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Small Town Talk
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| by Nancy Thomas |
| I'm
an Islander who was raised on one island, then had a short stint on the
mainland and then moved to yet another island. With the exception of the
mainland, I lived in small distinct communities. Now if you're from a small
town or you've ever been to a small town, or even watched one on tv, you
know that they can have their very own way of speaking. This is both good
and bad. On the one hand, it's part of the charm of small town life. On
the other hand, for an outsider it borders on being incomprehensible. Here
are some classic examples of small town jargon acompanied by translation
to standard English.
How's she goin' by'? — A question meaning "How are you?" or "What's going on?" often responded to by: She's rough by', she's rough. — Not good. Down North — This is an actual place, the Cape Breton highlands, and going there actually involves going up, because well, there's mountains (confession — I still use this term). Goulash — I'm not sure if this is a real term or not, but it's a type of casserole/pasta dish involving noodles, hamburger and pasta sauce. For some reason, this supposedly differs from pasta with "meat sauce." Loight/Noight/Foight — It's common practice to insert an "o" sound into words that normally end in "ight." Combination (pizza) — A pizza with a specific combination of toppings, that being cheese, pepperoni, green pepper and mushroom. Apparently this term only exists in Cape Breton and if you attempt to use it somewhere else you would probably end up with a "combo" meaning, pizza, drink. . . whatever. Daddylonglegs — A giant bug that resembles a mosquito and can fly. Slippy — A term used to describe the condition of having freezing rain on top of snow or something similar that creates poor driving conditions. *This one personally irks me like crazy.* From Away — If you were not born on this island with your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and your ancestors arriving here on a big boat, then you're "from away." Tamarrow — Tomorrow. I hate this one. Nothing makes you sound more like an uneducated hick than saying "tamarrow." From the sticks — You know you live in country if you're from "the sticks." Not only do you not have cable television, you couldn't get it if you wanted to. Cruise the drag — To drive up and down a specific street "crusin'" to meet up with other people who are also doin' the drag. I'm on the pogey wha' — I'm on welfare/employment insurance and generally happy about it. On a side-note, it would be poor Island language to say "I'm on the Pogey eh." You should never follow a word that already has an "eh" sound with another eh. Got smoked — You were severly pummeled. . . If you got hit by a car, you got smoked. This can also be used as a threat: "I'm gonna smoke you. . ." |
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