When you're in the South, "over yonder" is a distant direction-any direction. When you're fixin' to do something, it's going to happen, but you also may decide to take your sweet time. I'm fixin' to tell you that this phrase is as Southern as sweet tea. It happens often during a Southern summer when the heat rises and the temperatures shoot past 100. It is a physical and mental state a few degrees past weary and just this side of dog-tired. When you're exhausted in an I'm-so-beat-I-can't-go-on kind of way, you're definitely worn slap out. It's a vivid phrase, and it's an accurate one too. If you've just had a big Southern lunch, complete with cornbread, collard greens, and pecan pie, you're definitely full as a tick. "Druthers" roughly translates to "I would rather," meaning, "If had things my way…" The phrase is celebrated in song in the hilarious, Southern-inspired Broadway musical Li'l Abner, in which the title character sings "If I had my druthers, I'd druther have my druthers than anything else I know." And really, wouldn't we all druther have our druthers? Full As A Tick Some say farmers used to dunk their hens when they got broody. Have you ever seen a wet hen? If so, you know that being madder than a wet hen is very mad indeed. Don't worry, though, everyone hears this every now and again. It can express empathy or judgment, or it can be said in place of a person's true feelings. It's almost always accompanied by a good-natured, perhaps slightly exasperated, shake of the head. It can be deployed sincerely, but if you're hearing "bless your heart" in the South, it probably has an edge to it.
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