Yankee Talk: A Dictionary of New England Expressions

Through a fusion of Puritanism, seafaring, advanced learning, and a terseness brought on by the vicissitudes of weather, New Englanders have developed a vocabulary and manner of speaking that is unique. In Yankee Talk, renowned language maven and writer Robert Hendrickson has collected and defined more than 3,500 words and phrases from as far afield as Bar Harbor, Groton, and Marblehead. Many entries include a discussion of literary or historical sources - from Edith Wharton to Stephen King, from Captain John Smith, who coined the name "New England" in 1616, to novelist Mark Helprin, who notes that some Irish Bostonians have "a dialect strong enough to make the planet green." The third of five volumes in the Facts On File Dictionary of American Regional Expressions series, Yankee Talk features an extensive introduction that provides in-depth coverage of the New England region and its different dialects, in addition to the often salty phrases that make up the heart of the book: don't know enough to pound sand in a rat hole (extremely stupid), go sandpaper the anchor (get out of here, don't bother me), he's so contrary he could float upstream (said of a very stubborn person), mighty small potatoes and few in a hill (something or someone of little consequence), and two lamps burning and no ship at sea (said of a foolishly extravagant person).