EASTERN SHORE VOCABULARY WORDS
Were? – used interchangeably with and in place of Where?
Zinc – not the mineral, the basin in the kitchen or bathroom
Nekkid – naked
Purdy – pretty
Plat – braid
Pockeybook – purse
Step’n Fetch It – originally a derogatory phrase for a negro slave; now used to describe any person who is down on luck or does another’s bidding
Nicodemus – adjective referring to anything small
Chicken Neckin’ – catching blue crabs on lines tied to raw chicken necks
EASTERN SHORE EXPRESSIONS
When the Eagle shits – when Social Security checks arrive each month
Tired as a dog – why dogs are tired is never explained
Raining like a cow pissin’ on a flat rock – a very hard rain
If a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass – refers to something impossible
Wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up first – translation: “fat chance”
Squeeze a nickel until it shits in his hand – (refers to buffalo nickels) someone miserly
Run anything that moves – refers to a person who pursues the opposite sex relentlessly
Going to the Store – generic reference to grocery shopping
Fart Crossways – to be upset or angry with someone “she’s got a fart crossways”
Enough to make you smack your mother – something that is very good or tempting
Ugly as a picket fence, lie gap in his teeth – refers to teeth with gaps or that a person with a center gap is a liar
He/she could bite the bottom out of a teacup and never touch the sides – refers to a person with a large oval bucktoothed mouth.
I’d rather be a wart on a dog’s ass – referring to the desire to avoid something unpleasant
His ass would make her a Sunday face – comparative term of beauty or lack thereof between two people
Too lazy to scratch fire off his ass – a very lethargic, inactive person
Can’t plant a turnip and get a pumpkin – meaning you can’t expect a child not to resemble his or her parents (other iterations: the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree)
Belongs to the milkman – a child that looks nothing like either parent
Slow as molasses running uphill on a cold winter day – moving very slowly
Old as Methusela – Bible reference; a very old person
It’ll be a cold day in hell before I … – not likely to happen
Couldn’t please her if Jesus stood on his head and stacked beebees – a woman who is impossible to satisfy
