Mainah Glossary

Sorry - suggestions...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:43:00 +0000

I had not checked my email box for quite some time {sigh} and it looks like all the mail was lost in there.

If you have sent me an email recently, please re-send with any suggestions you have for the Mainah Glossary.

Even better, just post a comment here!

LL Bean is bringing back my favorite sweater!

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Blog posts:

Number 1

Number 2

And the one that started it all!

Yeah!!

Not entirely on topic but still...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:57:00 +0000

I agree with this reporter's opinion. As someone who has visited Boston all her life and lived there for 6 years, I don't see the Big Dig in as negative a light as many other people. I also toured the Big Dig site twice before it was opened - absolutely amazing engineering project.

Yes, it was expensive but picture Boston today without it. I don't want to...

Apr 9, 2009

Big Dig and other marvels

Albert B. Southwick

The three most impressive engineering achievements in Massachusetts history are:

No.1. The railroad from Boston through Worcester to Albany, completed in 1842. It opened up New England to trade from the west via the Erie Canal and ensured that this region would not wither on the economic vine.

No.2. The construction of the Quabbin Reservoir and aqueduct, completed in 1937. The 25-mile aqueduct, dug mostly through solid rock, sometimes 600 feet below ground, is the size of a subway tunnel and is a gigantic siphon that daily sucks 600 million gallons of water uphill from the Quabbin Reservoir to the Ware River diversion and then downhill to the Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton from which it is distributed to Greater Boston. It ensures that eastern Massachusetts (and Chicopee) will have enough water for centuries.

No.3. The Big Dig, Despite all the horror stories, it rates as the most complex and brilliant engineering project in Massachusetts history and has turned Boston from a dingy, traffic-clogged nightmare into a modern city with a bright future.

The Big Dig has become a symbol of waste, fraud, runaway costs and tragic blunders, which is too bad. Its long-term benefits vastly outweigh all those negatives. Despite its inexcusable cost overruns, it already is lowering expenses for commuters traveling through Boston by millions of dollars a year and is reducing air pollution by an estimated 14 percent.

In 1995, the Central Artery, an ugly, rusting eyesore, and the two old tunnels to East Boston were carrying 168,000 cars a day. The idea of putting all that traffic underground was daunting. Many of Boston’s building foundations are below sea level. Much of downtown Boston sits on thousands of tons of fill of questionable stability. And its underground is laced with utility lines, sewer pipes, water mains, and subway supports. It seemed hopeless. But Fred Salvucci, then working for the Dukakis administration, was convinced that it could be done, and he proved persuasive. Design planning began in the 1990s.

The actual construction over the years has been done despite staggering difficulties. Thousands of cubic yards of clay, fill and gravel had to be excavated and carted away. Much of the old utility complex underground had to be rebuilt. Meantime, the old Central Artery had to continue carrying its daily load of 100,000-plus vehicles, and the two old tunnels were loaded to safe capacity and beyond. But when it finally opened, it moved Boston into a sparkling new era.

With the help of Holly Sutherland of the Mass Turnpike’s public relations office, I undertook an estimate of what the big project means and will mean to Boston and eastern Massachusetts. In 1995, the Central Artery and the two old tunnels were carrying about 168,000 vehicles daily. By 2005, the Big Dig and the Ted Williams Tunnel were carrying about 207,000. Average speed through Boston had increased from 13 to 36 miles per hour, which meant that the average motorist probably saved a half hour or more and possibly a half gallon of gas. That would add up to 100,000 hours of time and 100,000 gallons of gas saved daily.

One estimate concluded that the new complex, by reducing traffic delays and accidents, saves $500 million a year. In 10 years, that would add up to $5 billion. But that is only part of the story. Had Boston done nothing, according to estimates, traffic on the Central Artery would have ground to a crawl 16 hours a day. Boston’s neighborhoods would have endured a miserable era of traffic strangulation and air pollution.

The quality of life in Boston will be notably improved and has been already. The noisy, ugly barrier that divided Boston is gone. The daily torrent of more than 200,000 vehicles and their pollution has been removed from the city streets. Neighborhoods have been reconnected. More than 260 acres of surface have been reclaimed for park, recreation, memorial and other purposes.

Fred Salvucci, who had so much to do with the idea and launch of the Big Dig, has had no connection with it for years. Wondering what his thoughts were now, I called him at his office at MIT, where he is a research professor of transportation logistics.

He said that he is impressed by some of the brilliant engineering that was done on the Big Dig, but also appalled by some of the fraud and shoddy work, such as what led to a fatal roof collapse of a tunnel entrance. But he has no doubts as to the big project’s long-term value to Boston and eastern Massachusetts.

“Just try to imagine what Boston would be like if nothing had been done,” he remarked.

The Boston to Albany Railroad, the Quabbin Reservoir and Aqueduct, the Big Dig: sometimes it pays off to think big.

