Funny Southern Expressions, Sayings Phrases and Colloquialisms


These are actual expressions, primarily from the Southern United States. Many of these colloquialisms are fading away, as they aren’t often continued by younger generations. But many of us have fond memories of hearing many of these funny sayings and expressions back when we were knee high to a bull frog. My grandmother used many of these old expressions even back when I was over the hill picking watermelons (before I was born).

I got a good laugh out of some of these. I hope you do to. Feel free to send in any favorites I missed.

Well that just dills my pickle!

That’s about as useful as a trap door on a canoe!

You look about as happy as a tick on a fat dog.

I’m finer than frog hair split four ways.

If you don’t stop I’ll knock you in the head and tell God you died.He couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.

He’s busier than a one-legged man at a butt kickin contest!

She was so tall if she fell down she would be halfway home.

He thinks the sun comes up just to hear him crow.

Don’t you piss on my leg and tell me it’s rainin’!

He was as mad as a mule chewing on bumblebees!

You’re lyin’ like a no-legged dog!

Excuses are like backsides. Everybody’s got one and they all stink.

That was faster than green grass through a goose.

She could make a preacher cuss!

Hell, she could even depress the devil.

You could start an argument in an empty house.

That coffee’s strong enough to float an iron wedge.

You look as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.

He’d gripe with a ham under each arm.

Why are you smilin’ like a goat in a briarpatch?

Our preacher’s as full of wind as a corn-eating horse.

Each one of his sermons is better than the next!

He’s so windy he could blow up an onion sack.

He’s so useless if he had a third hand he would need another pocket to put it in!

She needs some fries to go with that shake.

That boy’s more slippery than snot on a glass doorknob.

Why don’t you just take a long walk off a short pier.

They’re off like a herd of turtles.

She’s resting in peace in the marble orchard.

Well, don’t you look prettier than a glob of butter melting on a stack of wheat cakes!

He’s about as handy as a back pocket on a shirt.

She’s so clumsy she could trip over a cordless phone!
(yeah, my great, great grandfather used to say that one when he was a boy).

He’s about as useful as a pogo stick in quicksand.

If brains were leather, he wouldn’t have enough to saddle a junebug.

Well, if that don’t put pepper in the gumbo!

Well, slap my head and call me silly!

Well tie me to a pig and role me in the mud!

Well tie me to an anthill and fill my ears with jam!

He’s not particularly intelligent:

The engine’s runnin’ but nobody’s driving.

If his brains were dynamite, he couldn’t blow his nose

He’s so dumb, he could throw himself on the ground and miss.

He’s so dumb he couldn’t piss his name in the snow.

He’s a little strange…

That boy’s two bricks shy of a full load.

I think that boy’s about two sandwiches shy of a picnic.

I think he’s one fry short of a Happy Meal.

He’s acting crazier than a sprayed roach!

He’s so rich, he buys a new boat each time one gets wet.

You’ve got champagne taste with a beer pocketbook.

He’s tighter than a flea’s ass over a rain barrel.

He squeezes a quarter so tight the eagle screams.

He doesn’t have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out.

It’s drier than happy hour at the Betty Ford clinic!

It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table!

It’s so dry the trees are bribing the dogs.

It’s hotter than two rabbits making babies in a sock!

He’s not particularly handsome….

He’s uglier than the east end of a horse headed west

He looks like something the dog’s been keepin’ him under the porch.

He is so ugly that my mother had to tie pork chops to his ears so the dog would play with him.”

She’s so ugly I’d hire her to haunt a house!

If I had a dog as ugly as him, I’d shave his butt and make him walk backwards.

“Living in sin”:

I heard they ate supper before they said grace!

 

 

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535 thoughts on “Funny Southern Expressions, Sayings Phrases and Colloquialisms”

  1. My Ma(a Brooklyn girl turned Southern Baptist) picked this up in Tennessee;

    ‘He’s about as useful as tits on a bull!’

  2. Growing up in the Deep South, I’ve heard many a funny saying. I thought you might enjoy this one.
    My family always used to say it about some of the guys my cousins dragged in…lol. ” That boy looks like he’s been whooped with an ugly stick” or the alternate version ” He looks like he’s been whooped with an ugly stick…ugly stick, hell, he fell out of an ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.”

  3. To an unattractive girl; “She’s got ten foot pole marks all over her”

    If its hot; “It’s hotter than two rats humpin’ in a wool sock”

    If he is dumb; “He’s dumber than a bag of hammers”

  4. She is so ugly she would make a buzzard back off from a bucket of guts.

    She would make a freight train take a dirt road.

    His teeth are so buck he could eat corn thru a picket fence.

    I am going to beat you like a red headed step child.

  5. Ok Here are a couple I picked up in GA

    “That dawg won’t hunt” – It’s not going to work
    “Short like a gnats tail”
    “Busted two sets of knee caps” – Walked too much
    “Ding Dang if That Ain’t!” – Isn’t it so
    “I’ll be darned….”

  6. The first say’in my dad, from New Orleans, ever taught me was; “Don’t insult the alligator before you cross the stream” (he was taught and added his own;” and not at all, if you go home that way!”

  7. He’s a good ol’dog, but sometimes he sh*ts to close to the porch.

    Poor Mouth or Poor Mouthin (someone who pitty parties too much)

    Dumber than a box of rocks

    Meaner than a skunk

    “Rattlin” (talk to much)

    In her skin…ie…Where is she? “In her skin when she jumps out you can jump in”

  8. Here’s one my Grandpa used to use “Sounds like a cow pissing on a flat rock” for when it’s really raining hard

  9. He’s so skinney..looks like he swaped legs with a wasp and got cheated out of the stinger!

    Scarce as hens teeth

    What is that?….It’s a lay over to catch meddlers

    If wishes were horses…beggars would ride

    What goes over the back comes back under the belly

    He’s windy as a fartin’ coon!

    He’s loose as a goose s*#&in’ by moonlite
    Useless as tits on a boar showe

  10. Well honey..looks like you came to a goat’s house for wool!(wanting something someone doesn’t have)

    Looks like socks on a rooster! (frilly socks on skinny legs)

    Want in one had…spit in the other…see which fills up first

    Gone to hell in a handbasket

  11. If you walk in the pasture’s long enough, your bound to step in shit. (hanging with the wrong crowd)

  12. have an understandin and make sure its understood. old men/women will give you worms. someone too old or too young for you will shame you. you play with a puppy he will lick yo face. Don’t buy no man no shoes cause he’ll kick you in your behind and walk out on you with them. God don’t need no help. misery loves company. you mad? scratch your a** and get glad.if you lay down with dogs you’ll will get up with fleas. theres no fool like an old fool.

  13. He’s the spittin’ image of his daddy!
    This actually came from a phrase used in the civil war era that was badly mangled by the slaves blending their native speach patterns with english spoken Southern style. The correct phrasing is, “He’s the spirit and image of his father”.

  14. My Daddy use to tell me. “Son, ain’t nobody out at that time a night but burglers and bad women”/

  15. 1. he could tear up a steel ball.
    2. ill knock you into next week
    3. we are on the dance floor but cant see the microphone
    4. she’ll bite your head off
    5. your meaner that a rattle snake
    6. you better shut up or ill knock the shit out of you

  16. not quite so fitting but im sure this pages audience will apprieciate ne way;

    Remember you are unique, just like everbody else!

  17. You are rude, crude, grossly unattractive, your feet stink, your Mother makes your clothes and you don’t love your Jesus. ( Big loser )

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