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An Outer Banker Dictionary

Like the old-time residents of other isolated coastal cultures, those along the Outer Banks used a varied and distinctive vocabulary to express themselves. Herein lies a sample of the old words; now archaic and little heard. These words were collected from a variety of sources, including editions of Sea Chest Magazine and The Hatteras Monitor newspaper.

Borl
Bile. "Casper's so mean I bet he's just fulla borl."

Berlaskin
Ailing, Crippled. "My berlaskin back's been acting up again, doc."

Calm of Day
Dawn. "The waves were really breaking at the calm of day."

Chunk
To throw. "Vern chunked a rock at the sheriff."

Country
Mainland of North Carolina. "Ain't nothin over in the country; ain't no reason to go."

Disremember
To forget. "To be honest, Miz Mazie, I disremembered where I put your cake."

Down-Belower
Resident of south end of Hatteras Village. "Dale ain't no down- belower; he's from Trent."

Fatbacks
Menhaden, a silvery ocean fish used for bait. "How many fatbacks y'got, Earl?"

Findings
Salvage from a shipwreck. "Portor tol me he got his findings from that Four-Master."

Found
To give birth. "Miz El Vaney's gone and found a little one, Luther."

Frap
To hit. "Harrell, stop frapping your sister."

Going to Lee'urd, Going to Sea
Death. "Uncle Erskine's been in a bad humor all night: I 'spect he'ee be going to sea by the calm of day."

Hattres, Hattris
Hatteras. "Aaron's gone doen to Hattres."

Hit's
It's. "Hit's fixin' to storm down south, fur shore."

Holp
Help, Helped. "Arlen holp him fix the house yesterday."

Hoi Toide
High Tide. "What's time's hoi toide, Elmer?"

Humor
Illness. "Jenkie's in a bad humor today, worse than Tuesday."

Memorize
Remember. "Do you memorize the day we saw that squall?"

Miz
Mrs., used for married women only, generally combined with the first name. "Miz Amanda went down to the meeting place."

Mommick
To beat or rough up. "The sea 'bout mommicked them to death during the Mirlo Rescue."

Moy (Moyn)
My, Mine. "Tommy, you know that's moy net, don't you?"

Oiland
Island. "I heard Braxton left the oiland yesterday."

Out
Denotes age. "Little Janie's 10 years out today."

Pizzer
(pronounced PIE-zer) Veranda, Porch. "I think I'll go set out on the pizzer with some yaupon tea."

Sot
Set. "Ol' Adam's mind's too sot to change."

Studiments
Studies or Lessons. "Missy shore knows her studiments, she does."

Swarp
To kill. "Willie says he swarped them trout with a wire."

Timid
Sore, Sensitive. "All that sun's made moy skin a mite timid."

Toime
Time. "It's hoi toime we got to that chore, Lemuel."

Woid
Wade. "Don't woid out to far, Rachel, else you'll be over your head."

Win-nurd
Windward. "Head'er win-nurd and maybe she'll stay afloat then."

Wind
Used infrequently in place of air. "George is headed on down to the store for to put some wind into his car tires."