dictionary

antigodlin adj, adv Also annigodlin, antegoddlin’, antigadlin [Var of antigoglin, perh infl by folk-etym: see sense 1 quot 1944] chiefly Sth, S Midl, West somewhat old-fash For varr see DS KK70, MM13, 14, 15 See also antigod(d)le, antisigodlin

1 Of an object: lopsided, askew, aslant, out of line.1917 DN 4.417 wNC, Antigodlin’, antigadlin’. 1944 PADS 2.17 sAppalachians, Antigodlin, antigoglin, antisigodlin [ˈæntɪˌgɑdlɪn, -gɑg- , -saɪ-]. . . Out of plumb or square, slanting. Ibid 53 MO, Anti-godlin. . . Not parallel to something having well-established lines. My grandfather explained the term by saying it referred to the idea of the “four corners of the earth” as created by God; hence anyone who laid the foundation of a new building should make it “square with the world”; otherwise it would be anti-godlin—against the wish or example of God. 1949 PADS 11.17 CO. 1950 PADS 14.12 SC, Antigodlin. . . Awry, askew, irregular. “Your skirt is all antigodlin” (hangs unevenly). Variants are Sarahgodlin, Sallygodlin, etc. 1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.515 wNC, Antigodlin. . . Leaning, not parallel. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. KK70, . . Out of proper shape: “That house is all _____.”) Infs MT5, SC31, 34, 39, Antigodlin; (Qu. MM13, The table was nice and straight until he came along and knocked it _____.) 9 Infs, Sth, S Midl, West, Antigodlin; GA84, LA28, OK1, TX4, Annigodlin; (Qu. MM15, . . At an angle: “He nailed the board on _____.”) Infs GA72, TX36, VA5, Antigodlin. 1967 DARE File cwAL, Antigodlin—out-of-plumb, skeewhoned, cut on the bias, whampus-jawed.

2 Cater-cornered, diagonal(ly), at an angle. See also anti-walkus1905 DN 3.69 nwAR, Antigodlin, antigoglin . . Diagonally. ‘We’ll have to go across antigodlin.’ Common. 1940 Sun (Baltimore MD) 21 Sept 10/7 (Hench Coll.), I have heard a farmer complain of a plow hand who got drunk, “Why, he couldn’t plow a straight furrow; he went antegoddlin’ across the field!” The word is not quite synonymous with cater-cornered, nor is diagonal an exact equivalent; it means, rather, off the true line that should be followed. 1958 McCulloch Woods Words 3 Pacific NW, Antigodlin’—Same as catty-corner; also used to mean any wandering from a straight path. 1962 Atwood Vocab. TX 94, Many other words of unknown distribution in the Eastern States are common in all or most of Texas; . . many of them are missing from southern Louisiana. Some of these are . . antigodlin. Ibid 116, Probably the main reason for the decline [among younger speakers] of . . antigodlin . . is that they are not sanctioned by dictionaries. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. MM14, . . “The drugstore is _____the gas station.”) Infs AR31, CA208, IL96, NC33, OK51, TX18, Antigodlin; LA28, MS20, Antigodlin across from; OK6, Antigodlin across; OK1, Annigodlin. 1968 Adams Western Words, Anti-godlin The cowboy’s description of diagonal or roundabout movement. 1970 Tarpley Blinky 272 neTX, To go from one corner of a field to another is to walk . . anti-godlin [by 19.5% of infs]. Ibid 273, The response heard most frequently among the least educated and the older informants outside the city is anti-godlin.

Antony-over n, exclam Also pronc-spp Antney-over, Antny-over, atni-over and simplexes Antony, Antny [Prob of Scots origin though earliest quot is US: cf EDD, SND] chiefly sAppalachians See Map Note: Antony-over is a now uncommon form for the game most commonly called anti-over. The shouts accompanying this game are generally the same as its name, and they share the same regional distributions. For common forms and varr of both the game and the shouts, see Andy-over, Annie-over, anti-i-over, anti-over; for less freq varr see also Andrew-over, ankety-over, and DS EE22, 23a.

A As noun. A children’s game in which a ball is thrown over a building to a player or players on the other side. The name of the game is usually shouted as the ball is thrown.1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 579, Antony Over, a game of ball played by two parties of boys, on opposite sides of a schoolhouse, over which the ball is thrown. Used in Pennsylvania. Antony is merely a proper name, . . and Over requires no explanation. a1883 (1911) Bagby VA Gentleman 15, You don’t know how . . to play “Ant’ny over.” 1897 KS Univ. Qrly. 6.85, Ante over or ant’ny over: name of a children’s game. 1899 (1912) Green VA Folk-Speech 67, Antony over. . . A game of ball played by two parties of boys on opposite sides of a house, over which the ball is thrown. 1899 (1906) Ade Doc’ Horne 118 Chicago IL, Why, he and the alligator moved the dresser out from the wall and began to play ‘ant’ny over’ with my eye. 1908 Fox Lonesome Pine 168 KY, The games were new to June, and often Hale would stroll up to the school-house to watch them—Prisoner’s Base, Skipping the Rope, Antny Over. 1915 DN 4.180 swVA. 1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.36, ‘Ant’ny Over’. . . game played at several schools in Avery county during the fall of 1917. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE22) 23 Infs, chiefly sAppalachians, Antny-over; NC17, 23, Antony-over; NC22, Antony; KY7, Atni-over. 1969 DARE Tape KY41, Antny-over—We get on one side with something, usually a yarn ball . . with a little somethin’ in the middle [that] would make it bounce and we’d throw it over and when we’d get ready to throw, we’d holler “Antny,” the one that had the ball. The other one on the other side’d say “over,” and they’d throw the ball over. . . If we caught the ball, then we had a right to run around to the other side . . and . . touch them [and] they had to come to our side.

B As exclamation. 1 In the game of Antony-over: the phrase called out when the ball is thrown over the building.1946 PADS 6.4 VA, NC, Antney over . . The full expression: “Antney, antney, and over she goes.” . . Common among teen-age children. 1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.36 NC (as of 1917), A member of the group having the ball calls, “Ant’ny!” someone on the other side then cries, “Over!” The first speaker calls out, “Over she comes!” and throws the ball over the roof. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE23a) 14 Infs, chiefly S Midl, Antny-over; WV1, 5, 13, Antny; NC22, Antony; GA72, “Antny.” The other side hollers “Over!”; GA77, “Antny.” The fellow on the other side says “Over!”; NC17, 22, Antony-over. 1966 Wilson Coll. csKY, [The] thrower shouted “Ant’ny,” receiver shouted “over,” then threw it [=the ball] back and shouted “Here she comes” or “Here comes.” 1969 DARE Tape KY41, When we’d get ready to throw, we’d holler “Antny!” . . The other one on the other side’d say “over,” and they’d throw the ball. 2 also Antny back: =pigtail exclam a.1967 DARE (Qu. EE23b, . . If you fail to get the ball over the building and it rolls back, what do you call out?) Inf GA72, Antny; GA77, Antny-back.

bealing n formerly more widespread, now chiefly Appalachians See Map An abscess or boil, esp in the ear.1824 in 1956 Eliason Tarheel Talk 259 swNC, Your negro woman Easther has been verry bad with a bealing on her brest. 1886 Amer. Philol. Assoc. Trans. 17.37 Sth, Bealing, a ‘boil or sore.’ Very common in East Tennessee, and known also in the West. 1902 DN 2.229 sIL. 1912 DN 3.571 wIN. 1914 DN 4.103 KS. 1927 AmSp 2.348 WV, He has a bad bealing on his hand. 1959 Hench Coll. VA Mts, A Ch[arlottes]ville V[irgini]a doctor said that “a bealing [is] an infection of the ear.” 1965–70 DARE (Qu. BB37, When yellowish stuff comes out of a person’s ear, he has a _____) 15 Infs, chiefly Appalachians, Bealin’; VA1, Bealin’ in his head; OH66, PA142, Bealing [15 of 18 Infs old]; (Qu. BB30, . . A hard, painful swelling . . under the skin) Infs OH50, PA74, Bealing; (Qu. BB33a, . . A swelling under the skin, bigger than a pimple, that comes to a head) Infs TN12, WV13, Bealing.

bear claw n Also bear’s claw, bear paw chiefly West, esp Pacific See Map A large sweet pastry shaped like a bear’s paw.1942 AN&Q 2.55 San Francisco CA, Another variety [of “snail” pastry], with raisin filling, is (from its shape) known as a “bear-claw.” 1946 AmSp 21.87 CA, Bearclaw—a sweet bread shaped something like its name implies. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H32, . . Fancy rolls and pastries) 60 Infs, chiefly West, Bear claws; IA13, MT5, WA3, Bear paws; CA87, NY94, Bear’s claws; (Qu. H28) Inf UT8, Bear claw. 1965 DARE File csWI, Bear claw—a type of sweet-roll, paw-shaped, with indentations along one side. Sold by bakeries. 1968 ID Enterprise (Malad City) 1 Feb 8/1, Hostess Bear Claws. . . 2 for 95¢. 1971 Bright Word Geog. CA & NV 177, Sweet roll . . [84 infs:] bear claw.

blue norther n Also infreq blue Texas norther, blue-tailed norther [blue adj 3 + norther a northerly wind] TX See Map See also norther Cf blue blizzard, blue darter 1, blue whistler 2 A cold wind from the north that brings rapidly falling temperatures.c1856 in 1947 AN&Q 7.144 TX, On page 187 of the second volume of Ordeal of the Union, Allan Nevins, treating of the cattle country of Texas, refers to a record (from the University of Texas Archives) written by an early cattle driver. The driver speaks of a “blew-tailed norther,” which he encountered on a cattle drive sometime around 1856. Such winds, he says, were “very common in Texas 40 to 60 years ago.” 1873 Morrell Flowers & Fruits 234 TX, A blue Texas norther whistled around my ears. 1942 Perry Texas 90, Even more Texan are the blue northers that sweep out of the Panhandle under a blue-black sky and sometimes slam the temperature down thirty or forty degrees in a single night. 1965 Teale Wandering Through Winter 160 TX, During one of our last days at Rockport, a blue norther struck. 1967–70 DARE (Qu. B18, . . Special kinds of wind) 16 Infs, TX, Blue norther. 1970 Tarpley Blinky 58 neTX, A strong cold wind from the north. . . Blue norther. 1980 AZ Highways Feb 2, Missing too [from the cowboy legend] are references to . . the icy grip of a “blue norther.”

