The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-26
SPEECH or TIE LUMBERJACKS
STRANGE, PICTURESQUE WORDS
HEARD IN TIE WOODS.

~ may boluetlIu9t 20 your kOod AOlNNho
to DO walking down a logging road in the
North Woods whore logging operations are
In progress and TO come upon two lumber
| jacks. OF 'woOducks.' who have Just met
| after a former acquaintance at another
/ camp. Each man has his -turkey'-that
! Is, the bag containing his scant ward
/ robe-under his arm and carries over his
shoulder his "oorlIs, or oalked boots. They
meet with hearty good fellowship, and after
short exchange the man coming In In
| quires:
sQuit7'
sYes.-
Didn't like it7'
The man going out assumes a grave and
pensive air, and replies potentouslyi 'I've
got business in the city that must be at
tended to-
This is perfectly Ineligible to the other.
II means, Having accumulated sufficient
stake I'm going TO the city TO blow 1t in
and have a good time
Who's boss at camp 81
Bin Muligan.' ...
who's oooki'
There amt any cook. Jimmy Dugan
he's a-sizzlln' someone's only a cookee.'
@How's the grub''
you amt walked up by their breaking
eggs or pounding beefstSak In the morn
ing"
And so on. You hear strange words and
queer turns Of expression, for the lumber
jack has acquired vocabulary peculiarly
rich and picturesque.
You may hear that young Brenohy was
killed by q widow maker last month,
that much Of tho timber IL -cat-faced'
and the old trees have goose pens In
them: that a crew Is at work busting the
dam and Buzz Mack has gone back TO
pulling the briRf;' that the men all work
by the 'jobber's SUM- and that Jim
o'Brien's boy Is now q road monkey
Further acquaintance with lumbermens
terms viii teach you that q widow maker
10 one Of those deadly loose limbs dislodged
by falling tree and hanging suspended
Ia a tree top, that a eat face IL q scar
made by Ere In tr0e and 'goose PEN "a
a deep, burned cavity In the tree trunk;
that to dust a dam Is 10 fl up the cracks
and chinks with brush sod and gravel,
that pulling the briar' does not mean
smoking pipe, but using a crosscut saw,
that the 'jobbeT's sun" IL not really the
sun at all, but the moon, which Is still out
when the lumberjaok goes 10 work before
dawn and which has begun 70 rise when
he finishes HE task in the evening, and
that road monkey or blue jay IS boy
who works on the logging road.
The United States Bureau Of Forestry
and the Society Of American Foresters
have been cooperating 10 draw UP a list
Of terms used in tho woods by mmbeTmen,
and they have not disdained to include
slang terms and conoqualisIns. The re-
suits of their work, when completed, are
TO be published, and they should prove a
rich find to the makers Of dictionaries and
to men who 60 10 the woods for an outing
The terms and their meaning have been
gathered mainly by the young foresters Of
tho Government in the course Of their work !
while In lumber camps. and are TO be care
fully edited and submitted for criticism 10 |
representative lumbermen. to standardlze |
their use as far as possible.
The newcomer In q logging camp, by |
consulting his glossary will find many
strange words made clear. The common
est topic Of conversation among the 'hecks" |
Is usually the camp cook.
II he does not win approval, he viii be |
spoken Of contemptuouSly as siZzlerS
or 'boilS His assistant is the 7ohore boy |
or 'ffunkey.' or 'oookey,' or lobby dog
or, still less elegantly, the lobby hog
In the Pacific Coast camps be Is often the |
Abull cook
The men's rooms. or sleeping quarters,
are most oommoaly called the bunkroom |
or sbarroom, and are often connected |
with the Kitchen by a rooted over enclosure,
the 'dlngle.' In the centre Of the menh !
room IA a big wood stove surrounded by F,
banohes on which the seat nearest the fro /
is the deacon seat
The woodsman's wardrobe is his 'dhfie,S
or dunnage; and when he carries It in a |
bundle 1t Is his turkey To be Jack |
Il to be a man, whether It be alumberjacks
or 'sqrtIng jack" or simply "man jack
but Lick Is title Of distinction, for II |
signifies time Of service and much wisdom |
and wickedness. On the other hand. to be. |
sbuokwheaterE Is 10 be soOrned Of men,
for the term is applied In the Appalaohians
to the novice.
The men who chop down the trees are |
the fallers. A short, stout pole sometimes !
used to direct the fall Of the tree IL called |
in the North Woods 'knlpig' or Samson
pole
A tree knocked down by a falling tree
generally turns OF twists before 1t breaks
Cd, and Ia hence called a 1sidewinder.'
On the Pacific Coast, where timber Is big.
the fallers cut a notch in the tree and in
sert spring board on which TO do their
work
When the tree IL down they leave Il to
the Sbuckers," who buck up after them,