Text of the DARE Questionnaire
Introduction
The full text of the DARE Questionnaire is shown below. The questions are divided into 41 categories, each with a heading broadly describing the general topics covered in that section. Fieldworkers were instructed to ask each question as it is written here, so that the responses would be comparable. (Parenthetic instructions to the Fieldworkers, however, were not read aloud.)
(See the DARE Survey to browse topics, search for questions and responses, and visualize the regional and social distribution of informants).
Time
- A1.What do you call the time in the early morning before the sun comes into sight?
- A2.The time when the sun first comes into sight, that’s ________.
- A3.The time between the middle of the day and supper time:
- A4.The time of day when the sun goes out of sight:
- A5.The time right after the sun goes out of sight, before it becomes all dark:
- A6.What time is this? (Show picture of clock face at 10:45.)
- A7.And what time is this? (Show picture of clock face at 10:30.)
- -A8.What joking names do you have for an alarm clock?
- A9.What do you call wasting time by not working on the job?
- A10.And doing little unimportant things: Somebody asks, “What are you doing?” and you answer, “Nothing in particular—I’m just ________.”
- A11.When somebody takes too long about coming to a decision, you might say, “I wish he’d quit ________.”
- A12.When somebody keeps you waiting, you might say, “Hurry up! I don’t have all day to ________ you!”
- A13.When something needs to be done immediately, you might say, “I’ll do it ________!”
- A14.Referring to a very short period of time: “I’ll be ready in ________.” or “It won’t take any longer than ________.”
- A15.Something that happens only occasionally: “He comes around ________.”
- A16.A very long period of time: “I haven’t seen him ________.”
- A17.If it was 1960 and you were speaking of something that happened in 1950, you might say, “That was ten ________.”
- A18.Words or expressions used around here about a very slow person: “What’s keeping him? He certainly is ________!”
- A19.Other ways of saying “I’ll have to hurry”: “I’m late, I’ll have to ________.”
- A20.Joking ways of telling somebody to hurry: You might say, “________!”
- *A21.When someone is in too much of a hurry you might say, “Now just slow down! Don’t ________.” [Early QRs: When someone is in too much of a hurry, or wants to do something before the right time, you might say, “Calm down! Don’t ________.”]
- A22.Other ways of saying ‘to start working hard’: “She had only ten minutes to clean the room, but she ________ (and had it done in time).”
- A23.To do something at the very first try: “He got the right answer ________.”
- A24.Speaking of someone who has always been the same way: “He’s been hot-tempered from ________.”
- -A25.When something goes on for a very long time: “That sermon yesterday was certainly ________.”
- A26.Talking about the past: “People used to walk a lot, but everybody drives a car ________.”
Weather
- B1.If a day is very pleasant, you say it’s a ________ day.
- B2.If the weather is very unpleasant, you say it’s a ________ day.
- B3.If a day is very hot, you say it’s (a) ________.
- B4.A day when the air is very still, moist, and warm—it’s ________.
- B5.When the weather looks as if it will become bad, you say it’s ________.
- B6.When clouds begin to increase, you say it’s ________.
- B7.When clouds begin to decrease, you say it’s ________.
- B8.When clouds come and go all day, you say it’s ________.
- B9.What do you call the big clouds that roll up high before a rainstorm?
- B10.What do you call the long trailing clouds high in the sky?
- B11.Are there any other kinds of clouds that come often around here? (Open question—answers not necessarily comparable. Get descriptions.)
- B12.When the wind begins to increase, you say it’s ________.
- B13.When the wind begins to decrease, you say it’s ________.
- B14.When the wind is blowing unevenly, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, you say it’s ________.
- B15.When the wind suddenly begins to blow in a different direction, you say it ________.
- B16.A destructive wind that comes with a funnel-shaped cloud:
- B17.A destructive wind that blows straight:
- B18.Are there any special kinds of wind that you get around here? (Open question)
- B19.When fog begins to go up into the air, you say it’s ________.
- B20.If fog goes up very fast: “It’s ________.”
- B21.When fine drops of moisture are falling, you say it’s doing what?
- B22.Rain accompanied by thunder and lightning—you call that a ________.
- B23.Speaking of a light rain that doesn’t last, you would say it’s just a ________.
- B24.What do you call a sudden, very heavy rain?
- *B25.Any joking names around here for a very heavy rain? You might say, “It’s a regular ________.” [Early QRs: What if it keeps on falling heavily? You might say, “It’s a regular ________.”]
- B26.When it’s raining very heavily, you say, “It’s raining ________.”
- B27.A sudden rush of water coming from heavy rain:
- B28.When there is no rain for a long time, that’s a ________.
- B29.A frost that does not kill plants is a ________.
- B30.A frost that kills plants is a ________.
- B31.A period of cold weather that comes early in the fall, after the first frost:
- B32.A period of warm weather late in the fall:
- B33a.The first thin ice that forms over the surface of a pond or pool: “There’s just a ________ of ice.”
- B33b.Talking about the first thin ice that forms over the surface of a pond or pool: “The pond is just ________ over.”
- B34.When a pond or lake becomes entirely covered with ice, you say it is ________.
- B35.Ice that will bend when you step on it, but not break:
- B36.Patterns formed by ice inside a window glass in winter:
- –B37.Long pointed pieces of ice that hang down from the roof:
- –B38.When rain falls half-frozen you say, “It’s ________.”
- B39.A very light fall of snow:
- –B40.A severe snowstorm:
- –B41.When there’s a wet mixture of snow and water on the ground in spring, you say, “It’s ________ weather.”
Topography
- C1.What do you call a small stream of water not big enough to be a river?
- –C2.After a heavy rain or a quick thaw, when you see the water in a stream getting higher, you say it’s ________.
- *C3.A place in a swift stream where the surface of the water is broken: [Early QRs: What do you call a shallow place in a swift stream where the surface of the water is broken?]
- C4a.What do you call a fairly large body of fresh water? (Give the names of some around here.)
- C4b.Is there any difference in the size of a lake and a pond? In the use? For example, would people go fishing or swimming in a pond?
- –C5.What are the names of some of the lakes and ponds around here?
- C6.What do you call a piece of land that’s often wet, and has grass and weeds growing on it?
- C7.What do you call land that usually has some standing water with trees or bushes growing in it?
- C8.What do you call a place in a stream where water flows round and round and draws things in toward the center?
- C9.Water from a river that comes up and covers low land when the river is high:
- –C10.When a river is dammed and the water backs up and spreads out above a dam, you call that:
- C11.Soft, wet sand in streams or wet places, that draws people and things down into it:
- –C12.A section of a river where the banks are much farther apart, and the water widens out for some distance:
- C13.A piece of land that sticks out noticeably into a body of water:
- C14.A stretch of still water going off to the side from a river or lake:
- C15.A place in mountains or high hills where you can get through without climbing over the top:
- C16.When a mass of earth and rock comes loose from a high place and rushes down, you call it a ________.
- C17.Around here, what do you call a small, rounded hill? (Get dimensions!)
- –C18.What do you call a mass of rock that stands up high above the level of the land around it?
- *C19.What do you call low land running between hills? (With and without water) (Get local names and specific differences of those mentioned.) [Early QRs: What do you call low land running between hills—if it’s fairly small or narrow? (With and without water)]
- –C20.What if it’s broader or larger?
- C21.A deep place cut in sloping ground by running water:
- C22.A piece of stone too big for one person to move easily:
- –C23.A piece of stone that one person could lift but is too big to throw:
- C24a.A small piece of stone that you could easily throw:
- C24b.“The dog wouldn’t go away, so he took a stone/rock and (Make gesture) ________ (it at it.)” (Get past tense.)
- C25.Other kinds of stone around here: about so big (Show size of a person’s head), smooth and hard—what do you call these?
- C26.What special kinds of stone or rock are there in this part of the state? (Open question)
- –C27.A hillside or deep hole where stone is taken out:
- C28.A place where underbrush, weeds, vines and small trees grow together so that it’s nearly impossible to get through:
- C29.A good-sized stretch of level land with practically no trees:
- C30.What do you call loose, dark soil?
- C31.What do you call heavy, sticky soil?
- –C32.When soil breaks up easily in your fingers, it’s ________.
- C33.What joking names do you have for an out-of-the-way place, or a very unimportant place?
- C34.Nicknames for nearby settlements, villages, or districts: (Open question)
- C35.Nicknames for the different parts of your town or city: (Open question)
- –C36.Nicknames for special communities or groups of people living around here: (Open question)
Houses
- –D1.What do you call the upper part of a two-story house?
- –D2.A sleeping room in a house:
- –D3.A room for visitors to sleep in:
- D4.The space up under the roof, usually used for storing things:
- –D5.When you go from one floor of a house to the floor above: “I’m going ________.”
- D6.To get to the second floor, you walk up the ________.
- D7.A small space anywhere in a house where you can hide things or get them out of the way:
- D8.The small room next to the kitchen (in older houses) where dishes and sometimes foods are kept:
- D9.To prevent bread and cake from drying, you put them in a ________. (See article—make sure what it is.)
- D10a.The place to keep food cool, usually with ice, so that it won’t spoil:
- D10b.The place to keep food cool if it is run by electricity or gas:
- D11.When you go into a house, the part just beyond the front door is the ________.
- D12.The part that’s put on in winter around an outside door to give extra protection from the cold:
- D13.The room where you entertain company:
- –D14.The room where members of the family spend most of their time together when they are at home:
- –D15a.Other rooms in your house besides the living room (or other word):
- –D15b.Other rooms (not already mentioned) in other people’s houses:
- D16.Names used around here for parts added on to the main part of a house: (Open question)
- D17.What do you call the platform, sometimes with a roof, that’s built on the front or the side of a house? (Differences?)
- D18.The part of the house below the ground floor:
- D19.Referring to the part of the house below the ground floor, you might say, “I’m going ________.” (Gesture downward.)
- D20.Names for a sloping outside cellar door:
- D21.A small, poorly-built house, or one in rundown condition:
- D22.Underground place to go to in case of a violent windstorm:
- D23.A house that is divided in two through the middle so that two families can live in it:
- D24.Living quarters in a building where several other families live:
- –D25.Nicknames for buildings where several families live:
- D26.What names do you have for different kinds of apartments? (Especially, small apartments)
- D27.Strips of wood used to cover the outside of a frame house:
- D28.What hangs below the edge of the roof to carry off rain-water?
- D29.The pipe that takes the collected rain-water down to the ground or to a storage tank:
- D30.The strip of wood or metal that covers the ridge of a roof:
- D31.In front of a fireplace there’s usually stonework on the floor—what do you call this?