buck buck n

1 also buck; buck, buck, how many . . up; bucket(t)y buck: A game usu in which one player climbs another’s back and requires that person to guess the number of certain objects out of sight; rarely buck a player in the game. [See quot 1969]1899 Champlin Young Folks’ Games 120, Buck, a game played by two person [sic], one of whom places his arms across his breast, or rests them on his knees, and bends forward, resting his head against a fence, tree, or wall. This is called “giving a back.” The other player sits astride the back of the first, and holding up one or more fingers, says, “Buck, Buck, how many horns do I hold up?” . . The “buck” is sometimes blindfolded, and a third person often acts as umpire, to see that there is fair play. . . In another form of the game, a child hides his head in another’s lap, and the latter says: “Mingledy, mingledy, clap, clap, clap, / How many fingers do I hold up?” 1949 AmSp 24.314 cVA, The game . . mummly, mummly, buck is known elsewhere. It has been played . . in central Virginia for three generations. . . The name for it there is bucketty buck. . . The words of the version that I know are: Bucketty buck, bucketty buck, / How many fingers do I hold up? 1957 Sat. Eve. Post Letters sePA, Buck buck, how many’s up: half of the players bent their backs; half of the players jumped on their backs. If they guessed correctly the number of players on their back, the benders became jumpers. Ibid MA, Game—Buck, buck, how many passengers have I got up. 1958 KY Folkl. Rec. 4.174 seKY, “Buckety Buck, Buckety Buck”—Two teams of boys, with one choosing to “face the wall,” that is, the leader with hands against the wall, next one with head between his legs and clasping his thigh, and so on. Then the Buckety Buck is formed, the others, one at a time, run and jump on the backs of it. When all are up, the one farthest up holds up some fingers of one hand and says: “Buckety buck, buckety buck, / How many fingers do I have up?” The one under him makes a guess. If he doesn’t get it right, they must still “face the wall.” If he gets the correct number of fingers, his team gets to ride the buckety buck. 1967–68 DARE (Qu. EE33, . . Outdoor games) Inf MD8, Buck, buck, how many horns are up? Player puts hands against wall, bends over; another person climbs on his back and holds up a number of fingers. “It” must guess how many. If he succeeds, rider becomes “it”; MA3, Buck buck: one player near lamppost; other players held the others’ waists. The end player would then leap onto the backs of the group and then ask the group how many fingers. [1969 Opie Children’s Games 298–99, A remarkable feature of this game is that its oral formula, including the meaningless word ‘buck,’ appears to have survived from classical antiquity. . . In The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter, written about A.D. 65, . . there is an incident at Trimalchio’s feast involving his favourite serving boy: ‘Trimalchio, not to seem moved by the loss, kissed the boy and bade him get on his back. Without delay the boy climbed on horseback on him, and slapped him on the shoulders with his hand, laughing and calling out “Bucca, bucca, quot sunt hic?”] 1971 AmSp 46.84 Chicago IL, Buck-buck-how-many-fingers-up.

2 A game in which one group of players climbs on the backs of a second group in order to build as large a pile as possible or to cause the supporting players to collapse. Nth, N Midl chiefly urban Also called buffalo heap, Johnny-on-the-pony, monkey pile1968 Chicago Daily Tribune (IL) 15 Sept mag sec 79, Buck buck. . . [is] a guy’s game. Big guys. O.K., two lines, two teams. First guy, No. 1 team, stand in front of the wall and brace your arms against it. Head down. All the way. Next guy, in back of him, arms on his shoulders, lean against him. Head on his back. O.K., next guy. One team, six guys. No. 2 team, first guy, start running—from across the street? O.K. Land on No. 1 team. Yeah, we held him. Next guy—run—jump—land. That’s two; we’re holding two. This next one’s a big kid, men. 1968–69 DARE (Qu. EE33, . . Outdoor games) Infs PA76, 94, Buck buck; PA133, Buck buck: team lines up against pole or fence; other team jumps on their backs, tries to break them down; RI11, Buck buck: boy leans against wall, people try to climb up on him. 1977–78 Foster Lexical Variation 43 NJ, The only example . . of a boy’s game is the anarchic pile on (Table 10). . . Omitted are five responses of buck buck, horse, or Johnny hump a pony, a game with more sophisticated rules but the same result. 1981 DARE File Chicago IL, To play buck buck, you see how many men you can pile on top of each other. Two guys on their hands and knees form the base. The trick is to know how to build the pile right so that other people on your team can climb up without tipping it over. The team with the most people on its pile wins.

calf-rope, holler v phr Also call calf-rope, cry ~, say ~, yell ~; also calf-rope exclam [Origin uncert] chiefly S Midl, Gulf States See Map Cf uncle Esp in children’s games: to give in, surrender; to capitulate.1878 Eggleston Roxy 44 sIN, [They] pummeled each other in a friendly way until the challenger, finding that his antagonist had entirely stopped respiration, was forced to “hollow calf-rope,” that is, to signify by gestures that he was beaten. 1906 DN 3.129 nwAR, Calf-rope [kæfrop]. . . I give up, I surrender. “I’ll give it to him till he yells calf-rope.” 1908 DN 3.296 eAL, wGA, I’ll make him say calf-rope. 1933 AmSp 8.1.31 nwTX, In an argument, rassel, or any sort of contest, a fellow could acknowledge his opponent’s superiority, and usually stop hostilities immediately, by saying calf-rope. In extreme cases, however, the conquered was made to spell it. Ibid 49 Ozarks, Holler calf-rope. . . To acknowledge oneself beaten. When one boy throws another down in a wrestling match, the defeated wrestler hollers calf-rope, usually by crying “enough” or “I give up.” 1942 Faulkner Go Down 109 nMS, That I reneged, cried calf-rope, sold my birthright, betrayed my blood, for what he calls not peace but obliteration, and a little food. 1950 WELS Suppl., Calf-rope [a response to the question] “Do you surrender?” [in] children’s tussles. At branding time new calves were chased, roped, trussed and rendered helpless for branding. Hence: “Calf-rope.” Used in Texas. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Calf rope—[The truce term in] a children’s game in which the winner forces the loser to scream “calf rope,” usually after the loser has had his arm twisted until it is almost sprained or broken. Ibid, To holler calf rope—to give up, surrender. “I made ’im yell calf rope. I beat ’at old head in for ’im.” c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Calf rope—Nuff! 1964 Wallace Frontier Life 97 cwOK (as of c1900), She [mother] said that someone “yelled calf rope” if he had given up or called for help. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE20, When two boys are fighting, and the one who is losing wants to stop, he calls out, “_____.”) 52 Infs, chiefly S Midl and Gulf States, Calf-rope; AL20, Calf-rope (old), uncle; GA86, I made him holler calf-rope; KY89, You win, calf-rope—when somebody twists your arm; LA2, Calf-rope [FW: Inf’s high school aged grandson had not heard of this]; OK31, Uncle (now), calf-rope (when I was young); TN8, Calf-rope (old-fashioned), help (modern); TN16, Let’s quit, I give up, calf-rope (more in rassling than in fighting); TX39, Calf-rope—This is what you make the other fellow say if you want to stop and you’re winning; very humiliating to have to say this; I give; TX42, Calf-rope—winner makes loser say this, or offers to stop pummeling; king’s ex; TX45, Calf-rope (old-fashioned) = I give up. 1976 Brown Gloss. Faulkner 44, Calf rope. . . One child seizes a handful of another’s hair (probably originally a girl’s pigtail) and keeps pulling until the victim says “calf rope.” From this usage, to say calf rope gets the general meaning of to “give in, surrender, admit defeat.”

chicken corn soup n, also attrib chiefly PA See Map Cf rivel 1 A soup made with chicken, corn and rivels (small pieces of egg and flour dumpling).1964 Amer. Heritage Cookbook 425, Chicken Corn Soup was a favorite in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where it was often served on picnics during the summer. A 4-pound stewing chicken . . 10 ears fresh corn . . Rivels: 1 cup flour Pinch of salt 1 egg Milk. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H36, Kinds of soup favored around here) 13 Infs, PA, Chicken corn soup; PA242, Chicken corn soup—corn, chicken and rivels (egg and flour drops like noodles); (Qu. H45, Dishes made with meat, fish, or poultry) Infs MD27, PA13, 22, 29, 150, Chicken corn soup; (Qu. H50, Dishes made with beans, peas, or corn) Infs MD27, PA18, 136, 150, 242, Chicken corn soup; (Qu. FF1, . . A “social”) Inf PA242, Chicken-corn-soup supper; (Qu. FF16, . . Local contests or celebrations) Inf PA7, Chicken-corn-soup supper.

Christmas gift exclam Pronc-spp or eye-dial C(h)ris’mus gif’, Christmas giff Also Christmas give, ~ box, ~ present, ~ treat, less freq, Christmas-Eve gift chiefly Sth, S Midl See Map Used as a greeting on Christmas day; orig the first person saying it received a present from the person(s) spoken to.[1844 Knickerbocker 23.16, Threatening to catch him for a Christmas gift next morning, [she] disappeared up the stairs.] 1881 Harris Uncle Remus Songs 44 GA [Black], I’m gwineter bounce in on Marse John en Miss Sally, en holler Chris’mus gif’ des like I useter. 1884 Harrison Negro Engl. 270 SE, To holler ‘Cris’mus gif’ = to cry ‘Christmas gift’. 1890 Howells Boy’s Town 112 OH, The first thing when you woke you tried to catch everybody, and you caught a person if you said “Christmas Gift!” before he or she did; and then the person you caught had to give you a present. Nobody ever said “Merry Christmas!” as people do now; and I do not know where the custom of saying “Christmas Gift” came from. It seems more sordid and greedy than it really was; the pleasure was to see who could say it first; and the boys did not care for what they got if they beat. 1903 DN 2.309 seMO, Christmas gift!. . . Merry Christmas! 1906 DN 3.130 nwAR, Christmas gift. . . Merry Christmas. Negroes and the lower class of whites use the expression literally as a begging formula. It is felt to be appropriate only on Christmas morning. In other cases it means nothing more than “Merry Christmas.” 1908 DN 3.298 eAL, wGA, Christmas gift. . . A greeting on Christmas morning. The person who is caught, i.e., who is greeted first, is expected to give a present to the one who catches him. The custom is passing away. 1915 DN 4.181 swVA, Christmas gift. 1946 PADS 6.9 VA, NC, cGA, Christmas gift. 1949 Kurath Word Geog. 80, In the the North and in most of the North Midland Merry Christmas! is the universal Christmas salutation, and this expression is now freely used by the younger generation in the South and the South Midland, especially in urban areas. The simple folk of the South and the South Midland still say Christmas gift! This salutation is also still heard from older people in southern Pennsylvania (from the Susquehanna westward) and is in rather common use in the Ohio Valley, in West Virginia as well as in Ohio. It seems fairly clear that both the South and the Midland had this expression from early times, and that Merry Christmas! has largely displaced Christmas gift! in Pennsylvania and on Delaware Bay in fairly recent times. 1950 PADS 14.19 SC, Christmas-give, -gift, -giff. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Christmas-Eve gift. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Christmas-Eve Gift! Formerly common as a greeting on Christmas Eve; usually a gift, like candy or nuts, was expected. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. FF10, . . To greet each other on Christmas morning) 183 Infs, chiefly Sth, S Midl, Christmas gift; GA70, MO20, TX98, Christmas-Eve gift; PA13, My Christmas gift; MD20, Christmas present; SC40, Christmas treat. 1970 Tarpley Blinky 233 neTX, Among the older informants, Christmas gift is the usual greeting heard early on Christmas morning. Christmas gift has increasing popularity as the level of education and size of community decline. . . Geographically, Christmas gift is most popular in the northeastern counties. [Reported by 49.5% of infs. Christmas present was given by less than 1%.] 1971 Wood Vocab. Change 40 Sth, The usual Christmas greeting is Merry Christmas. Less general but still reported is Christmas gift. A few of the choices in Tennessee and Georgia are Christmas box. Christmas gift, as natives of the region will point out, is a part of a Christmas morning game and thus has a different function from that of exchanging the greeting Merry Christmas.

