If you look in the left side-bar of this page-you’ll see a link to my Grannyisms-page. I’ve been collecting memories-precious, funny, and inspiring about people’s grandmothers on the Grannyisms page ever since I started the Blind Pig.
Below you can read a few of my favorite Grannyisms left by folks over the last several months.
Tipper said:
The whole Blind Pig Gang has fell in love with the music of Pokey LaFarge and The South City Three. The other day the girls were down at Granny and Pap’s, and Pap was listening to their version of The Devil Ain’t Lazy. Chitter said Granny looked over at her and said “The Devil ain’t lazy but Granny is.”
Christopher said:
My great grandmother, aka “Granny” was to me the strongest person I have ever known. As a child she was amazing to me. She was sweet and kind but defiantly not a women to be messed with. I remember the old house where she lived as if I were there yesterday, the back room full of mason jars, the old gas heaters and the front porch was the gathering place on a warm summers day. The saying that I remember most was “heavens to mergatroy”, when something upset her. I miss her everyday and I dedicate this to her, Sadie Salome Smith 1915-2005
Eldonna said:
My Grandma W. had lots of sayings. My favorite: If anyone did something that she disapproved of she said, “We’ll, I guess they’re just as happy as if they had good sense.”
She cooked a big hot meal for dinner at noon. Leftovers would get “het up” for supper.
The time between dinner and supper was called “evening.” EXAMPLE: Bill came came by this evening, but he wouldn’t stay for supper.
JJ said:
Well Tipper, here I am blogging about one of my Grannie’s when I was trying to find a recipe for Pear Preserves like hers! I am so excited with this site….it DOES make me GRIN from ear to ear! I was blessed to have three Godly Grannies and have such good memories of each one. As I sit here watching my chickens scratching around in the garden, I think about my Great Grandma (though we said, “Grandmaw”) living ON the Blue Ridge Parkway, (they sold some of it to the WPA when they were building it….) Her “Outhouse”…was decorated with an old wash bowl and pitcher, curtains on a tiny window, and a Sears & Roebuck catalog along side….the rooster crowing SO early in the morning as I snuggled down under the old feather tick. She would be in the kitchen building a fire in the cook stove. I miss the smells from the wood, her flitters, and bacon frying…oh my – I’m getting real nostalgic here!!! When she would call us in, we would ‘spread’ the table, sometimes ‘set’ was used. It was always on an old oil cloth tablecloth. She was a special woman who loved us and loved the Lord. Everyone knew it too!
Thank you for this website!
JJ
Marci said:
Whenever I would act up as a kid my Granny would always say “Now Marcie your Dennis is showing.” This was her way of letting me know that I was being as stubborn and mule headed as the rest of the clan and she was losing patience with me. I love her and sure miss her now that I am a mom. I wish my son could of gotten to know her.
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I hope you enjoyed all the Grannyisms. There are many more on the Grannyisms page-so jump over there and read them. And please leave one about your grandmother.
For those of you who have already left one-there is no limit-just keep posting your memories as they come to you.
Granny is the crochet queen. She cranks out so many crocheted items we have a hard time trying figure out where to put them. And she makes so many things she forgets what she makes!
It never fails this time of the year Granny will see me or one of the girls wearing a hat, scarf, or sweater she’s made and she’ll say “Oh that’s so pretty where did you get that?” We roll our eyes and say “Granny you made it!”
Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win one of Granny’s crocheted creations.
*Giveaway ends Wednesday November 6, 2013 @ midnight.
For all of you who live in or near Murphy-Eva Nell will be having a signing for her new book “Fiddler” in down town Murphy at the “Curiosity Book Store” from 4:00 to 6:00 tomorrow-Wednesday November 6. Try to go say HOWDY to Eva Nell if you can!
Tipper
Back in the roaring twenties my Grandmother picked up the spectacular nickname “the East Chattanooga Strut” for her sassy ways and what was apparently a very memorable walk. Picturing my very large, dignified grandmother as a teenage girl longing to be a one of those newfangled naughty flapper girls always makes me smile!
Sherry-thank you for the comment! Ive heard point blank by whole life-but never pine blank. Very interesting phrase for sure : )
Tipper
Blind Pig The Acorn
Celebrating and Preserving the
Culture of Appalachia
http://www.blindpigandtheacorn.com
My maternal grandmother was such a lovely lady. She loved dress up and wore hats when going to church or shopping in Knoxville…even wore high heels into her 90’s! She had a lovely smile, but when she got flustered about something, (mother of 8 and grandmother of 17 several great grands) she would say, “Well I swear pine blank! or “if that don’t beat a goose a gobblin’.” What’s a pine blank?
She would often just dance a jig and twirl around or start quoting a little poem she learned in school. She was a character for sure and so very loved.
My Granny always says “the good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise”. Me and my 3 girls have picked it up and say it all the time.
Everyone of your Grannyisms makes me smile and remember my own. Thanks for the memories!
