‘Down East’ dialect: Music to the ears

In North Carolina, the Down East Carteret County brogue wafts and sways like music in the air to tickle the auditory nerves of humankind.

Thankfully, generations of Down Easters have been and still are dedicated to sustaining their local dialect, which is at the core of the “quality of life” within the Core Sound communities. The rest of us just need to shut up and listen…and savor the tones that are so pleasant to the ear.

For many years, the flag bearer of this collective Down East “cultural preservation effort” was Clifford Lewis Williamson of Sea Level. Folks called him Sonny. He died in 2013, but dagnabbit, ole Sonny Williamson just may have been the best gol-durn storyteller there ever was in these parts of eastern North Carolina.

Sonny Williamson was one of the original members of what became known as the “Fish House Liars,” sort of an honorary club of local storytellers. Among Sonny’s “pupils” was Rodney Kemp, who admired Sonny for his uncanny ability to captivate audiences. Kemp admits he was like a vessel of clay in Sonny’s hands.

“He was a master at recognizing people in the audience and including them in the stories,” Kemp said. “His delivery of the punch line was a thing of beauty. Sonny was a genius, and I really loved working with him. Our friendship progressed to being like brothers.”

About 32 years ago, Jenny and Sonny Williamson, published “The Cousin Shamus Dictionary of Down East Words and Sayings” for the sole purpose of preserving for their grandchildren and those yet to come, a compilation of words and sayings that is meant to keep a “small portion of their Southern heritage alive.”

Pay attention now.

Lesson One: Mommick is akin to aggerwate, but Sonny said he’d “much ruther be aggerwated than be mommicked.” That makes sense, since being mommicked is about as bad as it gets – wrung through the wringer or rode hard and put up wet.

Kemp clarifies: “Mommick, as a noun, is a foul, torn-up mess. As a verb, it means beat to a pulp or worn, slam-out.” You might hear folks lament: “Y’all, I’ve been mommicked this day, I have!”

Lesson Two: There are several words that can be used to describe a sitcheation that is out of sorts, out of kilter, out of sync, out of position, tippy or cock-eyed. They are cattywampus, scronchwise, skewyanked and wopperjawed.

Lesson Three: The wind. Sonny said: “When it’s cam, there’s just a trace of a breeze. When it’s slick cam, there’s not even a ripple. When it’s dead slick cam, the water is like a mirror. That’s when the skeeters will carry you off.” Watch out for the gallynippers, which are giant mosquitos.

Lesson Four: Fishing. It’s a good day when you “cotched a mess of mullets.” (Same as caught.) But beware, some fishermen are prone to exaggerate. Droim/drime is a kind and gentle expression of disbelief. The tongue goes into the check, and the words come out: “Drime, I reckon you did.”

Lesson Five: Cold weather. First of all, one should pull up the bed kivers (covers) a snitchit (smidgen or a tad). When the locals say it’s “colder than the time the Crissie Wright ran ashore," heed the warning to bundle up. (This is a sad story about an early winter shipwreck in 1886, when the temperature dropped more than 70 degrees and sailors on board froze to death.)

Lesson Six: Children. An expectant father may get the budgets (fidgets), hitch up his gallisus (suspenders) and proceed to gander watch (await the birth) by paddybassing (pacing back and forth). The youngern is nionto (almost) poppin’ out of the oven.

As the children fetch up, they’ll be doing summersets (somersaults) in the backyard and carryin’ on as scallions (rascals).

Lesson Seven: Tolerance. It’s important to disencourage friends and neighbors from calling dingbatters or dit-dots chicken-neckers. Having no boat, a chicken-necker fishes from bridges or in drainage ditches. Dit-dots are tourists who come, spend their money and they go home after their vacation. Dingbatters are tourists who chose to relocate here from Off. Sonny always said it took a lot of willpower not to refer to either group as idjits (idiots).

Lesson Eight: Assorted terms. A lapse of memory to is disremember (not forget.) To remember is to raycollect. Santa comes down the chimbley. Sobby is wetter than damp. Slumgullion is a stew with many ingredients. Heffer dust is strong smelling body powder, usually worn by women.

Lesson Nine: The “T words.” Terreckly is directly, sort of, or when one gets around to it later. Thurfer, obviously, means thoroughfare. Twiddles is the word for engaging in daydreaming.

Lesson Ten. There are a slew of “ern” words in the Down East vocabulary. They all are found in phrases. Some of the best are: Brightern new money; limbern a dish rag but dullern dish water; maddern a wet settin’ hen; proudern a peacock with two tails; and purtiern a speckled pup.

We’re plumb nelly (nearly) finished here, because you’ve got to learn to run with the big dogs…or stay on the porch.

“Sonny Williamson was one of my mentor’s in history and storytelling,” said Rodney Kemp. “He was raised ‘to’ Sea Level and a graduate of Atlantic High School. He joined the Air Force and had a successful career in intelligence. When he retired he came back home and worked in education as a truant officer. Jenny, also from Sea Level, was his rock.

“I once said to Sonny, ‘You aren’t any smarter than me, but you can write a book in a matter of weeks.’ His reply was: ‘The key to writin’ a book was put a comma where you want to take a breath, a period when you want to rest and always capitalize Down East.’” Amen to that.