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Volume IV, No. 4, Summer 1977 |
This Speech of Ours
I bet you we have words that you have never heard before. Did you know that at one time the women never said bull, because of what the bull was used for? It was considered a bashful subject so instead they used such euphemisms as gentleman cow, brute and male animal. And did you know that the words crawdad hole can also mean your belly button or navel? Then test yourself and see if you can recognize or recall hearing any of the words below.
Gollynipper (mosquito)
The biggest gollynipper you ever did see bit me on my arm.
Fraidy hole (storm cellars)
When that twister hit we all headed for the fraidy hole.
Tickle britches (fancy clothes)
Larry, get your tickle britches on for we're going to Sunday meeting.
Nippety-nip (equal sharings)
Mother made sure we shared the apple cobbler nippety-nip.
Moon-eyed (in love)
Doug is sure moon-eyed over Farmer Smith's daughter, Jane.
All gussied up (dressed up)
Bill was all gussied up when he came to court Sue.
Wampus cat (blood thirsty animal)
A wampus cat must have killed the chickens last night.
Blowing off (bragging)
Ol' Dan was a-blowing off about shooting the biggest turkey.
Pindling (weakling)
He was just a pindling little ol' baby.
Blossomed out (filled out)
Kathy blossomed out to be a right pretty girl.
Dog's bait (over eating)
Steve always eats a dog's bait when he comes to our house.
Weather breaks (weather gets better)
We'll plant taters when the weather breaks.
Scatterment (scatter used as a noun)
Us kids sure made a scatterment when them baby swallows fell down the chimney.
Jump the broomstick (get married)
Mark and Caryn will jump the broomstick in June.
Split the blanket (couple separates)
Jeff and Wilma split the blanket three months after they married.
Druthers (wishes)
If I had my druthers We'd go into town.
Mally hack (beat severly)
The boy was mally hacked for stealing the eggs.
Plunderment (junk)
The room was so full of plunderment it was hard to walk through.
Did you recognize any of the words? If you have heard or know of some on-common (unusual) words, send them to us to put in our dialect page.
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