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Appalachia

Appalachia slang: regional words, sayings, and how locals talk.

This page collects regional vocabulary from Appalachia: 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 Appalachia picture.

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15 words

britches Dialect

Pants or trousers.

Alabama · Georgia · Tennessee · Kentucky · +2 more

Shopping cart.

Alabama · Georgia · South Carolina · Tennessee · +3 more

catawampus Dialect

Crooked, askew, sideways.

Tennessee · Kentucky · West Virginia · Alabama · +1 more

Stream (rural pronunciation of "creek").

Pennsylvania · West Virginia · Kentucky · Ohio · +3 more

drawers Dialect

Underwear (rural South / Appalachia).

Kentucky · Tennessee · West Virginia · Alabama · +1 more

A small wooded valley between mountains.

West Virginia · Kentucky · Tennessee · Virginia · +2 more

To press (a button, a pedal).

Alabama · Tennessee · Georgia · Mississippi · +3 more

Not any; none at all.

West Virginia · Kentucky · Tennessee · Appalachia

over yonder Phrase

Over there (often pointing).

Texas · Tennessee · Alabama · Kentucky · +2 more

A paper bag (Appalachian).

West Virginia · Kentucky · Virginia · Tennessee · +1 more

To think, suppose, or expect.

Tennessee · Kentucky · West Virginia · Alabama · +2 more

To tidy or clean up.

Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh · Appalachia

supper Regional

Evening meal (when "dinner" is the midday meal).

Alabama · Mississippi · Georgia · Tennessee · +5 more

You all (Appalachian cousin of "yinz").

West Virginia · Kentucky · Tennessee · Virginia · +1 more

young'un Dialect

A child (young one).

Alabama · Tennessee · Kentucky · West Virginia · +2 more