cunnerman
n.— «Cunnerman or Cutterman: There is some debate over the correct pronunciation. People with trashy house, cars on blocks in yard, etc. “If you’ve been married three times and still have the same in-laws, you might be a cunnerman.”» —“Decoding teen slang” by Beth Brelje Pocono Record (Pennsylvania) Mar. 25, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode the rails in his youth shares the slang he...
Steve, a singer-songwriter from Rock Springs, Wyoming, shares some slang he picked up while months riding the rails and busking. Spanging refers to panhandling, from asking for “spare change.” The term bull refers to a type of security...
The term is almost exclusive to the Stroudsburgs of Northeastern Pennsylvania. ‘Cunnerman’ is the preferred pronunciation, as it is a slurring of the surname “Counterman”, a local, working-class family for whom the term was supposedly coined. “Cutterman” appears to be the more preferred pronunciation of the neophyte or outsider. The latter may be attributed, however, to the term “Cutter”, possibly referring to a slate quarryman, once a local occupation (much like in Indiana, as seen and used in the film BREAKING AWAY), in the Slate Belt region, just south of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg.
It is not synonymous with “Redneck” or “White Trash” entirely-it has, in fact, in recent years become a badge of honor or representing a closed group, as New York and New Jersey residents have populated the Stroudsburgs and the greater Pocono area. A Cunnerman knows who his fellow Cunnermen are, and would be more prone to help one out than an outsider. It is a closed fraternity. Generally you don’t ‘become’ one-you are born one. In the 43 years I’ve lived in Stroudsburg I’ve never had a problem spotting one, nor being recognized as one, by my own kind.