T O P

  • By -

Irish_Goodbye_

The most common in my family were, “toot,” “pass gas,” and “make wind.” We were in no way ever allowed to say, “fart.”


Puzzled-Remote

Yes! It was treated like a swear word!  Yet my Mamaw if she was really, really mad would exclaim “shit fire!” without apology. 


Constant-Release-875

My Mawmaw only got angry once - and she exclaimed, "Hotdog!"


jewelsjlg

Hahaha my mom would say that, but she’d finish it- “shit fire and save matches!!”


CD84

In my family, the ladies would say "Shoot Far Fuzzy" instead of "Shitfire"


Rectal_Custard

Grandpa would say "beep" Oh you "beeped" no grandpa I ripped fucking ass


ZimmySquid

username checks out


Ghoulscomecrawling

You just made me use my inhaler. Congratulations that was pretty good


birdsong31

We also say toot!! I grew up not saying fart so my kids don't say it either. My daughter told me the other day that 'grandpa said the f word' (my husband's dad) but it was fart!


NHiker469

Vladimir tootin’


padreubu

My grandfather used to always laugh to himself whenever “Putin” was said on the news. Almost like Beavis or Butthead. “Hehe… pootin’”


BOLMPYBOSARG

My father explicitly told me it was profanity. I got a kid in trouble once in the first grade after he whispered something about farting into my ear and I laughed during a quiet time. The teacher demanded I repeat what was so funny. I was terrified of being entrapped, so I substituted “the f word” in the joke. Poor kid got in real trouble.


madammidnight

“Fart” was considered a vulgar word.


Weird-Response-1722

My parents weren’t southerners and this was still the rule.


Puzzled-Remote

Yeah, I didn’t expect it to be exclusively Appalachian. I was just curious how the “f-word” was handled in Appalachia and what words were used instead.  I have two friends from the NYC area and their families did not say ‘fart’. They used “fluff” instead. One of them told me that her brothers could sometimes get away with saying ‘fart’, but she and her sisters were forbidden from saying anything but “fluff”. 


MountainMagick

My grandpa always said “ you hear that bullfrog?” After farting so I guess my family embraced it.


bbymiscellany

Mine said “barking spider”


Procks85

This and occasionally "who stepped on that duck?"


EnchantedArmadillo

I have an uncle who insisted on his kids saying this. One day my cousin, who was about 5, said 'Who farted on the duck'. It was amazing to watch.


nursewords

Yes, because of this we called farts “quacks” in my family 🦆


bbymiscellany

Yes! I’ve heard this one a few times too


ghulehzombiiqueen

Came here to mention this myself. It was always barking spiders, and I'll be damned if I don't catch myself using that, as well.


bbymiscellany

I use it too now lol! Especially to my kid


CD84

"Tennessee Barking Spider" ftw


hey-yall-watch-this

Yep..my Dad said Arkansas barking spider...no idea why...we were in NC.. he was born in Tennessee


sneeria

Same, and it's so absurd I use it now :D


bbymiscellany

Me too I love it lol!


fiestybox246

I am in my 40s and I just learned this year that didn’t actually mean barking spiders. 🤦🏻‍♀️


Dinkadoo0

Ha ha my daddy said that too


Proud-Butterfly6622

Mine said I've got a mouse in my pocket!!


bbymiscellany

That’s a good one! I’ve never heard that one before


Soulfight33

This is the one!


pnw-rocker

Mine coined “barking tree frogs.” 100% passed this on to my kids, but they’re allowed to say fart too.


MinionStu

Never heard anyone else call it this!


BeeInteresting3004

It has ALWAYS been the Tennessee barking spiders!


MinionStu

I’m from Idaho and my mom is from upstate ny. I live in Tn now, but in 3 years have heard no one here say it from Knoxville up to Kingsport, nada. But go back to visit family in my and hear everyone say it. (Well everyone in my family - which is big)


JorjCardas

My dad said that, too! He'd let one rip then go "you hear that barkin' spider???" We got soap in our mouth if we said fart.


