Below are the meanings of "bless your
heart" from an Alabama born and raised southerner.
1. If someone has just lost a loved one, we say bless your
heart to mean sympathy.
2. If a child falls down and skins their knee or someone tells you a sad story about a family member, we say bless your
heart to mean we are sincerely sorry something bad happened.
3. If a southerner looks at you with a sardonic
smile and says bless your
heart, it usually means she thinks you're an idiot or your opinion is
stupid.
4. If we look you straight in the face and say bless your
heart and walk away or hang up, it generally means go screw yourself. This meaning also applies if bless your heart is used after an insult of some kind whether veiled or not.
5. Bless your heart can also be used to indicate surprise and
happiness. For example, if someone tells you they won the lottery, we might say, "Bless your heart! That's fantastic!"
6. Another example is when we talk to each other about anything generally negative but not at all meant to be insulting. For example, "I know she spent all day in the kitchen and tried her very best, but bless her heart, what she served for the dinner party was just awful."
Hope this helps y'all!