- D32.The metal stands in a fireplace that the logs are laid on:
- D33.When you build a fire in the fireplace, what do you call the big log that goes behind the others?
- D34.What do you call the small pieces of wood and other stuff that are used to start a fire?
- –D35.After a large wood fire has burned out, you have to take away a lot of ________.
- D36.What do you call the shelf over the fireplace?
- D37.The strip of wood about eight inches high along the bottom of the wall (inside a room) joining to the floor: (Point at it.)
- –D38.The strip of wood along the bottom of the wall (inside a room)—if it is quite a bit higher than eight inches:
- D39.What nicknames do people have around here for a small eating place where the food is not especially good?
- D40.Names and nicknames around here for the upper balcony in a theater:
Furniture
- *E1.A piece of furniture that stands against the wall, and you hang clothes in/on it: [The intended text “in it” was inadvertently printed as “on it” in later QRs; this was mostly corrected by hand, but some FWs evidently followed the printed text or read both forms.]
- E2.A built-in space in a room for hanging clothes:
- E3.A piece of furniture in which you lay clothes flat:
- E4.Section in a piece of furniture that you pull in and out: (Point to one.)
- E5.A piece of furniture with a flat top for keeping tablecloths, dishes, and such:
- E6.A small shelf hanging on the wall with small decorative articles on it:
- E7.The piece of upholstered furniture that you can stretch out on to rest:
- –E8.A piece of upholstered furniture that holds two people:
- E9.A piece of upholstered furniture that seats three people: (Differences?)
- E10.Knitted or crocheted pieces placed on the back and arms of a chair for decoration and cleanliness:
- –E11.Pieces of cloth that hang alongside a window to dress it up:
- E12.Pieces of stiff material that you pull down on the inside of a window to keep the sun out: (Gesture or point to them.)
- E13.Words meaning to pull the shades (or other word) down: “When the sun is too bright, you go to the window and ________.” (Gesture.)
- E14.Wooden slats built into a window frame that shut out the sun but let in light and air: (Only in Deep South)
- E15.The cloth that is put on top of a bed, mostly for decoration:
- E16.A padded covering used on a bed, mostly for warmth:
- E17.The removable cover for a bed pillow:
- E18.A temporary or emergency bed made up on the floor:
- –E19.What do you call a bed that is made up wrong as a joke?
- E20.Soft rolls of dust that collect on the floor under beds or other furniture:
- E21.Talking about a room that needs to be put in order, you might say, “I’m just going to ________ this room.”
- E22.If a house is untidy and everything is upset, you might say, “It’s a ________!” or “It looks like ________.”
Utensils
- F1.What do you call a heavy metal pan that’s used to fry foods?
- –F2.What do you call the light metal pan for frying?
- F3.When you’re frying things—for example, eggs—you turn them over with a ________.
- F4.What do you call the deep metal container used to boil foods?
- –F5.What is used around here to stir a large pot, to prevent lumping or sticking?
- F6.The kitchen utensil with holes punched through the sides and bottom, to drain off liquid from foods:
- F7.The kitchen utensil with wire mesh, used to separate the fine part of food from the coarse:
- F8.The kitchen utensil that you pass flour through:
- F9.To get a liquid through a narrow opening—for example, the neck of a bottle—you’d pour it through a ________.
- F10.If you are familiar with wood-burning stoves—what do you call the round flat pieces that you take out to put in the wood?
- F11.The thing you use to remove the lids (or other word) from a wood-burning stove when it is hot:
- F12.The flat metal piece below a wood-burning stove, to catch the ashes:
- –F13.Talking about different kinds of containers—a small wooden container that nails come in:
- –F14.A large wooden container for vinegar or cider:
- F15.What you turn to let the vinegar or cider run out of a barrel:
- –F16.The container apples come in:
- F17.What peaches come in—different kinds:
- –F18.The container grapes come in:
- F19.A cloth container for grain:
- F20.A cloth container for feed:
- F21.A cloth or paper container that you buy flour in:
- F22a.A smaller paper container for bringing groceries home from the store:
- F22b.A smaller paper container for carrying a lunch: “He had his lunch in a ________.”
- F23.A container made of rough, loosely-woven, brown cloth; commonly used for potatoes, etc:
- F24.The container for kitchen parings and scraps—inside the kitchen:
- F25.The container for kitchen parings and scraps—out of doors:
- –F26.The place where dishes are washed:
- F27a.What you turn on and off inside the house to get running water:
- F27b.What you turn on and off outside the house to get running water:
- F28.The utensil with a small cup on a long handle, used to take water or milk out of a pail:
- F29.Different kinds of irons—not electric—used around here for smoothing clothes after they’re washed: (Differences?)
- F30.What is a pail made of? What is it used for?
- F31.What is a bucket made of? What is it used for?
- F32.Talking about a sudden flood in the cellar, you might say, “A water pipe must have ________.”
- F33.A small tool that you hold in one hand, with ‘jaws’ for gripping things: (Show picture.)
- F34.The wooden cross-pieces that you put your feet on when you go up a ladder: (Not a stepladder)
- F35.A small broom that you hold in one hand, and use it in places that are hard to get at: (Show picture.)
- F36.Other kinds of brooms that people use around here:
- F37.Names for an indoor toilet:
- –F37b.Joking names for an indoor toilet:
- F38.Utensil kept under the bed for use at night:
- F39.A large pocket knife with blades that fold in and out:
- –F40a.What do you put into a bottle to close it—if it’s made of cork?
- –F40b.What do you put in a bottle to close it—if it’s made of glass?
- –F41.A girl or woman who comes in to do general work around the house:
- F42.A woman who washes clothes for other people:
- F43.After clothes have been washed, what do you do to get the soap off?
- F44.What do you call a container for coal to use in a stove?
- F45.What do you call the fuel that’s used in an ordinary lamp?
- +F46.What do you call the kind of matches you can strike anywhere? [Not included in all of the later QRs.]
- +F47.What do you call the wire or rubber device with a handle, that is used to kill flies? [Not included in all of the later QRs.]
- +F48.What do you call pages of writing paper glued together at the top with a cardboard back? [Not included in all of the later QRs.]
- +F49.What do you call this? (Show rubber band.) [Not included in all of the later QRs.]
Dishes
- –G1.A general word meaning cups, saucers, and plates: “When she has company, she always uses her good ________.”
- G2.What names are used around here for a glass that you drink water from?
- G3.A container for salt that’s put on the table—if it’s open (without a cover):
- G4.A container for salt that has a cover with holes in it:
- –G5.A large, flat dish for serving the meat at table:
- G6.Other dishes that you might have on the table for a big dinner or special occasion—for example, Thanksgiving: (Open question)
- –G7.If you have cut flowers in the house, you put them in a ________.
- G8.A bunch of cut flowers: “The bride carried a pretty ________.”
- G9.When you have to get the table ready for a meal, you say “It’s time to ________.”
- G10.When the meal is all over, what do you have to do to the table?
- G11.Other names or nicknames for a toothpick:
- –G12.After the meal, you have to go to the kitchen and ________ the dishes.
- –G13.The cloth that you use to wash the dishes with:
- G14.The rough metal pad that’s used to scour pots and pans:
- G15.When you pour hot water on the dishes to get the soap off, you ________ them.
- G16.What do you dry the dishes with? (Differences—size? material?)
- G17.Other kinds of towels that people use around here: (Open question)
Foods
- –H1.The first meal in the morning is ________.
- H2.The meal that people eat around the middle of the day:
- H3.The meal that people eat at the end of the day: (The same every day?)
- –H4.Are the names of meals the same on Sundays as on weekdays?
- H5.What do you call a small amount of food eaten between regular meals?
- H6.Words for food in general: “He certainly enjoys his ________.”
- H7.When a housewife is about to prepare a meal—for example, supper—she might say, “I have to go and ________ supper.”
- –H8.When you are having company for a meal and you want them to take their places at the table, you say ________.
- H9.If somebody always eats a considerable amount of food, you say he’s a ________.
- –H10.If somebody never eats very much food, you say he’s a ________.
- H11a.If somebody eats rapidly and noisily, you say he ________.
- H11b.If he makes a noise with his food, he ________.
- H12.If somebody eating a meal takes little bits of food and leaves most of it on his plate, you say he ________.
- H13.Bread that is not made at home:
- H14.Bread that’s made with cornmeal: (Explain differences.)
- H15.Bread made with wheat flour:
- H16.What do people use to raise the bread before it’s baked?
- H17.What different kinds (of yeast) are used around here? (Describe differences.)
- H18.Are there any special kinds of bread made now or in past years around here? (Open question)
- H19.What do you mean by a biscuit? How are they made? (Description; different kinds; different terms)
- H20a.Do you use the word ‘pancakes’ around here?
- H20b.What other names do you have for pancakes?
- H21.What do you call the sweet stuff that’s poured over these cakes?
- –H22.What do you call flat pieces of food dipped in batter and fried in deep fat?
- H23.What do you call hot cooked breakfast cereal?
- H24.What names or nicknames do people have around here for boiled cornmeal?
- H25.What names or nicknames do people have around here for fried cornmeal?
- H26.A round cake of dough, cooked in deep fat, with a hole in the center:
- H27.Do you have any joking names for doughnuts (or other word)?
- H28.Different shapes or types of doughnuts (or other word)?
- H29.A round cake, cooked in deep fat, with jelly inside:
- H30.An oblong cake, cooked in deep fat:
- –H31.Other foods made with dough and cooked in deep fat:
- H32.Names used around here for fancy rolls and pastries: (According to shapes, etc.): (Open question)
- –H33.Joking names for eggs:
- H34.What are the parts of an egg?
- H35.When eggs are taken out of the shells and cooked in boiling water, you call them ________ eggs.
- H36.Kinds of soup favored around here—any specialties? (Open question)
- H37.What words do you have for gravy? Any joking ones?
- H38.Other words for bacon (including joking ones):
- –H39.Kinds of sausage that people around here especially favor:
- H40.A small sausage that is put into a long roll or bun to make a sandwich:
- H41.Other kinds of roll or bun sandwiches favored around here—in a round bun or roll:
- *H42.The kind in a much larger, longer bun, that’s a meal in itself: [Early QRs: The kind in a long bun:]
- H43.Foods made from parts of the head and inner organs of an animal: Different kinds: (With and without cornmeal)
- H44.Beef that has been dried to preserve it:
- H45.Dishes made with meat, fish, or poultry that everybody around here would know, but that people in other places might not:
- H46.When meat begins to go bad, so that you can’t eat it, you say it’s ________.
- H47.Kinds of fried potatoes favored around here: (Describe kinds.)
