clam digger
n.— «“Newcomers especially want to be a part of the community, so they figure we got rules to be called a clam digger,” Mr. Sadler said, using the folksy local term for a native. “They figure you can be a clam digger if you stand on your right foot in front of the diner for two hours.” But clam diggers are born, not made, Mr. Sadler said. Everyone else is relegated to the category of mussel sucker, the island label for nonnatives. Perhaps nowhere else in New York do natives have as strong a sense of themselves as they do on City Island.» —“In a Seafaring Enclave, Mollusks on the Mind” by Jennifer Bleyer in Bronx, New York New York Times May 27, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If you’re ever near a sundial, step closer and look for a message. Many sundials bear haunting, poetic inscriptions about the brevity of life. Plus, language development in toddlers: why and how little ones pick up the exclamation Uh-oh...
In an earlier episode, the director of a women’s choir in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, wondered what to call it when her group gathers to sing together for the sheer joy of it. Listeners responded with many suggestions, including songfest, enchanted...