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Here’s an innocent little thread, but I’ll bet it’ll bring back some memories, especially amongst our more ‘seasoned’ posters. As someone who grew up in Appalachia, I often find myself grinning when thinking back over the words and sayings we had growing up. For example, we always had a garden, with two kinds of ‘taters.’ We had ‘arsh taters’ which were the regular kind, and ‘sweet taters’. Sweet taters are self-explanatory, but I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I was probably out of college before it dawned on me that ‘arsh taters’, of course, actually meant Irish potatoes.
I went all that time.....

  Anyway, I’d like to hear some of your all’s memories. Granny Bear, you are on the clock.
Growing up in Eastern KY I was surrounded words and phrases similar to you. Taters was very common. My parents would worsh clothes in the worsher, use a worsh rag to clean things. Youins is a frequently used word. I cannot remember everything that my mom still says. Sometimes it's like she is speaking in tongues going from one language to another.
My grandmother used so much Appalachian slang it was like she was speaking another language all the time.
Even though I was surrounded by Appalachian slang, I never really used it I do still have the Eastern Kentucky accent from time to time.
Worsh must have been pretty common, I heard that all the time. My grandmother on my dad’s side would tell the kids to ‘cam’ down when they were too rowdy, and would say ‘I swanny’ for I swear.
(01-18-2021, 08:29 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]Worsh must have been pretty common, I heard that all the time. My grandmother on my dad’s side would tell the kids to ‘cam’ down when they were too rowdy, and would say ‘I swanny’ for I swear.

My dad would say "Well I swan" for I swear.
(01-18-2021, 07:25 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]Here’s an innocent little thread, but I’ll bet it’ll bring back some memories, especially amongst our more ‘seasoned’ posters. As someone who grew up in Appalachia, I often find myself grinning when thinking back over the words and sayings we had growing up. For example, we always had a garden, with two kinds of ‘taters.’ We had ‘arsh taters’ which were the regular kind, and ‘sweet taters’. Sweet taters are self-explanatory, but I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I was probably out of college before it dawned on me that ‘arsh taters’, of course, actually meant Irish potatoes.
I went all that time.....

  Anyway, I’d like to hear some of your all’s memories. Granny Bear, you are on the clock.
I love me some fried sweet taters' and fried green t' maters' .   My granny made em' both to perfection.
I make a pretty good fried green tomatta, if I say so myself!!
I did a paper on Appalachian language when I was in college. Much of it is rooted in old Elizabethean. My Pappy would sat "sot" for sat or "yon" for yonder; i.e. He's over yon way. He also handled snakes in church and was the most honest/honorable man I've ever known. Young'uns is a no brainer. LOL

Along with their language, I am particularly impressed by the older timer's ingenuity. Many families and several "chillern" to feed and some of the dishes the women invented back then are still used, and delicious. Talk about making something out of nothing. Think about what makes a great turkey stuffing. Old bread, old biscuits, veggies and chicken broth. Back then, if you were lucky you also had some spices to use. They oftentimes wouldn't have a lot of food, but EVERYBODY had corn meal, flour and lard. It is truly amazing what all can be made from those ingredients.

Some "folks" are offended by the term "hillbilly". I'm not offended at all. I'm proud of my heritage and believe that Jeff Foxworthy said it best when he defined redneck/hillbilly as a glorious lack of sophistication.
Let me add red eye gravy to your list of ingenious foods. My granny could make it like no other. Now it’s almost impossible to find someone who even knows what it is.
I cannot remember the last time I've seen red eye gravy; or to use the appropriate Appalachian term, "sop"! LOL
(01-19-2021, 02:08 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]Let me add red eye gravy to your list of ingenious foods. My granny could make it like no other. Now it’s almost impossible to find someone who even knows what it is.
Oh my gosh!!!  My granny made red eye gravy. Loved it over mashed taters' or "sop" it up my pawpaw's "catheads"(biscuits) . He also made a great tomato gravy that I loved with his Swiss steak.

My "Nanny" (That's what I called my grandmother) would ask me if I wanted some "sorghum" (molasses)to pour over my "cathead"(her homemade buscuit) . 

 I miss her.  She grew up in a rural Whitley County community called Meadowcreek.
Speaking of molasses, one treat I loved growing up was molasses and butter. Just those two things mixed together. But apparently like so many toddlers I didn’t pronounce all my words fluently. So there was several folks in my family that loved to get little Van Hagar to request “asses and butter.”
^^^ LOL

My Granny would mix scrambled eggs with molasses and serve it hot with biscuits. She called that egg butter. I don't think that's a dish that's very common. Probably one of her made up things, but it sure was good!!

