Comments on: Rid up

By: Alice Smith

Alice Smith — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:58:28 +0000

I just looked up this expression for the first time. I grew up in southern Illinois and my mother always said “let’s redd up the table”. I thought nothing about this saying until my husband starting making fun of me for using it. He was from southern Indiana and obviously never heard it before I used it. I stopped saying it and just saw it used in a book I was reading. So I looked it up for the first time and was surprised to find out that other people say it too! My mother used so many unusual idioms that I thought it was something she or her mother made up. All of my relatives have been in southern Illinois for about 2 or 3 generations now, but I believe almost all of them came from Ohio and Pennsylvania.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 19:15:47 +0000

I was born in NE Ohio, Alliance, and moved to Iowa when I was 12. My Mom, and Grandma, both born in Iowa, said this. I used it till my kids made fun of me. I had no clue as to the origin, but now realize that it was a legimiate phrase. My mom’s people were originally from Germany, and I remember them being referred to as “Pennsylvania Dutch”. I’m sending this link to my kids so as to “save face”, since I felt flustered when they called me on it years ago. I just always heard that in my home, and had never thought of where it originated. Thanks for clearing up my little mystery.

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 10:54:02 +0000

In Doric Scots usage the phrase, “what a redd up,” means that a fair amount of tidying or clearing will be required. An example might be, “I went into Billy’s bedroom and what a redd up there was in there.”

By: Patty

Patty — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 02:49:38 +0000

My mom always says “redd off the table” after a meal meaning to clear off the dirty dishes. She is from southern Ohio and I’ve heard it all my life. My husband, however, thought it was humorous and had never heard it before. I’m glad I found this explanation to prove that my mom didn’t make this saying up.

By: DeeDee

DeeDee — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:23:16 +0000

I grew up in NE Ohio twenty five miles from the PA line and have always used the term redd up the house. Now living in SC, this phrase came up in a discussion with a neghbor who was born in VA. She had never heard that phrase but her husband was born in PA and was well aware of it. Your definition has enlightned me because I really had no way to explain how that phrase came to be. Thanks so much. Now I don’t feel uneducated…there really is an explanation!

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:29:58 +0000

Hah, so my family wasn’t the only one that used the term “rid the dishes” or “rid the table” to mean to clear the table in preparation to wash the dishes. We were in SE Iowa, but my mom’s family came to Iowa from Ohio and Pennsylvania originally.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:21:12 +0000

I grew hearing my mom say this phrase and I now say it, but no one knows what I’m talking about. My mom grew up hearing this. My grandma’s side of the family came over from Germany and lived in northwestern Ohio (Leipsic). Grandpa grew up hearing the phrase as well in northeastern Indiana. I told my mom about this article and she got a kick out of it. Her college roommate was from western PA and they (good naturedly) debated rid vs. redd.

Other words Grandma used that I need to look up….”davenport” for couch and “oleo” for butter, margarine, etc.

Gotta go rid up the house now…

By: DLB

DLB — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:19:31 +0000

I am from Mississippi. A friend of mine from Ohio uses this term and now I say it. But nobody in the South uses this phrase.

By: Susan

Susan — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:32:55 +0000

I live in Western New York and have heard both parents use the phrase “rid up” to mean tidy up. Just googled the term because I was wondering about it’s origin.

By: Lois

Lois — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:34:33 +0000

I agree with Roberta that “redd up” as in “redd up the dishes,” meant to clear the table, rinse and organize the dishes for washing, and deal with the leftovers, of course. :)
I’m from Southeastern Ohio and I picked it up from my mother but my sisters didn’t.
It seems to come from the same group who say, “Needs cleaned,” rather than “needs to be cleaned.”

By: Shawna

Shawna — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:31:43 +0000

I grew up hearing “rid the dishes” from my father — Irish by way of Idaho. My family never knew the history of the word except it meant to clean up after a meal. Found the term “redd up” in an Elizabeth Gaskell novel.

By: Roberta Genini

Roberta Genini — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:12:19 +0000

My grandmother was from Canton, Ohio (northeastern) of Scots Irish and German stock, born in 1884, and from her and my mother, her daughter, I heard “rid up”, as in “rid up the house,” as an everyday expression. I use to this day, it to the mystification of California people. I live in Fresno, and it isn’t heard here,I do believe, except when I say it. It actually means something a little different than cleaning an area, but that might be part of it. It means to make things orderly and presentable. This is a great expression that shouldn’t be allowed to die out.