- H48.Baked dishes made of potatoes cut up with meat or cheese:
- H49.Dishes made by boiling potatoes with other foods:
- H50.Dishes made with beans, peas, or corn that everybody around here knows, but people in other places might not:
- –H51.Dishes made with cooked cabbage:
- H52.Dishes made with fresh cabbage:
- –H53.Dishes made with tomatoes:
- –H54.Dishes made with greens: (What kinds of ‘greens’ are eaten?)
- –H55.Different kinds of stew:
- H56.Names for different kinds of pickles favored around here:
- H57.Tasty or spicy side-dishes served with meats:
- H58.Milk that’s just beginning to become sour is ________.
- H59.Milk that becomes thick as it turns sour:
- H60.The lumpy white cheese that is made from sour milk:
- –H61.Other kinds of homemade cheese besides cottage cheese (or other word):
- –H62.What would ‘peach sauce’ mean around here? (Describe.)
- H63.Kinds of desserts especially favored by people around here: (Describe; if any unusual, get recipe.) (Open question)
- H64.The sweet covering spread on top of a cake:
- H65.Foreign foods favored by people around here: (Open question)
- H66a.The sweet liquid that you pour over a pudding:
- H66b.The sweet liquid that you pour over ice cream:
- H67.Food that was not finished at one meal but saved for another:
- H68.When food remains over from one meal and you heat it again for another meal, you call it ________. For example, “She got out Sunday’s roast and ________ (it).”
- H69.When food is hard on your stomach, you say that it ________.
- H70.When people bring baked dishes, salads, and so forth to a meeting-place and share them together, that’s a ________ meal.
- H71.Words for the last piece of food left on a plate:
- +H72.Words for preparing tea: “Pour on the water and let it ________.”
- –H72a.Names for tea according to how it’s made—very strong tea:
- –H72b.Names for tea according to how it’s made—very weak tea:
- H73.Words for preparing coffee: the housewife says, “I think I’ll go and ________ some coffee.”
- H74a.Different words for coffee according to how it’s made—very strong:
- H74b.Different words for coffee according to how it’s made—very weak:
- H75.When a housewife is going to preserve fruit in jars, she says she’s going to ________ some fruit.
- –H76a.When clear, sweetened fruit juice is cooked and it begins to thicken, you say it’s starting to ________.
- –H76b.Then when it becomes hard, you call it ________.
- –H77.When you are making jam, what do you call the stuff that has to be skimmed off the top?
- H78.Ordinary soft drinks, usually carbonated—what are they called?
- H79.What do you call the exact directions for cooking a certain dish, making a cake, and so on?
- H80.Kinds of candy often made at home around here: (Open question)
- H81.Candy on a stick for children to lick:
- H82a.Cheap candies sold especially for schoolchildren around here: (Open question)
- H82b.Kinds of cheap candy that used to be sold years ago: (Open question)
Vegetables and Fruits
- I1.What do you call the garden where you grow carrots, beans, and such things, to eat at home?
- –I2.What general word do you have for vegetables?
- I3.What do you call the large yellowish root vegetable, similar to a turnip, with a strong taste?
- *I4.What vegetables are less commonly grown around here? [Early QRs: Do you have any other names around here for carrots?—for beets?—for turnips?—for lettuce?—for eggplant?—for other vegetables?]
- I5.The kind of onions that keep coming up without replanting year after year:
- I6.The kind of onions that come up fresh early in the year, and you eat them raw:
- I7.The small plants like onions with hollow green leaves that are cut up in a salad:
- I8.When root vegetables get old and tough and are not good to eat, you say they are ________.
- I9.Other names (including nicknames) for potatoes:
- I10.The outside covering of green peas that you break open to get the peas out:
- I11.When somebody takes peas out of the covering like that, you say, “She’s ________ peas.”
- I12.The outside covering of dry beans:
- I13.When you take dry beans out of the cover you are ________ them.
- I14.Kinds of beans that you eat in the pod before they’re dry:
- I15.Some of the beans that you eat in the pod have yellow pods; you call these ________.
- I16.The large flat beans that are not eaten in the pod:
- I17.Beans (not pods) that are dark red when they are
dry: - I18.The smaller beans that are white when they are dry:
- I19.Small white beans with a black spot where they were joined to the pod:
- I20.Other kinds of beans that are grown around here: (Open question)
- –I21.Names or nicknames for tomatoes:
- I22a.Names for different kinds of peppers—small hot:
- I22b.Names for different kinds of peppers—large hot:
- I22c.Names for different kinds of peppers—small sweet:
- I22d.Names for different kinds of peppers—large sweet:
- I23.What kinds of squash do people grow around here? (Draw shape or describe.)
- –I24.What kinds of pumpkins do people grow around
here? - I25.Names or nicknames for cucumbers (growing):
- I26.What kinds of melons do people grow around here? (Open question)
- –I27.Do you have any other names or nicknames for cabbage?
- *I28a.What kinds of things do you call ‘greens’ around here?.Those that are eaten raw: [Early QRs (numbered I28): What kinds of things do you call greens around here? (Responses were assigned arbitrarily to I28a and/or b.)]
- *I28b.Kinds of greens that are cooked: [Early QRs: see note at I28a.]
- I29.Names or nicknames for asparagus:
- I30.Other names for rhubarb:
- I31.When a corn stalk is well grown, what comes out at the top?
- –I32.How do you know when corn is ready to eat?
- I33.What do you call ears of corn that are just right for eating?
- I34.If you don’t have sweet corn, you can always eat young ________.
- I35.What kitchen herbs are grown and used in cooking around here?
- –I36.What do you call a bunch of kitchen herbs—for example, used in soup?
- I37.Small plants shaped like an umbrella that grow in woods and fields—which are safe to eat: (Any nicknames?)
- I38.Small plants shaped like an umbrella that grow in woods and fields—which are not safe to eat:
- I39.What do you call the thick outside covering of a walnut?
- I40.The hard part inside the husk (or other word) of a walnut that you have to break:
- I41.The part of the nut that you eat:
- I42.Other names or nicknames used around here for peanuts:
- I43.What kinds of nuts grow wild around here? (Open question)
- I44.What kinds of berries grow wild around here? (Open question)
- –I45.If berries are not safe to eat, you’d say, “Don’t eat those berries, they’re ________.”
- I46.Other kinds of fruits that grow wild around here: (Open question)
- I47.When you pull the stem out of a strawberry, what do you call the green part that comes off with the stem?
- I48.The hard center of a cherry: you call that a cherry ________.
- I49.And the hard center of a plum: that’s a plum ________.
- I50.And the hard center of a peach: that’s a peach ________.
- I51.The kind of a peach where the hard center is loose:
- I52.The kind of a peach where the hard center is tight to the flesh:
- I53.Other fruits grown around here: any special varieties? (Open question)
Domestic Animals
- J1.What do you call a dog of mixed breed?
- J2.What joking or uncomplimentary words do you have for dogs?
- J3a.To make a female dog so that she can’t breed, she must be ________.
- J3b.To make a female cat so that she can’t breed, she must be ________.
- –J4.A cat with a very short tail:
- J5.A cat with fur of mixed colors:
- J6.A cat that catches lots of rats and mice—you’d say, “She’s a good ________.”
- –J7.How do people around here call to a dog to make it come?
- J8.To tell a dog to attack an animal or a person, you’d say, “________.”
- J9a.To tell a dog to lie down on the ground and keep still:
- +J9b.To tell a dog to stand without moving:
- J10.To call a cat to make it come, you say “________.”
Farm Animals
- K1.A cow that is giving milk is a ________.
- –K2.A cow that gives good milk or a lot of milk—she’s ________.
- K3a.When a cow stops giving milk, you say she ________.
- +K3b.When a cow stops giving milk, you say she’s a ________.
- K4.The cow’s udder is called the ________.
- –K5.Milk comes out of the ________.
- K6.And taking the last of the milk from the udder:
- K7.What sickness can a cow get in her udder—for example, if she’s left unmilked too long?
- K8.Joking terms for milking a cow: A farmer might say, “Well, it’s time to go out and ________.”
- K9.If one quarter of a cow’s udder does not give milk, you say she’s ________.
- K10.Words used about a cow that is going to have a calf:
- K11.When a cow has a calf, you say she ________.
- K12.A cow that has never had horns:
- K13.A cow that has had her horns cut off:
- K14.Milk that has a taste from something the cow ate in the pasture—you say, “That milk is ________.”
- K15.A thin, bony, or poor-looking cow:
- K16.A cow with a bad temper:
- –K17.How is the word ‘heifer’ used around here?
- K18.What kind of mark is used around here to identify a cow? (Describe; where is it put?)
- K19.Noise made by a calf that’s taken away from its mother:
- K20.A calf that is sold for meat:
- K21.The noise a cow makes, calling for her calf:
- K22.Words used for a bull:
- K23.Words used by women or in mixed company for a bull:
- K24.What does the word ‘ox’ mean around here?
- K25.What is a ‘steer’?
- K26.If six oxen are hitched together two and two, you have three ________.
- K27.What do you call the sharp-pointed stick used to get oxen to move?
- K28.What are the chief diseases that cows have around here? (Open question)
- –K29.A male horse kept for breeding:
- –K30.A castrated horse:
- –K31.A horse that’s only partly castrated:
- K32a.With a team of horses, what do you call the horse on the driver’s right hand?
- K32b.The horse on the left side in plowing or hauling:
- –K33.When you’re driving horses (or mules), how do you make them start?
- K34.What do you say to make the horses stop? (Get actual exclamation.)
- –K35a.What do you say to make the horses or mules turn right?
- –K35b.What do you say to make the horses or mules turn left?
- K36a.What do you say to make a horse go faster?
- K36b.What do you say to make a horse go backwards?
- K37.What do you call a horse of mixed colors?
- K38.A horse of a dirty white color:
- K39.What other names do you have for horses according to their colors? (Open question)
- K40.The sound that a horse makes:
- K41.A horse with its tail cut short is called a ________.
- K42.A horse that is rough, wild, or dangerous:
- K43.A horse that was not intentionally bred, or bred by accident:
- K44.A bony or poor-looking horse:
- K45.When a mare has had a young horse, you say she has just ________.
- –K46.If a horse or cow is deformed, what words are used about it?
- K47.What diseases do horses or mules commonly get around here? (Open question)
- K48.When a horse is short of breath, you say it’s ________.
- K49.You take a horse to the blacksmith to have it ________.
- K50.Joking nicknames for mules:
- K51.Talking about pigs, a very young one is called a ________.
- –K51b.A half-grown pig is a ________.
- –K51c.A full-grown pig is a ________.
- K52.A male pig kept for breeding is a ________. (Any hesitation about using words like this before women?)