During the summer, we would eat whatever we were working up from the garden. Many times I've eaten fried corn over catheads with sliced tomatoes for breakfast.
And what about buttermilk? There was always some in the fridge when I was growing up, the grandparents ‘snack’ after supper would often be just a glass of buttermilk with either corn bread or light bread (white bread for you younguns’) dipped into it, and ate with a spoon. I can’t even imagine doing that now.
(01-19-2021, 06:58 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]Speaking of molasses, one treat I loved growing up was molasses and butter. Just those two things mixed together. But apparently like so many toddlers I didn’t pronounce all my words fluently. So there was several folks in my family that loved to get little Van Hagar to request “asses and butter.”
Oh, granny would pour me some sorghum and mix it with butter and I would take my "cathead" and sop up that yummy delight. Wish I had some right now.

(01-19-2021, 08:17 PM)Granny Bear Wrote: [ -> ]^^^  LOL

My Granny would mix scrambled eggs with molasses and serve it hot with biscuits.  She called that egg butter.  I don't think that's a dish that's very common.  Probably one of her made up things, but it sure was good!!

During the summer, we would eat whatever we were working up from the garden.  Many times I've eaten fried corn over catheads with sliced tomatoes for breakfast.
Granny,   so you'all used the term "cathead"  too ???   I figured that's one pawpaw just came up with .  lol

Also, pawpaw had a garden every year. During the summer, we just had vegetables from the garden(rarely any meat during the summer). Of course, we had a "pone" of pawpaw's cornbread every every evening with our garden veggies.

(01-19-2021, 08:58 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]And what about buttermilk? There was always some in the fridge when I was growing up, the grandparents ‘snack’ after supper would often be just a glass of buttermilk with either corn bread or light bread (white bread for you younguns’) dipped into it, and ate with a spoon. I can’t even imagine doing that now.
Are you sure we didn't grow up in the same neighborhood? Are we related?LOL

One of pawpaw's favorite after dinner treats was cornbread and buttermilk. He would crumble up a piece of his cornbread in his buttermilk.
I believe cathead was a generally used term. And I have cornbread and buttermilk often!! It's the biggest reason my ass is six ax handles wide!!
(01-20-2021, 10:25 AM)Granny Bear Wrote: [ -> ]I believe cathead was a generally used term.  And I have cornbread and buttermilk often!!  It's the biggest reason my ass is six ax handles wide!!


LOL.   I love cornbread and regular milk but pawpaw loved the buttermilk.  My dad still drinks a couple half gallons of buttermilk about every week.

Have you ever used the term "suet" ?   That's what my granny said instead of lard.
I have not used "suet" in any other way but when I reorder my bird feeding supplies!! But I have heard both sets of grandparents use it whenever we were processing a hog.

Fun fact....I can remember hog killing time like it was yesterday. It was my job to scrape the hide before butchering. I remember using a six inch knife to scrape with when I was so young that my feet didn't hit the ground when I straddled the hog. LOL A kid straddling a dead hog, using a six inch knife to scrape it would be considered child abuse in this day and age!!
Did anyone in your family "saucer" their coffee? LOL My Granny used to do that all the time!!

Also, in the fall of the year after the garden was turned under, Granny used to kill all her chickens except for one rooster and six good laying hens. She canned the meat. I'm a little reluctant to tell this story but it's the gospel truth. She could wring off a chicken's head with one snap of her wrist. As a child, my job would be to step on the wing so the chicken wouldn't flop under the house and be lost.

Children, between straddling dead hogs and running down dead chickens, it's a wonder I'm not a serial killer!!!
I had forgot about saucering coffee, but oh yeah, I even did it myself as a kid (I’ve always loved coffee). Some other things too. We always made custard at Christmas time, I can’t remember exactly how it was done, but I know it involved a lot of kettles and boiling, it would be hot when it was done, you didn’t drink it until it had cooled off in the fridge. And I’m sure if you had popcorn, you made it in a big old oiled-up kettle on top of the stove. There was a great smell! 

  And pop bottles. (Not soda or soft drink, you’re not from around here if you say that). It was never a problem to walk up and down the side of the road and pick up enough to at least turn in at the store and get one bottle for yourself (and did anything taste better than those 16-ounce glass bottles of pop?) Yes, kids, pop used to come in big glass bottles, and you could get something like 5 cents each for every empty one you returned to the store.

  Finally, did anyone make their own ‘cold remedy?’ My family made theirs out of rock candy, Wild Turkey and, I think, honey. Believe me, some of them couldn’t wait to get sick in the winter!!!
(01-22-2021, 02:18 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]I had forgot about saucering coffee, but oh yeah, I even did it myself as a kid (I’ve always loved coffee). Some other things too. We always made custard at Christmas time, I can’t remember exactly how it was done, but I know it involved a lot of kettles and boiling, it would be hot when it was done, you didn’t drink it until it had cooled off in the fridge. And I’m sure if you had popcorn, you made it in a big old oiled-up kettle on top of the stove. There was a great smell! 

