Old School Southern Names
I saw some Yankees catching yellow perch in a video about a week ago and it got me to thinking about the names of fish, birds and beast I grew up with. My dad was a surprise baby, he came late to Grandma and Grandpa so all my uncles and aunts were older folk and still used all the old Southern lingo. That's what I grew up with and I catch myself to this day using names for critters and younger folks sometimes have no idea what I'm talking about. Although most of them won't ask for fear of looking dumb, some will ask. Anyhow with that in mind I commenced to writing them down when they came to mind. Lets see if y'all remember these or how many you remember. Your grandpa's, if they grew up southern probably remember all of them.
Like I said above the Yellow Perch was what got me started cause I always heard them called Eisenhowers or coon fish. For obvious reasons, they were bait thieves when we were crappie fishing with minners. It was said if you throw them back they'll just commence to stealing your minners again. So we threw them in the bushes for the coons. My grandma was fond of twisting their head till the spine popped afore she threw them in the bushes. I guess she didn't want them to suffer. Grandma was kind like that.
Oh and why Eisenhower, the story I heard was they were stocked down here by the government during the Eisenhower administration. But that's probably just folklore. I dunno.
Yellow perch - Eisenhower - coon fish
Bowfin - mud fish (I've heard old kinfolk from down around Lugoff call them - cypress trout)
Crappie - papermouth perch
Largemouth bass - green trout
Chain Pickerel - jackfish or jack
Di Dapple - grebe
Pileated woodpecker - wood hen (we shot'em and ate them)
Northern flicker - yellowhammer
Bobwhite quail - partridge or just "birds" when used with the word hunting
Great blue heron - Rain Buzzard - Old Joe - Lonesome Joe (cause they are almost always alone)
Swamp rabbit - canecutter
Striped skunk - polecat
Spotted skunk - civet cat
Salamander - spring lizard
Snapping turtle - mud turtle
Cuckoo - rain crow
Barred owl - hoot owl
Screech owl - skrunch owl
Redtail hawk - chicken hawk
Cooper's Hawk and Sharp-shinned hawk - blue darter (for both)
American kestrel - sparrow hawk (although it's actually a falcon)
Eastern hognosed snake - spreading adder
Rat snake - blacksnake
Creek chub - horny head
Downy woodpecker - sap sucker
Turkey vulture-buzzard
Flathead catfish - mudcat
Most sunfish-bream
Redear Bream - stump knocker - government bream (I think the lowcountry calls them shellcrackers)
Blue jay-jaybird
House sparrow - English sparrow
Ruby crowned kinglet - shot dodger
Towhee - Joe Reese
Wood duck - summer ducks
Coots - gizzard ducks
Pond slider - water cooter
Cardinal-redbird
Red-headed woodpecker - black coattails
Gray squirrel - cat squirrel
Copperhead - high land moccasin
Jonquils - Johnny Quills
Any mushroom you orta not eat - toadstool
From kin in the mountains:
Native brook trout - speckled trout
Stocked trout - doughbellies
Non-Animals
Fertilizer - guano (pronounced: guanner)
Burlap bag - croaker sack or guanner sack
Ghost or spook - haint
Any scary unknown monster type critter that would grab you from behind in the dark - booger
I'm sure I'll think of more. I ain't as sure that I'll add to this.
The Elites don't fear the tall nails, government possesses both the will and the means to crush those folks. What the Elites do fear (or should fear) are the quiet men and women, with low profiles, hard hearts, long memories, and detailed target folders for action as they choose.
"I here repeat, & would willingly proclaim, my unmitigated hatred to Yankee ruleto all political, social and business connections with Yankees, & to the perfidious, malignant, & vile Yankee race."
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