   Don’t Let Your Mouth Write a Check Your Tail Can’t CashIn Southern and Appalachian speech, "Don’t Let Your Mouth Write a Check Your Tail Can’t Cash" is a colorful warning meaning don’t boast, threaten, or promise more than you can actually deliver. It’s a folksy version of "don’t write checks you can’t cover," mixing financial imagery with Southern plain talk. #SouthernSayings #Appalachia #PeopleandRelationships #Southern #Proverbs Hillbilly Dude Says...  I've heard variants of 'don’t let your mouth write a check your tail can’t cash' all my life. Pronunciation[DONT let yer MOWTH RITE uh CHEK yer TAIL kant KASH] Meaning & Usage- To warn someone not to talk bigger than they can act (proverb/admonition)
Mae:
I’m gonna knock him out first punch.
Earl:
Careful - don’t let your mouth write a check your tail can’t cash.- To caution humility and realism (proverb/admonition)
Mae:
I told everyone I’d finish that job today.
Earl:
Don’t let your mouth write a check your tail can’t cash - start smaller.other spellings: don’t let your alligator mouth write a check your hummingbird tail can’t cash ★ This is one of the South’s most memorable ways of saying "don’t overpromise." Coaches, parents, and bosses still use it. The vivid imagery (mouth, check, tail) gives it a sting and makes it stick. ★ OriginA mid-20th-century Southern proverb. Earliest print examples appear in Texas and Alabama newspapers and oral tradition in the 1950s-60s. Built on the older banking proverb "Don’t write checks you can’t cover" but given a Southern spin with "mouth" and "tail." NotesStill common in the South and Appalachia, especially in sports, military, and blue-collar settings. Outsiders recognize it from movies and stand-up comedy, but the phrasing remains most natural in Southern mouths. Say It Like a SouthernerSaid plain: "don’t let your mouth write a check your tail can’t cash." Sometimes "don’t let your alligator mouth write a check your hummingbird tail can’t cash." | Latest Accents About We are a growing field guide to culture, speech, memory, and meaning - rooted in Appalachia, but wide as the world. Read more... |
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