Arkansas slang: regional words, sayings, and how locals talk.
This page collects regional vocabulary from Arkansas: 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 Arkansas picture.
22 words
An Arkansas-born melted-cheese-and-chili dip, eaten by the bowl at Mexican restaurants statewide.
A no-bake Arkansas layered icebox pie of pecan shortbread, cream cheese, chocolate pudding and whipped cream.
Archaic-flavored term for a native of Arkansas, preferred by some locals over 'Arkansan'.
The University of Arkansas Razorbacks' hog-call cheer
Performing the Razorback hog-call cheer
A sweet cocoa gravy poured over breakfast biscuits
A rolled, chocolate-filled Ozark pastry
Arkansas's prized pink tomato; the state fruit and vegetable
Crooked, lopsided, or out of alignment
Saying you can't never gets anything done
An Ozarks phrase meaning to handle your own problems.
An Ozarks word for a very large number or amount.
Arkansas speech belongs to the Upland South, with Ozark Mountain vocabulary layered over a Southern base. You will hear "y'all", "fixin' to", and "over yonder" alongside older mountain words: "tump" (to tip something over), "catawampus" (crooked or askew), and "clean" as an intensifier ("clean across the county"). A shopping cart is a "buggy" and a soft drink is often a "coke". The Natural State keeps a rural, hill-country flavor in its everyday English that sets it apart from the Deep South lowlands.
Arkansas slang combines Southern staples ("y'all", "fixin' to", "yonder") with Ozark mountain words like "tump" (to tip over), "catawampus" (askew), and "clean" used as an intensifier. A shopping cart is a "buggy".
"Tump" means to tip or knock something over, usually by accident — "I tumped over my glass". It is common in Arkansas and the wider Upland South and Texas.
"Catawampus" (also "cattywampus") means crooked, askew, or out of alignment — "that picture's hanging all catawampus". It is widespread in Arkansas and Southern speech.
