Your Guide to Columbia, the University of South Carolina, and ...

SOUTHERNISMS
Terms and Slang
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1. Used primarily by the women of the South to excuse themselves for speaking ill of someone: “She has
only a face a mother could love, bless her heart.”
2. Shortened version of the University of South Carolina’s mascot, Gamecocks: “Go Cocks!”
3. About to do something: “I’m fixin’ to go out on the lake.”
4. Can be shortened to “Hun. An affection name: “Honey, I love those shoes!”
5. A form of push: “Mash the button.”
a. To squish up, as in “mash potatoes.”
6. Might be able to. Auxiliaries don’t scare Southerners the way they scare Northerners; we string them
together fearlessly, “I might coulda finished choppin the wood if’n hit hadn’t rained.”
7. Giant flying cockroaches up to two inches long. This is one SC slang term you hope not to hear!
8. Suppose so, or think : “I reckon they’ve gone to the store.”
9. Also known as: “The Carolina Shag”. South Carolina’s state dance that is a six-count partner dance: “I
want to learn how to shag.”
10. Nickname for the band, Hootie and Blowfish, was actually formed at University of South Carolina in
1986.
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