cream cheese n

1 Cottage cheese. esp LA See Map1941 LANE Map 299, The map shows the terms cottage cheese . . cream ch. . . and Irish ch. . . denoting a kind of cheese made of the curds of whole or skim milk, curdled either naturally or artificially. . . Cream cheese is often described as finer and smoother than the other varieties. 1962 Atwood Vocab. TX 61, The southern Louisiana cream cheese (also meaning cottage cheese) has penetrated into, but not much beyond, the southeastern counties of Texas. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H60, The lumpy white cheese that is made from sour milk) 25 Infs, esp LA, Cream cheese. 1967 LeCompte Word Atlas 290 seLA, (Homemade cheese made out of milk curd)—Cream cheese [17 of 21 infs].

2 See quot.1968 DARE FW Addit New Orleans LA, Cream cheese: A breakfast dessert with cream over sour cheese—sugar is spread over it. [FW: This is neither cottage cheese nor what is sold commercially as “cream cheese”.]

dew poison n Also dew itch, ~ poisoning Pronc-sp dew pizen chiefly S Midl, esp sAppalachians Cf dew sore Any of various rashes or infections of the feet or legs, believed to be caused by dew; the presumed agent causing such rashes or infections; rarely, a foot disease of cattle.1912 Cobb Back Home 110 KY, He couldn’t even go barefooted in summer, because if he did his legs would be broken out all over with dew poison. 1922 (1926) Kephart Highlanders 303 sAppalachians, “Dew pizen,” presumably the poison of some weed, which, dissolved in dew, enters the blood through a scratch or abrasion. As a woman described it, “Dew pizen comes like a risin’, and laws-a-marcy how it does hurt! . . My leg swelled up black to clar above the knee. . . I lay on a pallet on the floor for over a month. . . I’ve seed persons jest a lot o’ sores all over, as big as my hand, from dew pizen.” 1946 PADS 6.11 eNC, Dew poison. . . Sores on the feet, usually between the toes; caused by parasitic mites. Among bare-footed boys. . . Common. 1954 PADS 21.25 SC, Dew poison [dɪu, dʒu-] . . Ringworm on the feet, especially on the toes; athlete’s foot; an infection caused by hookworm. Upcountry. In the Pee Dee this is called foot itch. 1960 Hall Smoky Mt. Folks 50 eTN, wNC, St. John weeds wet with dew . . will cause “sores and risin’s” (“dew poisoning”) on the skin. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Dew poison. . . Ringworm on the feet. Some cases may be hookworm. Also called ground-itch (eetch) or toe-itch. 1966–70 DARE (Qu. BB25, . . Common skin diseases) Inf SC32,Dew itch; KY34, Dew poison; SC3, Dew poisoning; (Qu. K28, . . Diseases that cows have) Inf KY86, Dew poison—same as foot or hoof rot. c1974 Jones Ozark Hill Boy 10 AR (as of c1920), We went barefooted all summer and our stumped toes were too sore to bear shoes until almost Christmas. . . We always expected to have cold frost-bitten toes, blistered with dew poison before the first snow fell.

ditch v

1 tr, intr: To leave or stay out of (school) without permission; to be truant. esp c,sCA See Mapc1939 in 1984 Lambert–Franks Voices 72 OK, Us kids would ditch school and go bum a ride off some truck driver and fool around out in the field all day long. 1942 Berrey–Van den Bark Amer. Slang 839.2, Absent Oneself; “Cut” Class. . . Ditch. Ibid 839.3, Play Truant. Ditch—, skip . . school. c1950 Atlas Checklists WV, Ditch school. [Used by] Black male, 31 years old. Mostly Bluefield State College. 1960 PADS 34.44 nCO, Ditch school ‘play hookey.’ 1965–70 DARE (Qu. JJ6, To stay away from school without an excuse) Infs CA1, 14, 80, 96, 135, 177, 183, OH84, Ditch; CA59, 66, CO39, IL44, 59, Ditch school. [6 of 13 Infs young] 1967 DARE FW Addit IL, High School student says to ditch school is to stay away without an excuse. 1971 Bright Word Geog. CA & NV 200 c, sCA, He . . skipped class . . ditched. 1978 DARE File sCA (as of 1940–59), In Long Beach, California, we always spoke of ditching school. Playing hookey was our parents’ and teachers’ term. “I ditched school today. Did you ditch too?” someone might say. 1982 Grit (Williamsport PA) 4 July 17, He’ll think back to the days when he wouldn’t have minded “ditching school” and going fishing instead. 1984 DARE File AZ, The boys decided to _____ school one day: ditch. 1986 Capital Times (Madison WI) 27 Mar 14/5 CO, He is their high school’s biggest jerk. He treats others shabbily, ditches and fails most of his classes, . . and bullies anyone who will tolerate it.

2 See quot.1967 DARE (Qu. Y18, To leave in a hurry: “ . . We’d better _____.”) Inf CO27, Ditch.

dropped egg n Also drop egg [Prob from Scots dial; cf SND drap v. 5. (2) (b) 1824 →] chiefly NEng See Map somewhat old-fash A poached egg.1884 Harper’s New Mth. Mag. 69.306/1 MA, Martha was . . eating her toast and a dropped egg. 1896 (c1973) Farmer Orig. Cook Book 93, Dropped Eggs (Poached). 1933 Hanley Disks neMA, Dropped egg—take and put a pan of milk on the stove and boil and drop the egg in and let it cook. 1941 LANE Map 295 (Poached Eggs), throughout NEng, Dropped eggs. . . 1 inf, ceVT, Drop eggs. 1948 Peattie Berkshires 323 wMA, In Berkshire . . you could not get a poached egg, but you could get a “dropped” egg, which was the same thing. 1965 PADS 43.24 seMA, 6 [infs] poached eggs, 4 [infs] dropped eggs, 1 [inf] dropped egg on toast. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H35, When eggs are taken out of the shell and cooked in boiling water, you call them _____eggs) 40 Infs, chiefly NEng, Dropped; NH15, Dropped egg on toast. [33 of 41 Infs old] 1975 Gould ME Lingo 82, Dropped egg—Maine for poached egg, usually on toast. 1977 Yank ee Jan 73 Isleboro ME, The people on Isleboro eat dropped eggs instead of poached.

duck on a rock n Also duck on (the) rock, ducky on a (or the) rock, duck the rock, duck off (the rock), dock on the rock, duke on a rock [Engl dial duck a stone used in games] chiefly Nth, N Midl, West See Map old-fash Also called duck n 1, duck on davy, ducks and drakes 3, duckstone Cf double duck A game in which each player throws a stone to try to knock another stone off a rock; see quots.1878 Harper’s New Mth. Mag. 56.258/1 NY, ‘Duck on the rock’ . . is far ahead of polo, pallone, lawn tenis [sic], or Aunt Sally. . . The first thing to do . . is to find a rock and a duck, also some smaller stones. . . put this largest stone on the grass—so; that is our rock; now this smaller pointed one on the top of it; that is our duck. You see, we are each to take a stone, stand off as far as you like, and aim at the duck. If you succeed in knocking it off, you must run and get your stone and be back at the home before the duck is placed in position. 1883 Newell Games & Songs 189, Duck on a Rock. . . The drake is a good-sized stone, which is placed on an elevated position, or boulder. . . The “ducks” are stones about the size of the fist. The object is to knock the drake off the rock. 1905 DN 3.78 nwAR. 1923 Acker 400 Games 109, Duck on a Rock. . . Each player has a “duck”—a fair-sized stone. A large rock is chosen as the duck rock and a throwing line is marked off twenty feet from this rock. 1950 WELS (Games in which you set up a stone . . and try to knock it down) 12 Infs, Duck on a rock; 13 Infs, Duck on the rock; 1 Inf, Ducky on a rock; 2 Infs, Ducky on the rock; 1 Inf, Duck off the rock; 1 Inf, Duck off. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Duck on the Rock—common children’s game. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE18, Games in which the players set up a stone . . and then try to knock it down) 152 Infs, chiefly Nth, N Midl, West, Duck on a rock; 21 Infs, chiefly Nth, Duck on the rock; OR6, PA234, Ducky on a rock; IN69, NJ2, OH98, Ducky on the rock; UT3, Duck on rock; IL35, NY68, Dock on the rock; IN58, Duke on a rock; MA100, Duck the rock. [Of all Infs responding to the question, 65% were old; of those giving these responses, 82% were old.] 1966 DARE File neIL, Dock on the rock. A children’s game, reported by sixty-four-year-old woman. 1966 DARE Tape MA118, One of the main things was duck on the rock. . . We’d put one small rock on top of the big rock and then we had to stand back with rocks; we all took rocks about the same size, and we stood in a line and see if we could hit that one off the top.

