This blog entry is going to be a little different this week, in that it will just be a list of Vermont/New England sayings, with brief descriptions of each entry. These may or may not be heard in other states outside of New England, as it would be impossible to say that these are endemic to only our region, so go along with it the best you can. I purposely left out certain sayings that sound like they’re from New England like “as the crow flies,” because they’re really used everywhere.
If you weren’t aware already, New England has six states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island (in 2020 this was formerly changed from the longer name of The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations), and Vermont. Sorry New York, you didn’t make the cut!
This is most likely an incomplete list, however, I did some online research and asked a bunch of peeps for ideas for this blog, so thank you to everyone who contributed! Feel free to write more local sayings/expressions/aphorisms in the comment section! I thought it would be fun to hear other people’s contributions.
So here they are, in alphabetical order:
Ayut– Yut or yup is also acceptable. This simply means “yes” and is usually accompanied with a nod. The T is not pronounced. Mainly used in Maine.
Bang a uey– Alternatively known as “whip a shitty” in the Midwest, but is more commonly used for doing donuts there. This means to make a U-turn while driving.
Cellar– The basement, or in my experience, it’s an unfinished basement (dirt or gravel flooring). It does not necessarily mean a wine cellar here. The official definition states that a cellar is fully underground, whereas a basement may be partially above ground. I’ve used the two terms interchangeably, however.
Colder than a witch’s tit (in a brass bra)– You can no doubt guess that this means “very cold.”
Coon’s age– The origin refers to raccoon’s living a long time, even though they don’t (2-3 years out in the wild). “I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age,” means that you haven’t seen that person in quite a while.
Covered bridge– Many were built between 1825 and 1875, with most of them being in Vermont (Vermont has over 100, New Hampshire has 58, Maine has 10, and Massachusetts and Connecticut have a few). They have a timber-truss construction and strengthened roofing, siding, and decking, dramatically extending the lifespan of the deck and bridge in general. This is why you still see a lot of original covered bridges around. Please see the “I am Vermont strong” entry for more information.
Dooryard– A yard next to the door of a house.
East bumf**k– The middle of nowhere.
Flatlander– This generally refers to people who live in the surrounding states outside of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. So that would mean people from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even Rhode Island, are considered flatlanders. They typically speed through our states and come here to see our wonderful fall foliage and to go skiing/snowboarding in the winter, as the foliage might not be as prominent or the mountains not as mountainous where they’re from.
Frost heave– When water freezes into ice, it’s still an H2O molecule of course, however, it’s the way the molecules bond together which causes ice to expand on a larger level. This is why your ice cubes look fuller than the amount of water you used to fill the tray in the first place. When there are cracks in pavement, water seeps down into the ground, then it freezes and expands. This can be a cycle of melting, refreezing, and more expansion upwards. Soon enough, you have these bumps (or frost heaves) in the road that you need to watch out for. Come spring when all the snow has melted and the ice has thawed, the roads return to their normal shape. However, this causes rapid deterioration of the pavement, and in a matter of a few years, repaving is needed. Frost heaves can happen on dirt roads as well.
Gararge– A garage with an extra R thrown in, as is the way it’s pronounced around here.
Grinder– A sub or hoagie. Two theories of its origin are that 1) it refers to thick crusty Italian bread used in sandwiches that’s dense enough to require a lot of chewing, and/or; 2) “grinder” was a slang term for Italian-American dockworkers during WW2 who appreciated the sandwiches, and the term was transferred to the sandwich itself. Used mainly in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
Hard tellin’, not knowin’– “I don’t know.”
I am Vermont strong– Hurricane Irene moved up the coast and hit Vermont on August 28th, 2011, causing an estimated $733 million in damage due to massive rainfall and flooding. Up to 11” of rain fell in some places. 200 bridges, 450 utility poles, 600 historic buildings, 1,000 culverts, 2,400 road segments (over 500 miles of roads), 3,500 homes and businesses, and 20,000 acres of farmland were all destroyed. Miraculously only seven people lost their lives. The “I am Vermont strong” slogan was created by Eric Mallette and Lyz Tomsuden of Rutland, VT, to raise funds for the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund. A license plate was created for this which you might still see on the front bumper of Vermont cars. Over $1 million was raised. I remember my basement flooded at the time and the water was up to my knees, and a covered bridge built in 1870 that I drove over every day when I was younger got washed away. A YouTube clip of that bridge is here. It was rebuilt in 2012: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6W570k2kb4
If I had my druthers– “I’d rather.” “Druthers” evolved from the mispronunciation of “I’d rather.”
Jeezum crow– One of the most Vermont sayings of all! Created in order to avoid using the blasphemous term “Jesus Christ!”
Jimmies– Those sprinkles for your ice cream, however it tends to refer more to the chocolate sprinkles rather than the rainbow-colored ones. Two origin theories are 1) in 1930, they were named after James Bartholomew, an employee of the Just Born Candy Company, or 2) Brigham’s ice cream shop in Massachusetts would charge an extra penny for chocolate sprinkles to benefit The Jimmy Fund.
Johnny– A hospital gown.
