country bookie
n.— «If one admitted to knowing Hindi, one would be ostracised for being “coolie”; if one admitted to knowing French, as a “country bookie” or “small islander”; Spanish, a “cocoa payol”; and so forth.» —“Hindi and Innocent Creole Culture” by Kirk Meighoo Trinidad Express Apr. 23, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
If your handwriting leaves something to be desired, you could apologize for your chicken scratchings. But there’s a more precise term: griffonage, which has nothing to do with the mythical griffin, though the two sound alike. Griffonage comes from...
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 and get on the 8. Why the definite article...