Tag: Appalachian Sayings

Appalachian Sayings: “Eat up with”

“Eat up with,” short for “eaten up with,” can mean either consumed by or covered up with. Here in Appalachia, a person can be “eat up with” or consumed by a negative emotion but not a positive one.  No one is ever eat up with love or kindness or compassion, but a person can be…

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Appalachian Sayings: “Nary a one”

I often use this phrase.  In Appalachia, “nary a one” means none, not one, none at all. This year, although the wild dogwood trees in the woods around us burst out in beautiful blooms, the three trees in our back garden had no blooms, nary a one. Likewise, although I have enjoyed seeing the photos…

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Appalachian Sayings: I “like to have died!”

I caught myself using this saying the other day.  In Appalachia, “like to have” means almost or nearly or came close to.  So “I like to have died!” means I almost died, came close to dying, nearly died. It can be a true statement or an exaggeration.  In my case, it was something of an exaggeration when I…

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Appalachian Sayings: The “hind catcher”

When I was growing up in Northeast Georgia in the 1950s and 60s, the position of catcher on a baseball team was referred to as the “hind catcher” because the catcher stood behind the batter.  My father, who grew up in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, also remembers the position being called “hind catcher.” The term…

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