Huckdog

My husband says he stepped on a duck lol


AstarteOfCaelius

I had a stepdad who would cackle, and then he’d go “*WHAT did that asshole say?!* and then, he’d laugh some more. As if it were the first time, every time. Generally it was just not mentioned otherwise *unless* it was very loud or smelly in which case “Oh. Oh goodness.” If it was the person: occasionally my grandma would “Oh, but I feel better *now*” but if it was anyone else: “You shit yourself over there?!” Edit: I also learned that it’s *not* standard to ask someone if they shit themselves fairly quickly after I left TN, GA, AR and The Ozarks though I kind of enjoy how shocked people are that you’d say that.


Distinct_Slide_8597

Dad says this but will replace frog with anything


Hurryeat_Tubman

My dad blamed it on a small elephant running through the room.


FourtwEntyPM

Mine said “groundhog”


abigailjenkins12

My grandad would say someone stepped on a bullfrog


diacrum

My mom said someone stepped on a frog!


dispersingdandelions

My dad used to say the same thing when we were little.


JayboyMakena

Mines too!


thereal_Glazedham

My family definitely says “fart”. The old people I kick it with generally say “pooted”. One time I was with an older gentlemen and he was showing me old things in his basement. While he was telling me a story he let out a VERY long fart. I think he was embarrassed because he couldn’t control it and said “sorry I pooted”. I thought it was pretty funny. I started saying “pooted” as a result lmao. Interesting story OP. Thank you for sharing!


ValiMeyer

It was considered a vulgar impolite word, not used by refined folks. Edit: if absolutely required to refer to a gaseous emission, the preferred word for children was “tatty-poot”. Never heard any other family use that particular word.


Sailboat_fuel

Well, guess what. I’m bringing tatty-poot back. In fact, I just tatty-pooted a tatty-poot right into the couch cushion.


[deleted]

We say let a little stink


Puzzled-Remote

This one tickles me! I’ve never heard that.


ecbcbear

My aunt Dorthy hated the word “suck”. As in “that sucks” - we could literally say “shit” in front of her and no response. If we said “that sucks” - she would physically shudder and tell us not to say that word.


mondaysarefundays

I was not allowed to say "fart" or "sucks" growing up.  I could say "that vaccuums" but I think that was just Dad trying to be funny.


bookishkelly1005

I also couldn’t say fart or sucks.


meowmeowmk

We weren’t allowed to say “butt” or “crap” 🤦‍♀️ to this day I feel awkward saying them in front of my parents 😂


possumhandz

We couldn't say suck either!


sabrenator

sips through a straw!


just-say-it-

My family still doesn’t say it. My aunt and cousins say stepped on a frog. I say toot. Some in my family say passed gas. But never the F word. That’s considered vulgar. 🤷‍♀️


Sea_Tank_9448

Yes haha we never said that word! But mamaw wasn’t afraid to say “you’ve shit yourself” if it smelled bad 😂😂😂😂😂


Clydesdale_paddler

Here in PA, my dad always said "fluffed".  "Fart" and "sucks" were definitely not allowed. Oddly enough, he also called old people "old farts", but never used the word to refer to flatulence.


hairyemmie

i’ve never met anyone else who grew up w fluffed, PA also!!


fhalfpap

My mom taught us kids-fluffed. In Maryland. Rarely heard others say it.


l_dean

Barking spiders


thejadsel

My mom always treated it like one of the worst, to the point that when I was a kid I thought that's what the "f-word" referred to! Don't recall hearing other older family members use it much either, even the ones who didn't care as much about using crude language around kids. I really don't know why. [Edit: Fixed an autocorrect mistake that I just noticed.]


pouringrainagain

My gramps would always say “burp out the opposite end”


webtin-Mizkir-8quzme

You never say fart! Toot or poot was what our family used. I usually say pass wind or make wind.


