Reese Witherspoon Teaches You Southern Slang

Hello, I'm Reese Witherspoon

and I'm here to talk to you about southern slang.

Shall we start swiping?

(upbeat swing music)

Let's do it.

Caddywonked.

I think this is a relative of the word caddy-wampus.

So if something's slightly crooked,

it's caddywonked.

Oh, a conniption.

You guys, I'm sure you've had one of these.

It's when you absolutely lose your shit.

It's called having a conniption,

and I have one at least once a week.

Ah, fit to be tied.

You are just fit to be tied.

Fit to be tied just means

they cannot figure it out.

They are just fit to be tied.

You are so frustrated,

something so awful has happened,

and you are just fit to be tied.

You're dern tootin' means

you are absolutely right,

I completely agree with you.

So instead of saying like, Totes,

you'd say, You're dern tootin'.

Tore slap up.

That just means that you just

you made a mess of it,

you just did a great job,

and you tore it slap up.

Goobers.

Those are peanuts.

You're welcome.

Bless your heart.

How we feel about everybody.

It's what we say about literally everybody we know.

Bless their heart.

And we mean it, we do.

Hot chicken.

A Southern delicacy.

Many people stand in line for hours

to get some hot chicken.

My favorite is Hattie B's in Nashville, Tennessee.

Try it, it's really good.

June bug.

Well june bug is actually a bug.

It's a giant beetle that has

an iridescent shell and they're about

the size of, um ...

(laughing) It's more of a small animal

than it is a bug.

Also June bug is the affectionate term

for any woman named June.

That's true.

A hoecake (giggles)

is sort of a relative of a pancake

and a grit and a hushpuppy.

Sort of all rolled into one.

The proper ones are made in a cast iron skillet

that's never been washed,

it's just seasoned.

We don't wash it, we season it.

You're piddlin'.

That's that piddlin', piddlin' person.

It's either trying real hard to be bigger,

but it's really just, it's really just small.

Vols, as in the Tennessee Volunteers, ya'll.

Rocky Top, all that,

T - E - double N - E double S - double E.

Go Vols.

Thank you for joining me on Southern Slang

with Reese Ritherspoon.

(clapping)

Thank ya'll.