In Appalachia Grannies are famous for their healing, cooking, sewing, gardening and for their sometimes quirky ways and funny sayings. I grew up with a dear sweet Granny named Gazzie. She fit the bill for the typical Granny characteristics. Gazzie was famous for her Sunday dinners with potatoes shaped like boats, her biscuits, her stick candy and her crocheting. She was also someone who didn't put up with nonsense and showed no pity for anyone who hurt those she loved.

                                                             

My girls are fortunate to have a Granny too. Their Granny (Gazzie's youngest daughter) is famous for her green beans, crocheting, gardening, sewing, and for her strange, ridiculous, funny and precious sayings. As I post some of both my Granny's sayings and quirky ways of doing things I hope you too will post things about your Granny.

                                                             

Comments

[Rhonda]

My Gram also had many sayings,most I have forgotton now,but I remember her saying for washing dishes was giving them "a lick and a promise" and "whoop the dickens out of ya!"

[Rhonda]

My "gram" lived on the border of Ohio and Kentucky,then moved to N.Y. when she married. She used to fry up salt pork for me,wilted lettuce with bacon grease,fresh green beans with bacon grease,and many more"treats".Her apple pie and choc.chip cookies were the best! She said when she was young she never wore shoes,had smallpox and never had one scar from it! She also told me about the black racer snakes they had back home that would actually chase you! She was very protective of her children and grandchildren,a great person,full of wisdom and I miss her greatly!

[Tom Caudill]

My Granny Mandy is such a character! She is the best cook to ever come down the pike, sorry Mom! My Mom is a good cook, buy Granny Mandy just has a special touch that can't be taught. I still look forward to Sunday dinners, the biscuits, homemade gravy and the world's best apple pie. Granny Mandy's funny sayings or "Grannyisms" as we like to call them could fill volumes!Just the other day when she caught my finger in her mixing bowl, she let loose of one of my favorites: "I'm gonna stomp a wart on you!" I love her dearly and have to laugh because I am now in my 40's!

[Maggie]

I love reading all these stories!

I'm named after my father's mother, my Nana. She was born and raised here in WNC, and she's never left for long. She's the third youngest of 11 children. From what I can tell by stories she and my great aunts have told me, she was a bit of a wild child :) I love hearing her and my Great-Aunt Eula Mae talk about their dates. At 16, Nana would go out with my 25 year old future Papaw, but her parents, Granny and Other Papaw (there are several Papaws), wouldn't let her unless my aunt came. So Nana, Papaw, my aunt, and whatever "goober" friend Papaw brought would go out each Friday, and according to my aunt, Nana and Papaw would be' canoodling' while she and the goober friend sat there awkwardly. Hearing she and my aunt tell this story makes me smile each time.

Nana always says she hasn't seen me in a coon's age, and that my hyper little sister is wild as a wombat. She's got an irreverent streak too: the middle of nowhere is "out past where Jesus lost his sandals". :)

[tipper]

Down the road there is a tree that is leaning out into the road-not really in the way-but when it finally does fall it will be in the road. Granny told me this morning-everytime her and Pap go by it-she tries to get him to stop and let her push it on over-cause it might hit somebody's car when it does fall : )

[tipper]

We had a hum dinger of a storm last night. When I picked up Granny this morning to take her to town she said "did it storm bad at your house last night?" You can see our house from hers : ) I said "Well did it storm bad at yours?" Granny replied "it sure did" : )

[Alana]

My grandma has some cute funny words she uses like "Hotdog", when somethings good. And some others that I can't think of now. But my grandmas a tough woman and one of the closest people I can talk to about God. Shes the one who's teaching set me on my way to knowing God. Although we've not always have gotten along, I have to admit I love her. I have so much respect for her.

[Merry]

My Granny was the best, she had so many sayin's I would not know where to start! One that does come to mind because I must have frustrated her was "Lord have mercy upon my soul!" Always said when something was wrong! Another thing she would say if she found something that you had not...."if it had been a snake it would have bit you!" She also told me there was a dead man under my bed....it was pretty dusty! ;-)

[Tipper]

Sounds like you had a wonderful Grandmother!! I'm glad you're enjoying the Blind Pig!

