Southern Thing/Expression?

[kzm007]

I was listening to an old country song ("Pinball Machine" by Lonnie Irving, if you're curious lol) today, and this one line is driving me insane. It's about an old trucker at a rest stop who blew all his money playing pinball, and kept going out on the road and such, and then came home at last to find his kids dead from pneumonia and his wife a suicide case...Kind of corny, I know.

Anyway, he states that he can't sleep "for" bad dreams; is this another way of saying because of? Where did something like this originate?

Any takers...

Kegan

Edit: Webster's says it's 15th c. and it seems to relate to concerning or regarding...anyone down South use it in the above sense, though, I'm just curious.

[madurolover]

We say things like that in SC.
Examples: "I can't see the road for the rain", "I can't sleep for the weather",
"I can't answer this thread straight for the moonshine" ,
etc.

[WyoBob]

Originally Posted by madurolover

We say things like that in SC.
Examples: "I can't see the road for the rain", "I can't sleep for the weather",
"I can't answer this thread straight for the moonshine" ,
etc.

"I can't tie my shoes for the inbreeding"

Sorry, I should be ashamed but I couldn't help myself.

WyoBob

[madurolover]

Originally Posted by WyoBob

"I can't tie my shoes for the inbreeding"

Sorry, I should be ashamed but I couldn't help myself.

WyoBob

2nd cousins are legal here.

[IndyRob]

I grew up from Texas and I'm sure I say a lot of things that seem odd to people here in Indiana, but...

When I first moved here and joined a band I was having a hard time with a particular part in a song. The singer then said something along the lines of... "Better look out guys... looks like Rob is gettin' sh*tty!".

I had to stop what I was doing and ponder that statement for a minute... Turns out that's some hoosier way of saying getting upset.

Now I find myself saying it all the time

[mikeyj23]

Yep - not too uncommon down here in Texas!

Origination? My best guess=dumb people.

[LordOfWu]

"Can't see the forest for the trees"

I would guess it's not necessarily a southern thing, just part of the confusion of the English language.

[SmokeyJoe]

Originally Posted by LordOfWu

"Can't see the forest for the trees"

I would guess it's not necessarily a southern thing, just part of the confusion of the English language.

Exactly... it is an archaic usage. Like many "southern" phrases (particularly those used in secluded mountain regions - or hollows/hollers), they are often based on archaic english speech patterns.

My high school english teacher (in West Virginia) was fond of telling her students that many of the mountain dialects were closer to the "King's English" than modern American speech.

[smitdavi]

Originally Posted by IndyRob

I grew up from Texas and I'm sure I say a lot of things that seem odd to people here in Indiana, but...

When I first moved here and joined a band I was having a hard time with a particular part in a song. The singer then said something along the lines of... "Better look out guys... looks like Rob is gettin' sh*tty!".

I had to stop what I was doing and ponder that statement for a minute... Turns out that's some hoosier way of saying getting upset.

Now I find myself saying it all the time

I say something like this all the time

[macjoe53]

Fixin' to. As in:

Son, are you going to clean up your bedroom?

Yes, m'am, I'm fixin' to.

Or this one which may not be completely southern - round to it.

Son, when are you going to clean up your bedroom?

When I get around to it.

[[OT] Loki]

the ones I've never understood are "put up" for clean up and "coke" for softdrinks. "put up" drives me crazy every time my fiancee says it

[Waynegro1]

When I was in college I would work for a landscape company during the summer break. One of the guys I worked with had a serious southern twang.
He would call his lunch box which was a small cooler, his "Dinner Bucket".

When it looked as though there was a storm coming, he would always say:

"It's fixin' to become a toad choker". That one always made me laugh out loud.

[catfish]

This whole thread sounds like a jeff foxworthy routine.

Originally Posted by madurolover

2nd cousins are legal here.

Yah but what about 1st cousins?

[Badmamajama]

Originally Posted by catfish

This whole thread sounds like a jeff foxworthy routine.

Sounds like a day at work for me....

[TXRebel]

[SIZE=3]Just because a cat has kittens in the oven, doesn’t makem a biscuit. [/SIZE]