Redneck Slang Words

I received an email from one of our Fun listeners (thanks Sheri)

here is a list of fun redneck terms! Have a great weekend gang! :-)

• (to) be too big for one’s britches – to think too highly of oneself
• britches – pants
• can’t carry a tune in a bucket – to be unable to sing at all
• clod-hopper – large, heavy shoes like those worn by farmers
• (gosh) dang/darn/dern – a cleaner version of a well-known, blasphemous expletive
• dang/darn/dern tootin’ – an expression of agreement, as in, “Louella, you make the finest biscuits this side of the Mississippi.” “Dern tootin’.”
• fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down – if someone is unbelievably unattractive, looking as though they’ve been hit with several ugly sticks, this is the proper way to express that ugliness
• fixin’ to – getting ready/preparing to, as in, “I’m fixin’ to go to the Wal-Mart. Do y’all need anything?”
• get up with – to contact or get together with
• granny-slappin’ good (so good, it makes you want to slap your granny) – very good, usually delicious
• gussied up – cleaned up and dressed very nicely (perhaps formally)
• a hankerin’ for – a desire/craving for
• happy as a puppy with two peckers/peters – very happy
• high cotton – wealthy; successful (and maybe snobby)
• hit with the ugly stick – if someone is quite unattractive, you can say they look like they’ve been hit with the ugly stick
• honky-tonk – a bar, perhaps where country music is played live for folks to dance
• hotter than a goat’s butt in a pepper patch – very hot
• how-do – shortened form of “How do you do?”
• If I had my druthers – if I had my way/my preference
• kin/kinfolk – family, especially extended family
• knee-high to a grasshopper – very young and small, as in, “The last time I saw you, you were knee-high to a grasshopper, and look how grown-up you are now!”
• lick – (noun) any amount at all, usually used in negative sentences such as, “I didn’t get a lick of work done today because my boss kept calling me in for meetings.” (verb) To beat up, as in, “I licked him good that time.”
• like herding cats – anything that is difficult to do, but especially anything that requires organizing difficult people (like small children)
• mash – to press or push, as in, “Mash that green button and turn on the computer.”
• (to) need something like one needs a hole in the head – Obviously you do not need a hole in your head; it’s even bad for you. Thus anything you definitely don’t need, and that might be detrimental to you in some way is described by this phrase.
• ornery – difficult to deal with; stubborn; finicky
• piddly/piddlin’ – a small amount (negative connotation)
• poop or get off the pot – make a decision and take action
• reckon – suppose, guess, as in, “I reckon we’ll see you at the reunion.”
• right – very (often surprisingly); an adverb usually used to modify adjectives, as in, “You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but he’s a right good ball player.”
• rough talk – to speak harshly
• rubber-neck – to drive slowly so as to get a good look at a wreck or disabled vehicle on the side of the road. Those who rubber-neck are rubber-neckers.
• skedaddle – to leave hurriedly
• snug as a bug (in a rug) – very comfortable
• sugar – affection, as in, “Come here and give me some sugar.”
• sweet talk – to speak nicely, usually in order to get something you want
• tater – potato
• (to) think one’s s*** don’t stink – to think too highly of oneself
• tore up – broken/destroyed, as in, “I came home to find the curtains all tore up,” or, “My knee has been tore up since that skiing accident back in ’93.”
• uppity – snobby
• used to could – used to be able to, as in, “I can’t do a cartwheel any more, but I used to could.”
• useless as tits on a bull – utterly useless
• varmint – an animal (usually wild)
• Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. – an expression of surprise, shock and/or disbelief
• y’all – a contraction of you + all. This is the informal 2nd person plural in Southern English.
• yankee – a person from the North
• yapper – mouth
• younguns – young people
• you’uns – y’all