Blind Pig The Acorn

Music, Giveaways, Mountain Folk

All at www.blindpigandtheacorn.com

[Dragonbutterfly1]

Oh my goodness. I am so happy to have found this site. I think of my Grandmother often. She could cook like nobody else, she also played the piano (only hymn tunes), I still love country, hillbilly gospel, and she saw angels. I didn't think much about that when I was young, but now I know how special a person that is.

[Caro]

Day-Lord...but this brings back memories. Been gone a long long time, but looking for a price of land now somewhere up shooting creek way. Living in the shadow of chunky gal mountain has influenced my shape.

[Erin d]

My great granny- granny duff- was quite a character. I can remember riding with her daughter, my nana, to pick up granny duffs necessities -snickers and chewing tobacco- She kept a coffee can by her bed to spit in. I also remember how she could never say my name right. She'd say "I can't speak it". But I didn't care as long as she shared he'd snickers.

My nana was funny too. She never let anybody run over her and she made dumplings like little clouds sent from heaven.
There was always veggies in the garden in summer and a deer hangin from a tree in fall. I've sampled turtle, snake, rabbit and squirrel and they all taste like chicken!

[Hopey Whisperwind(Pen Name)]

We love your website! Oh how we miss them thar mountains up yonder. We wanted to personally send you a message and let you know that this was delightful visit. My wife and I are Authors as well and just finished our book, The River Called Silence, set against the backdrop of a fictional, Appalachia valley town, Cool Ridge. The music and all, remind us of our journey climbin' the mountain!

[KateInMT]

So many wonderful memories of my grandmothers. My dad's mom hated killing chickens - didn't like ringing their necks or just chopping off their heads, so she'd stand on her back porch and shoot them in the head with a .22. That woman was a dead shot! I just assumed everyone's grandmother shot chickens. One memory I wish I could relive is having a piece of her freshly baked bread, still warm, with churned butter and homemade chokecherry jam. I've never had anything that tasted better.

My mom's mom was totally opposite. She was a flapper. Nana was the first woman in her small town to bob her hair, wear a short dress and smoke in public. She played jazz piano and loved to go dancing with my grandfather. She lived with us most of my life, and every afternoon would have her booze and news - a "highball" while watching the evening news. Mornings saw her walk into the living room, dressed to the nines, makeup on, jewelry on and posing, saying, "Well, what do you think?"

When my husband and I eloped and didn't tell anyone for 7 months, she figured out what was going on, but didn't tell a soul. My husband and I were going to college, but 500 miles apart. I would be in my room, studying, becoming very frustrated, and actually throwing my books. Everyone else would be in bed, and Nana would call down, "Honey, why don't you come up for a highball and a cigarette?" I would, we'd talk, and I'd go back down and study, far calmer than I had been. I miss them both very much.

[Bruce]

Man I remember Mamaw so many ways. She loved me like no one else. I remember first time we harvested Chickens. I was holding one in each arm like pets. Mamaw takes one in each hand and rings the necks. then that night we have fresh yard bird and veggies from her garden along with her home made Chocolate pie. Man I miss Mamaw

[tipper]

This morning on the way to school, Chitter told Granny she dreamed a copperhead bit her. Granny said "oh Lord you better be careful this coming summer" as she knocked 3 times on the car window. I guess if there's no wood around glass works too : )

[Ethel]

Great site! How many of us are better people because of the love of our Grannies? My grandma, who poudly called herself a "Pennsylvania hillbilly" did a thing she called the irish wash; she would strip a bed, then turn the sheets head-for-foot and put them back on the bed. Anyone else know of this?

[Janera]

Oh,yes, we make snow cream in Texas, too, when it snows. If it snows.

The story about drinking water from a tin dipper brought a memory of my grandma, who kept a wooden tub in the kitchen for the drinking water. If you were thirsty, you went to the bucket, took down the dipper from the hook on the wall, and got yourself a drink. Then, you replaced the dipper on it's hook.

My kids would be mortified. They get a new glass every time they get a drink!