elbedritsch n Usu |ˈɛlbəˌdrɪč, ˈælbə-| Also sp elbedritsche, dimin elbedritschel; occas elfedritsch, -trich; elde(r)britsch; elpentrecher; albedritsch, -tritsch; albertwitsch; for addit varr see quot 1967–70 [PaGer, from Ger Elbe(n)tritsch; see 1960 Hessische Blätter für Volkskunde 51/52 Textteil pp 170–217, esp 208–212; perh also infl by Scots eldritch weird, unnatural] sePA See Map Cf snipe hunt An imaginary creature which, as a practical joke, a greenhorn is sent to hunt or capture.1889 AN&Q 3.115/1 PA, Catching Elfetriches.—Among the “Pennsylvania Dutch” this expression would imply playing a trick upon a person, or making an April fool of him. The “elfetrich” is described as a small animal, like a rat or a squirrel, which can only be caught on a dark night, and in due time the hunter discovers that it is a humbug. 1935 AmSp 10.170 PA, Other German words used in English are . . elbedritsch, a mythological creature (to go elbedritsch hunting is equivalent to going snipe hunting in the Middle West—someone is left holding the bag). 1950 Klees PA Dutch 336, If a young man sufficiently guileless turns up, he’ll be set to catching an elbedritsche, a mythical animal now extinct. . . The difficulties of catching an elbedritsche are dwelt upon in loving detail. Almost grudgingly the old men consent to the young man joining the hunt. The greenhorn is given a bag in which to catch one and taken far off . . and stationed behind a rock or tree while the old men separate—or so he is given to understand—to drive the elbedritsches toward him. There he is left literally holding the bag. 1953 AmSp 28.245 sePA, To go elpentrecher hunting . . denotes waiting, burlap bag in hand, to snare the shy and elusive elpentrecher, as time-consuming an occupation as snipe hunting in other parts of the Union. 1959 Tallman Dict. Amer. Folkl. 105, Elbedritsche—A mythological animal that young men of the Pennsylvania Dutch use as a device for fooling naive or guileless visitors. 1967–70 DARE (Qu. CC17, Imaginary animals or monsters that people around here tell tales about—especially to tease greenhorns) Infs PA22, 29, 36, 45, 54, Albedritsches; PA36, They would give them a stick and light; when they [i.e., albedritsches] ran to this light, they were to hit them with a huge stick; PA11, Albertwitsch [ˈælbɚtˌwɪč]; PA150, Eldebritsches [ˈɛldəˌbrɪčəs]; PA162, Elbedritschel [ˈɛlbəˌdrɪčəl]—little animal; must have a partner, give him a burlap bag—only found on the coldest night; PA243, Elfedritsches [ˈɛlfədrɪčəs]—small creatures, can be caught in a bag; initiate is left holding the bag in woods, waiting for elfedritsches; (Qu. EE33, Other outdoor games) Inf PA22, Albedritsch [ˈælbɪdrɪtč] hunts; (Qu. HH14, Ways of teasing a beginner) Inf PA11, Albetritsches [ˈælbɪˌtrɪčəz]; PA242, Elderbritsches—[we] left a novice standing holding bag expecting elderbritsches to run by. 1967 DARE Tape PA64, There’s nothing like it. But they made him believe it. . . They gave him a big bag and he had to go out and hunt that albedritsch [ˈælbəˌdrɪč]. . . That’s an old one. 1987 Jrl. Engl. Ling. 20.2.169 ePA, Elbedritsch ‘a mythical creature often referred to as snipe’. . . Even though 49% of the [100] subjects acknowledged using elbedritsch, the large number of speakers who left the question blank demonstrates a growing unfamiliarity with the concept.

feel one’s keeping v phr Also feel one’s keep(ings) [keeping support, food, provision] chiefly S Midl somewhat old-fash To be in good health and spirits; to feel confident, ambitious.1927 AmSp 2.354 wcWV, Feel his keeping . . to be in excellent physical condition. “If he is feeling his keeping so well, give him some more work to do.” 1942 Berrey–Van den Bark Amer. Slang 128.2, Be in good health. . . feel one’s keeping. 1966–69 DARE (Qu. GG19a, When you can see from the way a person acts that he’s feeling important or independent: “He surely is _____these days.”) Infs AL28, AR39, Feeling his keeping; LA12, He feels his keeping; NJ57, Feeling his keep (like a well fed animal); (Qu. KK28, Feeling ambitious and eager to work) Inf GA72, Feelin’ his keepin’; AR31, Feelin’ his keepin’s. [5 of 6 Infs old]

feest adj Also sp feast, fees [Du vies dirty, filthy; particular, fastidious] chiefly in Du settlement areas, esp NY, N Cent

1 usu with of: Disgusted with; sated by; made nauseous by; nauseated; see also quot 1932.1859 (1968) Bartlett Americanisms 142, Feast. A corruption of the Dutch vies, nice, fastidious. “I’m feast of it,” is a literal translation of the Dutch Ik ben er vies van, i.e. I am disgusted with, I loathe it. A New York phrase, mostly confined to the descendants of the Dutch. 1903 DN 2.351, Feest. . . Used in Iowa, s.e., in the expression, ‘I am feest of it.’ Also, ‘It makes me feest,’ the word feest in this latter sentence being the equivalent of sick or ad nauseam. 1904 DN 2.396 NY, Feest [fist], adj. Sated. “I was feest of it,” referring to maple sugar, of which the speaker had eaten a large quantity. The word or expression was formerly common in central N.Y., but is now almost obsolete. 1932 Smiley Gloss. New Paltz seNY, In speaking of something that he was almost afraid of Herb Smith used the expression that he was “feast of it”. . . It seems to mean being afraid or more particularly leery of a thing or situation. 1933 Ibid , You ain’t feast to eat anything she cooks. 1943 AmSp 18.111, Marjorie Heebink of Baldwin, Wisconsin, writes that ‘The expression I am fees (with no t) of that is very common in this Dutch community. It is used to indicate strong repugnance, usually of food. 1966 DARE File nNJ, “I’m feest of that” means I’m revolted by that.

2 Untidy, unkempt; filthy.1901 DN 2.140 cnNY, Feest . . Untidy, not clean. “Her house is just feest.” St. Lawrence Co., N.Y.; heard from a lady who formerly lived in Canada. 1969 DARE (Qu. X52, . . A person . . who had been sick was looking _____) Inf MI103,Fees [fis]. That’s Dutch, meaning greasy, unkempt. [Inf old, of Du ancestry] 1985 DARE File ceWI, “That room is fees!” means that it is absolutely filthy. [Inf of Du ancestry]

first-footer n [N Engl and Scots dial; cf EDD, SND] The first person to enter a home on New Year’s Day; a visitor on New Year’s Day or another special occasion; also first-footing visiting or being the first to enter a home on New Year’s Day.1961 Sackett–Koch KS Folkl. 187, New Year’s Day custom called “first-footing,” which consisted of taking a basket containing wine and fruitcake and calling on all your friends early in the morning New Year’s Day and having a drink of wine and a piece of fruitcake at each house. 1967 Cerello Dakota Co. MN 58, This shortbread is like my grandmother made to give to first footers when they came to call on Hogmanay. . . When we were first married and moved to Coates we had forty first footers call on us our first weekend in town. . . There was always something special about greeting first footers after the new year had begun. [Cerello: A custom brought by the Scotch-Irish settlers in the 1870s; now obsolescent.] 1967 DARE Tape MN2, Dad used to do what they always called first-footing. On New Year’s he would be the first one to come in the door—[what] they’d call the first-footer. He would go out and come in with a bottle of wine and some pennies and some biscuits or cookies or something . . in his hand and then he’d give everybody a penny; that was supposed to be luck. . . They wanted somebody who was lucky to be the first footer. Dad was pretty lucky about winning things, and so he was usually the one that did the first footing.

flannel cake n Also rarely flannen cake [OED (at flannel sb. 6) 1792; cf EDD flannel sb. 3 “A coarse oatcake”; SND flannen bannock, flannen biscuit] chiefly Appalachians See Map and Map Section Cf battercake 1 A pancake.1847 Briggs Tom Pepper 1.112 (DAE), A very delicate species of food, which I tasted then for the first time, called flannel cakes. 1895 DN 1.388 KY, NC, Flannen cakes. 1932 (1946) Hibben Amer. Regional Cookery 21, Flannel Cakes. . . In Mississippi these are eaten for breakfast or supper with sausage or chicken hash; towards the end of the meal they are served with syrup. 1941 LANE Map 289 sNEng, Flannel cake [is used by 3 infs]. 1946 PADS 5.22 VA, Flannel cake. . . A pancake; mostly west of the Blue Ridge, also on Chesapeake Bay. 1949 Kurath Word Geog. 69, Flannel cake (flannen cake) seems to be an old Pennsylvania term. It is in regular use from the Susquehanna to the Alleghenies and in the adjoining part of Maryland, including Baltimore. It has been carried southward into the Blue Ridge and along Chesapeake Bay, and westward to the upper Ohio River. In the Pennsylvania German area and the vicinity of Philadelphia flannel cake still has some currency but has been yielding ground to hot-cake and pancake. 1951 AmSp 26.253 NY, Eastern Pennsylvania [words found in Upstate NY] . . flannel cakes (pancakes). 1953 AmSp 28.249 sPA, Flannel Cakes. . . Hot cakes, griddlecakes. Not applied to buckwheat cakes or corncakes. In general use. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H20b) 17 Infs, chiefly Appalachians, Flannel cakes; MD17, Flannel cakes—same as pancakes, wheat cakes, and flapjacks; the standard wheat pancakes; MD28, Flannel cakes—usually made with sour milk and soda; NY1, Flannel cakes—made with corn meal; PA110, Flannel cakes are thick—[we] slice them; VA33, Flannel cakes are made of the same dough as waffles; WI49, Flannel cakes—very puffy [Inf has read of them]; WV8, Flannel cakes—made thicker than flapjacks. 1973 Allen LAUM 1.283 Upper MW (as of c1950), Flannel cakes, an old Pennsylvania term likely to have been carried by the Scotch-Irish down the Shenandoah Valley, is used by . . [4 infs] with Midland backgrounds.

flea in one’s ear n [OED c1430 →] chiefly NEast See Map old-fash A hint, warning, disquieting disclosure; a rebuke.1822 Irving Bracebridge 1.229 NY, If you had taken a friend’s advice, you’d never have come away from Doncaster races with a flea in your ear! 1927 AmSp 2.362 wcWV, To warn a friend against treachery. “I will put a flea in his ear when I see him again.” [1933 Cobb Murder 213 seNY, I think possibly I may have a flea to put in his ear.] 1948 Funk Hog on Ice 181, To be sent away with a flea in the ear indicated that one had received a sharp and stinging reproof or rebuff, often wholly unexpected. . . Now we use it to carry no greater meaning than that of warning. 1950 WELS (“He didn’t guess that she was up to anything, but I _____.”) 2 Infs, WI, Put a flea in his ear. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Put a bug (flea) in his ear: To give a hint. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. JJ27, To give somebody a hint for his own good: “He had no idea that she was up to anything, but I put _____.”) 30 Infs, chiefly NEast, A flea in his ear. [25 Infs old]

flug n Also sp phlug Dust or lint that collects in pockets, under beds, and in similar places; also fig.1934 Wylie Finnley Wren 301 neNJ, The ones we talked about. Where are they now? What are they doing? Bitter fragments on the Lethe. Chips and gobbets. Human flug. 1952 We’re Not Married [Movie] (DAS at phlug), Did you drop some flug in my cup? 1952 San Francisco Examiner (CA) 4 Dec 33/1, [Herb Caen’s column, subtitle:] Pocketful of flug. 1970 DARE File, Flug [flʌ:g]—dust curls under furniture. Heard from “Southern people” in California. 1973 San Francisco Chronicle (CA) 19 Nov 29/1 [Herb Caen’s column], In answer to questions from a few mildly interested readers, “phlug” is the stuff that collects in the pockets of aging suits and overcoats. 1980 DARE File NYC (as of 1930s), As for phlug, or flug, in high school and college this was (specifically) the lint that collected in the navel. 1982 Smithsonian Letters KS, A friend from Kansas calls the dust rolls “flug.”

