Dictionary of American Regional English

The fifth volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English, covering words beginning SI to Z, has just been published. It contains regional words from all over America and completes a project that was started at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the 1960s. As well as written words and phrases, regional differences in pronunciation, grammar and syntax are also covered. These were all collected by hundreds of researchers who travelled around the country and recorded the voices of long-term residents. Here's a list of words from all volumes of the dictionary (which I took from a Daily Mail article).

Upscuddle (Southern Appalachian mountains): A noisy quarrel
Feest (New York): Disgusted with/nauseated by
Pinkletink (Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts): A young frog
Rumpelkammer (Michigan): A junk room/closet
Futz (Chicago): To fool around, idle, waste time
Flug (Southern California/Kansas): Dust or lint that collects in pockets
Goozlum (Arizona): A viscous food such as sauce, gravy or pudding
Rantum Scoot (New York, Massachusetts): An outing with no definite destination
On the fritz (The North): Out of order, a state of disrepair or ruin
Strubbly (Pennsylvania German): Unkempt, dishevelled
Zydeco (Louisiana): Dance music in Louisiana Creole

 

Here's the website of the Dictionary of American Regional English with masses of information.

Comments

[John]

Really good stuff, Susan. Thanks.

It's amazing, but then again it's not, that as an almost life-long resident here, I haven't heard of most on the list. I'll acknowledge "futz" and "on the fritz", the latter seeming to be a bit antiquated.

Looks as if I'll be spending the evening on that link.

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks, John. I think they deliberately sought out elderly rural residents for some of these words, so I suppose it's not surprising that other people haven't heard of them.

[John]

Oh, and Zydeco is well-known since it's effectively the "signature music" of New Orleans.

[John]

Wow. Everyone should try their hand at some of these expressions. I came up, as we sometimes say, "very short".

Interestingly, in Massachusetts, where I've lived most of my life, they interviewed close-in to Boston, thereby getting an urban flavour, then a North-South strip in Central MA, no doubt getting a more rural perspective.

What they may have missed, though, are the bedroom communities in between. These towns, while they have existed for a very long time, have experienced massive growth over the past 30 or so years. Their growth has been fueled by fairly affluent newcomers to the area working in hi-tech, bio-tech industries. This is a rough generalisation I realise, but "directionally correct".

Interesting post. Thanks again Susan.

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks for those points, John.

[Jemmy Hope]

'Zydeco' is well known here in the UK, at least to those interested in music categories labelled 'world' and 'roots'.