Well, Bless my Cotton-Pickin’ Heart
This month alphaDictionary will set a new record of more than 500,000 unique visitors to the site. A ‘unique visitor’ is a distinct viewer. This excites me because it will bring more mail and, hopefully, delightful pieces like this one, received today from Julie McIntosh of Dallas, Texas. By the way, she is right: you can say pert much what you want to about a person down South so long as you prefix or suffix it with ‘bless my heart’. . . and that’s what I like about the South.
I have to correct y’all about your definition of “bless your heart” [in your Glossary of Quaint Southernisms]. This is not [only] a compliment, nor is it an expression of encouragement or approval. Quite the contrary, this delightful and right useful expression is frequently called upon because properly bred Southerners (particularly Southern ladies like yours truly) would never want to say a harsh word about anyone. Therefore, we soften it with “bless your heart” or “bless his heart” or “bless her heart”, etc.
Example: “Bless his heart, if you put his brain on the head of a pin it would roll around like a bowlin’ ball on a six-lane highway.”
Or
Example: “That child has a face only her mother could love, bless her little heart.”
Or
Example: An uncouth man says to southern lady, “Damn, woman… You’re FINE!” Southern Lady responds, “Well, bless your heart” rather than giving the uncouth man the “go to hell” he so richly deserves.
For my last example, if you have a little ol’ lady in her Ford Tempo driving 45 in the fast lane in Detroit, someone might say to her, “HEY! (expletive deleted) What the (expletive deleted) do you think you’re doing? Get the (expletive deleted) off the road!” Down South, we’d just pass her on the right and say, “Well bless that darlin’ ol’ girl’s heart.”
Basically, if the heart is sufficiently blessed, then any negative comment is softened into something downright pleasant — or at least less than nasty.
But y’all just didn’t know, what with you bein’ from Pennsylvania and all…bless yer precious little ol’ Yankee hearts!
Hugs and Kisses,
Julie McIntosh
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
My dear Miss Julie:
Don’t forget the alternative “well, bless your pea-pickin heart!” In our circle in Jackson (MS), the two are interchangeable. I am an a transplant to Arizona for the past twenty-eight years. Thanks for the memories.
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Hmmm. As my title indicates, in North Carolina in the 50s it was “cotton-pickin’”. I would think that at least as much cotton was picked in Mississippi as NC. “Keep your cotton-pickin’ hands off that!” abounded. In fact, I’m not sure it was grammatical in those days and places to say “hand” without “cotton-pickin’” prefixed to it.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
If you were “born & bred Southern” you would also hear, “Bless yo little pea pickin’ heart” or God luv you, honey…..Yay Bless yo
hart, you do make me smile!” That’s from central Alabama, South of Birmingham in the 1950’s & ’60’s.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Oh, don’t get me started……this COULD go on AWHILE!
July 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I grew up in the southwest corner of Oklahoma, practically in Texas from two directions. Hollis is known for both cotton and blackeyed peas, so both expressions are common to my vocabulary. I’d like to register a not so common comment, coined (so far as I know) by a classmate of mine back in the ’40s. I’ve never heard it anywhere else, but after all these years I still get the giggles when I think of his response to the only student with the right answer to a teacher’s question: “Well bless yore little pointy head! You’ve had it in the pencil sharpener again, haven’t you?”
July 11th, 2010 at 12:02 am
I did not say Your comment is awaiting moderation. LOL
August 7th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
I’m from Texas, and I (and my people) try our best to refrain from saying anything unkind. However, on the occasion that we must, we do soften the verbal blow with a “bless your/their heart”… And it’s quite handy; one can get away with alot by prefacing it by blessing their heart…