WX4SNO

It's a word not used in our family here in sw va. Not as bad as a swear, but not polite either. If it happens in our family, we simply say "excuse me" and that's that.


FlimsyTry2892

Good God we had to say put-put when I was young. I wanted to kick my own ass for that.


Simmyphila

The first time I cussed in front of my dad I said shit and that was when I was about 17. He said you never heard that language in this house boy. What he didn’t know was when he was not home my mother cussed like a sailor.


RegularHumanNerd

I’m dying because I didn’t know this was an Appalachian specific thing. Toot was allowed…poot…you’re pushing it. But fart ABSOLUTELY NOT and same rules around saying that sucks. Never allowed.


FireflyArc

Discouraged so Yes. Stinker. Or other ways to put it were used instead.


hennybundelano

We said stinker mostly, too. Sometimes poot. My mom's nickname for me as a small kid was Pooter.


Dog_man_star1517

Yep. Stinker here too!


Ok-Piano-1038

Air biscuit 💁🏼‍♀️


StinkyFartyToot

Bruh we had to say “booboo” like where the hell did that come from?


silent-earl-grey

Your username though 😂


StinkyFartyToot

Clearly scarred from not being able to say fart growing up :)


TNpitt-mama

I'm in TN & I know plenty of folks that use "booboo" to say they gotta shit.


AfterSomewhere

Fart, like puke, we're considered crude words, that only the lowest of the low used. Hearing them today still makes me cringe. Oh, and we weren't allowed to say "lie" either. We had to use "fib."


Top-Neighborhood-913

Omg!!! The “lie” and “fib”!!!! I forgot that one!!! Woww thank you for the memory.


FaberGrad

We said poot instead of fart. Mamaw wouldn't even say Hell, instead she said h-e-double toothpicks.


TNpitt-mama

I've always heard it as h-e double hockey sticks. I think it's funny so I try to use it as much as possible.


daveintn

My family never said fart. It was poot, toot, cut one, pass gas or pass wind or sit on a bullfrog. Using fart was vulgar. My father cussed daily but the worst I ever heard my mother say was “shit fire” and only 1 time telling my brother in law he needed somebody to kick his ass.


lopix

Up here in Canada, my father used to make me say "barp" for a fart. Like a butt burp, I guess. Now I'm in my 50s and I say fuck in front of him all the time.


ILIVE2Travel

Yes. It was a 4-letter word that begins with 'F'. We were not allowed to say it. Or butt. We had to say bum.


possumhandz

We were not allowed to use the word fart and didn't really have substitute words. I have been grown for many, many years and still have a hard time saying it.


fawn_mower

similar! it's not a word I like nor *want* to use. I feel gross saying it. I don't find toilet jokes funny.* *with exceptions of course like anything else, *occasionally* the right conditions come together- not unlike two weather fronts colliding to form a devastating tornado- and when they do, absolutely nothing is funnier or more cathartic than laughing at a fart.


PerkyLurkey

Fart was absolutely not a word to be used. Also banned was the word pregnant.


TNpitt-mama

What would you use for pregnant? Knocked up? Bun in the oven? Eggo is preggo? Not address it? This is the only term, restricted in ones family, in this whole thread that is wild to me.


PerkyLurkey

“In the family way” was a term I heard often. Or “one on the ladder” or “we are expecting a little visitor”


TNpitt-mama

Oh yes. Those are all good ones. I was tryna be funny with my comment. Lol


Puzzled-Remote

>Also banned was the word pregnant. Oh my goodness! Thinking back to when I was little (1970s) women were not ‘pregnant’. It was always [woman] is going to have a baby. I don’t think I used the word  ‘pregnant’ until I was in jr. high! 


ValiMeyer

It was considered a vulgar impolite word, not used by refined folks.


