In this video I’m sharing Appalachian grammar, words, and phrases (Mountain Talk) that start with the letter P. Some are common in my area of Appalachia and others have totally fallen by the wayside.
Here’s the Maypop Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nto1oR0DvB4&t=1s
Find the dictionary here: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469662541/dictionary-of-southern-appalachian-english/
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47 Comments
We always called my grandmother maw and grandfather paw or pap.
I love the different words in your area. So beautiful and musical in my ear. Thank you Tipper. Stay well you look like you have been able to rest a little here and there. God Bless you.
I always heard that a brown paper bag was called a poke. I still call it a poke to this day my husband now knows what that means.
Strong
Coming from an area with a distinct dialect I can say that sharing that dialect with friends and neighbors definitely makes you feel at home. And everybody that speaks it is normal. Everyone who doesn't speak it is a foreigner.
I had a 'PawPaw' and a 'Poppa'…… 1st was the Grandfather from Ga, 2nd from SC
I know they are panthers in the mountains in Bland county,VA.i watched one several minutes with a set of binoculars as it tried to catch a old doe. With her yearlings.ive had several folks laugh at me ,when I told them.but it don't matter ,no matter how loud or long they hoot and holler ,it don't change the facts.
Oh, I believe he saw a painter. Fella over on Doe Mountain in TN caught one on a trail cam. He had set it out ahead of deer season to see if it was a good place to set his stand. He was counting the deer and seeing. It was near the firetower is all I know. i am surprised it never visited me as the old man I took care of lived not far from it halfway up. We were well within its range. Maybe it was what was getting the cats. There is also wildcats in the area. Saw one just mosey across the road. Right in front of a friends van. Looked just like the ones in Europe and Scotland. Huge tabby cat with a full ringtail and fully separated rings. He was close enough we could see his maleness a hangin". That was on Mining Town Rd. We said we saw the cat to a cashier at the burger place up the road and she said lots of folks have seen them forever, but the wildlife authorities don't believe nobody. Claim they just drunk a bit too much shine and was seeing things. We was plumb sober at the time.
From Asheville – grew up in Charlotte. I most certainly heard a panther out by Coleman’s Gap some years back while camping. My friend lives out that way & hears them from time to time. I lived in California for a bit (Navy) so I know very well what they sound like.
My stepmother saw one on Biltmore Estate early one morning, going to work – she helped decorate the house each year 😊
I wonder if the packsaddle is what I heard about on the news year or so ago, a worm that was in trees and would fall down on you. Said it would hurt,& have to go to hospital (ER)l to get stingers out. Would cause burning pain,blisters,sores. It had stinger like fuzz all up it's back.
I refer to my dad as grandpa & mom died early on so my dad had a big part of the grandkids life. He's passed now but when I talk of him it's grandpa
6:30 Due to back issues I started sleeping on the floor in front of an infrared heater last winter . Wife still sleeps in a bed , she couldnt adjust I guess . Not sure if it helps or not but the heater sure helps distract me from the pain if nothing else . 7:00 We have those here in Eastern Oregon believe it or not .
Yes ma’am I do.
My Appalachian family (from Gilmer County, GA) referred to the “packsaddle” as a “saddlepacket.” This seems to be something of a combination of “saddleback” (another variant) and “packsaddle.” We were always skittish about the prospect of running into a “painter” when we were out walking at night. There were many stories of various ones in the family being followed by a painter. The sound that a painter makes was said to be like the scream of a woman.)
I had a mammy and a pap and a pawpaw and momo
Is mountain dew used to describe moonshine
We called my grandparents on my father's side Paw and Granny. Katie and Corie called me Miss Cindy.
🥰
my grandkids call me pop-pop they used allott of these words on the TV show the Beverly hillbillies, the time I spent in Marion South Carolina
When my daddy and mama moved to Florida from Georgia, they only had my 2 older sisters. Then mama had my next sister and 3 years later I was born. I remember when I was 5 that mama would not let us stay outside after dark because we had black panthers in the woods on our property. You could hear them at night and they sounded like a woman screaming. Daddy had built our house himself and we had a big fishing pond and about 5 acres to play on but also had a lot of cottonmouth snakes showing up so, mama had him sell our house and we bought a house closer to the coast, in a big neighborhood. We didn’t hear panthers at night any more because we had more houses and people and no woods. They still exist in the center of the state though, along with black bears, where it hasn’t been built up yet. We call those caterpillars saddle backs, here in Florida and they are found on the leaves of taller plants. I brushed up against one only once, on a plant in our yard, and it had me in tears for hours. It hurt so bad. I don’t see them much anymore because people spray their plants every few months and I think we’ve about killed em all off. We called my daddy’s parents Maw and Paw and my mama’s parents Granny and Grandaddy. My grandsons call me and my husband Gammie and Paw Paw. We still use some of the words you said but, like you said, a lot of them are just falling to the way side and that makes me sad.😩
My great grandfather was Papa (like Pap). My husband goes by PawPaw.
I love all things Appalachian! Thank you Tipper! God bless you and yours❤🙏🙏❤
Have you heard that the white Dogwood tree harkens back to The Cross of our Savior. It's size remains too small to be used for a crusafiction cross. The flower peddles are stained the color of blood. The white is the purity of his life.
I've yet to see a panther in person but I believe they're here. My husband caught one on his game camera in Clyde. Definitely wasn't a house cat judging by its surroundings. The field his camera faced had knee high weeds and you could see everything but the cat's legs. He also tells a story about seeing 2 or 3 of them when he was a boy in the late 80's early 90's. Him and his family were camping up Sunburst and he claims that they surrounded their car as they were trying to leave…not sure if I believe that one but he swears it happened lol
Thanks again Tipper for a great video.