Albert B. Southwick’s column appears regularly in the Telegram & Gazette.
http://www.telegram.com/article/20090409/COLUMN21/904090620/-1/OPINION

Article: Colloquialisms abound, A to Z

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Some day I would like to read the Dictionary of American Regional English. Until then, I will have to look into what these amazing people are doing:

Monday, March 23, 2009

Colloquialisms abound, A to Z

Regional expressions go native

By Ryan J. Foley
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MADISON, Wis. — If you don’t know a stone toter from Adam’s off ox, or aren’t sure what a grinder shop sells, the Dictionary of American Regional English is for you.

The collection of regional words and phrases is beloved by linguists and authors and used as a reference in professions as diverse as acting and police work. And now, after five decades of wide-ranging research that sometimes got word-gatherers run out of suspicious small towns, the job is almost finished.

The dictionary team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is nearing completion of the final volume, covering “S” to “Z.” A new federal grant will help the volume get published next year, joining the first four volumes already in print.

“It will be a huge milestone,” said editor Joan Houston Hall.

The dictionary chronicles words and phrases used in distinct regions. Maps show where a submarine sandwich might be called a hero or grinder, or where a potluck — as in a potluck dinner or supper — might be called a pitch-in (Indiana) or a scramble (northern Illinois).

It’s how Americans do talk, not how they should talk.

“It’s one of the great American scholarly activities and people will be reading it for a century learning about the roots of the American language,” said William Safire, who frequently cites the dictionary in his “On Language” column in The New York Times Magazine. “It shows the richness and diversity of our language.”

Doctors have used it to communicate with patients and investigators have referred to it in efforts to identify criminals, including the Unabomber. Dialect coaches in Hollywood and on Broadway have used the dictionary’s audio recordings of regional speakers to train actors.

Author Tom Wolfe has called the dictionary “my favorite reading.”

In awarding the two-year, $295,000 grant that will get the final volume into print, National Science Foundation reviewers called the dictionary “one of the most visible public faces of linguistics,” and a “national treasure.”

The concept dates to 1889, when the American Dialect Society was formed. But the project did not start in earnest until 1965, when English professor Frederic Cassidy dispatched workers to 1,000 carefully chosen U.S. communities to interview residents and make audio recordings of their speech.

Workers often slept in “word wagons” — vans emblazoned with the UW logo — and even were chased out of a few Southern towns. The field work alone took five years and collected 2.5 million different words and phrases.

Since then, linguists have painstakingly researched the words using print materials to decide which should be included. The dictionary project has about a dozen workers and a $750,000 annual budget.

Cassidy died in 2000, still looking toward publication of the final volume. His tombstone reads: “On to Z!”

Hall, who has worked at the dictionary since 1975 and been editor since 2000, said the complete series of five volumes published by Harvard University Press will contain about 75,000 entries.

Draft entries for the final volume are still being reviewed. During a recent visit to their offices at UW-Madison’s English department, one was tracing the history of the word “stone toter,” a type of fish found in parts of the eastern U.S.

After the final volume is published, the next phase of the project will be to put the dictionary online. Hall envisions an online edition that will be updated constantly.

Hall said her all-time favorite word is bobbasheely, used in Gulf Coast states as a noun meaning a good friend or as a verb meaning to hang around with a friend. It comes from the language of the Choctaw tribes.

Two people interviewed in Texas and Alabama in the 1960s used the word. Further digging revealed that Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner had once used it in a novel, and it was used in the early 19th century by a colleague of former vice president and duelist Aaron Burr.

The dictionary has occasionally been put to serious use.

Forensic linguist Roger Shuy said he occasionally referred to the dictionary when he studied the Unabomber’s writings in the 1990s for clues to the writer’s identity. His profile didn’t help catch Ted Kaczynski, but it turned out to be pretty accurate: He guessed the Unabomber had a doctorate, grew up near Chicago and was older than some investigators initially believed.

Hall also was sought for help by reporters who didn’t understand President Bill Clinton’s comment in 1993 that an Air Force official who had criticized him “doesn’t know me from Adam’s off ox.”

Hall said the phrase is used west of the Appalachians in place of the more popular “he doesn’t know me from Adam.” The “off ox” refers to one of the two oxen once used to plow fields.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20090323/NEWS/903230337/1160/SPECIALSECTIONS04&source=rss

What American accent do you have?

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 19:14:00 +0000

http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

Supposedly mine is from the West.

I guess a combo of growing up in Maine, living in Boston, London, DC, and CT! I've become "neutral!"

Ah, winter in the country...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Dear Diary:

Aug. 12 - Moved into our new home in Maine. It is so beautiful here. The hills and river valleys are so picturesque. I have a beautiful old oak tree in my front yard. Can hardly wait to see the change in the seasons. This is truly God's Country.

Oct. 14 - Maine is such a gorgeous place to live, one of the real special places on Earth. The leaves are turning a multitude of different colors. I love all of the shades of reds, oranges and yellows, they are so bright. I want to walk through all of the beautiful hills and spot some white tail deer. They are so graceful; certainly they must be the most peaceful creatures on Earth. This must be paradise.

Nov. 11 - Deer season opens this week. I can't imagine why anyone would want to shoot these elegant animals. They are the very symbol of peace and tranquility here in Maine. I hope it snows soon. I love it here!

