Southern Word of the Week - All over hell and half of Georgia

"Boy where have you been?  We've been worried and looked all over hell and half of Georgia for you!"
"Where are my car keys?  I've been all over hell and half of Georgia looking for 'em!"

There are many different ways to say it but it often involves hell and not more than half of the state of Georgia.  I honestly haven't heard it much, and have only really seen it in print, but I did use it honestly this morning.  It obviously means what it says, just in a Southern storyteller kinda way. 

Have you used this phrase or have one similar?  Lemme know in the comments.

Sorry y'all!

Hey everybody!  I really appreciate you all supporting the blog this year and I apologize for not keeping it up that much since around March.  I've been busy at work, with playing music in smokey bars and dealing with my Mom being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  Her last chemo treatment for her first round is today so prayers would be appreciated. 

I'm going to at least try to do one post per week and your comments and suggestions are most welcome.  I'm down for guest posters too, just pitch an idea to drew [at] okracola [dot] com or on Twitter @OkraCola.

I'll have a new word of the week up shortly!

Thanks again for your patience and prayers.

Poke Salad

For those who don't know poke salad is not something you grow in a garden but a poisonous wild weed that is picked for its young leaves (before they get a red hue) then boiled at least twice to get the toxins out of it.  One scientist says that no part of the plant should be eaten no matter how many times it is boiled.

I don't eat poke salad, and I don't know anyone who does anymore, but I do remember going with a friends parents, grandparents and their aunt and uncle to go look for poke salad.  One of my other friends had a school bus driver that occasionally stopped if she saw some "good poke salad."

Many of you have heard the Tony Joe White song Poke Salad Annie which was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama (they've been known for a song or two) in 1969 and peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.



Do you have a poke salad story?  Share with us in the comments section and don't forget to follow @okracola on Twitter!

Southern Word of the Week - Drawers

(n.) That boy would look a whole lot smarter if he'd keep his drawers  pulled up.
(n.) You'd 'a never gotten in trouble if both of y'all would've kept your drawers on.

Drawers are either jeans, pants, shorts or underwear.  Plumbers are notroious for having their drawers slip down while they are on the job.  Kids often pull off their drawers and run around naked. 

I really don't know where the term came from but I have used it a lot since I've had kids. I'm constantly asking my 4 year old to pull her drawers up. 

As a side note, I was known to my best-friend Micah's family as Drawers because his father would announce me when I called as Drawers rather than Drew.

So pull up your drawers and let me know the best line you've heard using this word in the comments!

Southern Word of the Week - 'Maters

(n.) Son, go out and cut me two of them 'maters from the garden
(n.) These 'maters sure are juicy. 

'Maters are tomatoes.  Just about every Southerner I know has their own 'mater plant whether they have a green thumb or not. 

And why not?  They are really easy to grow and you can do it in a large pot on your back porch.  Just give it lots of sun and lots of water and you'll be growing 'maters in no time!  We recently bought a Topsy Turvy so I'll try to let y'all in on how that works after the first few tomatoes are harvested.

Last year I did a Brandywine heirloom tomoato and it was one of the most flavorful ones I'd ever tasted!  Some people have their own favorite variety so just get what looks and sounds good.  If you're patient you can make one of the best things to eat on a summer afternoon or evening, a 'mater sandwich.

Got tips for growing tomatoes or any other tomato facts?  Put 'em in the comments!

Pear Salad

And no I don't mean a fancy pear and pecan salad or any other fancy, foodie-type salad with pears.  I'm talking about the pear salad we had in the lunch room growing up in a Walker County, Alabama elementary school.  The one my father-in-law still has with his dinner sometimes.  Here it is:

I had to borrow that photo from FarmHouse Style because I know of only one person who eats eat regularly, and therefore only one person who prepares it regularly so I didn't have a chance to take a photo of it.  I never took to it but usually ate it when it was on my plate in the cafeteria. 

