pocket wilderness
n.— «Jordan Linger, 21, and John Lockley, 19, both of Fort Oglethorpe had been reported missing about midnight Thursday after they didn’t return from a day hike in an area known as the “pocket wilderness” on Mowbray Mountain.» —“Hikers emerge from wilderness unharmed” by Chattanooga, Tennessee Athens Banner-Herald (Georgia) Jan. 6, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Ophelia in Johnson City, Tennessee, wonders about the exclamation her great-grandmother often used when something surprised her: Cat bristle! That may be her own version of a minced oath, although it fits with the idea of how a cat’s tail might look...
Homer in Kingsport, Tennessee, says that when Homer came in after curfew, his dad would say, “You guys have been out swarping, haven’t you?” Swarping is related to a variety of dialect terms in Scotland and Northern England that...