The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1900-07-26
EASTERN SHORE DIALECT.
Queer Expressions In Common Use
Among Natives OF Maryland.

Queer Expressions In Common Use
Among Natives of Maryland.
Here on the eastern shore, which
from it's opportunities should be one Of
the most enlightened instead of most
benighted regions of the country, a
teacher i'll the public schools or a
minister of the gospel, no less than
any member of the common herd,
would never fail in telling of his lack
of luck in fishing to say, II was gone
all day and never caught either fish,"
or on meeting with similar want Of
success in hunting would declare he
'saw plenty of rabbits, but never got
either one.'
Among these people there are no
early vegetables or fruit grown, but
forward potatoes, cabbage, corn,
Strawberries, etc, are quite common.
| have even heard the remark, 1.-THE
forward bird catches the worm" Here
rails are not used in constructing the
old fashioned worm fence, only fence
Clogs" although they be split as Lin
coin made them in his forward days.
What are called sawlogs in other
states are Chunks here, regardless of
length and size. One never sees a
corncrib hereabout. but "cornstalks"
buildings in which maize is stored at
gathering tiRle) are found on every
farm. There are no barnyards or sta
BILE lots either. All such things are
given the name of pound"
The universal misuse of the word
"head" is ridiculous, if not ludicrous.
A man has five or six or ten "head" of
children or visitors on a Sunday, but
he never applies the word head to his
stock. Our congressman, who operates
a large mill here, if asked how many
hands he employs would tell you so
many or about SO many "head." Re-
Gently news item in one of the coun-
ty papers was headlined, big Revival
In Progress-Four Head Baptized"
Quite as general, as well among the
white as among the colored portion of
the population, is the use of I'd" for
"th'' in the words the, this, that, they
and them. The propositions Gin" and
"into'' are basely mistreated, the first
by neglect, the other by overworking
1t. Nobody has money invested Gin"
stocks, land. merchandise and the like,
but always Into" them. Ask a man
what his farm or horse is worth and
he'll answer by telling you what
amount of money he has invested
Unto" it. One never has a hole in his
trousers or a dollar I'm his pocket,
but Into them or it. l heard q lady
teacher say she had lost her portemon-
maize. But, thank fortune" she add
ed, there wasn't penny into it,"
People never haul anything here, but
carry it. A man carries his wife or
family to church, his wood or crops to
the railroad station or boat landing,
his cattle to pasture or his chunks to
the steam mill, never sawmill. What
ever he takes into his arms or on his
shoulder to convey from one place to
another, he totes, instead Of carries.
There are no buggies or phaetons here,
every vehicle used exclusively to ride
in being a carriage, if it has more than
two wheels. The land is of two kinds,
hard and kind. Hard land is chiefly
clay and kind land mostly sand. The
land is never broke when plowed, but
flushed, never narrowed, but drug to
make the surface fine. Crops when
titled with cultivator are narrowed,
and cultivator is known here only as
harrow, while a harrow is called
drag.
Teams, except when attached to car
riages, are driven without reins or
lines. The driver, whether walking or
riding. directs his team by his word of
ed whip. When he wants his team
horses, mules or oxen-to go or turn to
the right. he halloos "gee-a." If he wants
a short turn to the left he yells petty
wo," but if only a slight diversion in
that direction he calculates ''ha- Their"
pronounced like ''father'D in sub
dued tone. To stop his team he yells
"wo-back," loud enough to stop a
train, and the team usually halts with
in a space of ten rods. The familiar
"gee," "haw," ''ho'' or whoa" of our
Ohio boyhood days is not heard in
this country, and the use of a single
line on the leader of team is I'M
known
No odds how wicked the natives may
be In this part of the moral vineyard,
none is so abandoned as to use the
word hello. They consider it shocking
profanity, worse indeed than down.
right "cussin." Heigh-ho is the word
they enjoy instead.-John A. Geeting
in Indiana School Journal.