More Expressions from the Heartland
Getting Real
Not so’s you notice it. or: Not so’s you know about it.
That oughtta tell you someth’n.
Shortcomings
He doesn’t have enough energy to blow his nose.
A day late and a dollar short.
Not enough sense to pour p**s out of a boot.
Good/Bad
Out of this world!
Communication
•Sounds like somebody with a bellyache. They just can’t get it out fast enough. They think they are radio announcers. (E. A. Thompson)
•There are so many inflections in accents. In the service, I could come damn close to telling where a person was from unless they spent time one place and then another. (E. A. Thompson)
•The (slow) cadence of my speech is influenced by my time in Texas. There’s nothing that important that I have to talk a mile a minute. (E. A. Thompson)
•[Missouri] You’ns and ya’ll
Unhappy
It gripes me.
It burns my soul
Food
(Song) Says one old crow onto its mate what shall we have to eat this day? –My Great-Aunt Mim
Late
Was your wife sleeping on your shirttail?
From your father’s comments, Janet, it’s easy to see where your interest in language comes from.
Enjoying your “Midwestern witticisms and wisdoms!” Most of the ones I learned during my Michigan boyhood probably couldn’t be posted here…Life goes on at Clear Lake–of course, not the same without JGR.
This was so much fun to read – and I can so identify with it.
I didn’t realize Texans use a lot of similes and metaphors in our everyday speech until someone pointed it out to me . . . I simply grew up hearing them and thought everyone spoke that way. I liked the quote from your dad about nothing being so important he has to talk a mile a minute. Amen to that!