Dec. 2 - It snowed last night. I woke to the usual wonderful sight: everything covered in a beautiful blanket of white. The oak tree is magnificent. It looks like a postcard. We went out and swept the snow from the steps and driveway. The air is so crisp, clean and refreshing. We had a snowball fight. I won, and the snowplow came down the street. He must have gotten too close to the driveway because we had to go out and shovel the end of the driveway again. What a beautiful place. Nature in harmony. I love it here!

Dec. 12 - More snow last night. I love it! The plow did his cute little trick again. What a rascal. A winter wonderland I love it here!

Dec. 19 - More snow - couldn't get out of the driveway to get to work in time. I'm exhausted from all of the shoveling. And that snowplow!

Dec. 21 - More of that white sh*t coming down. I've got blisters on my hands and a kink in my back. I think that the snowplow driver waits around the corner until I'm done shoveling the driveway. *sshole.

Dec. 25 - White Christmas? More freakin' snow. If I ever get my hands on the sonofab*tch who drives that snowplow, I swear I'll castrate him. And why don't they use more salt on these roads to melt this crap??

Dec. 28 - It hasn't stopped snowing since Christmas. I have been inside since then, except of course when that SOB "Snowplow Harry" comes by. Can't go anywhere, cars are buried up to the windows. Weather man says to expect another 10 inches. Do you have any idea how many shovelfuls 10 inches is??

Jan. 1 - Happy New Year? The way it's coming down it won't melt until the 4th of July! The snowplow got stuck down the road and the sh*thead actually had the balls to come and ask to borrow a shovel! I told him I'd broken 6 already this season.

Jan. 4 - Finally got out of the house. We went to the store to get some food and a god*mn deer ran out in front of my car and I hit the bastard. It did $3,000 in damage to the car. Those beasts ought to be killed. The hunters should have a longer season if you ask me.

Jan. 27 - Warmed up a little and rained today. The rain turned the snow into ice and the weight of it broke the main limb of the oak tree in the front yard and it went through the roof. I should have cut that old piece of sh*t into fireplace wood when I had the chance.

May 23 - Took my car to the local garage. Would you believe the whole underside of the car is rusted away from all of that d*mn salt they dump on the road? Car looks like a bashed up, heap of rusted cow sh*t.

May 10 - Sold the car, the house, and moved to Florida. I can't imagine why anyone in their freakin' mind would ever want to live in the G0d forsaken State of Maine.

A YouTube video you can't miss...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:11:00 +0000

I'll admit it - I'm not a fan of YouTube. I've probably seen less than 6 videos on YouTube but this one you have to watch. Priceless.

Maine Man Song

See - aren't you glad you watched it? And now it will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. You're Welcome!!

- L.

Can't get there from here

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Album mocked Maine ways

By Jerry Harkavy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORTLAND, Maine— Some of the classic lines that define Maine humor emerged 50 years ago, on a record made by two Yale University students in a dormitory room.

Uttered in exaggerated Down East accents, the exchanges between Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan on the “Bert and I” album inspired generations of storytellers both in-state and beyond, including the likes of Garrison Keillor of Lake Wobegone fame.

Some of Dodge and Bryan’s bone-dry punch lines remain familiar even today.

Summer tourist to Mainer: “Which way to Millinocket?” After considering and then rejecting a few possible routes, the native concludes, “Come to think of it, you can’t get there from here.”

Then there’s the day 85-year-old Arnold Bunker “from Bailey Island way” appears in court. Asked if he’d lived there all his life, he replies: “Not yet.”

Maine’s Islandport Press has marked the 50th anniversary of “Bert and I” by putting out a CD that features 34 stories compiled from Dodge and Bryan’s four albums, a concert appearance by Dodge and a public television special.

Though neither was from Maine, Dodge and Bryan were familiar with the state and its people and had a keen ear for dialect, along with a knack for low-tech sound effects. Their first recording, made in their dorm room at Yale University, featured a wastebasket as an echo chamber.

They made 50 copies for friends and family members, then pressed 50 more.

Dodge died in 1982 in a hit-and-run crash while bicycling in Hawaii.

Bryan, a divinity student who went on to be ordained as an Episcopal priest, is a bush pilot, at 77, with the Quebec Labrador Foundation, a nonprofit he founded nearly 50 years ago.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20081111/NEWS/811110501

Okay, this one is a little off-topic...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:16:00 +0000

But I had to share...

Fake cop pulls gun after stopping federal agent

Police say a 21-year-old Portland man used a blue portable strobe light to pull over a car on Forest Avenue, then pulled a shotgun when approached by the off-duty federal agent he had stopped.

Andrew J. Chaisson faces charges of impersonating an officer and criminal threatening with a gun following the 11 p.m. incident Monday.

The federal agent told police a man in a black 2007 Chevrolet pickup activated a blue strobe light and pulled him over on Outer Forest Avenue.

The truck then backed into a driveway, squealing its tires. The agent became suspicious and was approaching the truck on foot, when the driver threatened him with a shotgun, police said.

The suspect fled in the truck but the agent got the license plate number, a vanity plate "ACE HI."

Police went to Chaisson's home where he was arrested and a shotgun was confiscated, police said.

