Make a list of my 43 favorite slang or colloquial terms

I love this expression. If you “man up” or “woman up,” you are being a man or woman and doing what has to be done. I even saw a sign in the grocery store that said, “Melon up!” I guess that means “buy a melon.”

Lighthearted and fun, like so many slang expressions.

It means pretty much what it sounds like it means: secretly or covertly. “Keep it on the downlow” means “don’t tell anyone.”

It also has an associated meaning, particularly in the African-American community. “Being on the downlow” refers to a married man with a family who is secretly having homosexual liaisons.

a legitimate word, but here goes:

I was somewhere the other day and I overheard a conversation in which a man said, ” . . . and so I told them, y’all will just have to do it y’allself.

Y’allself?? Love it! Sure, it should be y’allselves, but clearly, we in the South need a possessive form of “y’all.”

As I was leaving the house today, I told hubby’s caregiver that Bill the handyman was coming to do some work.

“He’s mainly going to work outside,” I said, “but if he needs anything or wants to come in the house for anything, it’s okay. Bill is good people.

Bill clearly has the regular arrangement of body parts alloted to one human. And I teach English, so I know that “people” is a plural form. So what gives?

As I pondered this expression on my way to this year’s graduation ceremony, I decided that I stood by it, that I’d say it to a person of any academic rank, including my fellow English professors or the college president. Further, to call Bill a “good person” would not convey the same information and would not suit my purpose.

So what’s the difference between “Bill is good people” and “Bill is a good person”?

To say that Bill is a good person suggests a degree of knowledge about him that I really don’t have. It suggests that I know personal details of his life and know how he handles his moral dilemmas. I don’t.

To say he is “good people,” on the other hand, suggests that I trust him and like him, and that I have known him long enough to be pretty sure that my trust and liking are not misplaced. All of that is true.

I am not sure if this is strictly a Southern expression, or if other people in the U.S. (Canada, Tink?) use it, too.

Do you use it? Have you heard it? Inquiring minds want to know.

I used this saying in another entry and Hippiechick suggested that I include it here. Hippiechick, this one’s for you!
I was curious about the saying, so I looked it up. Here’s Wikiquote’s entry:
This comes from a Greek legend, as follows: One of the Argonauts returned from his voyage, and went home to his winery. He called for the local soothsayer, who had predicted before his voyage that he would die before he tasted another drop of his wine, from his vinery. As he finished saying this, he raised a cup filled with wine to his lips, in toast to the soothsayer, who said something in reply. Just then, he was called away to hunt a wild boar that was approaching, and died in his attempt to kill it. The phrase that the soothsayer said is translated best as, There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip.

This Southern expression means “to fall over.” I had never heard it before this year. I heard Nick’s therapist use it—”Brace yourself with your arm so you don’t tump over.” Then, my friend S. said it in relation to some inanimate object.

It’s a new expression to me, and I love it!

A combination of “beaucoup” and “oodles” that means just what you think it does . . . many, an abundance.

Unlike “beaucoup” but like “oodles,” it is used with the preposition “of.” “I can’t go anywhere tonight—I have boocoodles of papers to grade.”

A wonderful Southern expression that is most often used to cast doubt on what someone else says or on a plan devised by someone else.

“Honey, how about if we have a nice dinner on Saturday night maybe get all romantic afterward?”

“Sure, Jim-Bob. What time will you pick me up?”

“Pick you up? No, I’ll just come over after I play a little pool and drink a few beers with the boys. Say, midnight or so. You can keep supper warm if I am late. What are you fixing me?”

“Sorry, Jim-Bob. That dog won’t hunt.”

Another slightly old-fashioned term—I musrt have read too many hard-boiled detective novels when I as a kid. No, wait! Nancy Drew was not hard boiled!

“Jake” means fine, okay, copacetic.

How’s it going?

Everything’s jake!

A little, a little bit.

More wine? Just a tad, thanks.

Hang on; the computer is a tad bit slow today.