The Dixie Dictionary: Your Complete Guide to the Southern Language

The Story

According to its author, The Dixie Dictionary is dedicated to the cause of preserving the 'southern language.' It also 'helps newcomers to the South comprehend what the native southerners are saying.' What, exactly, is the southern language? 'It is a rich verbal tradition of descriptive words and phrases, a wealth of expressions and colloquialisms.' Nowhere else but in the American South will one hear such terms and phrases as 'abode' (a wooden board), 'acknowledge the corn' (to confess), 'pully bone' (wishbone), 'canecutter' (large swamp rabbit), or 'tollible' (fairly well). These and hundreds of other linguistic delights are categorized in Thomas's definitive reference volume for all those who enjoy speaking southern, or wish they could. The dictionary includes 4,300 entries and 27,000 words.