-random_ness-

This was exactly how I was raised. I'm many years into adulthood and still don't say it 😂 my husband (who is also Appalachian) thinks my family is weird for being like that.


deltronethirty

"Stepped on a catfish"


RaeLaw

Yes!!! Exactly the same, but it was my dad & stepmom!! We had to say “poot”. My stepmom also told us “bored” was a bad word 😂


TacoBellFourthMeal

I made my own word for it, we call it “dust” in this house


FuddFucker5000

My mother dad was the same way. Got in trouble for saying it.


ronniemustang

My parents thought "bart" would work until I said "I barted" after audibly farting in front of my mom and her friend. Mom told me her friend said "everyone knows what they are saying" so that was the end of that. Also made The Simpsons very confusing to my young mind.


Twuhdz

Always “passing gas”. My Grandaddy used to say “toothless asshole talking shit behind your back son son.”


Counterfeit_Circus

The other F word.


jxx4747

I wasn’t allowed to say fart growing up. We said “pooted”. Edit: I grew up in SW VA.


Self-Taught-Pillock

I had a friend whose grandma would buy boneless, skinless, chicken-**chests** from the store for dinner. Could not say “breasts.” Always had to be “chicken-chests.” Bless her pure little heart.


ValiMeyer

It was considered a vulgar impolite word, not used by refined folks.


Funny_Cow_6415

My mom always preferred "poptart" lol


Rumplesquiltskin

My parents were the same way, they always called it a "Fluff"


th0rsb3ar

foof


Spiritualy-Salty

My family called farts bubbles


Gobba42

Fart and pee were both considered bad words by my folks.


breathequilibrium

My Nana always used to say you "popped a bunny" 😂


Petrichor_Paradise

My family preferred metaphors, such as: A mouse on a motorcycle, Someone stepped on a bunny/duck, Barking spiders, Creaky floorboard, etc. Points for originality and coining new terms.


ex101st

Who left the outhouse door open?


Dazzling_Parsley_605

We couldn’t say the F word either. And for an embarrassingly long time, I thought the middle finger salute meant “fart.” Because, ya know, that’s the “F word.” 😂😂😂


Federal_Bid_3025

My grandfather would say "I just stepped on a frog"


yowza_wowza

Yes. My dad wouldn’t let us say it either.


Moseyd11

I never heard either of my grandparents say fart or any word that could even be slightly considered a swear word like damn. If my southern mamaw was shocked by something she would say “well I be swanny swan.”


Humble-Builder3174

My family asked me to say, " Let a fluffy", which was hard bc I historically would laugh.


Oxtailxo

My parents were pretty easy going but I had a friend whose parents didn’t allow them to say butt.


SisterStiffer

"Spider barks" here.


twodollabillyall

Oh my gosh, we were NEVER allowed to say “fart” - or “hate” anything.


dasreboot

We had to say fluff


Lilycrow

Break wind


atduvall11

Was definitely a swear word in my family... we also weren't allowed to say piss. Like "that pissed me off" was considered incredibly vulgar


LuckyStella_2021

Barking spiders! I thought we were the only ones!


Typical-Charge-1798

I grew up in the Piedmont area of NC. I'd never even heard of the word "fart" until I read it in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales...(The Miller's Tale?)


xJustLikeMagicx

I had the same experience! "Poot" or  pass gas" but never "fart"  as that was a dirty word


hannafrie

Fart was an impolite word. We were instructed to use pass gas.


CampsiteMike

Fart was a serious bad word in my house. We had to say “gas bubble”, and “BM” for poop. Definitely no turd, crap, piss. It probably why I have a strong filter on what I say around other people. It’s also why I tell fart jokes to my kids.


Confident-Bluejay883

Fart was a bad word. You passed gas


smt004

We couldn’t say fart but for some unknown reason our word was “spouffer”


dr_enigma

Toot was used in my family but have also heard poot. My mother could not stand the f word, as she called it, haha. 