It is literally half of a canned pear, a dollop of mayo in the middle then sprinkled with shredded cheddar cheese.  This photo makes it look way fancier because of the lettuce leaf and the cherry.  Has any non-Southerner heard of this salad?  Anybody love it?  Hate it?  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Nekid and Naked

While sounding similar, these words have two distinct meanings. 

Naked means you don't have on any clothes, like when a baby is first born.
Nekid means you don't have on any clothes and you're up to something.

So if you happen to find yourself or someone else without clothes, please choose the appropriate word.

Southern Quotables - Flannery O'Connor

"When in Rome, do as you done in Milledgeville (, GA)."
-Flannery O'Connor

The R Word

Redneck.  We've all heard the term and we all know what it means or at least says about the person it's directed at: Un-wealthy person of European blood.  Now it is true that it is a truly hateful word, two people of equal socioeconomic status can be in an argument and redneck will slip out of one or the others mouths and then a full on fight can take place.

Some of us call ourselves or others (that are present) rednecks in jest, but we all know its just being funny. But if others aren't present it is usually meant to portray a poor person or family.  It's not nice, but it does happen.

The term came from poor farmers and field workers that spent long hours outside for a low wage and had their necks burnt by the sun.  It's a shame that folks trying to earn an honest living got branded, but good or bad I guess thats how the human animal works.

Jeff Foxworthy is amazing on how he took a joke, the redneck or at least a characture of the redneck, and has made his whole career out of it.  It's a pretty funny bit, but it has run its course.  Same with the emails with the redneck weddings, etc.  They may be funny, but really wasn't Jersey Shore just the same type people yankees make fun of but instead of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, etc. it was in New Jersey?!

Ideas, statements, reactions about this term?  Tell us about them in the comments.

P.S. - I used one instance of the Confederate Flag because that's what a lot of people think rednecks wear. Most are used to the Naval Jack which is a rectangle, but this is one of the battle flags and was square.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Eat some corned beef and cabbage sip on a Irish Stout or some Irish Whiskey.  Sláinte!

Southern Word of the Week - Wrench

(v.) Take this rag and wrench it out so I can clean up this mess
(v.) Go wrench your feet off; how'd they get so muddy?
(v.) Wrench off this wrench; I dropped it in the oil catch.

Wrench is Southern for rinse.  Often you'll hear someone talk about warshing and wrenching something: cars, clothes, pets, etc.

Do you know someone that wrenches  stuff?  Let us know in the comments!

Thanks to @LuvHouses for the inspiration!

Beware Y'all!

Just a friendly reminder that it's the ides so beware and watch yer back.

Southern Quotables - Grits

"An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, grits should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of grits is a man of peace."

-The Post and Courier 1952

Southern Style Sweet Stuff

Looking at a bottle of Arizona Southern Style Sweet Tea it made me remember that we do like things sweeter in the South.  I even remember a rumor that Coke and Pepsi were made sweeter down here because that's how we like things. 

I add about cup and a half of sugar to one gallon of tea, my wife's family cooks green beans with sugar and sweet potato casserole might as well be a dessert.  Think about this though, if you even mention or kid about putting sugar in your grits you almost automatically get labeled a yankee.  I admit I don't like sweet grits, but do like a sweet cornbread and the same alligations follow.  Why do we like everything else sweet, yet look down on folks that like sweet grits or cornbread?

Talk amongst yourselves in the comments, and please be sweet to each other.

New Music Thursday - Carolina Chocolate Drops

A friend of mine heard me sing a song I made up about collard greens then heard these cats on NPR's Fresh Air and told me I had to listen to them.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops play music in the olde time string band style that was popular in the 1920's and 1930's.  This song from YouTube is called "Cornbread and Butterbeans."



Somebody said that the line, "eatin' beans and makin' love as long as I am able" was not quite a romantic line, but I said that sometimes when you're broke all you got is some dry beans and each other and I think that is pretty romantic.

They play many instruments including some killer kazoo solos, but also do some modern stuff with beatboxing.  I dig 'em and think y'all may too.