Just because the kittens were born in the oven, doesn’t make ‘em biscuits– Most likely refers to a Vermonter who, even if they were born here but their parents weren’t, doesn’t necessarily make that person a Vermonter after all.
Leaf peepers– See “flatlander” definition above for partial reference. Leaf peepers come up to our area during peak fall foliage when the green leaves on the trees turn shades of yellow, red, orange, and purple, and it looks absolutely beautiful. This occurs for a few short weeks in October when deciduous trees begin their descent into hibernation and stop producing chlorophyll, allowing for carotenoid pigments to shine through. Leef peepers bring a lot of local tourism and help local economies in that respect, but on the flip side, they have a bad reputation because they can show little respect for personal properties by trespassing and/or driving VERY slowly or suddenly pulling off to the side of the road, potentially causing accidents. Please be a respectful leaf peeper.
Maple creemee– Yes, that’s how “creemee” is supposed to be spelled. This is very much a Vermont thing, and it’s simply soft-serve ice cream made with real Vermont maple syrup. It’s delicious too, by the way! While I was unable to find a statistic that shows how many places in Vermont sell maple creemees specifically, I was able to find that around 400 places serve creemees, or soft-serve ice cream, in general.
Mud season– Typically occurs between late March and early June in most places. Don’t get me wrong, living on a dirt road is fantastic in my opinion, but mud season can get to be pretty bad, depending on the road/location. Also, some years our road is okay during mud season, but a few years ago, the ruts were at least a foot deep in some spots. Some roads are impassable during this timeframe. Mud in the wheel well of your car can also cause some driving issues such as excessive car vibrations, but once it dries, it can be knocked out and your car is back to normal. If you’re going to drive on a Vermont dirt road during mud season, it would be wise to do so in a car with enough ground clearance, or you might have to take an alternate route!
NEK– The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, encompassing the counties of Caledonia, Essex, and Orleans. It’s visually stunning, which it’s why it’s named as such. Former Vermont governor and U.S. senator George Aiken coined the term in 1949.
Packie– Used almost exclusively in Massachusetts and is a term that I had never heard or used before, a “packie” is a liquor store, or package store.
Pret’near– Slang for “pretty near,” as in “almost,” or “just about.” I pret’near hit that other car!
Puckerbrush– Dense, overgrown, neglected terrain.
See how it sugars out– Waiting to see how much maple syrup is produced from boiling sap; the outcome.
Stick season– The period from the end of autumn to the start of winter, referring to when the leaves have fallen off all the trees.
Sugar on snow– You take a cup, fill it with freshly fallen snow, pour maple syrup over it, and eat it with a spoon. The coldness of the snow will change the texture of the maple syrup into something chewier, giving sugar on snow the alternative name of maple taffy, but I’ve never called it that before.
Sugarbush– A grove of maple trees. Also, the name of a ski resort in Vermont.
Turn where the barn used to be– To go a convoluted, or circuitous, route.
Vermonter/Vermontah– Pronunciation depends on which generation you come from, or how “backwoods” you are, but this is someone from Vermont. Sometimes we don’t pronounce our T’s (so it sounds like “Vermonner”), and sometimes an extra R gets thrown in!
Weed wacker– A string trimmer, used to finish up your lawn.
Wicked– Meaning: excellent, awesome, very good! “This is wicked good!” It can also mean “very” or “really,” as in “it’s wicked cold outside!”
Witch window– This is a slanted window (also known as a Vermont window) that you may still see in some farmhouses in New England. According to folklore, witches couldn’t fly sideways or fit their broomsticks through them, but really, they could just use any of the other windows in the house, right? There are a few theories as to why they were actually constructed, but none of them seem to hold water. The link attached to the photo of the witch’s window discusses some of these possible origins.
Wood warms ya twice– It warms you up once while you’re chopping and stacking wood, and again when you burn it in a fireplace.
Woodchuck– Not an actual woodchuck or groundhog, but refers to an actual person. It can either be a native Vermonter or a backwoods person.
You can’t get there from here– Basically stating that there’s no easy way to get from point A to point B, especially since there are a lot of back roads in Vermont and sometimes you have to take a circuitous route to get where you are going.
You don’t like the weather? Wait five minutes– The saying is often attributed to Mark Twain, who was born in Missouri but lived in Hartford, Connecticut, for 17 years. The weather can change on an hourly or daily basis, sometimes drastically and/or by 30 degrees or more in one day. It can be sunny while raining, or we can have a sudden snow squall which reduces your visibility to almost nothing, slowing traffic to a crawl on the interstate. Five minutes later, driving is fine again. The phrase is used in states such as Texas and Oklahoma as well, but for different weather patterns.
Well, there you have it! Now you, too, can come across as a Vermonter, although if you’re not from here, you’re probably a flatlander. But you can still enjoy sugar on snow, a maple creemee, or a grinder while you’re here!
Next week, I’m going to discuss the tragic death of our friend from a year ago who took his own life, as it will be the one-year anniversary of when we found out he passed away.
Justin
You forgot “Finer than frog’s fur,””Faster than pink panties past the knees,” and “Worked him like a rented mule.”
Vinnie
I hadn’t heard of any of those sayings so had to look them up. It doesn’t look like their origins are in New England, but they’re still good! Thanks for teaching me more sayings!