The Coolest Tennessee Slangs You Need To Know

Are you planning on visiting the beautiful state of Tennessee? Are you a fan of country music and vast green landscapes? Then you’re in the right place but even with your taste in music and love for nature, you still would need one more thing to fit in well with the Tennessee crowd, and that’s some Tennessee slang terms! Once you get to know the coolest Tennessee slangs you’ll be able to speak like a local!

Meat and three

tennessee

A meat and three is what Southerners call a classic dinner. It originates from the fact a southerner would often order a meaty main dish and three side dishes or appetizers to accompany the main course. If you’d like to try a delicious traditional meal in Tennessee as a southerner then you should follow this example.

Blinked or Blinky

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

In Tennessee if the milk’s gone sour or spoiled then locals say it’s blinked, or it’s a blinky. “Ma you left the milk out again and now it’s blinked!”

Duns

Memphis, Tennessee, USA downtown skyline.

Duns is another word for bills due to be paid, such as rent, electricity and water. In Tennessee the mailman brings you your duns.

Goo Goo

hiking-in-the-great-smokey-mountains-near-gatlinbu

Goo goo is another expression that refers to a candy bar. The origins of this slang lie in the famous Tennessee candy known as Goo Goo Cluster which is made of marshmallow nougat, roasted peanuts and caramel. It was so popular that the name stuck and now any candy bar can be referred to as a Goo Goo.

Puny

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, USA at the Newfo

If someone calls you puny in Tennessee they mean you look meek or weak, as if you’re under the weather, or ill. “You must not be feeling well, you look very puny!”

Cathead

cruising-tennessee-on-a-paddle-boat-honors-purchas

A cathead is another word in Tennessee for a very large biscuit native to this state. Imagine the size of a cat’s head but as a biscuit and you’ve gotten the meaning of this slang.

Membership

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

In Tennessee there are a lot of different churches and people who attend them usually go to the same one all the time. This is their church and so they are seen as its members.