- –K53.Words used by women or in mixed company for a male breeding-pig:
- K54.Names used around here for the smallest pig in a litter:
- K55.A pig that doesn’t grow well and is not worth keeping:
- –K56.What do you call the stiff hairs on a pig?
- K57.The big teeth that stick out of a boar’s mouth:
- K58.A castrated pig is a ________.
- K59.What do pigs eat out of?
- K60.When somebody is going to give the pigs food, he says, “I’m going to ________.”
- K61.What do you call the pig’s nose?
- K62.What do you call a female sheep?
- K63.What do you call a male sheep?
- –K63b.What do you call a male sheep that has been castrated?
- –K64.Words used by women or in mixed company for a male sheep:
- –K65.A sheep that’s kept as a pet:
- K66.The noise made by a sheep:
- –K67a.Words for a male goat:
- –K67b.Words for a female goat:
- K68.What do you call a goat that habitually strikes people with its horns?
- –K69.The noise that a goat makes:
- K70.Words used around here for castrating an animal:
- –K71.A hen that is producing eggs is called a ________.
- K72.When the hen stops laying and begins to sit on the eggs to hatch them, she’s a ________.
- K73.What names do you have for the rump of a cooked chicken?
- K74.A bone from the breast of a chicken, shaped like a horseshoe:
- K75.A male turkey is called a ________.
- K76.What other kinds of poultry are raised around here? (Open question)
- –K77.What does the word ‘fowl’ refer to around here?
- K78.What diseases do chickens commonly get around here? (Open question)
- K79.How do you call the chickens to you at feeding time?
- K80.The call that’s used around here to get the cows in from the pasture:
- K81.To make a cow stand still—for example, when milking her—you say, “________.”
- K82.The call used around here to get horses in from the pasture:
- K83.To call a calf to you at feeding time:
- K84.The call used around here to get the pigs in at feeding time:
- K85.The call to sheep to come in from the pasture:
Farming
- L1.A man who is employed to help with work on a farm:
- L2.The extra house on a large farm where a hired man and his family live:
- L3.A man who lives on the farm and does the work, but divides the expenses and profits with the owner:
- –L4a.A general word for work done every morning and evening on a farm, such as feeding livestock, cleaning stalls, etc.:
- L4b.What do you call the time early in the morning and at night when you have to feed livestock, clean stalls, and so on? A person might say, “I’ve got to go now, it’s ________.”
- L5.When a farmer gets help on a job from his neighbors in return for his help on their farms later on, you call it ________.
- L6a.What do you call a piece of land under cultivation—less than an acre?
- L6b.A piece of land under cultivation—if it’s several acres:
- L7.A piece of land with a hay crop planted on it:
- L8.Hay that grows naturally in damp places:
- L9a.What kinds of grass are grown for hay around here? (Open question)
- +L9b.Hay from other kinds of plants (not grass): (Open question)
- L10.After hay has been cut, then it grows back and you cut it again, you’d call that ________.
- L11.What do you do to hay in the field after it’s cut?
- L12.What do you call the small piles of hay standing in the field?
- L13.The kind of wagon used for carrying hay: (Note: special wagon, or frame put on ordinary wagon?)
- L14.A large pile of hay stored outdoors: (Do names differ according to shape?)
- L15.When you are putting hay into a building for storage, you say you are ________.
- L16.Machines used around here in handling hay: (Open question)
- L17.Other names around here for manure used in the fields: (Also joking names)
- L18.Kinds of plows used around here, at present and in the past: (Get descriptions.) (Open question)
- –L19.When you plow land or sod that has never been plowed before, you’re ________.
- *L20.The implement used in a field after it’s been plowed to break up the lumps: (Different kinds?) [Early QRs: The implement with points used in a field to break up lumps:]
- –L21.What kinds of grain are grown around here—anything special? (Open question)
- L22.When talking about a crop he intends to plant—for example, oats—a farmer might say, “This year, I’m going to ________ a crop of oats/corn/cotton, etc.” (Name the local crops in turn and record the verb.)
- L23.What machinery is used around here in putting in the seed? (Which machine for which crop?)
- L24.A crop or part of a crop that springs up and grows by itself from old seed:
- L25.The implement used to clean out weeds and loosen the earth between rows of corn:
- –L26.Sayings about corn and other important crops around here—when to put it in, how fast it should grow, etc.:
- –L27.When you turn the pigs into a cornfield to finish it off, you ________.
- L28.Tools used in the past for cutting grain:
- L29.Machines now used for cutting grain:
- L30a.When grain is cut it is (or used to be) tied up in ________.
- L30b.Then these sheaves (or other word) are set together in piles called ________.
- L31.What do you call the top bundle of a shock (or other word)?
- L32a.In early days, how was the grain separated from the straw?
- L32b.In early days, how was the grain separated from the chaff? (Describe methods.)
- L33.How is the grain separated from the straw nowadays?
- L34.What are the most important crops grown around here? (Open question)
- L35.Hand tools used for cutting underbrush and digging out roots:
- L36.What do you call it around here when you dig out roots and underbrush to make a new field? (New methods: bulldozing, etc.)
- L37.A hand tool used for cutting weeds and grass:
- L38.What do you use around here to sharpen tools in the field?
- L39.An iron bar with a bent end, used for pulling nails, opening boxes, and so on: (Be sure of object named.)
- L40.A long iron bar used to move rocks and other heavy things:
- L41.A device for moving dirt and other loads, with one wheel in front and handles to lift and push it behind:
- L42.Do you use the word ‘rig’ around here? What kind of thing do you call a ‘rig’?
- L43a.When somebody is going to get horses ready to work, he might say, “I’ll ________ the horses.”
- L43b.To get a horse ready to ride:
- L44.On a buggy, two long pieces of wood stick out in front and the horse goes between them. You call them the ________.
- L45.The long piece of wood that sticks out in front of a wagon, and you put a horse on each side:
- L46.Behind each horse there’s a movable bar (the leathers or ropes from the collar are fastened to it)—what would you call this?
- L47.The two movable bars behind a team of horses are fastened to a longer piece; this is a ________.
- L48.The part of a wagon that goes crosswise underneath and has a wheel at each end:
- L49.Leathers or ropes, fastened to the collar, that a horse or mule pulls by:
- –L50.What does the word ‘team’ mean on farms around here?
- L51.The leathers or ropes that a driver holds to guide a horse:
- L52.Pieces of leather used to cover the sides of a horse’s eyes:
- L53a.The band that goes under a horse’s middle to hold a saddle on:
- L53b.The band that goes under a horse’s middle to hold a saddle on—what is it called if it’s a part of a work harness?
- L54.If someone was transporting firewood (or dirt) in a wagon, you’d say he was ________ firewood.
- L55.If the wagon was only partly full, you’d say he had a ________.
- L56.The amount of wood a person can carry in both arms: “We’re out of firewood—I’ll just get in a ________.”
- L57.A low wooden platform used for bringing stones or heavy things out of the fields:
- L58.An implement with an A-shaped frame (Make gesture) that you put boards on to saw them:
- L59.An implement with an X-frame (Gesture) to hold firewood for sawing:
- L60.A fence made of stone or rock without mortar:
- –L60b.A fence of stone built with mortar:
- L61.Fences made of solid logs, now or in the past: (Describe construction.)
- L62.A fence made of split logs: (Describe differences.)
- L63.Kinds of fences made with wire: (Open question)
- L64.The kind of wooden fence that’s built around a garden or near a house:
- L65.What other kinds of fences, past or present, do you have around here? (Describe construction.) (Open question)
Farm Buildings
- M1.What different or special kinds of barns do you have around here according to their use or the way they are built? (Open question)
- M2.What do you call the small wooden construction on top of a barn with slats for ventilation? (It sometimes has a weathervane on it.)
- M3.The place inside a barn for storing hay:
- –M4a.What do you call the spaces or sections between the joists in a barn?
- –M4b.What do you call the spaces or sections between the joists in a shed?
- M5.What do you call the hole for throwing hay down below?
- M6.The place where grain is kept in a barn:
- –M7.A separate building where grain is kept:
- M8.The building where corn is kept:
- M9.The part of a barn where horses are kept:
- M10.The part of the barn where cows are kept:
- M11.What do you put the cow’s head through when she stands in the barn?
- M12.What do you keep food for the cattle in over winter?
- M13.The space near the barn with a fence around it where you keep the livestock:
- M14.The open area around or next to the barn:
- M15.The place outdoors where pigs are kept:
- M16.The small shelter for a hen that can be moved about from place to place:
- M17.A building where chickens or hens are kept:
- M18.The separate building where milk is kept cool:
- M19.A place for keeping carrots, turnips, potatoes, and so on over the winter:
- M20.A small building where meat or fish are smoked and cured:
- M21a.An outside toilet building:
- M21b.Joking names for an outside toilet building:
- M22.What other kinds of buildings would there be on farms around here? (Open question)
Vehicles & Transportation
- N1.Other names for an ambulance:
- N2.The car used to carry a dead body for burial:
- N3.The car or wagon that takes arrested people to the police station or to jail:
- N4.A police vehicle with a red, blue, or yellow flashing light on top:
- N5.Nicknames for an automobile, especially an old or broken-down car:
- N6.An old car that has been fixed up to make it go fast or make a lot of noise:
- N7.If you had made a trip by car to a city (Supply local name) you might say, “We ________ to X last week.”
- N8.If somebody gave you lessons in driving a car, you might say, “He ________ me how to drive.”
- N9.The colored lights that control the cars at busy road crossings:
- N10.What other words are used around here for the bright and dim lights on a car?
- N11.A very large truck used to haul freight, new cars, and other big loads:
- N12.Names for somebody who drives carelessly or not well:
- N13.If someone has been drinking and then drives a car, he may be arrested for:
- N14.The place where you go to get gasoline put into a car:
- N15a.Gas stations (or other word) usually have two kinds of gasoline: A cheaper kind that’s called ________.
- N15b.Gas stations (or other word) usually have two kinds of gasoline: A more expensive kind that’s called ________.
- N16a.Names for a highway with two lanes on each side and a separation down the middle:
- N16b.Names for a highway with two lanes on each side and a separation down the middle—if you have to pay to drive on it:
- N17.What do you call the separating area in the middle of a four-lane road?
- N18.How do you speak of roads that have numbers or letters? For example, if someone asked directions to get to (Supply local city name), you might say, “Take ________.”
- N19.What do you call a structure that carries a road above railroad tracks, or above another road or a deep gully?
- N20.What do you call a circular arrangement on one level at a big intersection, where cars can go around till they come to the road they want?
