Friday, May 11, 2012

Western Thesaurus

Folks in the 19th Century spoke differently than we do.  Just as every generation has its own lingua franca, post-antebellum America was no different.



Y


Yack  A stupid person.
Yam  To eat.
Yammerin'  Talking. "Drink yer coffee an' quit yer yammerin'."
Yannigan Bag  A bag in which the cowboy carried personal items, also known as a "war bag."
Yarn  A story.
Yeath  For earth.
Yegg (or John Yegg)  Bandit chief
Yellow Belly  A coward.
Yellow Hammer  Gold coin.
Yellows  Often pronounced yallers. A disease of horses and cattle, which is indicated by a yellow appearance of the eyes, inside of the lips, etc.
Yer  You
Yere  Here
Yourn   A form of 'yours', as in "This un's mine, that un's yourn."


Z


Zitted  Zipped, flew. "The bullets zitted about in every direction."
Zooning  Humming, buzzing, barking.
 Concert Hall Songs

No comments:

Post a Comment