Another one:
GLOSSARY
By Wilton Strickland
Following, with phonetic spellings, are some words and phrases in use in
eastern North Carolina since the 1930’s. Some of them surely must have been
in use long before the ‘30’s, and a few of them have gradually faded from
use. Many are still in use here and elsewhere in this form or some
variation of it. I grew up hearing many of them and used some of them
myself, of course, but Mama did not allow us to use several of them and
discouraged the use of others - there are many listed that I have never
used. However, I often use some of them now in jest.
After each word or phrase is the standard, American English translation.
A bit dog hollers/barks first. -- He who speaks up first sounds/may be
guilty.
A drank, a drink -- a carbonated beverage, i. e., Co-Cola, Pepsi, Nehi grape
or orange, RC (Royal Crown cola) or a Dr. Pepper; best consumed while
physically exhausted, wet with perspiration (sweat) and sometimes standing
in the hot sun (but better in the shade) during a short break from priming
tobacco
A differnt set a dogs -- A completely different family
Ag ‘im on -- aggravate him to action
A goin’ -- going
A goner -- expired, deceased
A helpin’ -- a serving of food, for example, a helpin’ of peas
A horse of a different color -- a different matter entirely
Ah reckon -- I think
Ail -- sickness, pain, what’s wrong with you
Aincha -- aren’t you
Aint -- Mama or Daddy’s sister
Ain’t -- am not, is not, are not
Ain’t got much in it -- I didn’t pay much for it.
Ain’t paid no notion -- I have not paid attention.
Ain’t worth squat, ain’t worth doodlie -- worthless
Airy -- either, as in “Airy one.”
A lick and a promise. -- a quick and cursory attempt, with a promise to be
more thorough later
All -- oil
All the way -- hotdog or hamburger with all the “trimmings” - ketchup,
mustard, chili, onions; can also mean having sex.
A minova time -- many times
Are ya with me? -- Do you understand what I’m saying?
Arsh ‘taters, eish ‘taters -- Irish potatoes
A sight for sore eyes -- I am very glad to see you!
Ast, astin’ -- ask, asking
Atall -- at all
A watched pot never boils. -- Time seems to go much more slowly when you’re
waiting for a certain event.
Awite -- alright, OK, yes
Bad off -- quite ill
Bald-faced liar, bold-faced liar -- obviously lying
Bar’, bary -- borrow
Barnin’, housin’, puttin’ in d’backa -- harvesting tobacco
Bassackward -- backward
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What looks good to one may not look
so good to another.
Beauty is only skin deep, ugly is to the bone; when the beauty leaves, the
ugly holds on. What looks good now may not look so good later.
Bedroom suit -- bedroom suite, matching bedroom furniture
Between a rock and a hard place -- still in trouble no matter what I do
Beefed up -- gained weight
Biddies -- newly hatched baby chickens
Bidness, bizness -- business
Blagum -- black gum tree
Blind in one eye and can’t see with the other -- can’t grasp/understand it
no matter how clear it is
B‘loney -- balogna
Blowout boot -- an oblong (maybe, 4 inches by 6 inches) piece of rubber with
fabric embedded to add strength, usually an eighth of an inch or so in
thickness. His would be inserted inside a tire between a weakened place in
the tire and the tube to keep the tube from bulging (blowing) out the
weakened area.
Bobby-Q -- Barbeque, a pig cooked, usually all night, over a shallow hole in
the ground (pit) filled with hot hardwood coals from the d’backa barn
furnace, seasoned with peppers, other spices and vinegar and chopped into
small pieces before being eaten with slaw, potato salad and cornbread sticks
or hush puppies.
Bootleg, white ligthtnin’, moonshine, ‘shine -- illegal, non-tax-paid
whiskey usually made at a still (distillery) hidden the woods.
Bootlegger -- one who makes ‘shine whisky
Branch -- very small river/stream
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Feeling very good.
Broom straw -- a tall, wild grass good for making brooms
Bub -- a light bulb
Bull in a china shop -- clumsy, not very well coordinated
Bum -- bomb - A B-52 can carry and drop many bums.
Bumfusseled -- confused
Bummer -- large military aircraft that drops bums - a bomber
Bust -- burst
Busted, busted up -- broken
Cahoots -- conspiracy
Cain’t -- can’t, can not
Candlestine -- clandestine
Can I? -- May I?
Can’t make ‘spenses -- not making enough money to cover expenses
Can’t see the forest for the trees -- bogged down with details
Carry me to town. -- Drive me to town.
Catterwampus -- askew, misaligned
Chadoin’ -- What are you doing?
Chainey ball tree -- China Berry tree
Chet, dgew? -- not yet, did you?
Chicken koub -- chicken coop/house
Chillins, chilluns -- children
Chinchy -- cheap
Chitlin’s -- chitterlings - hog intestines appropriately cleaned, cooked and
seasoned; served as a delicacy to those who have acquired a taste for them
Chompin’ at the bit -- aggressive, anxious, eager
Choppin’ d’backa, cotton, corn, etc. -- using a hand-held hoe in a chopping
manner to remove weeds and grass from tobacco, cotton and corn fields
Chunk -- throw, as in, “Chunk the ball to me.”
Chicken coub -- chicken coop, small building to house chickens
Clean as a whistle -- very clean.
Clear as a bell -- Very distinct
Conbobbalated -- not assembled very well
Co-Cola -- Coca-Cola
Cookin’ with gas -- doing very well.
Cookin’ with ‘lectric -- doing even better
Cornbread sticks -- corn bread cooked in the form of sticks about ¾” by 6”,
best eaten with bobby-q or turnip salad.
Coulda -- could have
Crank the car -- start the car
Creek -- small river (in certain “foreign” areas of the country - crick)
Crine - crying
Cumpney - company
Cuss -- curse, swear
Cute as a button -- small and pretty
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t -- still in trouble no matter what
you do
Dashboard -- instrument panel on a car, truck or bus
D’backa, bakker -- tobacco
D’backa hanger -- one who hangs green tobacco in the curing barn while
perched on the tier poles with legs spread wide to straddle the open
horizontal space between the poles
D’day -- today
Dead to rights, caught red-handed -- guilty without a doubt, caught in the
act
D’gya? -- Did you?
D’geatchet? -- Did you eat yet?
Dip stick. -- a really dumb person
Disconbobbalated -- disassembled
Do donkeys fly? -- a sarcastic NO!
Does a bear GO in the woods? -- an emphatic yes
Doohicky -- thing
Doozie or Duesy -- something special, a rarity. The word originally
referred to the American hand-built, high quality passenger cars and
record-breaking racing cars built between 1913 and 1937.
Draft dodger -- young, able-bodied male who avoids being drafted into the
military.
Draw -- drawer
Draw water -- raise a bucket of water by rope or chain and pulley from an
open well
Dinnah, dinner -- mid-day meal, lunch
To be contnued.
Wilton
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