Alabama slang: regional words, sayings, and how locals talk.
This page collects regional vocabulary from Alabama: slang you'll hear in conversation, sayings that travel through families, and pronunciations that mark a person as a local. Pick a city to narrow the list, or keep "All cities" to see the full Alabama picture.
24 words
Sympathy on the surface, often condescending or passive-aggressive.
Over there (often pointing).
Crooked, askew, sideways.
A heavy, sudden downpour.
Local nickname for a tangled multi-level freeway interchange.
Birmingham's enduring nickname, earned from its near-overnight growth into a steel and iron boomtown.
The notoriously confusing I-65 and I-20/59 interchange just northwest of downtown Birmingham.
The affluent Birmingham suburbs south of Red Mountain, such as Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, and Hoover.
A severe-weather warning to take the National Weather Service tornado warning box seriously, popularized by Birmingham meteorologist James Spann.
An Alabamian; from the state bird and a Civil War nickname for Alabama's Confederate soldiers.
A tangy mayonnaise-and-vinegar based white barbecue sauce served over smoked chicken, native to north and central Alabama.
Alabama sits in the heart of the Deep South, and its English shows it: a slow drawl, "y'all" and "fixin' to", "bless your heart", and a shopping cart that is always a "buggy". Any soft drink can be a "coke" regardless of brand, "might could" doubles up the modals, and "over yonder" points vaguely into the distance. Sweet tea is the default, "Roll Tide" works as a greeting as much as a cheer, and the midday meal is often "dinner", with "supper" at night.
Alabama slang is core Deep South vocabulary: "y'all" (you all), "fixin' to" (about to), "bless your heart", "buggy" (a shopping cart), "coke" for any soft drink, and "might could" (might be able to). The slow drawl and these terms mark a speaker as Alabamian.
"Fixin' to" means about to or getting ready to do something — "I'm fixin' to head out". It is one of the most characteristic phrases in Alabama and the wider South.
Across Alabama and much of the South, the wheeled cart you push around a grocery store is a "buggy", not a "cart" — "let me grab a buggy" is everyday speech.