  And pop bottles. (Not soda or soft drink, you’re not from around here if you say that). It was never a problem to walk up and down the side of the road and pick up enough to at least turn in at the store and get one bottle for yourself (and did anything taste better than those 16-ounce glass bottles of pop?) Yes, kids, pop used to come in big glass bottles, and you could get something like 5 cents each for every empty one you returned to the store.

  Finally, did anyone make their own ‘cold remedy?’ My family made theirs out of rock candy, Wild Turkey and, I think, honey. Believe me, some of them couldn’t wait to get sick in the winter!!!
I swear it's like you and grew up in the same family.  My granny drank her coffee from a saucer.   My papaw loved boiled custard on the holidays. He cooked popcorn on the stove in a kettle or skillet all the time.  

Most of the money I had as a kid I saved from collecting pop bottles( and selling packets of flower seeds).I think I got something like 2 cents a bottle when I was really young.  And yes, pawpaw never failed to doctor himself with a little old-fashioned cold remedy that he called a "hot toddy."   He used honey, lemon , and his favorite ingredient "Old Grandad" whiskey.  I think he looked for every opportunity to come down with the sniffles. LOL
I would like to add a few words that one of my grandmothers often used. Hain't, nary, and poke. 

Used in a sentence: I hain't got nary a poke to put it in.

Standard English translation: I have no bag in which to put it.

My grandmother was from Magoffin County and she often used archaic words that I never heard anybody else use. I also remember her using more common terms like "davenport" instead of couch or sofa and all refrigerators were Frigidaires.
Davenport, that was one I’d forgotten that my family used. Poke was common out my way, that was the brown bag you brought your groceries home in.
Some others, they always said drapes when referring to curtains. And any type of athletic shoes (they weren’t many back then) were tennis shoes. I played all my grade school basketball in good old Converse Chuck Taylor high tops.
(01-22-2021, 11:31 PM)Van Hagar Wrote: [ -> ]Davenport, that was one I’d forgotten that my family used. Poke was common out my way, that was the brown bag you brought your groceries home in.
  Some others, they always said drapes when referring to curtains. And any type of athletic shoes (they weren’t many back then) were tennis shoes. I played all my grade school basketball in good old Converse Chuck Taylor high tops.
The day that I graduated from Red Ball Jets to my first pair of Chuck Taylor high tops was a good one.
One more. My grandpa on my dad’s side always wore suspenders. But he called them (and I’m spelling this from the way he said it) galluses. I’ve never heard this since. Anyone else ever hear them called this?
Although I haven't heard the term "galluses" in a long time, my parents and grandparents used it regularly.

Hain't and nary are straight from 16th century Elizabethean English!! Poke could be either a brown paper bag or greens that mom would prepare. Harlan County even has a Poke Sallet Festival. And it isn't salad; it's sallet!

Rather than davenport, we had a davenet. LOL

Ever hear corn on the cob referred to as roshinears? Or collect fodder? Or smoke corn silks?

As far as pop bottles are concerned, my husband and I lived in a trailer for the first year of our marriage. The fridgidares in those trailers were pint sized. Every now and then, K-Mart would put their two liter cokes on sale, and I would get a dozen or so. They were a little tall for the fridge, but if you tilted the bottle it would fit on the first shelf. So that's what I did. One day, I went to pull out a small drawer that was located under the freezer portion and it tipped that two liter glass bottle, which fell cap first onto the toe next to my big toe. It completely shattered the first joint and the nail of that toe. I bet it weighed 20 lbs!! LOL To this day, my toe is deformed and the nail is thicker than any other nail on my feet. And no, it isn't from fungus!
Corn on the cob out my way was pronounced ‘roast neers.’ I did figure out it meant ‘roasting ears’ quicker than I figured out ‘arsh taters.’ Also, to this day I love, love, love soup beans, and I refuse to call them pinto beans, even when I find the occasional restaurant, like Cracker Barrel, that serves them.

Here’s one more country story that used to blow my kids mind. My Clay Co. grade school was pretty rural, even for there. We did not have city water there, everything was well water. The pump would go out on a pretty regular basis. So what did we do with no water? We used the spacious outhouses that probably held 10-20 kids at one time that were on school grounds, and really not that far from the school. No walls or anything inside, just plenty of spots to do your business. My kids can’t wrap their heads around it, but it was just back in the 70s.
(01-23-2021, 10:13 AM)Granny Bear Wrote: [ -> ]Although I haven't heard the term "galluses" in a long time, my parents and grandparents used it regularly.

Hain't and nary are straight from 16th century Elizabethean English!!  Poke could be either a brown paper bag or greens that mom would prepare.  Harlan County even has a Poke Sallet Festival.  And it isn't salad; it's sallet!

