The Eastern Shore Is Different

 

The Eastern Shore has always been different - a region that stands apart from the world "across the Bay", and has several times attempted to split off from the state of Maryland.  Even our Native Americans were different: although held in a loose confederation by Chief Powhatten of the Virginia Algonquin, the Choptanks as these Native Americans were known did not seem to be in step with Indian policy toward the white and black settlers. While many Native Americans were trading with the settlers for example, the Choptanks, according to James Michener's Chesapeake, were heading down to the ocean for summer vacation.

Proposals have been debated in the Maryland General Assembly in 1833-1835, 1852 and recently in 1998 for the Eastern Shore becoming its own state.  Early proposals encompassed a state of the entire Delmarva Peninsula. The proposal in 1998 by state Senators Richard F. Colburn and J. Lowell Stoltzfus did not specify the status of the nine counties of the Eastern Shore after secession. This is viewed by most libertarian Eastern Shoremen as a mere technicality.

We are different because we live on a Peninsula - actually an Island because the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal cuts us off from the rest of the United States. We Shoremen are different because our shores are washed by the waters of Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries - waters teeming with delicious marine life like arsters (oysters).  We are different because our soils will grow almost anything grow able at this latitude - like Chickens (we grow a lot of chickens). We are different because we enjoy a pace of living slower than people across the Bay. That's why a beer company coined the phrase "The Land of Pleasant Living" to describe the eastern shore.

All those who come here do so because they like our pace of life. Most people stay and become assimilated. Soon these "came heres" are calling the wave of newcomers "come heres" or "furreners" (foreigners).

Our isolation has allowed us to develop our own ways and culture - much like the Galapagos. Olde British words like pavement (sidewalk), sitten (sat), and token (omen) sometimes sneak into our conversations. Our pronunciation of some words is similar to that of our ancestors.

Eastern Shoremen are, in reality, no different than our cousins from the other side of the Bay than the residents of Potomac, Maryland are from, say, residents of Bethesda. We just have different priorities.

 

We Even Talk Different

 

Aa

across the bay - refers to the part of Virginia west of the Chesapeake Bay.

afagan-an afghan.

after - concerned with. "I'm not after those presidential debates."

airish - a cold and windy day. "It is airish out there."

all the go -fashionable. "Short skirts were all the go that year."

*arsters - a pronunciation of oyster. Those who say it know good oysters.

 

Bb

*back house-a privy.

bandanna - head scarf.

bay -short for baby. A term of endearment on Chincoteague.

baysider-an Eastern Shoreman who lives on the west side of the railroad tracks.

been here - a native of the Eastern Shore.

 

biddy - chick.

belong to - supposed to. "They don't belong to block this street.

big day-family dinner.

bimeby- by and by.

black gum against thunder -irreconcilable differences.

blue hen's chickens -a wild youth. "He's one of the blue hen's chickens, he is."

bomb - pronounced as bum by some older Eastern Shoreman.

box - boxwood bushes.

broke - physical deterioration or aging.  "She has broke since the last time I saw her."

 

Cc

calm - pronounced by watermen to rhyme with Sam when it means water free from agitation.

Cap'n - an honorific applied to a respected elderly Eastern Shoreman whether or not he worked on

the water for a livelihood. Compare with a Kentucky colonel.

carry-escort. "Who are you going to carry to the prom?"

catabiased - crooked or not parallel, usually applied to the placement of furniture.

catacasnared - catty-cornered.

*chimley -chimney

 

*Denotes illustration.

chunk (n.)-piece of wood used in a fight. "He picked up a chunk of wood and started toward me."

chunk (v.) - to throw. "We chunked snowballs at the teacher."

chinchy-stingy.                    

clean - completely, all the way.  "It rained clean across the porch."

cold enough to freeze brass monkeys - cold indeed.

come down-resident of the Shore who was born in the North.

come here - person not born on the Eastern Shore.

coming appetite -good appetite.

creppa bone - coccyx.

cubbay-a very young calf.

 

Dd

D. P. store - David Pender Grocery Company, predecessor of Colonial, Big Star, and some Meatland stores.

dear-expensive.

disfurnish-to take an excessive amount. "Thank you for bringing me these clams, but I don't want to disfurnish you."

dofloppy-whatshisname.

dog-pronounced to rhyme with vogue.

dotty-senile. (Pronounced to rhyme with boat.)

doubleheads - large manta rays that spawn in Chesapeake Bay in June and July.

down the county - south of where the speaker lives.