- N21.Roads that are surfaced with smooth black pavement:
- N22.When a road that is surfaced with smooth pavement gets wet so that cars slip or skid on it, you say it’s ________.
- N23.Other kinds of paved roads around here:
- N24.A ditch along the side of a graded road:
- N25.The unpaved part of a graded road along the edge of the pavement:
- –N26.A road that follows surveyors’ divisions:
- N27a.Names around here for different kinds of unpaved roads: (Open question)
- N27b.When unpaved roads get very rough, you call them ________.
- N28.A road that connects a big highway with stores and business places set back from it:
- N29.What names are used around here for a less important road running back from a main road?
- N30.What do you call a sudden short dip in a road?
- N31.A place in a road where animals regularly go across:
- N32.A place where roads cross at right angles: (Gesture.)
- N33.A man whose job is to take care of roads in a certain locality:
- N34.An electric car that runs on tracks in a city—any around here?
- N35.A fast train that goes from one big city to another without stopping at all the stations:
- –N36.Names for a slow train or one that stops at every station:
- N37.Joking names for a branch railroad that is not very important or gives poor service:
- N38.On a trip when you have to change trains and wait a while between them, you might say, “I have a two-hour ________ in Chicago.”
- N39.The place where you go to begin a trip and where you get off at the end:
- N40a.(In snow areas) What different kinds of sleighs do you have around here for hauling loads?
- N40b.Different kinds of sleighs for carrying people:
- N40c.Different kinds of sleighs for carrying other things:
- N41a.What kinds of horse-drawn vehicles are used around here, or used to be, to carry people?
- N41b.Horse-drawn vehicles to carry heavy loads:
- N41c.Horse-drawn vehicles to carry light loads:
- N42.Vehicles for a baby or small child—the kind it can lie down in:
- N43.Vehicles for a small child—the kind it has to sit up in:
- N44.In a town, the strip of grass and trees between the sidewalk and the curb:
Boats and Sailing
- O1.What do you call a small rowboat, not big enough to hold more than two people?
- O2.Nicknames around here for an old, clumsy boat:
- O3.A small platform sticking out into the water where boats can tie up, and people can get into them:
- O4.A much larger and solider structure where ships can come to land:
- O5.The posts standing in the water which these platforms rest on:
- O6.If a wooden boat is leaking, what do you have to do to stop the leaks?
- O7.What do you call a place where boats can be rented?
- O8.The devices on the sides of a boat that hold the oars in place:
- O9.What kinds of sailboats are used around here? (Open question)
- O10.What other kinds of boats are used around here? (Open question)
- O11.What other names do you have for an outboard motor?
- O12.A disturbance caused by wind which seems to run and spread quickly along the surface of water:
- O13.A heavy stone structure, often with masonry work, that encloses and protects a harbor:
- O14a.A floating structure out in a large lake or the sea usually marking a channel for boats:
- O14b.What different kinds of buoys are there? (Open question)
- O15.What names do you have for different kinds of waves around here, referring to how the water acts? (Open question)
- O16.What do you call the stirred-up water following a boat?
- O17.When the water is very smooth and still, you call that a ________.
- O18.Different currents or actions of the water that are important when you’re in a boat: (Get explanations.)
- O19.Different kinds or degrees of wind that are important when you’re in a boat: (Open question)
- –O20.Winds from particular directions:
- *O21.When men out in seagoing boats get together for a visit and a cup of hot coffee, that’s called a ________. [Early QRs: When men out in boats. . .]
Fishing, Hunting, Wildlife
- P1.What kinds of freshwater fish are caught around here that are good to eat? (Open question)
- P2.(In saltwater areas)What kinds of saltwater fish caught around here are good to eat? (Open question)
- P3.Freshwater fish that are not good to eat: (Open question)
- P4.Saltwater fish that are not good to eat: (Open question)
- P5.What do you call the common worm used as bait?
- *P6.Other kinds of worms also used for bait: (Open question) [Early QRs: A much larger worm also used for bait:]
- P7.Small fish used as bait for bigger fish:
- –P8.Do fishermen around here use ‘white bait’? If answer is ‘yes’, what is it?
- P9.When you’re fishing but not catching any, you might say, “________.”
- –P10.When the fishing is very good, you might say:
- –P11.When the fish just begins to take the bait, you say:
- –P12.When the fish takes the bait with a quick pull:
- P13.What other ways of fishing do you have around here besides the ordinary hook and line? (Special kinds of bait, hooks, lures, nets, traps, spears, etc.?) (Open question)
- P14.If commercial fishing is done around here, what do the fishermen go out after? (Open question)
- P15.What do you call fishing that’s done from a slowly moving boat?
- P16.When fishermen throw bits of bait in the water to attract fish—what do you call this?
- P17.What do you call it around here when the people fish by lowering a line and sinker close to the bottom of the water?
- P18.What kinds of shellfish are common around here? (Open question)
- P19.What do you call the small, freshwater crayfish around here?
- P20.Very young frogs—when they still have tails but no legs:
- P21.Small frogs that sing or chirp loudly in spring:
- P22.Names or nicknames for a very large frog that makes a deep, loud sound:
- P23.Names for the animal similar to the frog that lives away from water:
- P24.What kinds of turtles are found around here? (Open question)
- P25.What kinds of snakes are found around here? (Open question)
- P26.Names and nicknames around here for a skunk:
- P27.What kinds of squirrels do you have around here? (Open question)
- –P28.What other names do you have for the chipmunk?
- *P29.Do you have ‘gophers’ around here? If yes, what other name do they have, or what other animal are they most like? (The term is applied differently in different places.) [Early QRs: Do you have gophers around here? (If yes) What are they like? (The term is applied in different places to:)]
- P30.Do you have wild rabbits around here? What kinds?
- P31.What other names or nicknames do you have around here for the groundhog, muskrat, opossum, panther, porcupine, raccoon, wildcat?
- P32.What other kinds of wild animals do you have around here? (Open question)
- –P33.When an animal goes into its hole to sleep all winter, it ________. (What animals?)
- –P34.Names or nicknames for a female deer:
- P35a.Names or nicknames for any deer shot illegally:
- +P35b.Illegal methods of shooting deer:
- P36.When a hunter sees a deer or other game animal and gets so excited he can’t shoot, he has ________.
- P37a.Nicknames for a rifle:
- P37b.Nicknames for a shotgun:
- P38.What do you put into a rifle to shoot?
- –P38b.What do you put into a shotgun?
- P39a.When a hunter or a dog finds a game animal and makes it start running, you’d say he ________ it.
- P39b.If the dog makes a bird or a covey fly, you’d say he ________.
Birds
- Q1.What do you call the kind of owl that makes a shrill, trembling cry?
- Q2.Other kinds of owls found around here: (Open question)
- Q3.Other birds that come out only after dark: (Open question)
- Q4.What kinds of hawks are found around here? (Open question)
- Q5.What kinds of wild ducks do you have around here? (Open question)
- Q6.What kinds of wild geese do you have around here? (Open question)
- Q7.Names and nicknames for other kinds of game birds around here: (Open question)
- Q8.A water bird that makes a booming sound before rain and often stands with its beak pointed almost straight up:
- Q9.The bird that looks like a small, dull-colored duck and is commonly found on ponds and lakes:
- Q10.Other water birds and marsh birds common around here: (Open question)
- Q11.What kinds of blackbirds do you have around here? (Open question)
- –Q12.What kinds of crows do you have around here? (Open question)
- Q13.Names around here for the vulture:
- Q14.What other names do you have around here for these birds: bobolink, brown thrasher, catbird, cowbird, cuckoo, goldfinch, killdeer, kingbird, martin, mockingbird, shrike, thrush?
- Q15.What different kinds of larks do you have around here? (Open question)
- Q16.What kinds of jays do you have around here? (Open question)
- Q17.What kinds of woodpeckers do you have around here? (Open question)
- Q18.Joking names and nicknames for woodpeckers:
- –Q19.Other birds similar to the whippoorwill:
- Q20.What kinds of swallows and birds like them do you have around here?
- Q21.Different kinds of sparrows around here:
- Q22.Joking names or nicknames for the common sparrow:
- Q23.The insect-eating bird that goes headfirst down a tree trunk:
Insects
- R1.What do you call the small insect that flies at night and flashes a light at its tail?
- R2.What other names do you have around here for the dragonfly?
- –R3.Whitish, worm-like creatures, found in ponds, that hatch into dobsonflies, and are commonly used for fish bait:
- R4.A large winged insect that hatches in summer in great numbers around lakes or rivers, crowds around lights, lives only a day or so, and is good fish bait:
- R5.A big brown beetle that comes out in large numbers in spring and early summer, and flies with a buzzing sound: (Note: some are green.)
- R6.What other names do people have around here for grasshoppers?
- R7.Insects that sit in trees or bushes in hot weather and make a sharp, buzzing sound:
- R8.Other kinds of creatures that make a clicking or shrilling or chirping kind of sound: (Open question)
- R9a.An insect from two to four inches long that lives in bushes and looks like a dead twig:
- +R9b.An insect that holds up its front feet as if saying a prayer:
- R10.Very small flies that don’t sting, often seen hovering in large groups or bunches outdoors in summer:
- R11.A very tiny fly that you can hardly see, but that stings:
- R12.What other kinds of flies are common around here—for example, those that fly around animals? (Open question)
- R13.Flies that come to meat or fruit:
- R14.Small worm-like things (seen in rain barrels or standing water) that hatch into mosquitoes:
- R15a.What other names or nicknames do you have around here for mosquitoes?
- R15b.Any names for an extra-big mosquito?
- –R16.What do you call the fine, thin cloth that lets air in but keeps mosquitoes and other insects out?
- R17.What names do you have for the big black ants that sting?
- R18.What other kinds of ants do you have around here? (Open question)
- R19a.The place where bees live and store their honey—tame bees:
- R19b.And the place where wild bees live and store their honey:
- R20.Wasps that build their nests of mud: (Get description of insect and nest: color, size, and shape.)
- R21.Are there any other kinds of stinging insects around here? (Open question)
- R22.Very small red insects, almost too small to see, that get under your skin and cause itching:
- R23a.Insects or other creatures that fasten themselves to the skin and suck blood—on land:
- R23b.Blood-sucking creatures—in water:
- R24.What other names are used around here for a bed-
bug? - R25.Joking names for a head louse, or body louse:
- R26.Any other names for the small greenish lice that come on plants?
- *R27.What kinds of caterpillars or similar worms do you have around here? (Open question) [Early QRs: What do you call the soft worm that eats the leaves on plants and turns into a butterfly?]
