Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary

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afterwhile 1 A act the fool Now you take these young folks, that goes to high school They sometimes really, do act the fool. —Scrapper Blackwell,“Be-Da-Da-Bum,” 1929 To behave foolishly or idiotically in a conspicuous manner; a still-current black colloquialism, synonymous with to clown. actions His ways an’ actions is hard to beat For he’s the sheik, of Desplaines Street. —Papa Charlie Jackson,“Sheik Of Desplaines Street,” 1927 Conduct;acolloquialismembodiedinthenow-proverbial19th-centuryAmerican saying“Actions speak louder than words,”and found in Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl Of The Streets (1893): “‘Anybody what had eyes could see dat dere was somethin’ wrong wid dat girl. I didn’t like her actions.’” after When I’m gone, don’t grieve after me Don’t you forget I went away. —Sam Collins,“It Won’t Be Long,” 1927 ? About; a Southern colloquialism found in Roark Bradford’s 1931 black dialect novel John Henry (“‘. . . all dat gal do is grieve after me when I’m gone.’”) and Opie Read’s 1897 Ozark dialect novel Old Ebenezer (“‘There’s a case in our neighborhood of a young feller goin’ crazy after a woman he wanted.’” ) It also figures as an inexact preposition in: Now go on girl don’t flirt after me Got good stuff an’ it’s all I need. —Joe McCoy,“I’m Wild About My Stuff,” 1930 afterwhile My mama told me, when I were quite a child: “Havin’ a good time now but trouble afterwhile.” —Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley,“Every Day In The Week Blues,” 1928 Eventually; elliptical for after a while, and associated with Southern speech (cf. DARE). 2 afro Afro (a.) And when she promenade in them Sunday clothes She tantalize those Afro gigolos. —Lovin’ Sam Theard,“That Rhythm Gal,” 1934 Slang for African American. aggravatin’ papa When I find that aggravatin’ papa, that tried to two-time me I know I’ll spend a great long sentence in the penitentiary. —Barbecue Bob,“Ease It To Me Blues,” 1928 A noted seducer of other men’s girlfriends or wives, to the point of being a generalaggravationtomen.TheIndianapolisbluessingerLeroyCarr(1905–35) was locally known as“Aggravatin’Papa”because“he fucked everybody’s wife” (Pete Franklin). This term arose by means of a popular 1923 Alberta Hunter recording,“Aggravating Papa,”where it referred to an unfaithful lover.A pop version by Sophie Tucker resulted in its circulation as general American slang for “a refractory lover” (Martens, who listed it in The Book of Good Manners [1923] among “Slang and Colloquialisms Which Will Not Pass Muster”). airy You can get yourself together You can go out with the weather We don’t need no airy man. —Papa Charlie Jackson,“Airy Man Blues,” 1924 Conceited (Clapin,c.1902);an apparent carryover of obsolete standard English signifying one who puts on airs (cf.OED) that is misconstrued by Major (1994) as a black term dating to the 1960s. Alcorub Every day of the week, I goes to Midtown Drug An’ get me a bottle o’ snuff, an’ a bottle o’ Alcorub. —Son House,“Clarksdale Moan,” 1930 A brand of rubbing alcohol manufactured by the United States Industrial Alcohol Company, which also produced Sterno (Time Magazine, 4/13/1931). Although toxic to drink, it was imbibed by some derelict alcoholics of the blues era. Algiers I was born in Algiers, twelve o’clock at night An’ the moon wasn’t shinin’, and it wasn’t a bit of light. —Charlie Spand,“Evil Woman Spell,” 1929 A New Orleans community on the west bank of the Mississippi, once fabled among blacks for its conjurers. The above lyric reflects an antebellum super- all right with one, to be 3 stition:“They used to be a sayin’that chillun born at de dark of de moon ain’t gwinter have no luck” (Aunt Pinkie Kelly, as quoted in Born in Slavery). all-around man Now I ain’t no milkman, no milkman’s son I can pull your titties ’till the milkman comes ’Cause I’m an all-around man . . . I mean I’m all-around man I can do ’most anything that come to hand. —Bo Carter,“All Around Man,” 1936 Ablacktermforahandyman.“ThenIquitandwenttoworkingasanall-round man in the shop” (James Williams, as quoted in Born in Slavery). all in all I was lookin’ out my window, Lord at how that rain did fall The onliest woman I loved has...