MAINEAH

The following was given to me as an end-of-the-season present by Roger Keene, a bus driver for one of the tour bus companies in The Park. I think he prints them out and gives them to his clients that ride the buses. He's a wicked nice guy and really funny. He stops by the Pond House twice a day as part of his tour and lets his people look around the gift shop. He sells more Old Soaker rootbeer than any man alive! Anyway, here we go:

MAINE DICTIONARY - 2005

(PARTIAL LIST)

THE VISITOR'S GUIDE TO

UNDERSTANDING MAINE PEOPLE

Learn to Talk Like You are a

MAINEIAC

BY ROGER H. KEENE

Buddah - You melt it for you lobstah or corm on the cob.

Hannis - Gear put on a hoss to help it haul something

Heft - To lift. You can also heft down.

Hitch - An instruction to move; i.e. Your butt is too big for this couch, Honey, so hitch over.

Hoss - An animal you can ride.

Khakis - A small tool used to start an automobile.

Lobstah - A sea crustacean which is good for eating.

Messah - A unit of measurement; i.e. a messah clams.

Mite - Much or many, or perhaps just a few.

Peaked - Poor looking.

Pond - Can be a five mile long lake or a 20 foot puddle. Mainers don't really care.

Pound - A place where lobsters are stored. Where stray dogs are kept. A measurement.

Reach - Water between hungs of land. What you do when the muffins might get by you.

Rud - Highway, or byway.

Salty - Someone who has worked on a fishing boat more than 15 years. What dried fish is.

Shuck - To divest corn or clams of their shells. You "shuck" to make chowdah!

Spleeny - Milktoast type. Coward. Applied mostly to husbands.

Sturn - The "donkey end" of a boat, usually square.

Summah - Between spring and fall, usually.

Tunk - To hit; i.e. tunk it a mite.

Yad - Land in front of or around a house.

Yondah - Away from where you are now.