Police said they have no similar reports of someone impersonating an officer.
Police say that unmarked cars are used for traffic enforcement but typically have multiple blue lights built into the car's grill and have laptop computers and radar visible in the cab. Officers are in uniform.

Police say motorists being pulled over by an unmarked car should stop in a well-lit, well-traveled area if possible and may call 911 to confirm that a bona fide officer is stopping them. If the officer is not in uniform, the motorist should ask that a uniformed officer also respond.

Please go to the article for a picture and comments which, of course, are priceless...

I know...I know...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:05:00 +0000

I'm a terrible blogger...Sorry!

Here is a "recent" email (is July considered recent?):

How about Maine villages…….

Yahoo village is a group of houses in Poland. There are numerous vehicles without hoods, many appliances on the lawns and deer hanging from different trees throughout the neighborhood. People often seen with Budweiser, Marlboros and fat @ss in a glass.

Bog Hoot refers to all of Mechanic Falls. The local snowmobile club goes by the name of “The Bog Hooters”.

Submitted by T. from Lewiston by the sea - Biddeford

Words, words, words...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:56:00 +0000

Keep them coming!

These are from Chris in Jefferson, ME:

‘bout

Adv., About: “That theyah fellah jus’ ‘bout got stove up.” Also see “ ’magine”

Cussed

Pronunciation \kuss–ed\
Adj., Cursed or obstinate. – “That dang deeyah run right’out front of the cah, and I jus’ ‘bout nailed the cussed thing.”
Also cantankerous.

Friggin’

Adj., Used to add a great deal of emphasis. “that powah fellah thumped himself with that theyah hammah pretty friggin’ hahd.” To which one could reply “Friggin’ ‘magine!” (see ‘magine)

Friggin’ skiddah: (see skidder) A terminology often used to describe a stout, or sometimes poorly thought of large woman.

‘magine

v., Imagine: Used as an affirmative agreement, or an affirmation to someone’s statement. “D’you see the size of that theyah lobstah?”, “friggin’ ’magine.”

“ ‘bout ‘magine” is used to agree with hypothetical ponderings, “I bet that cah was doin’ a buck twenty easy!” (Translated: I assume that you agree with me that the automobile that passed us previously on the highway was traveling at a velocity that I could easily assume was in excess of 120 mph.) “’bout magine!” (Translated: I can only imagine that the statement you just made is an accurate guesstimation given the circumstances surrounding the situation.”

More thoughts on Allen's Coffee Brandy...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:53:00 +0000

Mmm...I love coffee!!

From Graham:

Allen's Coffee Brandy

aka: 'fat ass in a glass,' 'Champagne of Maine,' 'gorilla milk,' In northern and central Maine, Allen's is jokingly referred to as ''the flower of the tundra.''

'Liquid Leg Spreader'
Scale ingredients to servings
4 oz Allen's® coffee brandy
4 oz whole milk
Stir ingredients together in a highball glass half-filled with ice cubes, and serve.

Coffee is extremely popular throughout New England. People in Maine love coffee and products with a genuine, pronounced coffee flavor. Allen’s probably has the truest coffee taste. Coffee liqueurs and some other coffee flavored brandies tend to be sweet, Allen’s focuses on the coffee flavor not additional sweetness. Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy uses a natural extract from Brazilian coffee beans.

People in Maine have found that Allen’s CFB makes the perfect sombrero. Sombreros were first made with coffee brandy, sombreros made with coffee liqueurs came later. Consumers may also consider Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy to be a great value as opposed to imported coffee liqueurs.

Allen’s CFB is proud to be the number one spirit in Maine. Allen’s CFB appreciates having some of the most loyal customers in the world. Allen’s CFB customers span generations and the product has crossed all regions of the state from fishing villages to downtown Portland.

More emails...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:10:00 +0000

Thanks to all that keep emailing me!

I'll get to a glossary update at some point! (:

L.

New word:
innerestin - pretty intersting (from J. - 12th generation Mainah!)

New websites:
http://www.wickedgoodmaine.com/
http://maineliving.blogspot.com/

And a great email:

I'd love to add anothah definishun for "spider" or "spidah" -- Lobstah.

Also, the "green front" was the local likker stoah, from the green paint on the front. Coahss, that 'twas befoah Hannafohd and Shaw-uz stahted sellin' the stuff.

Seriously, I used to have to teach my Mainer students (7th-8th graders in Oakland) how to talk Yankee. I'd have spelling lessons and grammar lessons on the board, because they were actually losing the dialect. One of the rules of spelling was that if a syllable ended with "r" it should be replaced with "h." Almost always wohked. Oh, and any one syllable wohd could be pronounced in either 1, 2 or 3 syllables, as in "good", "goo-ahd" or "goo-wad-ah"

Now that I'm retired and living in Kentucky, I find myself saying "you-all" much of the time, though when people, especially women, say "Y'all have a naahce day, hun" I still find myself responding with "A-yuh."

Mike D. Formerly of Oakland/Waterville, now in Parksville, KY

Go Pats!

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:19:00 +0000

Not specifically relating to Maine (taken on Rt. 1 by Logan) but had to share...