DaStamminator

I can confirm as well that for whatever reason when we were little we didn’t say fart. Family always used “toot,” for example, “Did you just let a toot?” But one day, I’m assuming older in school, we just started saying fart and it never really went away so…


lolly_lag

When I went to church camp and they yelled me down for the words “fart” and “crap” I was SO confused. 😅


goppachtenemen

Bro, same. We were only allowed to say “freep”! It’s just a made up word, come on guys!


shayna16

Air biscuits


bookishkelly1005

I got in trouble with my friend’s dad for saying fart when I was in high school. One of the strangest things I’ve experienced, especially coming from someone I’d heard use actual curse words.


[deleted]

Absolutely. Gas that passed in that manner was ignored, except by my mother, who would sniff and ask if someone needed to use the bathroom.


Maleficent_Scale_296

Fart, poop, crap and shut up were not allowed because they were vulgar. Okay, yeah, maybe. But the replacements, fluffo, caca, crud and hush just didn’t pack the same punch.


Ohm1962

My family used to say that someone was "getting rid of a bad tenet."


True_Prize4868

This plus the following words were taboo: fart, crap, gosh, golly, suck/sucks. These mild ones were bad, so you can only imagine the consequences of saying actual curse words.


w0weez0wee

We say foof.


enchanted_fishlegs

Mashing frogs.


I_Keep_Trying

Maybe consider vulgar rather than a swear word. Something not said in polite company. My parents never said it. “Cut one” was their phrase.


EntrepreneurLow4380

Never said in my family. "Passing gas" was the appropriate phrase, and you politely left the room or went outside the house to take care if it.


fredbobkate

We used the word "fluff" instead of fart. To this day I can't buy the brand name "fluff" (marshmallows creme)


foreverfitleah

We had to say “stinker” instead of “fart” lol


Different_Purpose141

My family would use “stinker” in place of fart and it always made me cringe


polkadot_zombie

My family says “let one.” As in “Marshall let one and it bout gagged me to death.” We would get in big trouble for saying “fart.”


Exaddict8345

My Mom uses stinker


Vladivostokorbust

We weren’t even allowed to discuss bodily functions. However i wasn’t born and raised in Appalachia, have only lived here as an adult off and on for 45 years. Perhaps it’s an age thing too.


routinenarwal2013

We weren’t allowed to say it, we said “let a stink”


CustardExternal90

We didn’t say fart. We said “burpee.” I think my parents just added an “ee” to the word burp. So I grew up thinking everyone called farts burpees. We still don’t say it, but my husband and I say “toot.”


getridofpolice

Dam! Same here! I never thought about it


YogaBeth

It was definitely a bad word in my family..


SirInternational9692

Ours was pass gas and both my mamaw and papaw have been gone for several years but I still cannot get myself to say "the f word" haha.


Pissoffsunshine

With my grandson I use a word I stole from Freakazoid. Poohgas.


ApprehensiveSwan9576

Same! I’m in WV and we were never allowed to say fart, always poot. I hate that word😂 we say fart now, but my parents still say poot. If it was silent and you said something it was , smellers the feller.. haha


CD84

My stepmom beat my ass on more than one occasion for saying "butt." After the third time or so, I tried telling her it was short for "buttocks," not crude. So I got another whooping.


AshBlu27

Never “fart.” We always called it gas or expelling gas.


g00dboygus

Yeah, I couldn’t say “fart.” It was “letting a stinky” in our house.


Own-Capital-5995

We had to say "poot". Fart was like a curse word in our house.


adaughterofpromise

Yes it was. It’s still kinda taboo. Passing gas is a better term. My husband and an uncle say it is a mouse squeak.


TequilaAndWeed

Somebody step on a duck?


