New England Terms Ipsum

Boyos: "southie" young thugs butts: smoking, in reference to a cigarette, either an unused one, or the ones in the ashtray. clicker: remote control for a tv or other similar devices. elastic: known as a rubber band elsewhere fluff-a-nutter: peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. for those of you who don't know, marshmallow fluff is a regional delicacy. it's a very sticky white cream, usually just called fluff. it has the consistency of a big vat of melted marshmellows. i like fluff and strawberry jam, but the traditional application is with peanut butter. you only get one pass at applying it to the bread (because it's extremely sticky) and you certainly don't dip the knife in anything else once it's been in the fluff jar. hoodsie cup: commercial at first, but came to include ice crean manufactured by companies other than hood. a small cardboard cup of ice cream. palor: palor is not used everyday. it is/was a formal living room for guests and sometimes a formal party. i'm 65. i remember palors. parkie: a summer employee of the city or town who organizes games for the local children. usually a college age boy or girl. skilled in snaps and/or gimp. racka: rocking chair sneakers: tennis shoes spa: not a health club. a corner store with a soda fountain, selling candy, newspapers and lime rickeys. tonic water: carbonated water flavored with quinine as used in a "gin and tonic". tootle-loo: something my grandmother always says in place of "see you later". she is from concord, ma. townie: someone who has basically lived in the same town for an extended period of time. ie. since the dawn of time. (not that awful tv show that used to be on, where the accents of the actors changed every episode). wicked: a modifier...equivalent to "very", only stronger. when someone in new england says something is wicked, they aren't calling it evil..

Elastic: also known as a rubber band. grinder: i'm told that elsewhere the long sandwiches they serve in pizza joints are called subs and hoagies. bizarre! parkie: a summer employee of the city or town who organizes games for the local children. usually a college age boy or girl. skilled in snaps and/or gimp. pock-a-book: it could also be pronounced as pocket book. it is another name for handbag or purse. treats: used to describe ice cream or snack cake, or any kind of sweet junk food.

Coffee milk: milk flavored with coffee syrup, *not* half coffee/half milk dungarees: normally called elsewhere in the country as denim jeans, levis or slacks. leaf peepers: people who head up to new england to check out the foliage. usually found driving 20 mph on major roadways. of course, this is usually restricted to the mohawk trail (route 2 west of westminster). interstate i-190 is really nice too, and not really well known, of course the speed limit is like 70mph, so it's not as cool for the old folks. milk shake / flavored milk: milk and syrup. racka: rocking chair spuckie: south boston, "southie" spuckie is a grinder and or sub sandwich. tonic water: carbonated water flavored with quinine as used in a "gin and tonic". tootle-loo: something my grandmother always says in place of "see you later". she is from concord, ma. water bubbler: drinking fountain? who drinks out of a fountain? i'm told this is used outside of the region as well, so i guess we can't claim it as a unique new england word..