cottonpickin'

or cot·ton-pick·in'

[ kot-n-pik-uhn ]

adjective

, Slang: Sometimes Offensive.

1. damned; confounded (used as an intensifier):

   That's a cottonpickin' lie.

Sensitive Note

Cottonpickin' is most commonly perceived as a Southern regionalism and an older informal expression in American English. However, because there is no clear sense-related reason to invoke the picking of cotton, and because the expression is used as a negative modifier, many people assume it is a reference to slavery or sharecropping. Knowing that this term can evoke a racial connotation associated with chattel slavery, some speakers actively avoid or replace cottonpickin' with a similar euphemism like doggone, and it has become far less frequent since its peak usage in the 1960s.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cottonpickin'¹

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; cotton + pick ¹ + -ing ²