One listener’s term, tee-ella-berta, is among hundreds of euphemisms for the derriere, including tee-hiney, tee-hineyboo, and tee-hinder. This is part of a complete episode.
You must log in to post a comment.
Space Cadet (episode #1514) 12/24/2018: We have books for language-lovers and recommendations for history buffs. • How did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves... [more]
Howling Fantods (episode #1513) 12/17/2018: Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills,... [more]
Cootie Shot (episode #1510) 12/10/2018: Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind! A new book of writing advice says a good sentence "imposes a logic on the world's weirdness"... [more]
Bottled Sunshine (episode #1512) 11/19/2018: If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means "an... [more]- Care Package (episode #1511) 11/12/2018: Sending someone a care package shows you care, of course. But the first care packages were boxes of food and personal items for survivors of... [more]
Although I haven’t heard the phrase in question, I do have a possible suggestion regarding it’s source. If the grandmother or her family happened to come from an area near Alabama, its possible that the phrase was created through a simple substitution. As you may know, Alabama has a very interesting shape; it is generally rectangular, with a small tail at the southern end. At the bottom of this tail is the city of Elberta, AL. Starting with the more well known tee-hiney (et. al.) and replacing “hiney” with the city at the “bottom” of Alabama, you would end up with Tee-Elberta.