I know they are here cause i been knowing since i was a kid, and this summer I camped too close to one , their sounds are unmistakable as well as the footprints… we kept our space and my dog was on constant alert. Once the hunters came in for bear season there weren't nothing around at all .
aka- Naomi Tracy
I'm old enough to remember ads for Pall Mall cigarettes which featured a smoker wearing a button declaring "I'm particular". I first encountered the word "passel" in the phrase "a passel of possums" which was a chapter title in a book, and figured out the meaning from context. I'm in Indiana, where there's no official mountain lion population, but sightings occur often enough to suggest the most recent confirmed ones (in 2009 and 2010) were not isolated incidents. Too bad you or Pap didn't get a photo of that "painter" you saw years ago — you could have silenced some doubters!
Yes! Please do the moonshine! Lol.
Tipper we used to call my mother’s parents MaMa and PaPa (MawMaw – PawPaw)! I was the eldest grandchild and could not pronounce Grandma and Grandpa! We live in Cincinnati and that was unusual for the time but now we hear so many different names for grandparents! We loved them dearly!♥️
My wife and I just became grandparents and my daughter asked what we wanted to go by to the grandkids. I had been doing a lot of thinking on this and told her I figured Pap/Paps would fit the best, this is not common in our family so I had to explain were I had heard it and why I wanted to go by it. It was your thoughts and and stories that brought it to my attention and you definitely influenced my decision. I love your channel and it is one of my go to must watch channels, thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.
My grandpa lived outside of Franklin, he was a logger most of his, and he had tells about painters. I've been stung by packsaddles more than I'd like to remember, and yes, their sting is painful.
Grampa Jones sang a great song, Make Me A Pallet Down On The Farm.🇺🇲
I live in southeast Tn we farmed and killed hogs in the fall every time after the kill and the hams were hung in the smoke house we could always count on a panther screaming on the ridge behind us they sound kinda like a woman or young girl screaming. Always scared me to death.
Thanks!
Here's a "P" word from East TN – Poke, meaning a bag you'd put something in.
I live in Western Oklahoma and my family uses most of these words. I know people use Strawberry Patch, Watermelon Patch but that's really about it. Typically my family says it about a "patch" of something growing wild, like a patch of Sand Plums or patch of wild flowers. Where that's the most common thing growing in a a clearing or field. "Oh theres a big patch of those purple flowers over there".
If someone saw a mountain lion here, which we do have, & they said, "I saw a painter," the listener would think of an artist because we have so many artists. 🎨 😃 Fond memories of my cousins & me sleeping on pallets at grandma's. We weren't too particular where we slept. Doesn't seem like nowadays people have a whole passel of kids. Yes, it's like accents are now lessening, I guess because people travel & move around, there's more TV & YouTube available for kids' young ears to hear other accents. Words & sayings are fascinating! I really appreciate when you post these videos about it. 😊🌻
Not sure if have I seen a packsaddle in nature. Know I have seen a picture.
HAMMONS FAMILY – Traditions Of A West Virginia Family & Friends is a CD. There are some great stories on it, and some music. One of the Hammons raised a painter and it followed him everywhere. One day they went hunting and when they left home, the painter was acting odd. The man pretended to go to sleep; the cat covered him with leaves. After it left, the man got out from under the leaves and rearranged them to look like he was still under them. He went and sat under a tree a short distance away. The painter came back and pawed in the leaves, then looked around and saw the man. The man shot him then.
Do you remember the painter on the old Mercury Cougar commercials? It was owned by an Arkansawyer who raised them in captivity. There were some others who raised them also. Some of them had been declawed. Some were illegally released into the wild. We may also have a few that were native to our area.
Our Game & Fish denies they exist, same as the do in lots of other states.
I heard patch a lot. Watermelon patch, corn patch. Patches on our clothes too.
New ground – My father's father died when my father was in the 4th grade. He had to quit school and take care of the farming, as he was the oldest boy in the family. They only got one pair of shoes a year, so they kept them for church and school and going to town. He said he plowed new ground barefoot.
Always reminds me of my upbringing. I just watched Pressley girls video about why they hate going to town.
I always enjoy these! I'm familiar with most of these and still use alot of these , like passel. As far as Panthers(mountain lions) , I believe they have migrated here from other parts of the country, like the coyotes have. I know "they" say they were eradicated from the region long ago , as they were native to our region . I have not seen one ,but I have talked to people who have, and seen video evidence of them. The "experts" say oh those are probably ones that have escaped captivity and won't survive.. from my experience, nature finds a way …anyhow, thanks tipper …appreciate y'all always…God bless…🙏❤
We made pallets growing up because it was beds or rooms
Suggestions on non-fiction or fiction stories about Appalachia that I may be able to find at our public library. Winter is a wonderful time of year to do some reading. Thank you for some suggestions.
I think I have heard them all, have you ever heard of kyran? One of Grannies and Moms frequently used words.
My friend of 71 years Marcia taught me what a palet was. She came from ARKANSAS when she was four and said when she stayed at her grandparents she slept on a palet. I had never heard of that before.
Hey I just found out that we are patch farmers. Thanks
I wish I had paid more attention as a youngster. The only time I was stung by something so painful unlike any other sting was what they called a Hickory Stinger. I have never heard of one since. Cousin was stung with Packsaddle. and I had never heard of one until then. Slept on many pallets.
I called my daddy's parents paw paw and granny.