Hillbilly Slang

[kybearfuzz]

Pop quiz! Do you know what the following things from my neck of the woods are?

1. A Thunder Bucket?
   
2. White Lightning?
   
3. A holler?
   
4. A winder?
   
5. Poke?
   
6. Corn Squeezin's?
   
7. A lick?

The Answers!

1. A Thunder Bucket is essentially a chamber pot. The "Thunder" part, according to my dad, was because when you went #2 in it, it sounded like roaring thunder.
   
2. White Lightning is another word for moonshine hooch.
   
3. A Holler is a hollow, the valley between two hills where folks live.
   
4. A winder is a window. Heavy Scots-Irish influences made words like window and hollow pronounced like "winder" and "holler"...
   
5. Poke is a leafy herb/vegetable that grows wild and folks will cook to eat. It was often heard from my mom, "Your Aunt Beverly is bringing over a mess of poke for me to cook tonight." I was never that big a fan.
   
6. Corn Squeezin's is also a term for moonshine, usually the corn grain alcohol variety.
   
7. A lick is a small stream, smaller than a creek. Here in Northern KY there is a park called Big Bone Lick State Park, which is due to Mammoth bones being found near a stream, and not what you're probably thinking of, but it is good for a laugh...

Comments

[586bc.livejournal.com]

My undestanding is that there is a technique to cooking "poke" (which we always knew as "polk salad"). If I recall, one has to boil it and pour off the water several times before it is fit to eat.

You cannot imagine the giggles I got when I used to drive by Big Bone Lick. Too funny.

[kybearfuzz.livejournal.com]

Oh I still do when I drive past the sign. I might go there this weekend and see if I can't buy a souvenir tee-shirt :)

And I think you do have to boil it several times.. it's a shriveled mess by the time it's done.