Sheryl, my granny & grandpa called a bicycle a wheel, too.
Only one Grandmother was living when I was born. One of the funny (later it was funny) incidents was when she & Mama were washing on the wringer washer. Mama got her hand in the wringer & Granny was yelling “Hit it, Child, hit it.” She was talking about a bar on the side of the wringer that opened it up. For some reason we were tickled to death with this.
Both Granny & Grandpa were people of faith. They were Pentecostals & I can remember Granny dancing across the floor when she was barely able to walk. Anyway, one day Grandpa had burned trash or something & let the fire get out & it was taking off pretty good. Grandpa fell on his knees & started praying. Granny yelled, “Get up Virgil, it’s too late to pray now.” She had a temper & I imagine the fire lit her up, too.
She was a “granny” woman & delivered many, some of her own grandkids. She irritated my laboring mother to the max by telling her, as she suffered, “it’ll have to get worse before it gets better.” Mama would quote this all her life.
She was famous for an incident in which she denied her own son if favor of his first wife. He was a “rounder” He had left his first wife & kids for a woman who “smelled just like peaches.” Told Granny this & she told him all wh—s smelled like that. Anyway, somehow, his first wife & kids were living in one side of an old house & “peaches” & him were living in the other side. Granny went to visit & as she went up the steps, her son yelled “Come on up on my side, Mama.” Granny said, “I can’t do it”, & went in to visit the first wife & grandkids.
I could go on forever–they were people of real character & virtue had meaning in their actions.
Tipper, my Granny sewed all of my clothes when I was growning up. During my teen age years, if I mentioned something about the hem,or anything about the garmet, (the dreaded, everyone will see it of a teenager)she would always say ” Never be noticed on a gallopin’ horse”. Needless to say, it stayed as she made it after she said those words.
Granny always said that she knew someone was coming to visit because the old rooster had crowed all morning. I was pretty sure that the old rooster crowed every morning. But I wouldn’t have argued with her for the world.
My “Granny” (my father’s grandmother) was always telling me that I’d better learn to drink coffee or I’d grow too tall to catch a man.
She quit saying that to me somewhere around 5th grade when I already stood 10 inches over her 4 foot 10 inch self. I continued growing another 2 inches; then, she died 3 or so years later about 6 months before I started dating – and the first guy I dated became my husband.
I never did learn to drink coffee but my daughter (and the boys) did. Wonder what Granny would have thought about my 6’2″ girl . . . .
I was so blessed –I had Grandmothers & Great-Grandmothers (they wore the title of Granny) my children had the same and now I can claim the Great-grandmother award!
My grandmother Cora Lee Breedlove didn’t like being called “Granny.” I remember a few times I call her that, she would go for Grandpa’s razor strop and I would have to cut a trail. I don’t think she would have hit me with it but I couldn’t take the chance. She hated to be called “Maw” worse. I didn’t dare call her that. She would have beat me to death if she could have caught me.
Dang it Tipper–your link comes up in my “who’s posting” roll, and I happened to be, well, seeing who’s posting. “Why haven’t I been by Tipper’s lately?”
Well now I remember why–every single time, you make me cry.
But in a good way. Anyway, you don’t have to enter me in your giveaway, as long as it won’t insult your granny; one of my dear grannies was a crochet queen, too.
🙂
Gosh! This was interesting reading. Unfortunately, I never had any living Grandmas, so I missed that part of my growing up. I hope that I am leaving some grammy memories for my granddaughter. This was a rather nostalgic read for many people.
Tipper,
Recently, I went over to the Grannyism’s Page and although I’ve
never left a comment, was just
tickled pink at some of the stories. Both of my grannies died when I was about 12 to 15, but I have lots of precious memories.
Soon as I can collect my thoughts
I’ll try and tell something about
one of them…Ken
Anytime she heard some surprising news, Grandma would lean back in her straight chair on the porch and say, “Well, knock me over with a feather!”
Tipper,,
I loved this post today! I was around my Mom’s Mother more than I was around my Dad’s Mother.
I loved to visit my at the big old house just outside of the Mars Hill city limits…Back then the farm was huge…Big barns, chicken houses and sheds. My Gradma was cared for by her daughter, (never married) and who also maintained the farm.
A room had been converted for her next to the newer kitchen, and bathroom. She was too old to travel up and down those stairs to the second floor bedrooms. The original kitchen was still there, it was just so big with a huge wood stove there, a long dinner table etc.
My Granny would sit in the new room in a old rocking chair. Pillows around, to prop her if she wanted one. a coverlet hanging on one arm or close by within reach on the edge of the bed.
After all the howdys and how are yous, the rest of the family would go to the newer small kitchen for coffee. I would hang around Granny! She often would say to me..”Belvy, go over there and climb up and look in that top drawer of the chest of drawers..There’s some candy, get us a piece! It was usually the very hard candy. Horehound, a Peppermint stick box or a bag of those big chocolate drops that were hard and cream filled…ewww!
