Hogs, Mules, and Yellow Dogs: Growing Up on a Mississippi Subsistence Farm

Greene County Dictionary

125 Greene County Dictionary Greene County, Mississippi, Select Dictionary of Words and Aphorisms I have just read two small, delightful books: Simon Winchester ’s The Meaning of Everything, the story of the evolution of the Oxford English Dictionary, which is the culmination of a halfmillion -word effort to capture every word in the English vernacular; also to trace their origins, to define them, and to suggest a proper usage. The other book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss, is an attempt to make English words and symbols more meaningful through appropriate punctuation. Neither volume ventures into the history of language, the primordial, sensuous grunts and groans of our ancient ancestors; nor do they treat the unwritten, unspoken, unsung communicative devices of an evolving mankind. Like a Scotch-Irish village, Old Washington was bathed in a steady stream of aphorisms and witticisms, some innocent and representative , others cutting and vulgar. There were new word creations. I have recorded those unique words and brief sayings that I deem to be my personal or family creations and/or unique to Old Washington, those which I have heard and used in my lifetime. Not all of them are original in spelling and meaning, and the pronunciation of many is certainly the result of bad dentition. I offer them here for your information and entertainment. Beginnings 126 abait. A sufficiency; enough. “He ate that watermelon fast,” Grandpa would say. “He’s got abait of it pretty quick.” Adam’s off ox. A lack of ability to distinguish another. My mother used the expression to indicate her lack of knowledge about another. “I don’t know him from Adam’s off ox.” Agnes’s heart. A personal reference to my mother’s relationship to me. One of my aunts said, “Jimmye is not only Agnes’s heart, he’s her liver, lights, and all the rest!” anothergin. Baby talk for “again.” “Do it anothergin, Daddy, anothergin, please!” avoirdupois. (Colloquial) One’s rear end. “Throw the rascal out on his avoirdupois,” my mother would say. bassackards. The reverse of a story or proposition. “Yo facts are right, but you got it bassackards. Ya gotta tell it straight!” bellywash. A generic word for any type of soda water. “Mr. Bud, we don’t have nothin to drink cept coffee and bellywash.” Greene County Courthouse, ca. 1920. 127 Greene County Dictionary biscuit hound. A stray dog that eats anything thrown to it. We liked to sing a little ditty that went: “I don’t care if he’s a hound / You gotta quit kickin my dog around / even though he’s just a biscuit hound.” bixcuse. Defecation. A compression of “to be excused,” which as a verb usually meant going to the toilet. It was used as a noun for the defecation itself. “Careful! Don’t step in that bixcuse!” Blaylock’s bull. Mean, tenacious, even dangerous, referring to a bull belonging to Grandpa’s friend, Mr. Blaylock. “Don’t cross him! He’s like Blaylock’s bull.” Blue Dog Democrat (aka “Boll Weevil”). A Democratic member of the US Congress who before voting the party line will threaten to vote Republican to get what he (she) wants. blue john. Cow’s milk that hasn’t been pasteurized or homogenized , and which has had the cream skimmed off, resulting in a bluish liquid. “I prefer clabber to blue john.” boocoodles. Lots and lots. “She had boocoodles of charm.” Possibly an adaptation of the French word “beaucoup.” booie. An unusually ugly person. “Look at that buck-toothed, jugeared booie.” boozakums-woozakums. Baby talk by an adult, usually accompanied with a tickle under the baby’s chin. boozie. State of drunkenness. “Come Sad’day nite, I’m gwinna McLain and git on a big boozie.” Bosepheus and Bohunkus. Twin brothers of my childhood mythical kingdom. bo-shine. Word additive to emphasize the importance of a point to be made. “Man, he was a singing bo-shine!” boy howdy. An exclamation for a pleasant outcome. “Boy howdy! Did we ever beat’em bad.” bread and water party. A party at which no alcoholic beverages are served. A dull party. breadkind. A generic term used by my grandfather, Charles Hillman, for any type of bread. “Gin, whatcha got for breadkind in the house?” Beginnings 128 bring to taw. An act of forcing someone to keep a promise. bullrat. A student who transfers from junior college to a four-year college. Specific...