Rather than davenport, we had a davenet.  LOL

Ever hear corn on the cob referred to as roshinears?  Or collect fodder?  Or smoke corn silks?

As far as pop bottles are concerned, my husband and I lived in a trailer for the first year of our marriage.  The fridgidares in those trailers were pint sized.  Every now and then, K-Mart would put their two liter cokes on sale, and I would get a dozen or so.  They were a little tall for the fridge, but if you tilted the bottle it would fit on the first shelf.  So that's what I did.  One day, I went to pull out a small drawer that was located under the freezer portion and it tipped that two liter glass bottle, which fell cap first onto the toe next to my big toe.  It completely shattered the first joint and the nail of that toe.  I bet it weighed 20 lbs!!  LOL  To this day, my toe is deformed and the nail is thicker than any other nail on my feet.  And no, it isn't from fungus!
I have also heard davenet used for a couch. I Googled Davenette and found that it was trademarked in 1949 by an Illinois company as an upholstered sofa bed. My family ate roastin' ears.

I have a couple of toes that look like what you described. I have three toes that survived contact with a lawn mower blade a few years ago. My big toe took the biggest hit but the adjacent toe was shattered too.
Did anybody else eat Vieenies and crackers growing up? I ate so many Vienna sausages when I was a small kid and got so burned out on them, I still can't stand the thoughts of eating another one.

Van, my memories of outhouses are from the 60s. It's hard to believe that some Clay County schools had outhouses into the 70s. That must have been rough. I have vague memories of making the cold, lonely walk in the winter night along a slippery path to an outhouse.
Upon further review, I remember now that my crew also said davenet instead of davenport. And how many tv channels did you get? We got two on an antenna, WBIR channel 10 which was CBS and WAVE channel 6, which was NBC, both out of Knoxville. I didn’t even know ABC existed until I was 8 or 9, when we got cable which went up to 12 or 13 channels I believe. Everything local on WBIR was seemingly sponsored by either Cas Walker or Claytons Mobile Homes.
We got 3 TV channels (ABC, NBC, and CBS), two from Huntington and one from Charleston, but the Charleston station was snowy. The antenna was on top of the hill, so whenever the picture was lost, we had to walk the line up to the antenna until we found a break in the line or a broken antenna. I lived as a Buckeye during most of my elementary school years but I always looked forward to visiting Kentucky and watching Mister Cartoon on WSAZ.
(01-23-2021, 10:13 AM)Granny Bear Wrote: [ -> ]Although I haven't heard the term "galluses" in a long time, my parents and grandparents used it regularly.

Hain't and nary are straight from 16th century Elizabethean English!!  Poke could be either a brown paper bag or greens that mom would prepare.  Harlan County even has a Poke Sallet Festival.  And it isn't salad; it's sallet!

Rather than davenport, we had a davenet.  LOL

Ever hear corn on the cob referred to as roshinears?  Or collect fodder?  Or smoke corn silks?

As far as pop bottles are concerned, my husband and I lived in a trailer for the first year of our marriage.  The fridgidares in those trailers were pint sized.  Every now and then, K-Mart would put their two liter cokes on sale, and I would get a dozen or so.  They were a little tall for the fridge, but if you tilted the bottle it would fit on the first shelf.  So that's what I did.  One day, I went to pull out a small drawer that was located under the freezer portion and it tipped that two liter glass bottle, which fell cap first onto the toe next to my big toe.  It completely shattered the first joint and the nail of that toe.  I bet it weighed 20 lbs!!  LOL  To this day, my toe is deformed and the nail is thicker than any other nail on my feet.  And no, it isn't from fungus!


MY granny would make poke greens when I was a kid... and I HATED it!  When it was cooking, it smelled so bad to my young olfactory senses that I would run into the bedroom, close the door, jump in the bed and pull the covers up over my head to try and dissipate the terrible odor. I actually like poke greens now.

And yes, my grandparents always referred to corn on the cob as  roshinears . My granny would rub butter all over my "roshinear" and then I would tear into it.

(01-23-2021, 01:06 PM)Hoot Gibson Wrote: [ -> ]Did anybody else eat Vieenies and crackers growing up? I ate so many Vienna sausages when I was a small kid and got so burned out on them, I still can't stand the thoughts of eating another one.

Van, my memories of outhouses are from the 60s. It's hard to believe that some Clay County schools had outhouses into the 70s. That must have been rough. I have vague memories of making the cold, lonely walk in the winter night along a slippery path to an outhouse.
Are you kidding, Mr Gibson?   Growing up , they were a staple in our house.   I don't eat them a lot anymore but I still enjoy them from time to time as a quick snack. I like them with mustard.
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