I would open the bottom drawer, then the next…til I could reach the top drawer and open it. That never bothered my Granny that I might fall or pull the chest over.
Why that thing was so heavy it would never have fallen anyway!
She would put that piece of candy in her mouth amist that dip of snuff in lower lip…ewwww. She kept her hanky, in her lap, with her tiny hands holding on, her little dip brush in a pocket on the side. Her snuff can in another pocket…Her spit tin can on the floor right beside the rocker. She was a very slight woman, even with getting in the candy when her daughter (my aunt)wasn’t there to catch her!…
I wish I had hung around to talk to her. The older folks always said not to bother her. I always felt in my heart that she wanted me to stay and talk and not go out to play. Poor thing by the time she was that old could probably never get a word in edgewise or had any say in the goings on around the farm!
I think that is why I try to tell my Grandchildren stories and talk to them nowadays…
I gotta go, I think I am tearing up! LOL
Thanks Tipper,
PS…My other Granny, that lived just outside of Marshall, taught me how to crochet after my Mom lost patience with me! LOL I never knew how she did it. She had a middle finger that was bent over permantly. Some say she had a “win” in the joint that damaged the ligaments…I always thought that was why she could crochet so good…and I didn’t have one and couldn’t hold my finger like that! It was a long time before I found out that it was permanent! LOL
Tipper, I have enjoyed reading about the wonderful “grannys” people remember. I had two wonderful grandmothers that made a huge impression on me. They demonstrated the unconditional love that God and often grandmothers have. I miss both of them so much and think of them every day.
Tipper,
My Granny has been gone for so many years now but, I can still hear and see her in my mind. She was a natural born comedienne and now after all these years, we will be at some gathering and someone (especially my wife) will burst out laughing and tell something she once said.
I could write pages about her but I’ll just mention these two. Once she was telling somebody how she had been sick and she said, “Lord I’ve been so sick running a fever and my throat was so sore I’d have to stick my tongue out to swaller’ “. Then there was the time she stayed with one of my aunts that had a house with some very small rooms. She said, “That bedroom is so small I swear you have to stand on the bed to change clothes!” But, so often whenever one of the grand kids, aunts or uncles tells one of these stories, and starts to laugh, many times they will get misty eyed later. That’s how much her memory meant to all of us.
Hi Tipper,I was spending a night with Grandma Fergie on the farm,Grandpa had past away a few years earlier.Grandma was in her 70s,still milking 4 or 5 cows and she had over 100 chickens,we had eaten supper ,dishes done and I said grandma I’m tired ,she said no your sleepy I’m tired.I’ve never for got that.I’m in my 70s now and still missing her and the farm!God Bless.Aloha,Jean
I lost my grandmothers early on, one when I was 10 and the other when I was 13. My maternal grandmama lived with my family until her death, so I remember her better. She lived her life with strength tempered by humility. The harshest comment I ever heard her say was about a no account neighbor of hers. She said ‘the only reason he isn’t dead is the Devil’s afraid he’ll lose his job.’ Every time I whined that I could not do something, she would tell me that ‘can’t never did nothing.’ I still think of her when one of my grands says he can’t. And, yes, I repeat her words to him.
I am going to have to go out to your Grannyisms page. My mother’s mother, Mildred (Mimi) Propst, was one of the funniest women I ever knew and she was always dropping memorable lines. I need to share some of them.
My grandma had many savings. One of her favorites was “Make haste” when she wanted my grandpa to hurry up.
Tipper: My memories of my Grandma on my mother’s side are sprinkled with many visited to her BIG house for Sunday Dinner after church service. At least it seemed big compared to our house. Once when I was about 2 or 3 years old my mama left me to stay with Grandma while she and her other many children went to Church – just near Grandma’s house. While with Grandma, I decided I needed to help her check on the bread she was baking in her wood burning kitchen stove. I bent over beside her to get a better view of the bread AND placed the palms of my tiny hands on the oven door. Well sir, that was the most painful burns anyone could imagine. Grandma put melted butter on my hands and put me up in a chair. I can’t remember how long I cried but I sure can remember her tender touch as she rubbed that butter on my hands. Lordy, that was not sweet memories – but it is the truth!
Regards,
Eva Nell
p.s. Come by the “Curiosity Book Store” down in Murphy, tomorrow 4:00-6:00 for my signing of “Fiddler” if you have time!
Loved this. Sometimes your best posts are when you dig back in the dusty parts of the site. Grannies are so very important to a family, and you’ve help me ponder and remember mine.
My gramma use to tell us to take our wheel(bike) to the store to get whatever she needed at the time. We all thought it was so funny.
Just reading other people’s posts brought a host of memories. Sights, smells and words of kindly wisdom. I only had one grannies, but she was a pistol!
Tipper, I only had one Grandmother that was still living when I grew up but we all loved her very much she was very caring and had lots of grand kids because she had 11 children which had at least 3 to 7 children themselves except 2 of her children only had 1.