funeral line or you will have bad luck.
– To cure a wart, tie a knot in a piece of thread & put it under a rock.
– Don’t go outside after a bath or washing your hair because it opens your pores up & you will surely get sick.
– Can’t go barefoot or take off your Long John’s (long underwear) until the Dogwood trees bloom.
– Never wash clothes on Wednesday or you will have bad luck.
– Never drive an ax blade into the ground or when you pull it out, you will have a bad storm.
My Mom said a lot of those or most of those sayings. My grandmothers were deceased when I came along. I did have one grandpa living and he was what you would call eccentric (sp). i’m sure my Mom heard these sayings from her Mom and Dad.
I enjoyed reading Kathy’s Grannyisms. I’ve heard a lot of them also. I keep thinking of more since yesterday. There was one I heard from both my grandma and my mama, and it started when I was really too young to figure it out. “A good name is worth more than all the riches in the world.” Well, I thought is Gloria a good name, not realizing what they meant. They were talking about having a good reputation.
What a lovely dress Granny made for her mother but that would be Granny, always doing loving things for her family.
Gloria, I believe a good name and being known for keeping your world/handshake are two of the most important things a person can be known for. I try my best to do both. I preach this to my boys and tell them “If your name or word is no good/can’t be trusted you are no good.”
This is not from my grandmother, but grandfather. He was born in 1891 and actually owned the first automobile in our county of Southern Maryland. Whenever, while rocking on the porch he saw another car coming down along the hill, he would always say: Yonder comes a buggy!. Anyone else her that?
I lost both my grandmothers very young, so I don’t remember any of their sayings, but my mom had many, which I’m sure came from her mom and grandmas.
1. Better alone than bad accompanied
2. Don’t cast your pearls before swine
3. When an owl is close by or in your yard, there will be a death
4. Bad luck if a bird hits your window
5. Your son is your son until he takes a wife, but your daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life
6. If people were saying unkind things about a dog, or cussing at them, my mother would ask them to spell the word dog backwards – most of them would be shocked as they never thought of it before.
7. She would say this poem a lot when people were losing patience with someone elderly or just being nasty if they were a little slower moving, etc:
Look young youth as you go by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now, so must you be
Prepare for death, you’ll follow me
My grandmother would not let us answer the phone in a lightning storm. Also she said don’t go outside with wet hair.
Nice to see a new YouTuber in the family last night!! Ira is learning quickly. And I appreciate seeing the scene at the cemetery. Beautiful flowers for a beautiful lady.
if you’re right hand itches, you will receive a letter. If your left hand itches, you will receive money. My dad always said if your foot itches you were going to have a fight.. my mom said you’d be moving. I don’t know who is right on that one, because nothing ever happened. I guess that’s why it’s folk lure.
Hi all. my Grandma used to say: sing before breakfast cry before supper. and if you have a bad dream don’t tell before breakfast because it will come true. right eye itches you will be made glad, left eye will be made mad. right hand palm itches will shake hands with a stranger, left hand palm will handy money. nose itches someone’s coming with a hole in their britches, away from home and nose itches someone wants you. when you used to have to get operator to make a collect call. any of family going home or traveling. when we would get there we would make collect call asking for ourselves. Grandpa answered the call operator kept asking for that person who had traveled and Grandpa kept saying they’re not here. finally the operator said Sir, they are trying to tell you they made it home safe.. we all laughed for longest about that call. God bless y’all
Those sayings from Kathy are great; thanks to her! Reminds me of my grandmother, who grew up during the depression, who told me “a common saying was, ‘Use it up, wear it out. Make do, or do without.” She also would say, “Don’t go courting trouble” … which reminds me of your post about the word “court.” Hope y’all have a great weekend!
I remember hearing and saying a few of them sayings.
