There Is An Appalachian Word For Crooked That Is Better Than Crooked. Sigogglin.

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]There is an Appalachian word for when something is crooked or off-kilter or just not quite right and once you hear it you will never use another word for it again. Sagoglin. That fence is all sagoglin. This door hangs sagoglin. He built that whole shed sagoglin and does not seem to notice. It means askew, lopsided, not plumb, not level, leaning in a direction it was not supposed to lean. But there is something in that word that plain old crooked does not have. Something affectionate almost.

[00:00:30]Like the thing being described is not broken just distinctly its own.

[00:00:34]Appalachian people understood that not everything needed to be perfect to be functional. That sagoglin things had their own character, their own integrity even if a level would disagree. Follow and learn one mountain word at a time.