- R28.What different kinds of spiders do you have around here? (Open question)
- R29a.What do you call the thing that a spider spins and lives in?—If it is indoors:
- R29b.What the spider spins—if it is outdoors:
- +R30.What other kinds of beetles are known around here—for example, because of their odor or color or something else? (Open question) [This Qu. was included in some early QRs.]
Wildflowers, Weeds
- S1.What other names do you have around here for the jack-in-the-pulpit?
- S2.What do you call the flower that comes up in the woods early in spring, with three white petals that turn pink as the flower grows older?
- S3.A flower like a large violet with a yellow center and small ragged leaves—it comes up early in spring on open, stony hilltops:
- S4.Other names around here for the mayapple: (Woodside plant, not a tree, with two large spreading leaves; they grow in patches and have a small yellow fruit late in summer.)
- S5.Other names around here for the wild morning glory:
- S6.Other names around here for Queen Anne’s lace: (Summertime roadside weed two feet high or so with a lacy white top)
- S7.A kind of daisy, bright yellow with a dark center, that grows along roadsides in late summer:
- S8.A common kind of wild grass that grows in fields: it spreads by sending out long underground roots, and it’s hard to get rid of:
- S9.Other kinds of grass that are hard to get rid of: (Open question)
- –S10.A shrub that gets covered with bright yellow, spicy-smelling flowers early in spring:
- *S11.What other names do you have around here for: bachelor’s button, blue violet, bluets, dandelion, dog-tooth violet, peony, wild snapdragon, zinnia? [Early QRs included “iris” in this list.]
- –S12a.What do you call the sharp points along the stems of rose bushes, berry bushes, and so on?—large ones:
- –S12b.What do you call the sharp points along the stems of rose bushes, berry bushes, and so on?—small ones:
- S13.There’s a common wild bush with bunches of round, prickly seeds; when they get dry they stick to your clothing—what are these called around here?
- S14.Other prickly seeds, small and flat, with two prongs at one end, that cling to clothing:
- S15.Do you have any other weed seeds that cling to clothing? (Open question)
- S16.A three-leaved plant that grows in woods and countryside and makes people’s skin itch and swell:
- S17.What other kinds of plants do you have around here that will cause itching and swelling?
- S18.A kind of mushroom that grows like a globe (Gesture)—sometimes gets as big as a man’s head:
- S19.Mushrooms that grow out like brackets from the sides of trees:
- S20.A common weed that grows on open hillsides: It has velvety green leaves close to the ground, and a tall stalk with small yellow flowers on a spike at the
top: - S21.What other weeds do you have around here that are a trouble in gardens and fields? (Open question)
- S22.What do you call the bright yellow flowers that bloom in clusters in marshes in early springtime?
- S23.Pale blue flowers with downy leaves and cups that come up on open, stony hillsides in March or early April:
- S24.A wild flower that grows in swamps and marshes and looks like a small blue iris: (Sometimes other colors)
- S25.What do you call the small wild chrysanthemum-like flowers (blue, purple, white) that bloom in fields late in the fall?
- S26a.What other wildflowers do you have around here, not yet mentioned? roadside flowers: (Open question)
- S26b.Wildflowers that grow in water or wet places: (Open question)
- S26c.Wildflowers that grow in woods: (Open question)
- +S26d.Wildflowers that grow in meadows: (Open question)
- +S26e.Other wildflowers not yet mentioned: (Open question)
Trees, Bushes, etc.
- T1.What do you call a bunch of trees growing together in open country, especially on a hill?
- T2a.What do you call a piece of land covered with trees—if it’s only a few acres?
- T2b.What do you call a piece of land covered with trees—if it’s a large acreage?
- T3.The tree that produces syrup and sugar:
- T4.The place where these trees grow together and sap is gathered:
- T5.What kinds of evergreens, other than pine, do you have around here? (Open question)
- T6.The pointed leaves that fall from pine trees:
- T7.The sticky stuff that comes out of pine trees:
- T8.Joints of pine wood that burn easily and make good fuel:
- T9.The common shade tree with large heart-shaped leaves, clusters of white blossoms, and long thin seed pods or ‘beans’:
- T10.What different kinds of oak trees grow around here? Any special kinds? (Open question)
- T11.What different kinds of elm trees grow around here? (Open question)
- T12.The kind of poplar tree that has sticky, sweet-smelling buds:
- *T13.What other names do you have around here for these trees: box elder, hackberry, linden, Osage orange, poplar, sumac, sycamore, tamarack, tulip tree? [Early QRs did not include “Osage orange” in this list.]
- T14.What different kinds of maples do you have around here? (Open question)
- T15.What kinds of swamp trees do you have? (Open question)
- T16.What kinds of trees are ‘special’ around here? (Open question)
- +T17.What different kinds of pine trees do you have around here? (Open question) [This Qu. was included in some early QRs.]
Buying and Selling, Money
- U1a.When you are going to a store or several stores to buy things, you say, “I’m going ________.”
- U1b.Do you use a different expression if you’re buying groceries?
- U2.What do you call a piece of clothing not made at home—one that you buy?
- U3.A coat, dress, or other garment that is passed on from one person to another (or an older child to a younger one):
- U4.A place where you can take something valuable and borrow money on it:
- U5.Someone who sells small articles on a street corner:
- U6.Someone who sells vegetables or other articles from a wagon or truck, going from house to house:
- U7.A man who goes from town to town selling things:
- U8a.Other ways of saying, “It cost me ten dollars.”
- U8b.Similar expressions meaning “I paid ten dollars for it.”
- U9.If you buy something for much less than it usually costs, you say, “At ten dollars it was a ________!”
- –U10.If something costs a great deal, or more than you think it’s worth, you might say, “That’s ________.”
- U11.If you buy something but don’t pay cash for it, you might say, “I ________.”
- U12.If you were buying something and you argued with the person selling it till you made him lower the price, you might say, “I ________.”
- U13.When buying or exchanging something that you have not seen, you say you’re getting it ________.
- U14.When you’re exchanging with somebody when neither one has seen what the other has (children often do this) you’d call that a ________.
- U15.When you’re buying something, if the seller puts in a little extra to make you feel that you’re getting a good bargain, you call that ________.
- U16.If somebody was caught short of money and went to a friend to get some, he might say, “I need five dollars before Saturday, will you ________ it to me?”
- U17.Names or nicknames for a person who doesn’t pay his bills:
- U18.If you force somebody to pay money that he owes you, but that he did not want to pay, you might say, “I finally made him ________.”
- U19a.Words used around here for money in general: “He’s certainly got the ________.”
- U19b.Talking of paper money: “He always carries a big ________.”
- U20.Words used for dollars around here: “It cost a hundred ________.”
- U21.Other words for ‘one cent’:
- U22.Other words around here for a five-cent piece:
- U23.Other words for a 25-cent piece:
- U24.Other words for a 50-cent piece:
- –U25.Other words for seventy-five cents:
- U26.Names or nicknames around here for a paper dollar:
- U27.Names for a silver dollar:
- U28a.Names for other kinds of paper money—a five-dollar bill:
- U28b.Names for other kinds of paper money—a ten-dollar bill:
- U28c.Names for other kinds of paper money—a twenty-dollar bill:
- U29.Names or nicknames around here for worthless money:
- U30.What do you keep money in when you carry it around with you? (Different shapes, different for men and women, etc.)
- –U31.What you might say about a person who spends money very freely: “He’s certainly ________.”
- U32.Words and expressions used about a very generous person: “He’s ________.”
- U33.Names or nicknames for a stingy person:
- –U34.Other words and expressions around here meaning ‘stingy,’ especially when a person saves money in a mean way:
- U35.Words meaning thrifty but not in a complimentary way: “She’s not a bad housekeeper, but very ________.”
- U36a.Words and expressions about a person who saves in a mean way or is greedy in money matters: “He’s an awful ________.”
- U36b.Words and expressions used to describe a person who saves in a mean way or is greedy in money matters: “She certainly is ________.”
- U37.Words and expressions about somebody who has plenty of money:
- U38a.Words referring to a great deal of money: “He’s got ________ (of money).”
- U38b.Words referring to a great deal of money: “He made a ________ (of money).”
- U39.Somebody who has lost all his money: “During the depression he ________.”
- U40.Somebody who is temporarily out of money: You might say, “At the moment he’s ________.”
- U41a.Somebody who has lost everything and is very poor: “He’s ________.”
- U41b.Somebody who has lost everything and is very poor: “He’s poor as ________.”
- –U42.When somebody pretends to be poor but you know he’s not, you say he’s ________.
- +U43.What do you call the kind of store where most articles cost (or used to cost) only five or ten cents?
Honesty and Dishonesty
- V1.When you suspect that somebody is trying to deceive you, or that something is going on behind your back, you say, “There’s ________.”
- V2a.What do you call a deceiving person, or somebody that you can’t trust? [Early QRs numbered V2]
- *V2b.About a deceiving person, or somebody that you can’t trust, you might say: “I wouldn’t trust him ________.” [Early QRs (numbered V3b): About a thoroughly dishonest person you might say, “I wouldn’t trust him ________.”]
- *V2c.About a deceiving person, or somebody that you can’t trust, you might say: “I wouldn’t trust him any further than I could ________.” [Early QRs (numbered V3b): About a thoroughly dishonest person you might say, “I wouldn’t trust him any further/farther than I could ________.”]
- –V3.And about a thoroughly dishonest person, you might say, “He’s a ________.”
- V4.Other words for stealing something valuable—for example, a watch: “Yesterday somebody ________ my watch.”
- V5a.To take something of small value that doesn’t belong to you—for example, a child taking cookies: “Who’s been ________ the cookies?”
- V5b.If you take something that nobody seems to own, you might say, “Before anybody else gets it, I’m going to ________ this.”
- V6.What words are used around here for a thief—any kind of thief?
- V7.A person who sets out to cheat others while pretending to be honest:
- V8a.What do you call a paper ordering somebody to appear in court? “The sheriff came with a ________ for him.”
- V8b.Of a person who has been given a paper ordering him into court you might say: “He was ________ into court.”
- V9.What nicknames do people have around here for a policeman?
- V10a.And what joking names are there for a sheriff?
- V10b.And what joking names for a marshal?
- V10c.And what joking names for a constable?
- V11.What joking names do you have around here for a county or city jail?
- V12.Words for the amount of time a person has to spend in jail—for example, “He’s in for a ten-year ________.”
Clothing, Men’s and Women’s
- W1a.What do you open up and hold over your head when it rains?
- W1b.If you use an umbrella (or other word) when the sun is too hot, you call it a ________.
- W1c.What joking names do people have for an umbrella around here?
- W2.What do you call a cloth bonnet worn by women for protection from the sun?
