Ever since reading the years-long trials and tribulations of Nebraska's greatest writer, Mari Sandoz (ca. 1893-1967), who could never sell her stories the the eastern establishment elitist publishing houses because they feared her "Nebraska Sandhills English" was too alien, I've sort of been wondering if Nebraska Sandhills English is, really, any different from Florida English or New Jersey English or Montana English or Long Island English.
Of course, being deaf, I have a different perspective on language, than do hearing people. One is free to disagree with me, but I'm not coming up with any significant differences.
I'll bet even bijou from England, and LC EFA from Australia, would have no problem immediately figuring out the meanings used in Nebraska Sandhills English.
Nebraska Sandhills English draws pictures with words.
Going through a batch of old magazines, I found a copy of the February 1952 edition of
American Speech, and a short article about Nebraska Sandhills English written by Rudolph Umland. I have no idea who Rudolph is, or was, but he needed to sharpen his writing skills, as the article, while a treasure-trove of information, is poorly patched-together.
The article was based upon a trip he took to the Sandhills of Nebraska in 1940; that may seem like a very long time ago now, but I immediately recognized every word he gave as an example of Nebraska Sandhills English, as they're all still in common use today.
The word spook in Sandhills parlence means to "scare or fill with fright." Cattle that have been on the pasture all summer are easily frightened. One animal will communicate its fear to the others, and the entire herd will spook and run.
Now, it seems to me that anyone, from the upper Shetland Islands of Scotland down to the middle of South Africa, should be able to understand that without a dictionary.
.....chipper, as applied to a rancher who is poor.....Most of the poorer ranchers in the Sandhills [i.e., circa 1940] still gather cow chips for their winter fuel, hence the word.
A fine cutter is a horse with exceptional ability in cutting, or separating cattle from a herd. Old hands still say carving or chopping instead of cutting. Calves that have been cut from a herd and counted are dodged out.
The chute in which cattle are held while being branded is the squeezer or snapping turtle.
To side-line a steer is to tie two of its legs on the same side together; to hog-tie it is to tie three of its legs together. To rope a steer is to put on a string.
A waddie, or cowboy, who is good at roping is said to sling the cat-gut well. When a waddie ropes a steer without having the rope fastened to the saddle, he takes a dollie welter.
Damn, I'm not finding any of these difficult for a person of average sophistication.
It's fair ground when a steer is roped around the head; then, while it is still running, the rope is allowed to slip over the steer's back to encircle its legs.
There's some primitives on Skins's island I'd like to fair ground.
When a waddie throws a calf by grasping the skin of its opposite flank while it's running, he flanks the animal; when he throws it by twisting its neck, he bulldogs it; when he throws it by giving its tail a sudden jerk, he tails it.
To fork a horse means to swing astride or get into the saddle. To tooth an animal is to look at its teeth in order to determine its age.
A hand who rides along the fences and keeps them in repair is called a fence-rider.
Well, damn, even Hottentots can understand that sort of English.
A Nebraskan who shows a lack of judgement or is careless is said not to have cow sense.
Well, duh.
If he is a fool, he is said not to know dung from honey.
For the record, in real life a word other than "dung" is really used.
To vomit is to air the paunch.
Yepper.
Watching a card-game is sweating a game. Hard liquor is family disturbance. Bacon is overland trout. When a Nebraskan dresses well, he rags proper. When he grows bold after taking on a few drinks he is ready to go lion-hunting with a buggy-whip. When he leaves town or the neighboring ranch and starts across the prairie, he hits the flats for home. A small town is a wide place on the road. Telling a tall tale is telling a windy.
I oftentimes thought about using "windy" instead of "bouncy" for the primitives, but the definitions aren't quite exactly precisely the same, so I dropped the idea.
A Nebraskan who is washing his face is said to be washing his profile or bathing his countenance.
Yeah. I've used "bathing his countenance" even in Boston, and was readily understood.
A cowboy riding fast is faggin' along.
That term's still used, but not as much as it used to be used.
When something misfits, it is said to fit like a hog in a saddle
Now, the below however is true ONLY in the Sandhills of Nebraska, nowhere else, not even including the non-Sandhills of Nebraska. Only in the Sandhills of Nebraska. I have no idea why, but there you have it.
The word cows may include cattle of both sexes.
There's lots more, but no link, just from an ancient magazine.
