Hillbilly Lingo - The situation comedy
THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES/CBS/1962-71 used backwoods terminology to
communicate with each other despite the fact they lived in a mansion
in Beverly Hills.
Frequently heard terms:
Black gold - Oil (a.k.a. "Texas Tea")
Commence - Start or begin
Critters - Elly May's animals (a.k.a. "Varmits")
Fancy eatin' room - The Billiard Room
Fancy leather lunchboxes - Briefcase
Goomers - Dumb people
New-Monie - A lung ailment
Polecat - Skunk
Pot passers - Pool cues
Spark - Kiss
Trappins - Clothes
Yurp - Slang for Europe
Other rural-isms included the phrases:
"Feelin' lower than a well digger's heel"
"Frisky as a flea on a fat dog"
"He was only greenin' ya!"
"If brains were lard, his wouldn't grease too big a pan"
"Pretty as a bag filled with stripped candy"
"Rootin' around like a hog in a new pen"
"Set a Spell"
"Squawking like a two-pound chicken laying a three-pound
egg"
"You could throw her into the pond and skim ugly for
a month"
"Your tottin' water with a leaky bucket"
"You're green enough to stick in the ground and grow"
