This image is the cover for the book Grinnin’ Like a Jenny Eatin’ Saw Briars

Grinnin’ Like a Jenny Eatin’ Saw Briars

We use social media to facilitate the process of communication. But how well do we concisely communicate our messages and feelings? There are certain drawbacks to new-age technologies, especially due to the need for conciseness. The written word has always carried the meaning and essence of thoughts and feelings that we strive to convey. Similes, metaphors, and sayings from regional areas and time periods specifically carry more meanings than the mere word itself.

The 2,300 idioms or sayings in this book convey a meaning that connects generation to generation in the south of our country. Meet the family members that communicated daily and shared their stories using this unique language that is colorful and historical.

My aunt, Arlie Wilder, used to say that she hated to see a woman grinning and laughing out loud with her mouth open like “Jenny eatin’ saw briars.” I hope you find yourself laughing like that as you read.

Rebecca Jo Slayden-McMahan

Rebecca Jo Slayden-McMahan is a writer and teacher. She had a teaching career in Clarksville, Montgomery County and at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was a classroom middle grades teacher of science and social studies for six years. She has been a teacher at Austin Peay State University for forty-four years. She is an avid sailor and owns a 33.5’ hunter sailboat which is moored at Portman Marina on Lake Hartwell in Anderson S.C. She has two sons, Jonathan and Christopher McMahan, who live in Anderson. She enjoys storytelling and the interesting and whimsical nature of the written word.


Austin Macauley Publishers