Have you ever heard of the term sandlapper? If not, you’re not alone. I have lived in South Carolina all my life and I have never heard of a sandlapper until 2019.
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One evening during a conversation I was having with my husband, Steven, he brought up the term sandlapper. I had to ask him again what he had said because I had never heard of it before. He said that’s what South Carolinians are ~ sandlappers.
Steven was surprised that I had never heard of it because he said that they sang a song back when he was in grade school about it.
He sang:
“We are good sandlappers/ Yes we’re good sandlappers/ And we’re proud to say/ That we live/ Yes we live/ In the very fine state of the USA”.
Of course I had to find out more about what being a sandlapper meant and where it came from. So the best information I could find came from this website: https://www.sciway.net/hist/sandlapper.html . There seems to be a lot of speculation about the where the term originated from but it seems that it could’ve referred to the people who lived in the sandy regions of South Carolina.
Another interesting theory is that the term referred to the clay or dirt eaters. I have heard of people eating red clay or dirt for an iron deficiency which would make sense of why people from years past would eat clay or dirt. They needed to get the minerals and nutrients that they didn’t get due to a poor diet. (In modern time, people claim to eat clay for the detoxifying and digestive benefits depending on what type of clay you eat.)
Disclaimer: I do not eat clay or dirt (lol) but I do live in South Carolina. If South Carolinians are sandlappers then I am a proud sandlapper now that I know what a sandlapper is! It goes to show that you’re never too old to learn something new!
If you have more information or a story to tell about the term sandlapper, please leave a comment below. Sign up for a weekly newsletter from Ssouthernlifestyle and as always have a blessed day!
