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Carol Perkins: Swimmy Head Previous Column: Looking forward to Easter Week By Carol Perkins "My head's swimmin'," I complained to Guy. He looked puzzled, like I had a medical explanation to share. I could have given the reader some context clues, like "when I put my head over to pull out some weeds," but I wanted to see who might or might not know what a swimmy head is. Old-time expressions are hard to replace. Today, a swimmy head might be called "vertigo." That's far too medical. Plus, that was a movie in my day. A scary one. A swimmy head might go along with a "stove up" knee or neck. When I can't straighten it when I first get up, it's "stove up." Like a stovepipe. That goes along with the knee being "swoll up" or my head being "stopped up." Had a gripey stomach lately? Ailments for a specific body part have their own lingo or axiom (the proper word), and one might summarize the entire body as follows. "Girl, you've gotten fleshy." Or "You're as skinny as a rail." A rude person might say, "You've blown up." I like to entertain my grandchildren with phrases like these. I sent Eme a picture of a blouse and asked her if she thought it was gaudy. Her reply was, "I don't know what gaudy means, but it's tacky." She got it! When a young girl appears on social media in a short prom dress or cut to her navel, an observer might say, "She's showing her parts." We all know what parts she's showing. I like this one. "I don't want Sally to come to my birthday party because she'll act up." We know what kind of acting up she'll do, and it isn't pretty. Some of my out-of-town friends didn't understand when they asked a person for help, and he replied, "I don't care to." To them, it meant he didn't want to help, but it meant he'd be glad to help. We keep many of our ancestors' old sayings even when we try to let them go. Regional languages are interesting, yet can be embarrassing when our old sayings slip out at the wrong time. We've all had that happen, especially in front of teenagers, who think we're backward, anyway. Share your thoughts with Carol at carolperkins06@gmail.com, or with CM readers using our Comment Form. This story was posted on 2026-04-12 13:44:04
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Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know. More articles from topic Carol Perkins:
Carol Perkins: Looking forward to Easter Week Metcalfe Co. celebrating America's 250th Anniversary Carol Perkins: Pick Me, Pick Me Carol Perkins: Wednesday Afternoons Carol Perkins: Austin (The End) Carol Perkins: Austin, part 3 Carol Perkins: Austin, Texas (Part 2) Carol Perkins: Austin bound Carol Perkins: Snow Stories Carol Perkins: The Ski Trip (Part 5 of 5) View even more articles in topic Carol Perkins |
 
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