flying jenny n Also flying jinny, ~ jinnie, ~ ginny [jenny 1, prob from its earliest form being a pole that was ridden astride (see 1a quot 1946)]

1 An amusement device in which riders are whirled in a horizontal circle; a merry-go-round; spec:a Any of various simple contrivances in which the riders supply the motive power. chiefly Sth, S Midl See Map Also called flying board, ~ Dutchman 3, ~ frappy, ~ horse 1b, ~ sally, jenny 6, spinning jenny, whirling ~ 1876 in 1969 PADS 52.52 neIL, We had a spring board flying jinnie etc we had lots of fun. 1916 DN 4.268 New Orleans LA, NC, Flying jinny. . . A home-made form of carousel. 1940 Hench Coll. VA, Flying jenny or jinny. [Drawing shows a pole with a rotating hub at the top, from which hang ropes or chains; children run holding on to these and are swung outwards by centrifugal force.] 1946 PADS 6.14 eNC, Flying jenny. . . A sixteen-foot pole five inches in diameter with a hole through the center. In this hole was a wooden or metal peg, which rested on a stump or some other wooden foundation. The jinny was rotated by some children while others rode it. 1954 PADS 21.28 SC, Flying jinny. 1958 PADS 29.10 TN, Flying jinny. . . It was a wheel or board on a post on which people rode round and round. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Flying-jenny. . . Sometimes made by cutting down a slender sapling and using the stump for the base, the rest of the tree for the moving part. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE32, A homemade merry-go-round) 107 Infs, chiefly Sth, S Midl, Flying jenny (or jinny); (Qu. EE31) Inf GA44, Flying jenny. 1966–67 DARE Tape FL8, The board that was put on this stump was a wide board . . , and a hole was bore into that, and then to hold onto the stump you’d need a long iron pin. . . The pin held it on the stump. . . It was known as a flying jinny. . . A child would sit on either end. It would just whirl round. . . A third person was usually needed to push; TX3, [Inf:] They called ’em flying jennies, where they turned round. [FW:] Was it something up on a pole, that they could go round on that way? [Inf:] Yes. . . It was a seat that turned around and around like that. 1969 PADS 52.52 LA, [Footnote to flying jinnie:] Saw off a straight, four or five-inch-thick tree about two and a half feet from the ground; whittle the top of the stump to form a pivot several inches high; trim the tree trunk to form a long pole; bore a hole through the pole at the point of balance; place the bored pole on the pivot. This piece of makeshift playground equipment was used as a combination seesaw and merry-go-round. 1980 Foxfire 6 201 nGA, Mack Dickerson remembers a small oak stump about four feet high. They used a plank with a hole drilled in the center. The flying jenny would last longer when they used axle grease. b A carnival ride powered by an animal or motor. Also called flying horse 1a1906 DN 3.136 nwAR, Flying jinny. . . A merry-go-round. Originally the propelling power was furnished by a mule. 1908 DN 3.311 eAL, wGA, Flyin(g)-jinny. . . A merry-go-round. Universal. 1939 FWP Guide TN 168 (as of c1869), Thoni designed and carved the first wooden animals to stand upon a “Flying Jenny” (merry-go-round). 1945 Sat. Eve. Post 9 June 17/3, Today, the carrousel—or “flying jinny” as she is known in the trade—is lighted by as many as 2200 electric bulbs. 1953 AmSp 28.116 [Carnival talk], Flying Jenny. 1959 Faulkner Mansion 317 MS, Them frustrated dogs [were] circling round and round the automobile like the spotted horses and swan boats on a flying jenny. [1978 AmSp 53.198 cwAR, I can remember they had those merry-go-rounds pulled by a mule, a jenny. . . They had little double seats with a tent hung over it, and this jenny was inside.]

2 See quot.1930 Shoemaker 1300 Words 23 cPA Mts (as of c1900), Flying-ginny—A small wind-mill, sometimes used at mountain communities to draw water or run a chop-mill.

fox and geese n Also fox and goose

1 also fox: A board game in which markers represent geese and a fox or foxes; usu the fox can capture geese by jumping them, while the geese try to hem in the fox so it cannot move or jump. [OED 1633 →]1825 Neal Brother Jonathan 1.7 CT, Peters had beaten him . . first in argument . . ; then, at fox and geese; then, at morris; then, at checkers, or draughts. a1874 in 1949 PADS 11.32 cME, She beat me bad at fox and geese,/ But I beat her at morris. 1949 (1958) Stuart Thread 96 KY, We made our fox-and-goose boards and we played with white, yellow, and red grains of corn. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Fox and geese. . . Table game played with corn grains and on a specially made board. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. DD37, . . Table games played . . by adults) Infs IL73, NY101, NC31, 54, PA63, VT16, WI26, WV7, Fox and geese; OK1, TN14, VA27, Fox and goose; AL32, Fox and geese—two fox and twenty geese. Try to hem the fox up. If the fox jumps the geese, he takes [them]; (Qu. EE38a) Inf IN19, Fox and geese; NC72, Fox and goose; VA24, Fox; (Qu. EE39) Inf NC72, Fox and goose; KY89, Fox and geese; KY40, Fox and goose—old-fashioned. Two foxes and twenty-two geese. Geese would try to trap foxes while foxes tried to get geese. Played with corn kernels. 1967 DARE FW Addit LA1, Fox and geese—played with grains of corn or buttons on a cardboard court. The fox chased the geese and the geese tried to hem the fox in. 1969 DARE Tape KY5, Fox an’ goose. . . Fox would be over here in this corner . . he could go anywhere he wanted to but the old goose, you’d have to move it a certain way all the time. 1980 Foxfire 6 285 nGA, Fox and Geese . . was usually played at the mill while people were waiting to have their corn ground. . . The miller was usually the fox and he was usually the winner because he got so much practice at it.

2 also fox and the geese, ~ goose, fox-and-goose ring, fox-the-goose: A tag game in which “foxes” chase “geese” in a wheel-shaped network of paths, usu marked out in deep snow. [Similar tag games, but without the marked paths, are called fox and geese in Engl dial] chiefly Nth, N Midl, Plains States, Rocky Mts See Map1846 Knickerbocker 27.279, Recollections of early school-days; . . fox-and-geese in the deep snow, ‘by the whole company.’ 1950 WELS (Games played in the snow) 34 Infs, WI, Fox and (the) geese; 8 Infs, Fox and (the) goose; [1 Inf, Fox chasing the goose]. [Only 9 of 52 Infs did not mention this game; 22 described it as in quot 1953.] 1953 Brewster Amer. Nonsinging Games 54 WI, Fox and Geese. . . The base and the paths . . are made by trampling down the snow. . . The center spot . . is the “hen house.” . . The “fox” tries to tag any “goose” who may try to stray from this safety zone. Both fox and geese must stay on the paths at all times. If the former succeeds in tagging a goose, the latter becomes a fox and must aid the captor. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, Fox and geese. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE26, . . Games . . children play in the snow) 286 Infs, chiefly Nth, N Midl, Plains States, Rocky Mts, Fox and geese; 15 Infs, scattered N Cent, West, Fox and goose; 8 Infs, 4 MO, Fox and the goose (or geese), CA136, Fox-and-goose ring; IL63, Fox-the-goose; (Qu. EE27, Games played on the ice) 14 Infs, scattered Nth, N Midl Fox and (the) geese; NJ1, Fox and goose; (Qu. EE2) Infs IA9, MA42, NY232, Fox and geese—played in snow; CO14, Fox and geese—a pie-shaped thing with alleys; (Qu. EE33) Inf NY52, Fox and geese—played in the snow. Tread a circle with spokes. The fox tried to catch somebody before they got back to the center hub; (Qu. EE1) Inf MI92, Fox and geese—winter game.

3 also the fox and the goose: A tag game in which the “geese” form a line and the “fox” tries to tag the hindmost “goose.”1885 Warner Wide World 315, There was a general call for “the fox and the goose.” . . [The fox’s] business was to catch the train of the goose, one by one, as each in turn became the hindmost; while her object was to baffle him and keep her family together, meeting him with outspread arms at every rush he made to seize one of her brood. 1909 (1923) Bancroft Games 92, Fox and geese. . . One player is chosen to be fox and another to be gander. The remaining players all stand in single file behind the gander, each with his hands on the shoulders of the one next in front. . . Only the last goose in the line may be tagged. . . A good deal of spirit may be added to the game by the following dialogue, which is sometimes used to open it: . . “Geese, geese, gannio!” . . “Fox, fox, fannio!” . . “How many geese have you today?” . . “More than you can catch and carry away.”

4 =fox in the morning 1.1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.79, Three or four of the best runners challenge the crowd to a game of Fox and Geese. Bases are arranged and the challengers are foxes, while the rest of the players are geese. The foxes call from their base: “Goosey goosey gander!”/ Geese: Fox over yander./ Foxes: How many geese you got?/ Geese: More’n you can catch./ The geese all run out and the foxes chase them.

5 A children’s ring game, perh duck duck goose or a variant of it.1950 WELS (Games in which the players form a ring and either sing or recite a rhyme) 3 Infs, WI, Fox and geese; 1 Inf, Fox and goose. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. EE2, Games that have one extra player—when a signal is given, the players change places, and the extra one tries to get a place) 34 Infs, scattered, but esp Nth, N Midl, Fox and geese; (Qu. EE1, . . Games . . in which they form a ring, and either sing or recite a rhyme) Infs IA3, NJ6, PA71, Fox and geese; OH1, Fox and geese—like drop the handkerchief; WI47, Fox and geese—same game [as EE2]; WI70, Fox and geese—no rhyme or song. [Note: It is possible that some of these Infs are in fact referring to fox and geese 2 or some other game.]

6 A children’s game played in the water.1906 DN 3.136 nwAR, Fox and goose. . . A game played in the water. 1967–69 DARE (Qu. EE28, Games played in the water) Infs AL2, IL45, OH87, PA26, 104, Fox and geese; MO2, Fox and goose; CO21, Fox and geese—“it” [was] on bank, geese had to come out; CT5, Fox and geese—also played on dry land.

7 A children’s hiding game.1968–70 DARE (Qu. EE12, Games in which one captain hides his team and the other team tries to find it) Infs CA174, MD33, NJ48, PA134, Fox and geese [DARE Ed: Two Infs were doubtful about this resp.]; CT6, Fox and geese—one group of foxes tries to find group of geese; (Qu. EE13a, Games in which every player hides except one) Inf KY80, Fox and geese = hide-and-go-seek.

