Informal English
Puncture Ladies, Egg Harbors, Mississippi Marbles, and Other Curious Words and Phrases of North America| By: | Jeffrey Kacirk |
| Publisher: | Simon & Schuster |
| Print ISBN: | 9780743254939 |
| eText ISBN: | 9780743271950 |
| Edition: | 0 |
| Format: | Reflowable |
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Gleaned from antiquated dictionaries, dialect glossaries, studies of folklore, nautical lexicons, historical writings, letters, novels, and miscellaneous sources, Informal English offers a captivating treasure trove of linguistic oddities that will not only entertain but also shed light on America's colloquial past. Among the gems are: Surface-coal: cow dung, widely used for fuel in Texas Bone-orchard: in the Southwest slang for a cemetery Chawswizzled: "confounded" in Nebraskan idiom. "I'll be chawswizzled!" Leather-ears: to Cape Cod inhabitants, a person of slow comprehension Puncture lady: a southwestern expression for a woman who prefers to sit on the sidelines at a dance and gossip rather than dance, often puncturing someone's reputation Whether the entries are unexpected twists on familiar-sounding expressions or based on curious old customs, this wide-ranging assortment of vernacular Americanisms will amaze and amuse even the most hard-boiled curmudgeon.