- W3.A piece of cloth that a woman folds over her head and ties under her chin:
- W4.What names do you have around here for men’s coats or jackets for work and outdoor wear?
- –W5.The garment without sleeves that a man wears under his coat:
- W6.What do you mean by the word ‘blouse’—for women, and for men?
- W7.If a man doesn’t use a belt, what does he wear over his shoulders to hold up his trousers?
- W8.Names and nicknames for low canvas-top shoes with rubber soles:
- W9.A work garment, usually of blue cloth, covering the legs and sometimes the chest, worn by farmers:
- W10.Work trousers made of rough cloth, usually blue,—different names and kinds:
- W11.Men’s low, rough work-shoes—what names do you have for them around here?
- W12a.Heavy pieces of metal fastened under the soles of boots to keep them from slipping:
- W12b.Metal pieces under the tips of shoes to prevent wear:
- –W13.What kinds of rubber footwear are worn around here?
- W14.Names for underwear, including joking names. Men’s —long, men’s—short, women’s—long, women’s—short:
- W15.A shirt-length undergarment worn by women:
- W16a.The full-length garment that a woman wears under her dress:
- W16b.The garment worn by a woman under her dress—if it only goes from the waist down:
- –W17a.Names and nicknames for clothes men wear to sleep in:
- –W17b.Names and nicknames for clothes women wear to sleep in:
- –W18a.The long, coat-like garment often worn by men around the house over pajamas:
- –W18b.The long, coat-like garment often worn by women around the house over nightclothes:
- W19.Names and nicknames for the folded cloth worn by a baby in place of pants:
- W20.If somebody has no clothes on at all—for example, “There was Johnny, ________.” or, “They went in swimming ________.”
- W21.Soft shoes that people wear only inside the house:
- W22.What do you call a loose, full housedress that ties at the waist?
- –W23.When a collar or other clothing works itself up out of place, you might say, “It’s ________.”
- W24a.What expressions are used around here to warn a woman slyly that her slip is showing?
- W24b.Sayings to warn a man that his pants are torn or split:
- W24c.Sayings to warn a man that his trouser-fly is open:
- W25.When a woman is cutting out a dress to sew, what do you call the little scraps of cloth left over?
- –W26.When a piece of clothing has been used until it gets thin and breaks, you’d say it was ________.
- W27.What do you call a three-cornered tear in a piece of clothing from catching it on something sharp?
- W28.When a woman is in a hurry and has to sew up a torn place quickly, she might say, “I’ll just ________.”
- W29.What expressions do you have around here for things that are sewn carelessly? “They’re ________.”
- W30.When a woman adds decorations to make something more attractive—for example, a hat, she might say, “It’s too plain—I think I’ll put on a few flowers to ________ it up.”
- –W31.What kinds of fancywork do women around here generally do? (Local specialties?)
- W32.What names do you have around here for a group of women that meet to sew together?
- W33.What do you call the jewelry that goes around a woman’s forearm?
- W34.Jewelry that a woman wears on her ears: (Gesture.)
- W35.A piece of jewelry that a woman wears fastened at the neck of her dress:
- W36.What do people say around here about a woman who uses a lot of cosmetics?
- W37.When a woman puts on her good clothes and tries to look her best, you say she’s ________.
- W38.When a man dresses himself up in his best clothes, you say he’s ________.
- W39.Joking ways of referring to a person’s best clothes:
- *W40.What do people say about a woman who overdresses or who spends too much on clothes? [Early QRs: . . a woman who dresses up a lot or who spends too much on clothes?]
- W41.What expressions do you have for someone whose clothes never look right or who always dresses carelessly?
- W42a.What nicknames do you have around here for men’s sharp-pointed shoes?
- W42b.And what nicknames for men’s square-toed shoes?
- W43.What joking words do you have for clothes in general?
Parts of the Body
- X1a.Names used around here for false hair, worn by men:
- X1b.False hair worn by women:
- X2.When a woman divides her hair into three strands and twists them together, you say she is ________ (her hair).
- X3.When a woman puts her hair up on her head in a bunch, you call this a ________.
- X4a.If you were speaking of somebody’s hair getting grey, you might say, “His ________ is/are getting grey.”
- X4b.A person might say, “On Saturday I have to wash my hair/hairs.”
- X5.What names do you have around here for different kinds of men’s haircuts?
- X6.If a person’s lower jaw sticks out prominently, you say he’s ________.
- X7.Other names for the throat: “Some food got stuck in his ________.”
- X8.What general words do you have for the organs inside the body?
- X9.Joking or uncomplimentary words for a person’s mouth—for example, you might say, “I wish he’d shut his ________.”
- -X10a.To tell a person to stop talking—politely:
- X10b.To tell a person to stop talking—not very politely:
- X11.What do you call the flesh that the teeth are set in?
- X12.What do you call large front teeth that stick out of the mouth?
- X13a.What joking names do you have around here for teeth?
- X13b.Joking names for false teeth:
- X14.Joking words for the nose:
- X15.What names do you have for different kinds of noses, according to shape or size?
- X16.Sticky mucus that forms in the nose—children’s words for this:
- X17.Talking about smells: A damp cellar that had been shut up for some time would smell ________.
- X18.And talking about listening: When one person doesn’t quite hear what another person said, what does he say?
- X19a.When a person’s hearing is not very good, you say he’s ________.
- X19b.And if a person’s hearing is very bad, you say he’s ________.
- X20.What other words do you have for a black eye?
- X21a.What words are used to describe people according to their eyes—for example, if they stick out?
- X21b.If the eyes are very sharp or piercing:
- X21c.If the eyes are very round:
- X22.To stare at something with your mouth open:
- X23.What joking words do you have around here for eyeglasses?
- X24.When a person opens and closes his eyes quickly, he ________.
- X25.To close your eyes part way—for example, when looking at the sun:
- X26a.If a person’s eyes look in different directions, looking inward, he’s ________.
- X26b.If a person’s eyes look in different directions, looking outward, he’s ________.
- -X27.A person whose eyesight is failing: “He’s getting ________.”
- X28.Joking words used around here for a person’s head:
- X29.Joking or uncomplimentary words for a person’s face:
- -X30.What do you call the back part of the neck?
- X31.Other words used around here for a woman’s breasts:
- X32.Joking or uncomplimentary words for the hands—you might say, “Those are mine. You keep your ________ (out of them).”
- X33.The place in the elbow that gives you a strange feeling if you hit it against something:
- X34.Other names and nicknames for the navel:
- X35.Joking words for the part of the body that you sit on—for example, “He slipped and came down hard on his ________.”
- -X36.Joking names for the knees:
- X37.What words do you have to describe people’s legs if they’re noticeably bent, or uneven, or not right?
- X38.Joking names for unusually big or clumsy feet:
- X39.A mark on the skin where somebody has sucked it hard and brought the blood to the surface:
- X40.What other ways do you have of saying, “I’m going to bed”?
- X41.When you’re going to sleep for a very short while, you might say, “I’m just going to ________.”
- X42.What other way do you have to say, “I stopped sleeping at six o’clock.”
- X43a.If you sleep later than usual one day by accident, you’d say, “I ________.”
- X43b.If you sleep later than usual one day on purpose, you’d say, “I ________.”
- -X44.To get somebody out of bed early in the morning: “I had to ________.”
- X45.What joking expressions do you have around here about snoring?
- X46.When a person’s getting sleepy and opens his mouth wide and takes a deep breath, that’s a ________.
- X47.What other ways do you have of saying, “I’m very tired, at the end of my strength”?
- X48a.Expressions meaning that a person is not so young any more—for example, “She must be ________ sixty.”
- X48b.Or if a person is not so young any more, you might say, “He’s ________.”
- X49.Expressions used about a person who is very thin:
- X50.Names or nicknames for a person who is very fat:
- X51.To lose weight because of sickness: “He was sick all winter and ________ (quite a bit).”
- X52.And you’d say that a person like that who had been sick was looking ________.
- X53a.What do you call an oversize stomach?
- X53b.An oversize stomach that results from drinking:
- X54.When a person gets a spell of going ‘hic’ (Make the sound!) he’s got the ________.
- -X55.The sound that gas makes when it comes up from the stomach after a meal:
- X55b.Words for breaking wind from the bowels:
- X56a.Other words for sweat:
- X56b.Expressions about sweating very heavily:
- X57.A person with light-colored hair and skin, “He’s fair ________.”
- X58.When you are cold, and little points of skin begin to come on your arms and legs, you have ________.
- X59.What do you call the small infected pimples that form usually on the face?
- +X60.What do you call a lump that comes up on your head when you get a sharp blow or knock?
Physical Actions
- Y1.What expressions are used around here for a person suddenly falling down: “He slipped on the steps and took quite a ________.”
- Y2.Other words for upsetting or disturbing somebody: “Losing all that money didn’t seem to ________ him a bit.”
- Y3.To say uncomplimentary things about somebody:
- Y4.Other words for a very uncomplimentary remark:
- Y5.Words meaning to urge somebody to do something he shouldn’t: “Johnny wouldn’t have tried that if the other boys hadn’t ________.”
- Y6.Words meaning to put pressure on somebody to do something he ought to have done but hasn’t: “He’s a whole week late. I’m going to ________.”
- *Y7.When one person never misses a chance to be mean to another or to annoy another: “I don’t know why she keeps ________ me all the time!” [Early QRs: When one person never misses a chance to be mean to another: . .]
- –Y8.To keep after a person so as to get him to do things: “He never gets a minute’s peace—she’s always ________.”
- Y9.Somebody who always follows along behind others: “His little brother is an awful ________.”
- Y10.To throw something—for example, “The dog came at him, so he picked up stone and ________ it at him.”
- Y11.Other words for a very hard blow: “You should have seen Bill go down. Joe really hit him a ________.”
- Y12a.A fight between two people, mostly with words:
- Y12b.A real fight in which blows are struck:
- Y13.A fist fight with several people in it:
- Y14a.To hit somebody hard with the fist:
- Y14b.To hit somebody with the open hand:
- Y15.To beat somebody thoroughly: “John really ________ that fellow!”
- Y16.A thorough beating: “He gave the bully an awful ________.”
- Y17.When two people agree to stop fighting and not be enemies any more, you might say, “I hear they ________.”
- Y18.To leave in a hurry: “Before they find this out, we’d better ________!”
- Y19.To begin to go away from a place: “It’s about time for me to ________.”
- Y20.To run fast: “You should have seen him ________!”
- Y21.To move about slowly and without energy:
- Y22.To move around in a way to make people take notice of you: “Look at him ________.”
- Y23.Expressions meaning to move yourself or get yourself in motion: “I was so stiff I could hardly ________.”