Down to the ocean - Ocean City, Maryland

drene - drain.

drudge- waterman's pronunciation of dredge.

drum up business - solicit business. The old name for traveling salesman was drummer.

drunkards-fruit flies.

 

Ee

eating his white bread - indicates a time in a child's life when his problems are relatively simple and his material needs are being taken care of by others.

either one -not a one. Question: Did you catch any fish? Answer: "Not either one."

 

 

Ff

falling out -a quarrel.

fat back-a small fish. "Let's go fat backing tonight."

fog-pronounced to rhyme with vogue.

foreigner-a person brought up somewhere other than on the Delmarva Peninsula. This term was in use before come here became common.

Furrener-alternate pronunciation of ‘foreigner".

 

Gg

galing-dating. Usually applied to a widower.

gamemake - a mimic.

German police dog-German shepherd.

get shed of-get rid of.

get up and down with - contact. "I have been trying to get up and down with an electrician for three days."

glut time-waterman's expression meaning bonanza.

go by me- listen and heed. "If you'll go by me, I'll show you how to kill a deer."

going to haul-weather is going to change. "She's going to haul about 8:30."

gone to Canaan - euphemism for pregnant.

good liver-moderately prosperous person.

gussed up - dressed finely. (Accent is on the second syllable.)

 

Hh

had a bad go -suffered misfortune. "That was the year I had a bad go: 1 broke my arm."

*hardhead -a croaker

having a smother-taking an alcoholic drink.

*Hayman - a kind of sweet potato. Most Eastern Shoremen consider Haymans the best tasting of all potatoes.

high as quinine - expensive.

Hog -pronounced to rhyme with vogue.

honey-term of endearment, used between members of the same sex also.

*horse hopper -a praying mantis. A Tangier expression.

huck - grime. Usually on the neck or back.

 

J j

jag-a big catch of oysters.

Jimmy crab - male crab.

 

 

Kk

kaflugie -indefinite distance. "I could throw that to kaflugie." (Soft g)

Kitty, bar the door-an argument. "When those two started talking about child custody, it was Kitty, bar the door."

kofered-a warped board. A Tangier and Smith Island expression.

Ll

leave it go -let it alone.

*little nicks -small clams.

log-pronounced to rhyme with vogue.

losing flesh -losing weight.

 

 

Mm

make a die of it -means an elderly person's imminent demise.

make over-'having a lot to say to somebody.

mana tide - extremely low tide.

*mananose - a clam with a snout.

Marylandmen-one of the names Virginia watermen use to refer to Maryland watermen.

maw - stomach.   "Throw that into your maw."

mother -thick substance which forms on paint left in a can for awhile.

mustered out - discharged from the armed services.

 

Nn

noth-easter - nor'easter.

nummy - numb

 

Oo

of a mind-just you wait. "Of a mind, I'm going to switch you when I get you home."

Old Christmas- Epiphany or Twelfth Night.

 

 

Pp

 

palm - pronounced so that the l is heard, as it was centuries ago.

pavement - sidewalk. (An example of the continued use of a British expression on the Eastern Shore.) peeler-a crab shedding; used for bait.

pint - pronunciation of point, as in "plow pint."

pip ginny-a pimple.

pitch -to land. "The airplane pitched at Princess Anne.

pitch pole -to fall head over heels.

play pretty - a toy.

Postesses - parts of a fence perpendicular to the ground or the columns on a house. Rhymes with "hostess".

potridge-a quail.

pound (n.) - enclosure for farm animals.

pound (v.)-giving a minister gifts other than money. "We are going to meet at the church Wednesday and pound the preacher."

pret near - almost. "Dinner is pret near ready."

protracted meeting-a church revival.

Pruzing - ransacking. "I found this when I was pruzing through the attic." The word comes from perusing.

puncheon - a short post.

Purchase - ability to loosen or unscrew a top. "I don't have enough purchase to open it."

 

Rr

*rock - striped bass.

run ashore -finished eating a big meal. In response to a question whether a diner might want some more of a certain dish at a holiday meal, he or she might reply. "No thanks. I've run ashore."

