Belly tickler, dipsy doodle, johnny-come-lately, duck and dip, how-do-you-do, tickle bump, yes-ma’am, thank-you-ma’am, kiss-me-quick, and (especially in Canada) cahot all mean “a bump in the road.” Particularly in southwest Pennsylvania, the term Yankee bump refers to ice or snow that’s intentionally packed to send sledders flying into the air. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “We What We Call Bumps in the Road”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. I have a set of terms here from around the country for a particular thing, and I would love it if you try to guess what it is.
Okay.
Okay. Belly tickler. Dipsy doodle. Johnny come lately. Duck and dip. How do you do? Tickle bump.
Yes, ma’am.
Cow ho.
Cahot?
Or cahoo.
How do you spell that?
Either way.
C-A-H-O-T.
Oh, that one’s ringing some bells.
Is it?
I don’t know.
I want to say that it’s horsetail weeds or Queen Anne’s Lace or something like that.
Right?
That’s the tickle part.
I love your brain.
You’re walking through it.
But that’s not right.
No, but it’s interesting that you got a jolt from the word cahot, which is French for jolt.
Oh.
Or cahot.
Oh, is this all electric shock?
No, this is, according to the Dictionary of American Regional English, this is an abrupt dip or bump in a road or path either naturally occurring, especially in ice or snow, or deliberately made, especially to divert runoff or, more recently, to slow automobile traffic.
Oh, okay.
Would you call them bump ticklers, something like that?
Belly ticklers.
Belly ticklers.
But the names that I like for it are Dipsy Doodle, because if you’re going over a bump, and Yes, Ma’am, because you nod your head as if you’re saying, Yes, Ma’am.
That little minor act of whiplash as you bounce in the hole.
Isn’t that cool?
Yeah, or you can call it a Thank You, Ma’am.
Right.
That one I’ve heard, actually.
Why did I not connect that?
I don’t know.
Because I left it out.
Okay, gotcha.
But sometimes they’re called a Kiss Me Quick because you’re riding in the wagon with your sweetie in the olden days.
So it kind of bumps the two of you together in a real nice way.
Right, right.
It creates a little opportunity.
And it’s also sometimes called, particularly in southwestern Pennsylvania, it’s called a Yankee bump.
Why is that?
I don’t know the reason for Yankee bump, but people talk about piling snow and packing it down on a route where you sled so that you get that kind of airborne thing.
Oh, nice.
That was the holy grail as a kid in wintertime.
To catch air when you were sledding.
Yeah, to catch air.
Yeah, but all those terms for a bump in the road.
Dipsy doodle.
That’s nice.
877-929-9673 or send your dipsy doodles to words@waywordradio.org.
Or chat us up on Twitter @wayword.
