who laid the rail
adv. phr.— «The animal struck out on a dead run down the turning row which split the ravine. My friend followed, and it was a race for who laid the rail, as they say in the country.» —New Orleans Times-Democrat (Lousiana) Dec. 23, 1901. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Roger from New Orleans, Louisiana, recalls that at odd moments in a conversation his father-in-law would toss in a puzzling non sequitur: I had one gunch, but the eggplant over there. That was probably a misunderstanding or misremembering of the...
A former resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wonders why the English spoken there sounds distinct from both New Orleans English and Cajun English. It’s a combination of factors, including vowel lengthening common to the broader Southern dialect, a...