How to communicate with the natives

I lost the original file from which I got these, and only had a hard copy until I typed them back in. The original was attributed to one Paul Riddle. Most of these are actually quite accurate representations of how some people in Baltimore talk. I believe this accent is confined mostly to the Essex/Dundalk/Rosedale area, although someone I know who is from Dundalk once told me "Actually, it's only the Rosedale people, but since all of them work in Dundalk, everyone thinks everyone from Dundalk talks that way too."

aig
scrambled, sunny-side up, over easy, ...

Ann Runnel
Glen Burnie's county (Anne Arundel)

arn
what you do on an arnin board

arnjuice
what you get when you squeeze arnges

Arsh
people from Arlin

aspern
"take 2 and call me in the morning"

authoritis
arthritis

awl
what you put into your car's engine

baffroom
where you go to answer nature's call

bawler
what the plumber calls your furnace

Bawlamer
our home town

Beeno
a famous railroad (B&O)

Bethlum
a steel mill

birfday
blow out the candles on this day

bleef
what you believe in

blow
opposite of "above"

cammer
used for taking photographs

Calf Lick
Protestant, Jewish, and...

cole race beef
a favorite sandwich

corm beef
another popular sandwich

croddy
Oriental form of self defense

Droodle
the park that houses the Baltimore Zoo (Druid Hill)

draff
animal with the longest neck

downey ayshin
where everyone goes in the summer (down to the ocean)

druckstewer
where you buy aspern

dest
where you set at to pay bills and write letters

Dizzy Whirl
Florida tourist attraction

down a point
where most of Dundalk works (down at the Point (Fells Point))

Drooslem
the Holy Land

duddney
doesn't he

Dundock
people who work down a point live here

elfin
animal with a trunk

Erf
our planet

everythink
everything

fard
part of your face between your eyes and your hairline

farn gin
what the farfighters ride on their way to put out fars

farst fars
Smokey the Bear fights these

flar
something growing in your garden

ford
opposite of "backwards"

fillum
what you put in a cammer

Froddy
Thank God it's Froddy

gubmint
the folks in D.C.

gubner
governor

granite
what you don't want to be taken for

harble
horrible

Harrid
downtown street (Howard St.)

Hustler's
a department store (Hutzler's, now out of business)

har and far
what the boss does

Hex
another department store (Hecht's)

hohskull
where you went before going to cah-widge

ignernt
ignorant

iggle
our national symbol

jeet?
did you eat? Usually answered by "Nojew?"

Klumya
city designed by architect Rouse in Harrid County (Columbia)

larnix
your voice box

lobble
rseponsible for, as in "I hold you lobble"

Litlitlee
famous for Italian food (Little Italy)

lozenger
what you take when you have a sore larnix

Merlin
Bawlamer's state

morality
mayorality (? only one I'm not sure about)

macely
mostly

meer
what you look at when you shave in the morning

muriel
large painting on a large wall

Norf Abnew
North Avenue

Napolis
our state capital

noosepaper
where you read the funnies

oll
what you walk down when you get married (rhymes with "doll")

ollin
a piece of land surrounded by water

oltno
I don't know

paramour
what you use to cut the grass

payment
paved surface

petition
a wall that divides a room

plooshin
what's destroying the Erf

pockeybook
pocketbook

praps
perhaps

phane
what you answer when it rings

perfick
no faults

po-leese
a single police officer

pleese
two or more po-leese

quarr
church singing group

roont
ruined

rostrum
another word for baffroom

Semlem
neighborhood convenience store

starfame
synthetic packing material

sneet
"That's neat!"

slong
"goodbye"

slop machine
one-armed bandit

sarn
found on far gins and pleese cars

sore
drainage area under the streets

snoo few
"What's new with you?"

turble
terrible

tarred
sleepy

torst
tourist

tawlit
what you set on in the rostrum

unnersteaned
understand

vollince
there's too much of it in the movies

varse
the doctor says "there's a lot of that going around"

vyduck
as in the Orleans Street Vyduck

Warshinn
our nation's capital

wayment
wait a minute

wald
not tame

wrench
"rinse" as in "wrench your hands in the zinc"

wodder
what you wrench your hands with

xtry
extra

Yerp
Europe

zollaphone
xylophone

zinc
sink

zarrite?
Is that right?

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This page last modified on Tue Feb 19 11:04:42 2002