“Mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy”
Qualifier: southern breakfast food
Term: Minding your own business
Classification: something you tell a nosy person
Differentiation: the saying is a play on words that combines a moral concept with food
Sentence: In the south people use breakfast food to create a saying that tells people to mind their own business because someone is being too nosy; the saying combines a moral concept taught in southern homes with the southern traditional foods of biscuits and gravy.
“She’s whiskey in a teacup”
Qualifier(s): Teacups are delicate and pretty like a lady / whiskey is strong alcohol the mostly country men drink to get drunk and act wild
Term: She’s wild and yet still a lady
Classification: Women of the south are strong willed and still uphold an image of pretty
Differentiation: most southern women are viewed as damsels in distress and need help with everything, but they can also be tough and strong
Sentence: When you picture a teacup you think that the content inside is tea but in the southern sayings that uses a teacup and whiskey we are talking about the strength of a woman, she is wild and yet still acts like a lady and upholds morals; women of the south are strong willed and can still hold an image of looking pretty despite being viewed as a damsel in distress and needing help with everything southern women can also be strong and tough.
“Ants in your pants”
Qualifier: Ants tickle on your skin
Term: can’t hold still
Classification: Animal comparison to convey a message
Differentiation: most people who fidget and can’t hold still simply say so but, in the south, there is a saying for it
Sentence: Just as ants can tickle the skin and make you uncomfortable so that you can’t hold still in the south a saying is used to make and animal comparison to convey a message; most people who fidget and can’t hold still simply say so but, in the south, there is a saying for it.