French harp n

1 A harmonica. chiefly W Midl, TX, Cent See Map1891 Riley Swimmin’-Hole 11 IN, A slice of worter-melon’s like a frenchharp in theyr hands. 1905 DN 3.80 nwAR, French harp. . . Harmonica. Common. 1908 DN 3.313 eAL, wGA. 1912 DN 3.568 MS, MO. 1915 DN 4.183 swVA. c1940 Hall Coll. wNC, eTN, I was told of an accomplished player . . known as ‘French Harp’ Slim, who . . has made some phonograph records. 1958 Humphrey Home from the Hill 51 neTX, And from his jumper pocket he would draw his battered old French-harp . . and sound a chord. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, French harp. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. FF7, A small musical instrument that you blow on, and move from side to side in your mouth) 182 Infs, chiefly W Midl, TX, Cent, French harp; (Qu. HH30) Infs KY78, TX1, VA42, French harp. 1973 Allen LAUM 1.207 (as of c1950), Mouth harp . . dominates the Midland speech area [in the Upper Midwest] except for the extreme southeastern sector, where South Midland speech is typical and where the accepted form is French harp. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance (Harmonica) 336 infs, chiefly inland Gulf Region, eTX, French harp(s).

2 A jew’s harp.1965–70 DARE (Qu. FF8) Infs AL10, AR47, IL60, 82, KS18, MS84, PA94, 247, WA18, French harp. 1971 Wood Vocab. Change 40 Sth, A harp with a kind of tine which is plucked while one blows against it, is known first as a jew’s harp and second as a juice harp. . . French harp is not reported in Florida [but occurs occasionally in the other seven Sthn states investigated]. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance (Jew’s harp) 5 infs, Gulf Region, French harp(s).

fritz, on the adj phr, adv phr [Orig unknown] chiefly Nth See Map Cf kaput B Out of order; in (or into) a state of disrepair or ruin.1903 R. L. McCardell Conversat. Chorus Girl 15 (OEDS), They gave an open air [performance] that put our opera house show on the Fritz. 1905 (1906) Green At the Actors’ Boarding House 359 NYC, What with me ketchin’ ’em cookin’ spaghetti on the gas an’ tearin’ up the bedspreads to use fur makeup towels, they’re puttin’ the place on the fritz! 1919 Kyne Capt. Scraggs 73 CA, I got my arms left, even if my feet is on the fritz. 1950 WELS (“My sewing machine is _____.”) 8 Infs, WI, On the fritz. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. KK19, . . Temporarily out of order: “My sewing machine _____.”) 75 Infs, chiefly Nth, Is on the fritz; MA54, Went on the fritz; (Qu. KK20b, Something that looks as if it might collapse any minute: “Our old washing machine is _____.”) 10 Infs, Nth, On the fritz; [NY86, Fritz;] (Qu. BB20, . . Overactive kidneys) Inf AZ2, Waterworks on the fritz. 1980 Milwaukee Jrl. (WI) 3 July Green Sheet 2/1 nwOH, Today our TV set began acting up with the picture all scrambled. Dad fiddled with the controls, as he always does, but finally said: “This time it’s really on the fritz. We’ll have to call the repairman.”

frowy adj¹ Also sp froughy, frowey [frough, frow brittle, fragile] chiefly NEng

1 Esp of wood: spongy, brittle; inferior. arch Cf DS KK71816 Pickering Vocab. 97, Froughy . . is in very common use in many parts of New England. . . It is doubtless a corruption of Frough. . . “Frough; loose, spungy; Frough wood; brittle.” Ray’s North Country Words. 1857 (1949) Thoreau Jrl. 10.14 MA, A lumberer called some timber “frowy.” 1889 (1971) Farmer Americanisms 255, Froughty [sic—prob erron for froughy].—Spongy, brittle, or, in fact, applied to anything that is of inferior quality. A North of England provincialism, and colloquial in New England.

2 Rancid; spoiled; musty, foul-smelling. Cf frousty 1, frowzy1848 Bartlett Americanisms 150, Frough. Froughy. . . ‘Froughy butter,’ is rancid butter. [Froughy] . . is in common use in many parts of New England. 1866 Stowe Little Foxes 253 NEng, Mrs. Dayton is a decent housekeeper, and so her bread be not sour, her butter not frowy. 1913 DN 4.4 ME, Frowy. . . Partly decomposed and ill-smelling. 1916 DN 4.302 CT, MI, MA, Frowy. . . Rancid. 1932 DN 6.283 CT, Frowy plate. “One with grease under the glaze; when it is warm you can smell it.” 1941 LANE Map 306, Meat that has begun to decay or ‘go bad’. . . 1 inf, ceMA, Frowy, mother’s term for spoiled sausage meat or for salt pork beginning to smell; 1 inf, swMA, Frowy, of pork. Ibid, 12 infs, chiefly swNEng, Frowy [of rancid butter]. 1943 AN&Q 3.7/2 NEng (as of c1925), Frowey (spoiled). 1959 VT Hist. new ser 27.136, Frowey. . . Rancid, as in lard or butter. Rare. Washington; Windsor. 1965 Needham–Mussey Country Things 135 VT, One time he come out in the morning, and the air was frowy with skunk, and he said it smelled like an automobile had been by. 1973 Allen LAUM 1.287 nwIA (as of c1950), Frowy, recorded once . . is a . . reflection of a New England minor variation. . . Its range of meaning seems to include both that of rancid and that of spoiled.

futz v, hence vbl n futzing Usu |fʌts|; rarely |futs| [Etym uncert; cf Ger furzen to fart, and see quot 1985 Jewish Lang. Rev. at 1] esp Nth Cf putz v

1 usu with around, rarely about: To fool around, idle, waste time. Cf fuss v C61932 Farrell Young Lonigan 119 Chicago IL, Studs kept futzing around until Helen Shires came out with her soccer ball. 1937 (1958) Levin Old Bunch 80 Chicago IL, There was a fellow that never wasted time. No fuzzy futzing around. 1943 AmSp 18.43 NYC, I myself have heard this expression [=futz around] employed by adolescent Negro and Italian boys. The Yiddish [=arumfartzen] does get around. As with the word ‘nertz,’ . . ‘futz’ has undergone an internal change to make it less obviously vulgar. . . The German word is furzen. 1950 WELS (“He doesn’t have much to do today, so he’s just _____.”) 1 Inf, ceWI, Futzing around. 1967–68 DARE (Qu. A10, . . Doing little unimportant things) Inf IN68, Futzing around; NY34, Futzing; CA15, [ˈfutsɪŋ] around; it may be Yiddish; (Qu. KK31, . . “He doesn’t have anything to do, so he’s just _____around.”) Inf PA46, [ˈfʌtsɪŋ]; PA82, Futzing. 1976 NY Times (NY) 31 Oct sec D 32/5 NY, I futz about, move things, think up another pose, reposition the camera. 1985 NYT Mag. 1 Dec 16, The president . . discussing presummit maneuvering, told a group of wire-service reporters that the time had come to “stop this futzing around.” 1985 Jewish Lang. Rev. 5.316, One possibly correct explanation of these meanings [of futz] if [sic] that they result from emulation of fuck: if fuck ‘to copulate’ = futz ‘to copulate’ and if fuck around means ‘to idle, loaf, etc.’, then futz acquires the[se] meanings . . by analogy. . . Another explanation . . is that the verb futz is a euphemism of fuck. Thirdly, there is the possibility of Yiddish influence. Ibid 318, Eastern Ashkenazic English fart around is a translation of [Eastern Yiddish] arumfartsn zikh. . . [I]f Yiddish or Eastern Ashkenazic English is relevant in any way, there must have been either deliberate phonological change or blending. . . I suggest . . that Eastern Ashkenazic English fart around is indeed relevant [to the etymology of futz around]. 1988 DARE File ceWI (as of c1920), When I was a child, my Uncle Fred often said, “You kids! Quit futzing [ˈfʌtsɪŋ] around!” or “Don’t futz with that!” My mother, as well as others in our town, also used the expression; many of us still say it. I always thought it must be a euphemism for that other word, and I think it comes from the German.

2 with with: To mess with; to tinker or trifle with.1974 Esquire 81.4.106/2, [Dan] Rather protested this caprice. He would film what he damn well pleased. . . Nobody futzes with Dan Rather and gets away with it. 1980 Chr. Sci. Monitor (Boston MA) 4 Mar 16/1, In spring there is the garden. In fall the leaves. But in winter, unless you’re into igloo-making, futzing with the snowblower, or carving out figure eights on the pond, what is there to mess with? 1984 Wall St. Jrl. (NY NY) 26 Jan 19/3, [Advt:] Macintosh was designed for anyone who handles, collects, distributes, interprets, organizes, or otherwise futzes with information. 1988 DARE File csWI, Don’t futz with it; you might break it. 1988 [see 1 above].

garden house n [Also Engl dial; OED garden-house 1. b 1886] chiefly Mid Atl See Map A privy.1899 (1912) Green VA Folk-Speech 191, Garden house. . . A privy, as they are usually built in a garden of a country-house. 1946 PADS 5.23 VA, Garden house. . . A privy; common everywhere except the southern part of the Piedmont. 1948 AN&Q 8.172 VA, I remember seeing an old Negro . . clean a privy on my aunt’s farm. He told me he was “movin’ de honey from de garden house.” 1949 Kurath Word Geog. 53, Garden house, in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. 1954 PADS 21.28 SC, Garden house. 1956 McAtee Some Dialect NC 18, Garden house. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. M21b, Joking names) 13 Infs, chiefly Mid Atl, Garden house; NC21, Little garden house; (Qu. M21a, An outside toilet building) Infs MD22, NC41, 87, SC39, VA33, 70, Garden house. 1971 DARE FW Addit nwMD, Garden house. 1984 Wilder You All Spoken Here 176 Sth, Gardenhouse lilies: Day lilies. Often planted about privies. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance (Privy) 3 infs, nTN, c,cwGA, Garden house; 1 inf, ceTN, Garden house—grandmother’s term; 1 inf, cGA, Garden house—would be a nice name for it; 1 inf, neTX, Garden house—polite; more delicate term.

givey adj

1 also giffy; also sp giv(v)y; Of weather: humid, muggy, damp; by ext, moist, pliable. [Cf EDD give v. II. 9 “Of things: to be covered with moisture; to become moist or soft from damp or fermentation, to ‘sweat.’ . . Hence Givey or Givy. . . Of the ground: damp, soft, full of moisture.”] chiefly Mid and S Atl1829 VA Lit. Museum 1.457 (OEDS), Givy, ‘muggy’. The weather is said to be givy when there is much moisture in the atmosphere. 1859 (1968) Bartlett Americanisms 170, Givy. A term applied to tobacco leaves, in a certain condition of their preparation for market. 1899 (1912) Green VA Folk-Speech 197, Givey. . . Damp, moist; “givey weather,” said of damp weather. 1915 DN 4.183 VA, Givey. . . Soft; moist:—of earth. 1942 (1965) Parrish Slave Songs 41 GA coast, “Giffy” . . on Sapelo means damp. 1949 AmSp 24.109 SC, Giffy [ˈgɪfɪ]. . . Damp and cold (‘Negro’). 1950 PADS 14.32 SC, Giffy [gɪfɪ]. . . Cloudy and damp, applied to the weather. 1954 PADS 21.28 Charleston SC, Giffy. . . Of lumber, waterlogged and unfit for use. 1965 in 1983 Johnson I Declare 52 nwFL, It’s givvy weather. . . Cloudy, hazy, hot, clammy. Damp, but not quite raining. Givvy weather. “Clothes won’t get hard dry” when it’s givvy weather. . . They “give” when you take them off the line. 1967 Key Tobacco Vocab. KY, MO, Givey weather . . moist weather which makes dry tobacco leaves pliable. “It takes givey weather” [to strip tobacco]. 1969 DARE FW Addit NC, It’s givey and sticky. [FW: Talking about a hot, humid day.] 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance , 1 inf, neGA, A givey morning—damp, unpleasant—not always [=necessarily] cool.

