How to Talk American: A Guide to Our Native Tongues

by Jim Crotty

For twelve years Jim Crotty has been traveling this great country in his roving Monkmobile (don't ask) and in the process has discovered how Americans really speak, from coast to coast and border to border - from Bible Belt Banter to Vegas Vernacular, from Redneck Rhetoric to New England Niceties: Things you need to know about Boston before you go there: Quahog (say co-hog) - oil-slickened red-tide clam, prized by Bostonians for its taste; Santa Fe semantics: Blue corn - sacred food, sold as chips; Seattle-speak: Partly sunny - partly cloudy Crotty's savvy and often hilarious region-by-region guide to the way we talk provides a dead-on (and sometimes too strange) indication of how we think, how we behave, and what we hold dear.

Genres: Language, Nonfiction, Travel, Reference

417 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 1997

Reviews

[James Marshall Crotty]

I wrote this book back in the mid-90s. Lots has changed in the slanguistic universe since then. I am looking to update it and bring out a new edition based on travels across the fruited plain. After reading it, if you have additions, subtractions, or corrections, please email me at Jim@Monk.com. I'd also like to add a video component.

The first edition is a good start and popular with authors looking for lingo. But it doesn't have an index, which is a weakness. That will be corrected in new version. Also, it will be more balanced in its coverage. I got a bit too excited about Alaska.

;)

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

some tidbits from my favorite section,
the South:

Visitin' Icebreakers: How's that ole
heffer doin'? (substitute "man" or
"woman" for "heffer" or leave same)

skeert: frightened

he's [sic] don't have but one oar in the
water: southern put-down

a bubble off plumb: southern put-
down

fard: when your employment is no
longer deemed necessary

rarer than a hen's tooth: truly unique

murkin: u.s. citizen

[Jennifer Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am quite proficient in Southern and I have read enough Stephen King that I can talk a pretty good Maine. But I am sure I would never make it in Seatle with all that coffee talk and garage band lingo.