This Southern thing

My friend James finds it endearing when I say, “I might could do that.”

Recently, Tim brought to my attention that I say, “Get your picture made,” or “making your picture,” instead of “taken” and “taking.”

Very often, I have to ask my writing partners (origins Maine, Pennsylvania, and California) if phrases I use are Southern. Fortunately, since the TJB characters are Midwestern, I have many resources to draw from, including Tom, who’s from Minnesota.

But there’s one phrase that I’ve heard only within my family, and I wonder if it’s Southern or just us. “Take up the ice,” which means “put the ice in glasses for tea or water before a meal.” Anyone else heard or used this phrase?

8 thoughts on “This Southern thing”

  1. I haven’t heard your ‘take up the ice’ phrase before.
    My husband is from North Dakota, and while he doesn’t talk like the people on the movie Fargo, he does have a phrase ‘put gas on the car’ that I had never heard before I met him. (I, personally, put gas IN my car.)

  2. I was just going to volunteer to be one of your resources, being from Wisconsin and all, but then I read that Tom is from Minnesota so that should cover it.

    I have heard of other southerners using your phrase, but I have never personally heard it used.

    I hopefully will be reading your books set up this way soon so I will let you know if they sound like true badgers or not. 😉

  3. this southern thing

    i have always lived in new england, however many of my friends are from the south and use terms that i have never heard of so i don’t think that i would be strange if you have your own phrases for things. if you ever put a list of southern phrase on your journal maybe you could explain to me what it means “to be showing his/your ass”. my friend from the south says that all the time.

    1. Re: this southern thing

      “Showing your ass” means acting like a jerk. I don’t know the origin of the phrase, but it equates to “showing your bad side,” or behaving badly.

  4. Hi Becky,
    Way back when, I had heard something similar in Scottsville Virginia.
    A friend and I were visiting his family for a funeral. As the side-kick / Designated Driver / tissue carrying wet shouldered friend, his mother felt obligated to allow me to help. I was tasked with many things to ‘take up’. Being a Yankee, I translated it into “please move …” “please lift …” “please do …”
    eg. take up those chairs and bring them downstairs. Unfortunately though, she never used it specifically for ice that I recall.
    Hope that helps
    – oaktaurus

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