Vote results...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:55:00 +0000

Way-back-when I posted a poll:

http://mainahglossary.blogspot.com/2006/12/time-to-vote.html

67% voted for Ay-yuh - I will change the entry next time I do an update.

L.

Priceless...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:25:00 +0000

$30 for an old scrap snowblower body
$13 for wheels from Marden's
Being able to plow your driveway with your 1998 Honda Civic...Priceless!

Love the quote "I can't hit the snowbank hard, because it could set off the car airbags."

Portland Press Herald article

BTW, sorry for the lack of posts! Any new words for me? I'm wicked behind again.

You know you're from Maine if... (long)

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 23:02:00 +0000

1.. you've had arguments over the comparative qualityof Fried Dough. Yes
2.. you get four inches of snow and you call it "a dusting."
3.. your neighbor's house was foreclosed after an unlucky 24 hour mini-cruise on the Scotia Prince.
4.. you don't understand why there aren't fried clamshacks elsewhere in the country.
5.. you know what an Irving is and the location of 15 of them. Absolutely
6.. you knew all the flavors at Perry's Nut House.
7.. your car is covered in yellow-green dust in May. Sigh
8.. you can drive the Augusta rotaries without slowing down. Yep
9.. you've hung out at a gravel pit.
10.. you think a mosquito could be a species of bird.
11.. you once skipped school and went to Bar Harbor, Old Orchard Beach or Reid State Park.
12.. even your school cafeteria made good chowder.
13.. you've almost fallen asleep driving between Houlton and Presque Isle .
14.. you know how to pronounce Calais and Machias. Yes
15.. you've made a meal out of a Jordan's red dye hotdog, a bag of Humpty Dumpty potato chips and a can of soda. Yep
16.. you've gone to a Grange bean supper. Yes
17.. in high school, you (or a friend) packed Deering Ice Cream cones. Yes
18.. at least once in your life, a seagull pooped on your head.
19.. at least once in your life you've said, "It smells like the mill in here." Yep
20.. there's a fruit and vegetable stand within 10 minutes of your house.
21.. you have shopped at the Big Chicken Barn.
22.. your idea of a traffic jam is being the second car at the stoplight.
23.. you wonder out loud if the state can just close its borders to people from away.
24.. your house converts to a B&B every July & August for people from away that you happen to know.
25.. all year long you're tracking sand in the house; from the beach in the summer and the roads and sidewalks in the winter.
26.. you have a front door but no steps to get to it.
27.. you use "wicked" as a multi-purpose part of speech. Use to
28.. you have to have the sand cleaned out of your brake system every spring.
29.. you do the majority of your shopping out of Uncle Henry's.
30.. you've ditched the car on the side of the road somewhere because you thought you saw some good fiddleheads!
31.. you've had a vacation from school just to help the family pick potatoes.
32.. you know a lobster pot is a trap, not a kettle. Of course!
33.. you know not to plant tender crops until the last full moon in May.
34.. when you go to the dump and bring back more than you brought.
35.. when people from "away" ask for directions and you intentionally led them in the opposite direction they wanted to go.
36.. you watch "Murder She Wrote" and snicker at the stupid fake accents.
37.. you know how to find the rope swing at the quarry.
38.. you take the New Hampshire toll personally. Yes
39.. you feel really really good when you cross the Piscatiqua River bridge into Kittery. I read the sign out loud almost every time
40.. you always wave when you see a Maine license plate in another state.
41.. a roll of duct tape and a can of flat black spray paint will get your car to pass inspection.
42.. you know how to avoid all the traffic at the Fryeburg Fair by using the "Secret Entrance".
43.. you have to replace your mailbox yearly because ofthe town plow.
44.. you know how to get from Cumberland to Fryeburg via the "Egypt Road".
45.. you can remember when the "Egypt Road" was a dirt track through the woods.
46.. when you're supposed to dress up, you wear plaid flannel with a tie.
47.. you know that Moody's Diner does NOT take credit cards!
48.. you actually miss the fifteen below zero mornings in winter (that have been eliminated by the greenhouse effect) because you enjoyed running or walking to workin the silent crystal stillness, punctuated by an idling car engine as the owner waited indoors for the car to warm up before his mad dash from warmth to warmth, and your lungs did not freeze; thank you verymuch for your concern.
49.. the word "stove" refers to what you did to the right front fender of your truck after you've had a wicked bring-up on a rock.
50.. there's too much "stuff" in your 2 "cah" garage to get either of your cars into it.
51.. you know what a frappe is. Yum!
52.. you know the smell of Woodsmens fly dope.
53.. you eat supper at night and dinner at noon.
54.. your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
55.. "vacation" means going to the Allagash for the weekend.
56.. you measure distance in hours. Still do!
57.. you know several people who have hit moose more than once.
58.. you often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
59.. you use a down comforter in the summer.
60.. your grandparents drive at 65 mph through 13 fee to snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
61.. you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events.
62.. you install security lights on your house and garage and leave them both unlocked.
63.. you think of the major food groups as moose meat, beer, fish, and berries.
64.. you carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
65.. there are 4 empty cars running in the parking lot at the convenience store at any given time.
66.. you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
67.. driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
68.. you think sexy lingerie is tube socks and flannel pajamas.
69.. you know all 4 seasons: almost wintah, wintah, still wintah and construction.
70.. you know what it means when someone says they are going upstreet.
71.. rumble strip warn not of toll booths, but moose crossings.
72.. school kids toss their lunch (homemade bread and lobster sandwiches) in the wastebasket because they have them so often.
73.. you can actually see the milky way. Yes
74.. you can use your brights on the highway. Yes
75.. L.L. Bean's not just a store, it's a way of life. Absolutely
76.. you encounter any sign reading: "Next Exit: 246 miles".
77.. the nearest mall is 2 hours away.
78.. you have to yield for snowmobiles.
79.. lobster is $1.00 a pound.
80.. the state closes down at five o'clock.
81.. "The City" means exclusively Portland. Yes
82.. "salt damage" is a viable insurance claim.
83.. all of the traffic lights blink yellow at 10 o'clock at night.
84.. it's not a storm, it's a nor'eastah.
85.. open 24/7 might as well be Greek.
86.. you say room and people think you are saying rum.
87.. you can buy a minivan with four wheel drive and chained tires.
88.. all addresses start with RR# Mine use to!
89.. you've seen a woman mowing her lawn in the nude.
90.. a rest stop means a pit toilet and a picnic table.
91.. you know Moxie isn't a woman's magazine. Yes
92.. you know that L/A doesn't mean a city in California. Yes
93.. you know who "Marty on the mountain" is.
94.. you go "off-roading" before and after school.
95.. you just go for rides in your truck around town for no apparent reason other than to take a ride in your truck around town.
96.. you get turned on when you see a big pickup witha loud muffler.
97.. you diet all week so you can consume 40,000 calories at a fair. Yes
98.. you eat ice cream with flavors like 'MooseTracks" and "Maine Black Bear".
99.. you know that a chocolate doughnut is not a white doughnut with chocolate frosting. Yes
100.. you call any long sandwich an "Italian". Yes
101.. you know what fly dope is. Yes
102.. you eat potato chips with flavors such as "clamdip", "ketchup" and "dill pickle". Yes
103.. the smell of clam flats at low tide, while disgusting, brings back fond memories of childhood trips to the beach.
104.. you call the basement "downcellah." Sometimes
105.. your grandmother called shorts "shots".
106.. you live in a mobile home and have a brand new car and a satellite dish.
107.. you see a beat up Ford Pickup with a bumber sticker that reads: "I'd rather be bowhunting."
108.. you can hum the tune of "You should have bought it when you saw it at Mardens?" Yes
109.. you actually know what "Cumby's" is. Yes
110..You know what the Old Port is. Yes
111..You understand the theory behind Dimillo'sfloating restaurant. Umm...