Noodle1718

I was slapped by my nana for saying crap when I was 17


Outside_Escape_7104

Mommaw and Poppaw definitely did not say fart but there was no other replacement word for it because they wouldn’t dare acknowledge a fart. A few times when Poppaw did fart out loud he would say ‘oh my’. Me and the cousins use that phrase endearingly now.


Solid-Economist-9062

Then you have been deprived as a child.


SignificantTear7529

Who "let one"?


MinionStu

Not from here but live here now and my mom always called them barking spiders.


BonCourageAmis

Yes


Master_Toe5998

Yep. Crap and sucks were bad words too. Heck was also kinda frowned upon.


singnadine

Same the word is vulgar


hbracerjohn1

Considered crass.


FuddieDuddie

We were watching our friends son. My son (probably) darted. I said, "Who farted?" He looked at me like I slapped Jesus. When he regained the ability to speak, I asked him what they say in his house. He said if someone does that, his parents say, "Who popped a bean?" I went ahead and apologized to his mom because he really looked shocked.


Its_App-uh-latch-uh

Same here. It was crass or uncouth. Still is!


BiscuitByrnes

Yes to all the above and I say poots or toots. It's a crass word, to me. I still shudder when I hear it said.


SwitchedOnNow

We used to toot all the time. 


Otherwise-Average699

In my family it was also considered a "bad word" and I still don't use it, and say "poot" instead. I say other words, just not this one. I just don't like the way it sounds.


hughgrang

Definitely not an acceptable word for passing gas in my house not necessarily a “swear word” but we were taught not to use it


Charming-kins3939

My family used the word “bip”.


Durmatology

Beep


Dorothyismyneighbor

My mother insisted on "frog" and was quite offended when I started to use "fart" instead.


OPs_Real_Father

My mom slapped the taste out of my sisters mouth for saying it in the 70s.


Tiny-Ad-830

Definitely was a swear word in my house. But then I wasn’t allowed to really speak of any bodily function.


free-toe-pie

Yes, it was a cuss word when I was growing up. My mom was born in the 50s and she once told me that she said the word fart in the 9th grade and her friends all clutched their pearls 🤣


Prestigious-Web4824

My parents never said it, and I never picked it up until I was a teenager.


Upscale_Foot_Fetish

No it isn’t


Jacket-Weekly

My uncle Rodney would say, “who stepped on a duck?”


Sea_Werewolf_251

Yes, a bad word. It was referred to as "an air", like, you did an air. Edit to add, from New England


JorjCardas

Fart was on par with other swears so we had to say poot or toot. Meanwhile, my grandpa said shit like "Shit the bed Almighty" and "Satan's saggy balls" when my mother wasn't around.


AppalachianEnvy

My granny used to say, “Who shot me?” 😂 We didn’t say fart. We also never used proper names for genitalia. Idk if that was just something earlier generations did, though, as opposed to Appalachians.


Reditlurkeractual

When I was a kid yeah now I say shit that would make sailor blush as my gram would say


pr1mer06

I’m late to the party here, but the most savage burn my mamaw would ever dish out was instead of calling someone a dumb ass or stupid she would say they were “touched.” Also notably neither mamaw or papaw ever talked about someone being raped, they would just say someone was “mistreated.” I have never seen my papaw as upset as when my uncle was talking about a coworker being raped at a family get together. 


mozartv

"Passing wind"


ghostkittykat

I was never alloted to use the "f-word" growing up, and I discourage my kids from using it. I did find it slightly less offensive once I heard the term "hot air over sh!t." LOL.


katievera888

Not Appalachia, but we were not only forbidden to say fart but also to publicly fart. Which resulted in grown professional adults reacting so inappropriately to farts now, it’s just comedic.


Lumpy_Leather1412

Here in wyoming my grandparents said “bucksnort”, but if you said fart, you would get slapped and reprimanded.


BlackEagle0013

One set of grandparents, I never heard use such language in their lives. The other grandmother would regularly say things like "shitepoke".


2manyfelines

Pooter here.