Dictionary

southernism en · NOUN

Etymology

From southern + -ism.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) Anything characteristic of the southern part of a region, especially the southern United States.
   • It is one of the national peccadilloes that anyone who lives north of St. Albans has some kind of prejudice against Londoners — perhaps "prejudice" is the wrong word — or rather not against Londoners but against southernism. 1954, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard): House of Commons official report:
2. (countable, rhetoric, uncountable) A word or phrase (a dialectism) from Southern American English.
   • I loved his languid, Southern speech and little southernisms, like "you can't put a sequin on a rat's ass." 1988 April 23, Cindy Patton, “Bob Andrews: A Life Celebration”, in Gay Community News, page 8:
   • Many are known southernisms in the sense that they are also cited in sources such as Dictionary of American Regional English (henceforth, DARE) or Carver (1987). 2015, Michael D. Picone, Catherine Evans Davies, New Perspectives on Language Variety in the South: Historical and Contemporary Approaches, University of Alabama Press, →ISBN, page 169:

Forms

Relateds

southernist