Good morning, Tipper & fellow acorns!! Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a single grannyism. Shame on me!! Now, my maternal grandma, here in IL insisted I call her as soon as I got home…whether I was 16 or 45! Yes, I was lucky enough to still have my grandma(both!) until I was in my 40s. My paternal grandma lived in KY and I only got to see her once a year. So many special memories are tied to those trips. One of my favorites was of grandma going out to “fetch” “soft water” from the huge, wooden rain barrel to rinse my hair. My hair was never softer than when I was down in Kentucky ♡ Granny sure was a creator of many beautiful things and Granny Gazzie’s dress is proof. Tipper, I’m sure you’ve told the acorns this info but I’m fairly new to the community (over the last year). Was Gazzie her given name or a nickname? Hope you all have a wonderful day. I’m going to spend mine with my cousin, having lunch and visiting the cemetery ♡
It was her given name 🙂
Given names can be really odd. My dad had two girl cousins named Texas and Tennessee! Tex married a man whose nickname was Coot. I don’t know anything about Cousin Tenn.
Both my grandmothers given name was Tennessee
That line of beauty all of you have is evident in this picture. Love all the sayings but in a few years the only way to hear about them will be in a book. My home was West Virginia and one aunt and her cousin as young ladies thought it would be fun to live in Florida so they left and started their life there. After my aunt made her homesick trips back home, she wanted to let her mama know she made it safe driving alone, she would make a collect call to home and ask for herself and they would say she wasn’t there and hang up.
I remember people doing that. There was no long distance fee that way.
When I read yesterday that Granny wanted to make sure you were safe getting home it reminded me of my momma. Her and Daddy moved from the home place in 1997 and then lived about 15 miles from me. That also made it a long distance phone call. So when I would leave there and get home I’d call their phone and let it ring three times to let them know I’d made it safely home. That’s so funny to me now. I should have just let her answer, but then again we probably would have talked a long time and it would have been costly.
That’s a beautiful dress for a beautiful lady!
I would do the same thing 45 years ago. If the phone was answered, they would have been charged for a long distance call.
Debbie, I remember when it was common to have a “code ring” to give a message to someone without paying for a long distance phone call. Even though my grandsons are grown, I will call or text them everyday to tell them I love them and check on them and see that they are ok. If my older one goes somewhere on a trip, I want him to text me and let me know he got there safely. My son is a grown man but if he does not get home by the time I think he should I will start walking the floor and call him to see if he is not having trouble. Now these 3 boys/ men are the only reason I have for living. When I am gone, I hope they realize how much I loved them and what they meant to me. I want to say this about all 3, worrying about they may be up to “no good” is the least of my worries.
Randy. What a good father you are to let your boys know how much they are loved. I’m sure you are treasured by them..❤️
Just received a text message from my oldest grandson, he is coming to see me and his/our dog Rebel tomorrow. I don’t know which of us will be happier, me or the dog. The dog can at least jump up and down! Just knowing this has already made my day a lot brighter. This boy usually works 10- 12 hour shifts 6-7 days a week. He does not get much time to come by. He is 25 years old and a health hazard to me, I am so proud of him, my heart might explode!
Randy, I totally understand that feeling you mentioned ♡ My 3 grandkids (& 8 month old great granddaughter) are my world! Have a wonderful visit!!
My sisters and I still do this. We live on different sides of NH and they live 45 minutes from each other. We let the phone wrong 2 times they ring back 2. Just so we know the message was received.
If a wild bird get in the house, there will be a death. If you drop a fork a visitor is coming and if you drop a knife there will be an argument with a family member. It is bad luck to put your shoes on the bed. If you enter a home you must leave from the same door. My MIL’s mother never swore, but she would say for someone who was not being nice, that they had an ‘attidamtude’.
I remember my grandmother on my mother’s side of the family, I spent a lot of time there, it was a favorite place to be, from the time I was born, I remember my grandmother on my father’s side, but not very well, I remember going to the hospital, it was raining, she was very sick, and daddy took us around to her room and let us look through the window with her, thank you for the memories, thank you for praying for us please continue, God bless you very much