2 Unsteady.1895 DN 1.371 KY, NC, TN, Givey: unsteady. “That table’s givey.” 1926 DN 5.400 Ozarks, Givey. . . Unsteady. “Th’ big cheer’s a-gittin’ a leetle givey lately.” 1984 Wilder You All Spoken Here 17 Sth, Givey: Unsteady, as a just-dropped calf or a bar patron.

3 ?Yielding, not firm.1968 DARE Tape GA69, The peach that they grow. . . it’s tough, it’s spongy, an’ it’s givey and it does look exceptionally good in the can.

4 Generous.1963 DE Folkl. Bulletin Oct 40/2, Give-y (generous). 1970 DARE (Qu. U32, . . A very generous person) Inf VA74, Givey.

goozle n

1 also goozlem; for addit varr see quots; often in combs: The throat as a whole, or spec the gullet, windpipe, or Adam’s apple. [Varr of guzzle 1] chiefly Sth, S Midl See Map Cf gizzle, goggle n, google, gorgle, gozzle n1883 (1971) Harris Nights with Remus 65 GA [Black], He ketch a whiff er de dram, en den he see it on de side-bode, en he step up en drap ’bout a tumbeler full some’rs down in de neighborhoods er de goozle. 1897 (1952) McGill Narrative 261 ceSC, Do let me go. I want to cut Tillman’s d— goozle out. 1902 DN 2.235 sIL, Goozle [guzḷ]. . . The larynx. 1903 DN 2.315 seMO, I got up with a sore goozle this morning. 1906 DN 3.138 nwAR, Goozle, gozzle, guzzle. . . Throat. 1908 DN 3.317 eAL, wGA, Goozle. . . The throat, the neck. 1915 DN 4.184 swVA, Goozle. Variant of guzzle. 1917 DN 4.412 wNC, Goozle. 1927 DN 5.474 Ozarks, Wet yer goozle oncet with this hyar licker. 1938 Rawlings Yearling 275 nFL, If he [=a hog] didn’t have no goozle, he couldn’t squeal. 1939 Harris Purslane 119 cNC, John told them he had a sweet goosel where cider was concerned and couldn’t use hard [=hard cider]. c1940 Eliason Word Lists FL 8 wFL, Goozle: The trachea or windpipe. The term is used mostly in speaking of butchered animals. 1942 McAtee Dial. Grant Co. IN 30 (as of 1890s), Goozlem . . gullet. 1947 True 32.104 New Orleans LA [Black], They served real good cold beer in those days. . . It almost froze your goozle pipes. 1954 Harder Coll. cwTN, I heard tell o’ windpipe. We allus call it goozle. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Goozle(m). . . The neck or throat. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. X7, Other names for the throat: “Some food got stuck in his _____.”) 109 Infs, chiefly Sth, S Midl, Goozle; LA8, VA73, Goozle pipe; TX86, Goozem pipe; VA13, Goozler. c1970 Pederson Dial. Surv. Rural GA (Throat) 1 inf, seGA, [ˈgous̬əl]; 1 inf, seGA, [ˈgu˅u˅zḷ, ˈgo˄uzḷ]. 1986 Pederson LAGS Concordance Gulf Region (Neck; throat) 456 infs, (A or your, etc) goozle; 28 infs, Goozle pipe [These resps are said by var infs to refer esp to the Adam’s apple, windpipe, or gullet, or, less often, to the neck or throat in general; a few infs say it is used only of animals.]; 3 infs, Goozler; 2 infs, Gooze pipe—Adam’s apple; 1 inf, Goozling pipe; 1 inf, Goozle bane; 1 inf, Goozle bane—lump part of throat; 1 inf, Goozle bone—Adam’s apple, goozle vein, sugar bone; 1 inf, Goozle bone—where you swallow; 1 inf, Goozle vein. 1987 DARE File nwAL, Goozle [=Adam’s apple].

2 =goozlum.1960 Wentworth–Flexner Slang 224, Goozle. . . Anything more or less of the consistency of thickened gravy.

3 A large amount. Cf goodles1966 DARE (Qu. U38b, . . “He made a _____ [of money].”) Inf SC10, Goozle.

goozlum n Also googlum, goozlums Cf alamagoozlum, goozle n 2 A viscous food such as a sauce, gravy, or pudding; see quots.1911 DN 3.544 NE, Goozlum, googlum. . . Used of syrup, molasses, etc., at table. “Pass the goozlum for these flapjacks.” 1916 DN 4.275 NE, Goozlums. . . Cornstarch pudding. 1925 AmSp 1.137 Pacific NW [Logger talk], Gravy is “goozlum.” 1950 WELS Suppl. scWI, “Pass the goozlum” to mean “pass the gravy” or any kind of sauce used on any kind of food. Ibid scWI, Goozlum: a thin custard sauce for puddings or fluffs—first heard it in Arizona about 1920. Used among miners there.

hellbender n

1 also hellbinder: A large aquatic salamander (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis). Also called alligator n¹ B1, devil dog 2, ground puppy, lizard 2, mud devil, mud puppy a, tweeg, water dog, water puppy1812 Barton A Memoir concerning an animal of the class of reptilia, or amphibia, which is known, in the United-States, by the names of Alligator and Hell-bender [title]. 1842 DeKay Zool. NY 3.89, The Allegany Hell-bender . . feeds on worms, crayfish, fishes, and aquatic reptiles. 1893 Leland Memoirs II.179 (DAE), That extraordinary fish lizard . . known as the hell-bender from its extreme ugliness. 1926 TX Folkl. Soc. Pub. 5.63, At Boiling Spring, Missouri, a negro fisherman very gravely told my friend . . that the animal is called “hellbender” because it is one of the creatures that inhabit the infernal regions. 1948 Sat. Eve. Post 4 Dec 10/2 SC, It was like a gigantic hellbender. 1968 DARE Tape NC55, [FW:] What are spring lizards? [Inf:] They’re a salamander that lives in a branch. . . They’re black and they get about six inches long—the biggest ones. [FW:] Is there a kind of big one . . ? [Inf:] Water dog or mud puppy? Yeah; its real name is hellbinder [ˈhɛlbaɪndɚ]. 1979 Behler–King Audubon Field Guide Reptiles 269, Hellbender. . . Range: Sw. New York to n. Alabama and Georgia. Separate populations in Missouri and in Susquehanna River (New York and Pennsylvania). 1988 DARE File cnOH 1920, We boy-scouts caught salamanders in the creeks near Akron and called them hellbenders. They were sluggish, black, as much as a foot long, and, though harmless, thought to be poisonous. Some called them mud-puppies.

2 Among loggers: see quot.1968 Adams Western Words 145, Hell bender—A logger’s term for a log.

hell-for-leather adv Also hell-bent for leather [Engl dial; cf EDD (at hell sb. 1. (9))] scattered, but esp West Cf hell-bent for election adv phr 1 At top speed, in great haste.1919 DN 5.76 wMA, Hell bent for leather is the expression to which I am most used. 1939 (1973) FWP Guide MT 414, Hell-for-leather—In great haste. “Ridin’ hell-for-leather” suggests very hard use of leather (i.e., whip). 1939 in 1984 Lambert–Franks Voices 46 OK, Many a time I’ve seen a bunch of bandits come riding hell-for-leather past the camp, the Regulars (the soldiers) pounding along right behind. 1940 (1942) Clark Ox-Bow 81 NV, I saw that kid Greene, from down to Drew’s, come by here hell-for-leather half an hour ago. 1950 WELS (To run very fast, especially running away from something) 1 Inf, seWI, Run hell-for-leather. 1954 Forbes Rainbow 181 NEng, “He’s coming so Hell-for-leather,” says Jude, “he may shoot right by us.” 1968 Adams Western Words 145, Hell-for-leather. 1988 DARE File, My Dad, who grew up in Idaho, uses the term “hell-for-leather”; I was surprised when his cousin, who is from Nebraska, said he knew it as “hell-for-election.”

honeyfuggle v Also honeyfackle, honeyfugle, honeyfogle [Perh var of Engl dial connyfogle v. “To hoodwink, entice by flattery” infl by honey n; cf also EDD gallyfuggle v. “To deceive, take in” and honey v¹] somewhat old-fash

1 To swindle or dupe; to intend to cheat or trick; hence vbl n honeyfuggling. Cf bamfoozle 11829 Va. Lit. Museum 30 Dec. 458 (DAE) KY, Honeyfuggle, to quiz, to cozen. 1848 Bartlett Americanisms 179, Honey-fogle, to swindle; to cheat; to lay plans to deceive. 1852 Knickerbocker 40.548 FL, A neighbor . . honey-fackled him in the matter of a heap of logs. 1858 Harper’s New Mth. Mag. 17.270/1, “It’s all honey-fuggling”. . . “What’s honey-fuggling?” “It’s cutting it too fat over the left.” 1931 Hench Coll. cVA, Alderman was no judge of men. He never could tell whether a man was a gentleman or a bounder. Anybody could honeyfogle him.

