Mexican chrome
n.— «It’s a Fiat with an engine up front that’s painted a silver my dad called “Mexican Chrome.”» —“Brotherly love drives Pedregons” by Mike Griffith Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee) May 1, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Ophelia in Johnson City, Tennessee, wonders about the exclamation her great-grandmother often used when something surprised her: Cat bristle! That may be her own version of a minced oath, although it fits with the idea of how a cat’s tail might look...
Homer in Kingsport, Tennessee, says that when Homer came in after curfew, his dad would say, “You guys have been out swarping, haven’t you?” Swarping is related to a variety of dialect terms in Scotland and Northern England that...