Another word...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:36:00 +0000

Gunkhole, n - a small body of shallow, stagnant, and boggy water, usually with poor fishing (for trout). Usage - "Ain't no use fishin there, nothin' but chubs and sunfish in that gunkhole!" Can also be used as an adjective, as in "near that gunkhole brook over by McDuff's corner"

- Submitted by KFB (Bangor, Maine)

I am behind...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:29:00 +0000

Really need to update the glossary at some point. Glad I can at least post the suggestions I receive here! Also, did you notice that I finally update the format a bit today?

Here are a couple more suggestions...

Flush - n., a toilet (I worked in home health care as an occupational therapist when we first moved here and had many elderly Mainer's ask about grab bars and such to help them "get up off the flush.")

Quillypig - n., a porcupine (I heard this from a co-worker from Machias, referring to an animal her husband, a game warden, had dealt with.)

Received from LS (Hoosier now in Hampden, ME)

Recent suggestions...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:24:00 +0000

Well I su'pose...

phrase, Necessary to signal someone you're visiting, that you're about to leave.

Hamburg

n. used to define ground beef or an actual hamburger; as in "Do you want cukes with your hamburg?"

Numnuts or Nummynuts

?? My aunt was known to call her kids this when she got exasperated with them.

- MIE originally from Costigan, Maine

Recent email...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:46:00 +0000

I heard my grandmother use the expression "well, for land's sake" when she was surprised at something or, for example, if she met up with an acquaintance she had no seen for a long time. She was from the Casco Bay islands so no doubt heard that in the early days; she was born in 1892.

Jeff

Portland, ME

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 01 May 2007 23:32:00 +0000

An older article but still interesting. There were many things I already knew about Portland but also a few I hadn't heard before. The comment about Portland being more liberal could be said about most cities.

Where the square is a triangle
Oddities are everywhere in this hip, diverse city, so different from its neighbors

By Judith Gaines, Globe Correspondent December 11, 2005

This quirky city was once known, fittingly enough, as ''Quack." Examples of its pleasure in things odd are everywhere. Monument Square, in the heart of downtown, is actually a triangle. The famous Casco Bay Bridge doesn't span any part of Casco Bay. (It crosses the Fore River.) The area near the local sewage treatment plant provides some of the best bird-watching in the state. And the city is home to what must be the only topless doughnut shop in the country.

