Hillbilly Slang Appalachian & Southern Slang, Sayings, Stories, and Culture

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• Proverbs from Appalachia & the South

  These are the old sayings many of us heard growin' up, especially from Granny, Papaw, and every elder with a front-porch rocker. Short, memorable, and usually dead-on, these proverbs carry the mountain wisdom folks still lean on today.

• Southern Sayings & Expressions

  Less life lessions, these are more sprinkled into everday conversations. Think 'bless your heart,' 'scat there, tom, you're tail's in the gravy,' or 'slicker'n snot on a door knob.'

• Southern Slang

  A glossary is what you'll find here - covering critters like polecat, lightin' bug, and fairy diddle - or food you may not have tried like soup beans, dry land fish, or vinegar pie.

• Southern Accent Guide

  If you're curious about how we talk - or even an actor lookin' to practice the word 'oil' a little for an upcoming performance - you'll find common words, recorded audio examples, as well as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to help guide you.

• Hillbilly Dude Says

  You'll find real stories, insights, and commentary, straight from an actual, real-life hillbilly. Like the time my buddy Fancy Boy got hoodoo'd in an alley we shouldn't have been in.

• Appalachian & Southern Folklore

  These are the stories, haints, witches, warnings, creatures, and old beliefs passed down through porches, coal camps, hollers, and family lines. From the Bell Witch to Jack Tales, to signs like "don't sweep over someone's feet" or "a death crowin' outside the window," folklore is where superstition, tradition, and mountain imagination meet.

• Southernish

  Sayings and terms folks swear are Southern (even though you ain't supposed to be swearin'!), but they pop up all over the country. Old expressions, borrowed sayings, regional maybes - Southernish sorts out the "close enough" from the "not quite, honey."