2 To flatter, sweet-talk; to wheedle; to ballyhoo; hence n honeyfoogler a flatterer.1856 Knickerbocker 48.286 (OEDS), They go cavorting out, honey-fuggling their consciences. 1856 U.S. Congress Congressional Globe 34th Cong 1st Sess 22 July app 965/1 NE, Pardon me for using the word; but Sharp “honey-fuggled” around me. 1899 (1912) Green VA Folk-Speech 229, Honeyfuggle. . . To cajole; wheedle. 1906 DN 3.141 nwAR, Honey-fuggle. . . To cajole, flatter. “He can’t honey-fuggle him.” 1912 NY Eve. Jrl. 8th ed 25 Mar 12 (Zwilling Coll.), [Cartoon:] The colonel was up on the platform honey fugling the small town boys to beat the band. He was just starting to tell how he knocked an elephant dead with one punch when—Crash. 1912 DN 3.578 wIN, Honey fuggle. . . To win with sweet promises. Sometimes pronounced fugle. 1930 Shoemaker 1300 Words 28 cPA Mts (as of c1900), Honeyfoogler—One who gets into another’s graces by flattery. 1960 Wentworth–Flexner Slang 265, Honeyfuggle[,] honeyfogle. . . To flatter or cajole; esp. to flatter or cajole one’s sweetheart . . or an attractive woman, esp. to do so to gain sexual favor or make her forget anger or displeasure. . . Archaic.

3 with with: To consort with, “snuggle up to.”1887 Courier–Jrl. (Louisville KY) 7 May 4/4, The modern practices in politics of . . temporizing with cranks, demagogues and tricksters instead of sending them to the rear; and of honey-fuggling with rascals instead of hitting them a death-blow between the eyes. 1898 Harte Stories in Light 191, Honeyfogling with a horse-thief, eh?

4 To lure, entice.1888 Century Illustr. Mag. 36.81/2 IL, He acts like a man that ’s got a deadfall all sot, un is a-tryin’ to honey-fugle the varmint to git ’im to come underneath. 1894 DN 1.331 NJ, Honey-fogle: to allure by traps. 1902 Harben Abner Daniel 157 (DAE), He’s been tryin’ to honeyfuggle the old man into a trade, but I don’t think he made a deal with ’im.

5 also honeyfuddle: To show affection in public.1969–70 DARE (Qu. AA8, When people make too much of a show of affection in a public place . . “There they were at the church supper _____[with each other].”) Inf GA77, Honeyfugglin’—old-fashioned; WV16, Honeyfuddling.

hookem-snivey adj Also sp hookum-snivy [OEDS hookum-snivey “dial. and slang. . . deceitful, tricky”] old-fash Petty; deceitful, sneaky.1938 Atlantic Mth. 161.632/2, I asked a Dutchman . . whether their jobholders ever cut up any such hookem-snivey capers with public money as ours do. He replied no, . . if a jobholder tried to get away with any pawky bookkeeping, he would be likely to hear about it. 1939 AmSp 14.22 (as of 1890s), [Letter:] Are you acquainted with the extraordinary word hookumsnivy, signifying “mean” or “small”? My Quaker grandmother, born in Maryland in 1823, used it in my hearing when she was about seventy years old. She said that it was a barbarism in use among common people and that we must forget it.

hook Jack v phr NEng, esp MA =hook school.1877 Bartlett Americanisms 294, Hook Jack. To play truant. New England. 1892 DN 1.212 NEng, I was familiar in my boyhood with the expressions to play hookey and hook Jack. Ibid 216 Boston MA (as of 1840–50), I was born and brought up on Fort Hill, Boston . . and in all the period from 1840–1850 the current phrase among the boys was to hook Jack. 1913 Boston Herald (MA) 20 May 10/5 ceMA (as of 1860s), “Playing Hookey,” Etc. . . When I was a boy in Chelsea in the late sixties, we used to say, “Hook Jack,” but before that in Eastport, Me., we used to say, “Sky Jack.” 1949 Kurath Word Geog. 23, The Plymouth–Cape Cod area has preserved rather few unique expressions, among them . . hooked Jack . . for ‘played hookey’. Ibid fig 158 (Played Truant) 6 infs, Boston and eMA, Hooked Jack. 1967–68 DARE (Qu. JJ6, To stay away from school without an excuse) Inf MA33, Hook Jack; my kids say “skip school”.

hooky bob v phr, hence freq vbl n hooky bobbing, also hooky bobbins Also sp hookey bob chiefly NW Cf bum-riding To hold onto a moving vehicle so as to be towed along over snow or ice.1965 Bowen Alaskan Dict. (Tabbert Alaskan Engl.) 18, Hookey Bob. . . To hook rides on the back of moving vehicles and slither along the ice road on the soles of one’s boots. 1967 DARE (Qu. EE24b, When children go down hill on a sled) Inf OR10, Hooky bobbin’—when you attach sled to car; (Qu. EE26, . . Games . . children play in the snow) Inf MA71, Hooking rides; WA22, Hooky bobbing—hold on to fender of car, slide, squatting with shoes sliding. 1968–87 DARE File ID, Hooky bobbing—after a snow when the streets still had snow on them, we used to hook on bumpers of cars or trucks and squat down for a ride. The trick of this was to stay on for a block or so without being caught. It was more exciting when the car swerved; Ibid, Hanging on the back of a vehicle and being pulled along on the surface of ice or snow; Ibid (as of 1964), My college roommate, an Idaho native, told of “hooky bobbing” in Twin Falls, Idaho. Kids would grab on to the bumper of a car and be pulled along on the snow on their feet; Ibid cnUT, sID, Hooky bobbing—hanging on the back bumper of a car and skiing on one’s shoes on slippery pavement; Ibid seWA, Growing up in Pullman [WA] . . we referred to hanging on to back bumpers of cars moving on snow/ice as “hooky bobbing”. 1974 in 1981 Tabbert Alaskan Engl. , [Newspaper article:] “Hooky bobbing,” which occurs when a child grabs hold of the rear bumper of a car to slide along behind it, is very dangerous. 1983 DARE File ID ( . . Games children play in the snow) Hooky bobbins.

hopping John n

1 also happy Jack, happy John, hop-in-John: A dish usu composed of black-eyed peas, rice, and side meat, eaten esp on New Year’s Day for good luck; see quots. chiefly S Atl, esp SC, GA See Map1838 (1852) Gilman S. Matron 124 seSC, Before me . . was an immense field of hopping John [Footnote: Bacon and rice]; a good dish, to be sure. 1885 in 1976 Rose Doc. Hist. Slavery 397 SC, Among the many desirable things our parents brought us, the most delightful was cow pease, rice, and a piece of bacon, cooked together; the mixture was called by the slaves, “Hopping John.” 1938 FWP Ocean Highway xxviii SC, Hop-In-John: cow peas, rice, and bacon boiled together. 1950 PADS 14.38 SC, [Footnote:] Hoppin’ John is probably on most tables in S.C. on New Year’s Day. This with collard greens is supposed to bring the family plenty of greenbacks and loose change throughout the year. It is believed that one is tempting fate if one fails to have hoppin’ John on the table New Year’s Day. 1962 Hench Coll. VA, [Letter:] The conversation we had over the “hoppinjohn” New Year’s Day is still remembered. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. H50, Dishes made with . . peas) 14 Infs, chiefly S Atl, Hoppin(g) John—(black-eyed) peas and rice; DC12, GA24, MA122, SC9, Hopping John; GA67, Hopping John—old-fashioned; GA55, Hopping John—rice with peas; country term, old-fashioned; NJ67, Hopping John—rice and peas, from West Indies; SC22, Hopping John—rice and field peas or cow peas; FL19, Hopping John—peas cooked with rice and salt pork; GA12, Hopping John—field peas and side meat; GA79, Hopping John—black-eyed peas, rice, bacon; SC62, Hopping John—(red) peas and rice cooked together with small bits of meat; SC4, 11, 21, 46, 70, Hopping John—(peas and rice)—always eaten on New Year’s Day (for luck); GA3, Hopping Johns [sic]—black-eyed peas; NC51, Hopping John—on the South Carolina border more than here; SC32, Hopping John—corn, peas, rice [FW sugg]; TX65, Hopping John—southern Texas word, grits and black-eyed peas eaten together; GA70, Hoppin’ John—mix peas with dried fruits; SC19, Hoppin’ John—cow peas cooked with rice—it’s more softer than more harder; TX29, Hoppin’ John—rice and black-eyed peas, for New Year’s Day; SC7, Happy Jack—peas and rice; Happy John—peas and grits; (Qu. H45, Dishes made with meat) Inf GA15, Hopping John—peas, rice and fat meat (pork). 1988 Lincoln Avenue 196 wNC (as of c1940) [Black], I’d heap rather have a bellyful of . . cornpone an’ hoppin’ John.

2 Transf: a cowpea.1966 DARE (Qu. I20, . . Kinds of beans) Inf SC21, Cowpeas—brownish looking—the pea itself is called hopping John.

3 A grasshopper 1.1970 DARE (Qu. R6, . . Names . . for grasshoppers) Inf PA247, Hopping Johns.

hosey v, n |ˈho(u)zɪ| Also sp hoz(e)y [Etym uncert; perh < holds + hypocoristic -ie suff³, but cf quot 1941] MA, ME Cf boney To stake a claim or reserve a right to (something); to choose; the claim so made.1927 AmSp 3.169 NYC, Children still stand before toyshop windows and call out, “I hozey the drum,” . . meaning, “I choose for mine.” 1941 AN&Q 2.120/2 eMA, The child’s word “hosey” (“hozey” or “hozy”) . . has persisted in some parts of the country for more than fifty years, transmitted orally, without “literary” recognition. It is used in the sense of “demand,” “claim,” “choose”—as in “I hosey such-and-such an object.” The child who gets the phrase out first claims and receives the thing in question. . . It was in use in and around Boston half a century ago, and is still current in New England. Ibid 153/2, Children use . . [“hosey”] . . [for expressions] of the “I stake my claim” idea . . since no word familiar to children seems to express the idea adequately. 1950 WELS Suppl. Boston MA, Hozy [ˈhouzɪ]. “I hozy all these”—said with a gesture of both arms including the things referred to. This is an expression used by a child when claiming the right to an imaginary possession, as of things seen in a shop window, along the road, etc. 1967 DARE (Qu. V5b, If you take something that nobody seems to own, you might say, “Before anybody else gets it, I’m going to _____this.”) Inf MA2, I hosey [ˈhozi] it. 1971 Today Show Letters ceMA, Another Bostonianism which I have had to put up with over the years is the expression “I hosey (pronounced ‘hoe-zee’) that” chair or what have you. This means “I’ve reserved that,” “I’ve got first shot at that,” “that’s mine.” 1975 Gould ME Lingo 136, Hosey—To claim something up for grabs. When Father starts to carve the turkey, one child may cry, “I hosey the wishbone!” Mainers generally recognize that the first to cry hoseys has established a claim. 1986 DARE File Boston MA, “I hosey that seat” [means] lay a claim to. Common especially in eastern Massachusetts, but elsewhere in the state too. 1988 DARE File Boston MA (as of c1920), “I hosey the nibby [=the heel of a loaf of bread]” was very often heard. . . [Hosey] applied to other situations as in “I hosey last pick—first extra” when it seemed likely that extra desserts might appear!