With a population of 64,249, Maine's largest city is concentrated in a small geographic area, and it has always had a spunky, creative, somewhat wacko charm that endears it to other Mainiacs, while also setting it apart.

Its population is younger, hipper, and more liberal than elsewhere in the state. Public buses here have bicycle racks.

It's also more diverse. According to the last census, almost 9 percent of Portland's population is nonwhite, compared with 3 percent in the state. Officials say 51 languages are spoken at Portland High School. Mayor Jill Duson (whose term ends this month) isn't just the first black female mayor in the state but also only the second black woman ever elected to any office in Maine, she says.

Portland is so different from its neighboring communities that less than a year ago an issue of Down East magazine asked: Is it really part of Maine? Editors noted that all five Green Party candidates in 2004 elections came from districts in Portland, and one of them won. On issues like gun control, gay rights, hunting, and environmental politics, the magazine observed, Portlanders hold significantly different views from voters in the rest of the state.

Portland is home to the state's biggest symphony, top art museum, its only professional sports teams, and its largest concentration of restaurants. In a state almost without skyscrapers, the few high-rise buildings clustered along Congress Street, Portland's main thoroughfare, are as close as Maine gets to a downtown financial district. Although Augusta is the capital and legislative center, the state Supreme Court and the largest concentration of lawyers are here.

According to Guinness World Records, Portland is the only city in the country with one street on which a person could satisfy all his or her educational needs. A preschool, two elementary schools, a middle school, two high schools, and a branch of the University of New England are on 2-mile-long Stevens Avenue.

Some people have both their winter and summer homes in Portland. They spend winter on the mainland and summer on one of several Casco Bay islands technically inside the city limits: Peaks Island, Great Diamond, Little Diamond, Cushing's and Cliff islands among them. (For a quirky island tour, you can ride the mail boat as it delivers letters, freight, and passengers to the islands.)

The city houses at least two oddball, one-of-a-kind museums: The Umbrella Cover Museum (on Peaks Island), displaying all sorts of umbrella covers, humble and exotic, from around the world; and The Museum of Cryptozoology, dedicated to animals whose existence has not yet been confirmed, such as Big Foot, assorted sea monsters, and the like.

Especially in the historic Old Port, the city boasts a large assortment of one-of-a-kind shops and many distinctive galleries. Among them is SPACE, which sponsored an event in September that included rolling a huge swath of sod down Congress Street, making it an impromptu park, and turning dumpsters into theaters for puppet shows, dance, and other performances.

Other art openings take place in similarly unconventional settings. Just a few weeks ago, a hair salon called Head Games hosted the opening of an exhibit by photographer Arthur Fink. Fink said he was drawn to the salon as a place to show his work because of its light and space, and he likes the idea of new art constantly appearing throughout the city in surprising places.

For Portlanders, Fink said, being quirky ''is a way of staying fresh and alive, and making new connections."

Now through mid-February, visitors also can see the arresting sculptures of Pandora LaCasse, which she describes as ''little oases of light and cheer to warm the dead of winter." An abstract sculptor, LaCasse wraps trees, poles, and homemade forms in strings of colored lights all over the city. In a park at Middle and Exchange streets, turquoise ovals hang from pink trees. On Congress Street, fanciful orange and red megaphones cluster in front of the Time and Temperature Building. On Commercial Street by the harbor, blue and green spheres protrude from some shops, as if they were big water bubbles.

Portland's quirkiness is long-standing. Right from the start, it developed a reputation as a liberal, free-thinking place.

Maine was settled in part by people who objected to what they considered the Puritanical, restrictive ways common in Massachusetts, and they seem to have gravitated particularly to Portland, established in 1786. When Maine became the nation's 23d state in 1820, Portland was its first capital.

One guidebook describes Portlanders in the 1800s as ''boozehounds" and says waterfront laborers routinely took ''grog breaks" in the mornings and afternoons. Munjoy Hill, in the east end of town, was known as ''Mount Joy Hill," in honor of the prostitutes who frequented the area.

One of the city's towering oddities is the Portland Observatory, which looks like a lighthouse in a distinctly urban setting on Congress Street. Sandwiched between the Portland Free Methodist Church and the Fire Department and across from Colucci's Hilltop Superette, it is actually an old signal tower, erected in 1807 as a communication aid for ships heading to port.

Over the years, several well-known distilleries have had headquarters here, including McGlinchy's and the John Morgan Brewing Co., and the city remains famous for its microbrews such as Shipyard, Allagash, Geary's, and Gritty McDuff's. It has a flourishing nightlife, with several nightclubs and saloons where you can hear local bands. So many bars are crowded into the Old Port that a person can bar crawl without having to drive.

Most of Portland's attractions are concentrated on its peninsula, a compact area about three miles long and less than a mile wide. Still, outlying areas bear exploration as well. Within the city limits are at least two waterfalls and a network of about 30 miles of trails that meander around the Back Cove, along the Fore River, around the harbor, and through the Maine Audubon Sanctuary, which has two important sites in the metro area. Bird-watchers especially enjoy a trail that passes the city's sewage treatment plant, where ospreys have erected a huge nest on an abandoned railway trestle, and where you can sometimes see a bald eagle or exotic sea gulls.