[tipper]

It's exactly 9:47 in the morning. Granny just called and ask me to come eat dinner (lunch). She has turnip greens with turnips cooked in them, pinto beans, cornbread, and gingerbread cookies in the oven.

There is no way I can eat a meal like that this early in the morning-I'm just now finishing my 3rd cup of coffee. But boy am I lucky to have her and Pap or what : ) Honestly-they cook like that everyday-and I'm always invited to eat. Yep life is good.

[kara]

neat site. I grew up canning and picking blackberries and making blackberry pies with my grandmother too.
she's still around but sadly my grandfather, who was full of "isms" both of west virginia and unique to himself

[tipper]

Chitter has had a bad chest cold. Granny says she knows exactly how she caught it. About a week ago Granny seen Chitter running around in a tank top. According to Granny-it is too late in the year to be running around without a coat on-even if it is 70 degrees.

Today me and Chatter walked down to Granny's to eat dinner. We've had the remnants of hurricane Ida sweeping through-and it has dumped several inches of rain on the area. Me and Chatter took our muddy boots off on Granny's porch. Granny had a fit-said we'd catch our death of cold for going around in our socks : )

[John Dilbeck]

Hi Tipper.

I love this page of Grannyisms.

I never knew my Mom's mother. She died just before I was born, but I heard a lot of great things about her.

My Dad's mother lived in Benton, Tennessee when we lived just south of Atlanta. We would visit her several times each year and it was like going back in time for me.

She didn't have running water and there was a "little house in back of the big house" that I hated to go into.

My granny was a great cook and had a woodstove most of her life. I still remember the wonderful turkeys she would cook and the delicious cakes she would bake.

When I was a youngster, she came down to visit us and we all went to Stone Mountain. She was in her late 80s or early 90s and we all hiked to the top of the mountain. She beat all of us to the top!

She was a kind woman and I don't remember her talking very much. She was a great listener, though.

I miss her.

JD

[Tipper]

Granny has been worrying about NASA shooting a rocket into the moon. She is sure it will effect our weather. Who knows maybe she's right : )

[Misty]

My Grandmother is still alive, for which I am mostly grateful. I realize that this is a luxury that most people do not have. Still, I've always been a little afraid & standoffish with her. She has a gift for passive aggression backed up with scripture that only southern women understand. We have never had the type of relationship that left me feeling good about myself after being in her company. While I know that each day she has here on earth is an opportunity to learn more about her and my culture, I tend to keep a safe distance.
It was her sister, Big Mamma that I loved like a grandmother. When I think about the formal way I address my mother's mother as opposed to getting to call someone "Big Mamma" it tells a lot of the story. She lived down a then un-named dirt road from us. I passed her trailer on the way to church. (Mom sent all 3 girls every Sunday so that she could stay at home and re-assemble her sanity.) We walked there, more slowly as we passed Big Mamma's. Often times she was watching for us out her window & would call for us to visit. I remember that she would have black coffee; fresh biscuits & store bought grape jelly. (Store bought jelly was an oddity to me back then.) She would talk to us long enough to "accidentally" make us miss the church bell. It was always our little secret when we laid out of church and spent time with Big Mamma. I swear to this day that I felt God more there amongst the raked leaves and biscuit crumbs than in the brick building down the road.
I still think about her almost every day. She died when I was thirteen years old. I think she's often with me & acts as my homing device when the world gets too crazy. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with her. Then again, maybe that's not true at all.

[buzz]

Grandma was [ borned ]in Nauvoo Alabama.
Chimley was a chimney
Root hog or die
Even a blind pig'll find an acorn now and then
Zink was a kitchen sink

Great Grandpa Andrew Thomas Romine had five daughters,three were boys .LOL
Georgia (george)
Billie (bill)
Josephine (joe)
Eila Mae
Rachael
and my Grandma Lily Blanche

i guess Grandpa wanted a boy.
oh well i'm sure glad Hattie Cloud Romine had my grandma Blanche.
Blanche taught me how to make Reebles and their civilized cousins , hand made noodles,
of course from scratch.

you get the idea.
buzz kirschner