Nabb Research Center General Resources - People & Cultures

Uniquely Delmarva

Chesapeake dialects

The people of the Chesapeake / Virginia use words which originated in the south and west English Counties of Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Oxford, Gloucester, Warwick, or Worcester such as:

Word/phrase	Meaning
like	as if Ex: "He looks like he's dead."
bide	stay
shuck	husk
poorly	unwell
craw	throat
cater-cornered	crooked
tarry	stay
tote	carry
passel	pack
call	cause Ex: "no call to do it."
chomp	chew
grit	courage
lick	beat
links	sausage
bimeby	by and by
belly-ache	pain in the stomach
andirons	firedogs
bandanna	handkerchief
botch	blunder
favor	resemble
unbeknownst	unknown
allowed	admitted
peaked	unwell
moonshine	distilled liquor
shock	sheaf of corn
mess of greens	serving of vegetables
laid off	out of work
skillet	frying pan
traipse	walk
right good	very good
get shed of	get rid of
yonder	distant
angry	infected
book-learnin'	schooling
jeans	cloth of a course twill weave

Examples of "Scotch-Irish" speech similar to that found in the southern highland include:

Word/phrase	Meaning
pizen	poison
nekkid	naked
wrassle	wrestle
chaw	chew
widder	widow
young-uns	young ones
swan	swear
hant	ghost
nigh	near
lettin' on	pretend
sparkin	courtin

These words appear in word lists from the English border counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland and northern Ireland which are used in southern highland speech.

Word/phrase	Meaning
man	husband"stand by your man"
honey	a term of endearment expressive of great regard
let on	tell
cute	attractive
fixin	getting ready to do something