Just north of the city limits but well within Metro Portland is Mackworth Island, a good place to witness the local pleasure in fun and fantasy. Given to the state by Percival Proctor Baxter as ''a sanctuary for wild beasts and birds," the island now is home to the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf, but a 1 1/4-mile trail around the perimeter is open to the public. The path passes a pet cemetery (the final resting place of 13 Irish setters and one horse); a ''listening tree" said to be able to understand the sign language of the hearing impaired as well as entreaties from more conventionally speaking people; and an extensive ''community village for fairies," where children are invited to build fairy homes out of natural materials.

On a recent day, Delaney Derrig, 7, a second-grader in nearby Westbrook, was beginning construction of one of these little twig dwellings under the watchful eye of her grandmother. She said fairies are drawn to the area ''because there are homes for them. They need somewhere to live."

Portland also is a restaurant town. Many locals proudly claim it has more restaurants per capita than anywhere in the country except San Francisco. One list shows 187 restaurants in Portland, or one for every 343 people.

City regulations do not allow food chains downtown, and the restaurants can be as quirky as the city itself. You will never pay more for less food than at Bandol's, where the portions are so tiny as to be laughable. (A recent entree of braised veal on a potato pancake with chanterelle mushrooms measured no more than two inches in diameter, including the sauce.) Hugo's, the trendiest spot in town, with somewhat bigger portions and considerably better food, offers cod tongue tempura.

Street & Company, the favorite of many locals, may be one of the few restaurants in the country that serves no meat; it's strictly about seafood. Silly's, a popular cheap eats joint near Munjoy Hill, sells an avocado milkshake, which is better than it sounds. Joe's Boathouse boasts a local favorite known as ''The Zook," a wrap with fresh chicken, tomato, onion, and homemade caper mayonnaise.

Sitting at Joe's, you can watch the comings and goings in the outer harbor and gaze upon another local oddity: Fort Gorges. This looks like a huge granite square floating in the bay with some grass on top. In fact, it's an old fort built on Hog Island in 1858 to defend Portland Harbor. However, no shot ever was fired from it.

The topless doughnut shop, part of an adult center called Platinum Plus, looks more like a plush nightclub lounge than a morning breakfast spot. But it's open Monday through Saturday, 6-11 a.m., and it does sell doughnuts, $1.50 apiece. They don't make their own, though, a young blonde woman called ''La Bomba" told me when I finally mustered the nerve to go in. When I asked who does, she giggled and said, ''It's a secret."

Coffee Brandy is #1 (and #2 and #6 and #9)...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:56:00 +0000

BANGOR - When it comes to spirits, coffee brandy remains Mainers' libation of choice.

State sales figures for last year show that Allen's Coffee Flavored Brandy remains by far the top-selling brand of liquor in the state, just as it's been every year for more than a decade. Nearly 994,000 bottles worth $11.9 million were sold in four different bottle sizes in Maine in 2006.

Allen's is so popular that its different bottle sizes rank first, second, sixth and ninth on the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations list of the top 25 alcoholic items sold last year. Allen's is the only brand that appears more than once in the top 10.

No. 2 in revenue totals was Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, with $4.7 million worth of sales in Maine and 252,300 bottles sold. Bacardi Light rum sold 253,643 bottles, with revenues of almost $4.3 million.

Other top sellers in Maine in 2006 included Orloff Vodka, which sold 212,000 bottles, and Absolut Vodka, which sold 135,000 bottles. Absolut ranked fourth in terms of revenue with $3.3 million.

Coffee-flavored brandy is something of a New England specialty and is not well-known outside the region. Allen's is made by family-owned M.S. Walker Inc. of Somerville, Mass.

The dark-colored liquor that's been called "the champagne of Maine," while immensely popular, is also associated with the state's substance abuse troubles.

A decade ago, state Superior Court Judge Robert Crowley was quoted as saying the brand "is very prevalent in the criminals who come before me. I don't know whether brandy is more bang for your buck but it runs the gamut. I see it in bar fights, domestic assaults, (drunk driving) and worse crimes."
------
Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

A couple more...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:50:00 +0000

chimbly: "You pobly ought clean tha chimbly - don't need no fyah heya!"
pobbly: "I pobbly stove up the truck on thayt deeah yestidy - sides all staved in."

- From Mike (Ex-Mainer)

New words...

noreply@blogger.com (LoriLady) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 22:49:00 +0000

axe - Not the thing you chop wood with. The things that the wheels on your car, truck or four wheeler roll on. "I hammered the throttle off the line and she broke an Axe." (from Mike S. of Passadumkeag, ME)
buot - As in "Why don't cha take the buot out the cove n' check some a them pots?" Often spelled "Boat" due to a total corruption of the pronounciation outside a the coast a Maine.
punt - Ain't got nothin ta do with the football. It's just the name given to the thing you row in when yer goin from the wharf to ya buot. "You gonna walk out theyah, Jimmy, or take the punt like a told ya?"