 

 

Ss

Sarday-pronunciation of Saturday.

scase - scarce.

Sea Sider-an Eastern Shoreman who lives on the east side of the railroad track.

second day dress.- dress a bride wore the day following her wedding.

serenade -boisterous reception often involving tin cans that greeted newlyweds the first night after their return from the honeymoon.

set out - a family dinner on a holiday.

seven ways from Sunday-idle threat of a hard slap used with children and pets. "If you don't move, I'll knock you seven ways from Sunday."

shadders - pine needles. (Also pronounced as shatters.)

shan't - shall not (said defiantly). "I shan't sign that petition."

shats - pine needles.

Shuck and jive - make conversation.

slacked sheet nor tack-full force. "Ignoring the stop sign, he never slacked sheet nor tack. "These are nautical terms.

sick as two dogs - illness involving nausea.

simians, or cymlin -Patty Pan squash, apparently the first squash grown on the Shore.

sixteener-synonymous with teenager. An old man might say, "I feel as well now as when I was a sixteener.

skin a louse for its tiler-extreme frugality. Tiler probably comes from tallow.

sojas -old name for soybeans.

*sook - female crab. Also called sooky.

sparking- dating.

*spider-a frying pan.

spitting fire-extreme anger. "By the time I got there, she was spitting fire."

squall -thunderstorm.

squit- an adolescent girl who affects adult airs.

stands in with -to know an influential person well.

stewer-a complainer.

stob up-secure. "Stob up the cow."

Stone Road -original name for U.S. Route 13.

stove up -confined by illness. "That fall kept me stove up for weeks."

superannuated-retired with a pension. For years the only persons with that status were railroad workers, Methodist ministers, and Coast Guardsmen.

sure as gun's iron-a certainty.

 

Tt

taken short -need to go to the bathroom. "I was taken short on the Ferris wheel."

tater corn -corn harvested from a plot where potatoes had been planted.

taut as a tick-feeling of fullness after a big meal.

team - an intransigent person. "She's a team, she is."

tedious-pronounced "te jus." This is another example of the continued use of a British pronunciation.

terectly -means something to be done in the near future. "I'll tend to that terectly."

that out-surely. "That out Dukakis will never run for office again."

that won't last a good high water-something worthless or of a very temporary nature.

thick - close relationship. "She and the doctor's wife are thick."

this time -second greeting. Used when a Shore person sees and greets somebody for the second time in the same day.

through the rubs - a period of hard luck.

tickly bender - dangerous. A Tangier expression. "It's tickly bender crossing this ice."

time enough- it is early.  When a hostess tells a visitor, "It is time enough," it means, "Don't hurry."

token - an omen.

ton crack - to inflict or sustain a heavy blow. "He hit me a ton crack.      The plumber struck his head a ton crack when he was under the sink."

tough as a boiled owl - inedible meat.

tough as whitleather-tough indeed.

tump-slight elevation in a marsh. Elderly residents of Chincoteague say affectionately of their island, "I've lived on this tump all my life."

turn - a heavy load. "Let me open the door for you since you are carrying a turn."

turn to - to work hard or with a purpose. "If we don't turn to, we won't finish before nightfall."

turned on - succeeded. "The Washington Redskins really turned on last Sunday."

*tut - a rabbit

two to two - twelve bushels of oysters.  Another example would be "three to two" or 17 bushels of oysters.  An ancient means of measurement still used in the Bay Country.

 

 

Uu

ugly enough to stop an eight day clock  -epitome of ugliness.

up a gum - temper tantrum.

up the county-north of where the speaker lives.

Vv

Virginiamen - one of the names Maryland watermen use to refer to Virginian watermen.

 

 

Ww

waver-to wave to.    She wavered to me to come over.

well to the northard-a strong alcoholic drink.

Western Shore-term that Eastern Shoremen use to refer to the rest of Virginia and Maryland.

wheel -bicycle.

who laid the rail-with great zeal. "He was beating his wife for who laid the rail."

whole nother-entirely different. "What she told was a whole nother story."

window light-window pane.

wouldn't go a peg- refused to exert any effort. "I wouldn't go (the length of) a peg to see a horse race."

 

Yy

 

Yurp - The continent east of Delmarva including France, Germany, and the U.K.

 

Zz

zinc - sink.