Our podcast exposes Southern sayings that have shaped the hosts' personal and professional lives. Chilly Grits is where southern wisdom meets northern culture.
Rev. Bowman and Dr. Francis dissect this phrase from the vantage point of grappling with today's disturbing political times. This discussion weaves in and out of past and present examples of how to process the inevitable troubles and storms of life whether the catastrophes are unnecessarily created by humans or acts of nature. This phrase--steeped in a scriptural tradition–is both realistic and somewhat comforting as a coping mechanism in overwhelming times.
18 Nov 2025
S3E3 - I Might Have Been Born At Night, But Not Last Night
This idiom seems to be newer than some discussed by the hosts in the past. Popularized as a folksy way of saying “I'm not naive,” this is an important way of maintaining individual agency in a world that often discounts those considered the other. The hosts discuss times they've been dismissed and how they clawed back with dignity rooted in their confidence that they are nobody's fool.
2 May 2025
S3E2 - Cussin’ and Fussin the Southern Way
Episode Notes
This episode considers “bad words” Southern style. How did you learn to express frustration? What expletives did you hear as a child, if any? Did your folks say “cuss” or “curse”? Yes, there's a big difference! This lively conversation delves into the relationship between foul language or colorful expressions deployed on the home front today and when the hosts were growing up.
1 May 2025
Thoughts of Harlem and the Great Migrations
Episode Notes
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? Published in 1951, Langston Hughes often recited the poem, Harlem asks what happens to a dream deferred, as grandchildren of those who chose not to leave the South when upwards of six million of their generational counterparts did. Our hosts consider their Northern migrations many decades later within the context of the Great Migration. Perhaps being among this remnant is what has kept the sayings and ways of the South ever present and alive in their households.
11 Mar 2024
S2E14 - Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels
The advice of our grandparent’s generation often included this nostalgic saying as a parting phrase of caution and care. Tune in to learn how Depression Era banking practices gave rise to this saying, which then became a reminder to stay watchful and keep one’s wits about them. The conversation turns to insightfulninstances when the hosts unwittingly took wooden nickels in the workplace, and gave themselves space to gracefully recover.
11 Mar 2024
S2E13 - There's a Pot for Every Top
This episode builds on a phrase that gives hope to those searching for an ideal romantic pairing. The conversation yields to the importance of bringing similar hopefulness and persistence to the inevitable search for solutions in the professional setting. Whoever you are, whatever your preferences and perceived imperfections may be, there's a leadership style and pathway to solutions for you. Our hosts share their experiences of rallying workplace colleagues to rise to the challenge of way making when the path forward isn’t clear.
15 Dec 2023
S2E12 - One Monkey Don't Stop No Show
In this show, the hosts contemplate a saying that touches on one of the most taboo images of negative stereotypes associated with Black people--monkeys. Listen in to learn more about how this turn of phrase is used across Southern cultures to encourage folks not to let distractions thwart progress. It is also a refrain that often comes up in African-American cultural productions like R&B songs and poems during the 50s and 70s.
15 Dec 2023
S2E11 - If You Don't Have Nothing Good to Say, Don't Say Nothing at All
If the South is known for anything, it's charm and making nice. In this episode, the hosts consider the pros and cons of being socialized to be polite at the expense of being transparent. The conversation also considers the nuances between being nice and being kind.
14 Nov 2023
Don’t Holler Before You’re Hurt
As a leader, how do you steward relationships and cultivate community capital that lasts for the long haul? You call upon the collective resources of your network judiciously and don't waste people's time. In this episode, the hosts tackle Chicken Little or Henny Penny syndrome and discuss how to call up reinforcements when life inevitably serves you a bowl of lemons.
14 Nov 2023
They Don’t Have a Pot Or a Window
Chilly Grits Podcast returns for Season 2 with a saucy phrase as the show opener. The hosts leverage their memories of this idiom and Toni Morrison's classic novel, The Bluest Eye, to dissect the origin story of the expanded phrase "They don't have a pot to piss in or window to throw it out of." Listen to learn about this class-conscious Southern saying, which is a roast rooted in the LGBTQIA culture of creative expression.
Dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Sylvia Myers (1943-2023)
29 Jun 2023
Bless their Hearts
This one is for the ancestors, y'all! So many Southern mamas and grannies have passed this saying along--and they still are. Our hosts delve into their memories of using this phrase as both a genuine blessing, and a gentle form of dismissal and deflection. Join them as they unpack the connotations of these three simple words across various contexts.
29 Jun 2023
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
Often times life and leadership is about placing with the hand you've been dealt. What happens when you are short a few cards, or have been dealt a terrible hand? In the tradition of the trickster figure, High John the Conquerer, you think, plan, laugh, persist and then proceed in "hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick" . This might be among the lesser known witticisms that Dr. Francis and Rev. Bowman have reflected on, and it's one well worth learning about. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rudolph Byrd, PhD, (1953-2011)
https://magazine.emory.edu/issues/2012/winter/register/tribute-byrd/index.html (https://magazine.emory.edu/issues/2012/winter/register/tribute-byrd/index.html)
13 Apr 2023
Tryna Make a Dollar out of Fifteen Cents
What do TuPac and Master P have to do with financial planning? Tune in to find out how these classic rappers and business moguls used an old adage to engrain an ethic of financial stewardship in many Gen-xers living below the Mason Dixon line.
13 Apr 2023
Treat 'em with a Long-handled Spoon
The Chilly Grits podcasters chew on an old-school phrase that embeds lessons on self-protection, self-preservation, and working in complex environments passed down in times when independence and agency for those with their subject positions were far more circumscribed than it is today.
6 Mar 2023
God Willing and the Creek Don't Rise
Rev. Bowman and Dr. Francis consider what climate change has to do with the choices we make and how fragile personal determination can become in environmental justice communities. The podcasters also ponder the fact that not every saying that invokes God is religious.
6 Mar 2023
Did I Sleep with You Last Night?
Proving the vast range covered by Southern sayings, the Chilly Grits duo tackles the meaning of a sassy saying that might sound risqué to those who aren't in the know. This talk leans into the inevitably fraught differences in Northern and Southern expectations of what, exactly, it means to greet others kindly–whether you know them or not.
31 Jan 2023
Eat the Meat Spit Out the Bones
All of the South isn't the same. Join the Chilly Grits podcast duo as they discuss regionalism within the broader context of the U.S. South while unpacking the meaning of a saying common in Bayou culture.
30 Jan 2023
Catch More Flies with Honey Than with Vinegar
Join Rev. Manikka Bowman and Dr. Aisha Francis for an introductory conversation about the impact of their Southerness on their leadership. Together they share lessons learned and explore the transformative power unleashed when folkways meld with modernity. They'll ponder the difference between being nice and being kind, and you'll learn what Benjamin Franklin has to do with it all.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
22
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
71
Contact CHILLY GRITS
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of CHILLY GRITS?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
