Renee to the rescue!

No one, particularly me, liked how the outdoor shower deck was constructed. (pic a few posts back) so Renee came up with elegant, smart solution that only requires minimum addition to existing design. And since Renee provided a detailed drawing (as only she can) there should be no confusion this time as to what we're envisioning. Thanks Renee!

Thumbing through The Dictionary of American Regional English and discovering that:

…in the Appalachians, when they say dew poison, they are probably talking about what most of us call ‘athlete’s foot.’ …. which explains why, in the old folk song, a bachelor would keep his lover from the foggy, foggy dew.

Picayune, from French picaillon, meaning ‘old copper coin,’ originally referred to a coin of little value in Louisiana, especially New Orleans.

Just north of the Mason-Dixon line:
Lightning bugs morph into fireflies.
Skillets transform into frying pans.
Teeter-totters become seesaws.

Some American houses are cleaned with vacuums, some with sweepers …and some not at all.

The variants of American regional English compound quickly. A few more match-ups worth noting:
Shopping cart (Midwest & East) vs. shopping buggy (South)
Long johns (Midwest & South) vs. thermals (East & West)
Bag vs. sack
Sucker vs. lollipop
Billfold (South) vs. wallet
Iced tea vs. sweet tea (South)

Like similar oaths (jimminy crickets etc), jeezum crow is a thinly veiled blasphemy. Highly regional, almost confined to New England, and according to the Dictionary it likely sprung from Vermont and upstate New York vernacular speech.

For describing a remote place we have:
the boonies,
the sticks,
the tules,
the puckerbrush,
and the willywags.

The proverbial village idiot, in such a place, might still be described as unfit to carry guts to a bear or pour piss out of a boot.

Ain't he adorable? He's in Ellenville NY in the Hudson Valley. Several legends claim that the “Boy” represents a well-liked newsboy who sold his paper on the streets of a town in Italy, and drowned one day while fishing. Another is that he was a Civil War drummer boy who would pull off his boot, run down to a nearby creek holding his thumb in the hole in the toe of the boot, and bring back water to fever- stricken dying soldiers. Apparently, there's many a boy just like him in town squares all over the country--go figgeuh.



…If your mental condition is temporarily impaired, a Southerner might call you swimmy-headed, meaning dizzy.

…If your home is dirty, a Northeasterner might call it skeevy, an adaptation of schifare, the Italian verb “to disgust.

A "monkey's wedding" is a chaotic, messy situation in Maine; "cockroach killers" are pointy shoes in New Jersey
and "mumble squibbles" are noogies, North Carolina-style.

pitch-in =scramble = potluck.

And a random sampling also reveals:

elbedritsch (n) An imaginary creature which, as a practical joke, a greenhorn is sent to hunt or capture. (Usage: Southeast Pennsylvania)

flannel cake (n) A pancake. (Usage: Appalachians)

flea in one's ear (n) A hint, warning, disquieting disclosure; a rebuke. (Usage: chiefly the Northeast)

honeyfuggle (v) To swindle or dupe; to intend to cheat or trick. (Usage: scattered)

hookem-snivey (adj) Deceitful, sneaky. (Usage: scattered)

Lucy Bowles (n) Diarrhea; loose bowels. (Usage: scattered, but especially Pennsylvania, New Jersey and southeast New York)

mulligrubs (n) A condition of despondency or ill temper; a vague or imaginary unwellness. (Usage: scattered, but especially the South)

nebby (adj) Snoopy, inquisitive. (Usage: chiefly Pennsylvania)

pungle (v) To shell out; to plunk down (money); to pay up. (Usage: chiefly West)

rantum scoot (n) An outing with no definite destination (Usage: scattered)

roller bird (n) blue jay (Usage: In the vicinity of Dothan, Ala., bluejays are often called "roller birds" because when chinaberries are ripe, the birds sit in the trees and gorge themselves until they grow drunk. Then they tumble out of the trees and roll on the ground, and the cats creep out and eat them.)

say-so (n) An ice-cream cone. (Usage: scattered)

The Search for Memorable Music in Movies continues:

Today it’s Hoagy Carmichael, a notable Great American Songbook contributor who is well represented online with many clips from a number of movies. I’ve become a big Carmichael fan and added many of his tunes to my repertoire (The Nearness of You, Old Rockin Chair, Georgia on my Mind, and to my delight, only recently learned that he’s the guy who wrote the perennial fave: Heart and Soul) and his expressive and laconic personality got him more screen time than was generally the case with musicians in film. You’d never know it from his simple tunes and screen persona, but he was a killer bop player.

In To Have and Have Not (Based unrecognizably on Hemingway’s book with Screenplay co-written by William Faulkner ) with Bogie and Bacall, Hoagy played the house pianist/singer, kinda like Dooley Wilson in Casablanca…and the plots of both pictures are similar. I Wonder how many cigarettes the prop person was required to stock on a Bogie/Bacall picture...not to mention the gazillion gallons of fake (or was it?) booze.