Alright, alright, alright! How do some catchphrases become part of the larger vernacular—to the point where people don’t always know the original reference? And the island of Ocracoke off the coast of North Carolina has a distinctive dialect all its...
The distinctive dialect of Ocracoke Island is lovingly explored in the new book Language and Life on Ocracoke: The Living History of the Brogue (Bookshop|Amazon) by North Carolina State professors Jeffrey Reaser and Walt Wolfram and fourth...
If you’re mommicked, if you’re bothered, frustrated, or exhausted. Most often heard in coastal North Carolina, mommicked derives from an old word mammock, which as a noun, means “a fragment,” and as a verb, means “to break or tear.” One way to...
A caller from Ocracoke Island, North Carolina, wonders about the origin of “knock on wood.” The hosts do, too. More about the unusual language of Ocracoke here. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Knock On Wood” Hello, you have A Way...
In what part of the country would you be likely to hear momicking, meehonkey, and quamish?
dingbatter n.— «What is in the off-season a town of fewer than 800 self-styled “O’cockers” swells to as many as 8,000 “dingbatters”—the local term for off-islanders.» —“The Secret Is Out” by Eve Zibart in Ocracoke Island, North Carolina Washington...