- Y24.Expressions meaning to walk, to go on foot: “I can’t get a ride, so I’ll just have to ________.”
- Y25.To walk heavily, making a lot of noise: “He came ________ into the house.”
- Y26a.To walk very quietly: “She came ________ to the baby’s bed.”
- Y26b.To walk very quietly: “The children filled their pockets and ________ out the back way.”
- Y27.To go about aimlessly, with nothing to do: “He’s always ________ around the drugstore.”
- Y28.A person who loiters about with nothing to do:
- Y29a.To ‘go out’ a great deal, not to stay at home much: “She’s always ________.”
- Y29b.Or, about a man who doesn’t stay home much: “He’s always ________.”
- Y30a.To take something up and move it from one place to another—for example, a paper sack of groceries:
- Y30b.To take something heavy up and move it from one place to another—for example, a bushel of apples:
- Y31.If a child asked his father to carry him on his back, he might say, “Give me a ________.”
- Y32.To squeeze yourself into a small space: “If you’re going to fit in there you’ll have to ________.” (Gesture.)
- Y33.Other words for squeezing or crushing something—for example, your finger in a door: “I ________ my finger in the door.”
- Y34a.When somebody moves on his hands and knees: “He was down in the bushes, ________ around.”
- Y34b.What babies do before they walk:
- Y35x.To spoil something so that it can’t be used—for example, a new coffee pot: “My new coffee pot—it’s completely ________.”
- –Y35y.To spoil something so that it can’t be used: “You’ve ________ my new hat.”
- Y36.To spill something over the sides of a container: “See if you can carry that water without ________ (it all over).”
- Y37.To make a place untidy or disorderly: “I wish they wouldn’t ________ the room so.” (Gesture.)
- Y38.Mixed together, confused: “The things in the drawer are all ________.”
- Y39.To get something sticky or smeared up: “The children have been eating candy and they’ve got their faces all ________.”
- Y40a.Other words referring to sticky stuff: “I’ve got to wash my hands; they’re all ________.”
- Y40b.Other words referring to sticky stuff: “I’ve got to wash my hands. They’re all covered with ________.”
- Y41a.Expressions used around here to tell someone to light a lamp or lantern: “________ the lamp.”
- Y41b.Expressions used around here to tell someone to light an electric light: “________ the light.”
- Y42.Expressions for putting out a lamp or light:
- Y43a.Expressions meaning to light a fire: “________ the fire.”
- Y43b.Expressions meaning to put out a fire:
- Y44.A very small, sharp piece of wood: “His finger is sore—he ran a ________ into it.”
- Y45.Talking of a liquid—to scatter in all directions: “When he opened the can, the beer ________ (all over the kitchen).”
- Y46a.To get hurt with something sharp—for example a thorn: “He ________ a thorn into his hand.”
- Y46b.To get hurt with something sharp, like a needle:.“She ________ herself with a needle.”
- Y47.To hide something away for future use: “I know he’s got it ________ somewhere.”
- Y48.To look in every possible place for something you’ve mislaid—for example, a pair of gloves: “I’ve ________ (the house looking for them).”
- –Y49.A sudden pull on something: “If you want to get that string out, just ________ it.”
- Y50.To undertake or carry out a job: “That’s a big job for just one person to ________.”
- Y51.Other ways of saying ‘to avoid’ things or people—for example: “He’s not your kind—you’d better ________ him.”
- Y52.To move over—for example on a long bench: “We have to make room for one more. Can you ________ (a little)?”
Family Relationships
- Z1.What words do people around here use for ‘father’ within the family?
- Z2.What words do people around here use for ‘mother’?
- Z3.What words do people around here use for ‘grandfather’?
- Z4.What words do people around here use for ‘grandmother’?
- Z5.Nicknames and affectionate words meaning ‘brother’:
- Z6.Nicknames and affectionate words meaning ‘sister’:
- Z7.Nicknames and affectionate words for any other relatives: (Open question)
- Z8.General word for your own immediate family group:
- Z9.General word for others related to you by blood:
- Z10.If a child looks very much like his father, you might say, “He ________ his father.”
- Z11a.Words for a child whose parents were not married—serious words:
- Z11b.Nicknames and joking words for a child of unwed parents:
- Z12.Nicknames and joking words meaning ‘a small child’: “He’s a healthy little ________.”
- Z13.If a mother has to leave her baby for a little while, she might ask a neighbor, “While I’m gone, will you ________ the baby for me?”
- Z14a.To give a child its own way or pay too much attention to it: “Everyone ________ that child.”
- Z14b.If a child expects to have its own way or have too much attention, you might say, “That child is ________.”
- Z16.A small child who is rough, misbehaves, and doesn’t obey, you’d call him a ________.
- *Z17.To take care of or bring up a child: “All her children were ________ (on the farm).” [Early QRs: To take care of a child while it’s growing: “All her children were well ________.”
Courtship, Marriage, Childbearing
- AA1.When a man goes to see a girl often and seems to want to marry her, he’s ________ her.
- AA2.If a man is going to a dance and a girl is going with him, you might say, “John is going to ________ Mary to the dance.”
- AA3.Nicknames or affectionate names for a sweetheart:
- AA4a.What words and expressions are used around here about a man who is very eager to get married? “He’s ________.”
- AA4b.And what expressions about a woman who is very eager to get married? “She’s ________.”
- AA5.If a woman seems to be going after one certain man that she wants to marry: “She’s ________ him.”
- AA6a.What do you call a man who is fond of being with women and tries to attract their attention—if he’s nice about it?
- AA6b.What do you call a man who is fond of being with women and tries to attract their attention—if he’s rude or not respectful?
- AA7a.What words do you have for a woman who is very fond of men and is always trying to know more—if she’s nice about it?
- AA7b.What words do you have for a woman who is very fond of men and is always trying to know more—if she’s not respectable about it?
- AA8.When people make too much of a show of affection in a public place—for example, “There they were at the church supper ________ (with each other).”
- AA9.Other words used around here for a loud or vigorous kiss:
- AA10.A very special liking that a boy may have for a girl (or the other way round)—you’d say, “He ________ her.” or “She ________ him.”
- AA11.If a man asks a girl to marry him and she refuses, you’d say she ________.
- AA12.If a man loses interest in a girl and stops seeing her, you’d say he ________.
- AA13.When two people who have been ‘going steady’ or were engaged, stop going together, you might say, “I guess they ________.”
- –AA14a.Names or nicknames for a woman who never married:
- –AA14b.Names or nicknames for a man who never married:
- AA15a.What joking ways do you have around here of saying that people got married? “They ________.”
- AA15b.What joking ways do you have around here of saying that a man is getting married? “He ________.”
- AA15c.What joking ways do you have around here of saying that a woman is getting married? “She ________.”
- –AA16.What kinds of parties or celebrations do you have around here before a wedding?
- AA17.What other people beside the bride and groom do you usually have in a wedding party around here? (Open question)
- AA18.What do you call a noisy neighborhood celebration after a wedding, where the married couple is expected to give a treat?
- AA19.Words or expressions about a man and woman who are not married but live together as if they were:
- AA20.A marriage that takes place because a baby is on the way:
- AA21.What joking expressions do you have about a wife who gives the orders and a husband who takes them from her?
- AA22.Joking names that a man may use to refer to his wife: “I have to go down and pick up my ________.”
- AA23.Joking names that a woman may use to refer to her husband: “It’s time to go and get supper for my ________.”
- AA24.A man whose wife is dead:
- AA25.A woman whose husband is dead:
- AA26.A divorced woman:
- AA27.What other names or expressions are used for a woman’s menstruation?
- AA28.What joking or sly expressions do women use to say that another is going to have a baby? “She(‘s) ________.”
- AA29.What do you call the blue, swollen veins that a woman often gets on her legs while expecting a baby?
- AA30.An older woman who comes in (or used to come in) to help when a baby is going to be born:
Health and Disease
- BB1.When a person has been injured so that when he walks he steps more heavily on one foot than the other: “He ________.”
- BB2.If a person is careful not to put much weight on his injured leg, you might say he was ________ that leg.
- *BB3a.What do you call a pain that strikes you suddenly in the neck? [Early QRs: . . a sudden muscular pain that comes in the neck?]
- BB3b.A sudden pain that strikes you in the back:
- BB3c.A sudden pain that comes in the side: (Gesture.)
- BB4.Other words for a pain—for example, in the arm: “He’s had a ________ in his arm for a week.”
- BB5.A general feeling of discomfort or illness that isn’t any one place in particular:
- BB6.A sudden feeling of weakness, when sometimes the person loses consciousness:
- BB7.A feeling that lasts for a short while, with difficult breathing and heart beating fast:
- BB8.When a person’s joints and muscles ache and sometimes swell up, especially in damp weather, he may have ________.
- BB9.A sickness in which you have a severe cough and difficult breathing—it often starts with a cold, and lasts a week or two:
- BB10.What other names or nicknames are used, or used to be used, around here for tuberculosis?
- BB11.Speaking of a deep cough that you can’t seem to get rid of: “Listen to him ________.”
- BB12.The kind of cough that comes with bronchitis: “He has a ________ cough.”
- BB13.Other words used around here for chills and fever:
- BB14.To suddenly become unconscious and fall: “Just as she came to the door she ________.”
- BB15.Somebody who is unconscious from a hard blow: “He’s been ________ for ten minutes.”
- BB16a.If something a person ate didn’t agree with him, he might be sick ________ his stomach. (Gesture.)
- BB16b.If something a person ate didn’t agree with him, he might just feel a bit ________.
- BB17.Other words or expressions used around here for vomiting:
- BB18.To vomit a great deal at once:
- BB19.Joking names for looseness of the bowels:
- BB20.Joking names or expressions for overactive kidneys:
- BB21.Other words for being constipated:
- BB22.What home remedies do you have around here for constipation? (Open question)
- BB23.The disease where the skin becomes a yellowish color:
- BB24.Other names for a rash that comes out suddenly—from hives or something else: “He’s got some kind of ________ all over his chest.”
- BB25.What are some common skin diseases around here? (Open question)
- –BB26.About a disease that spreads easily from one person to another: “Scarlet fever is very ________.”
- BB27.When somebody pretends to be sick (often to get out of doing something) you’d say he’s ________.
- BB28.Joking names that people make up for imaginary diseases: “He must have the ________.”
- *BB29.What do you call the red flesh that sometimes grows in a wound and keeps it from healing right? [Early QRs: . . grows in a wound when it is healing?]
- BB30.What do you call a hard, painful swelling (often on a finger) that seems to come from deep under the
skin? - –BB31.When a swelling begins to get less, you say it’s ________.
- BB32.If somebody had a swelling—for example, in his whole face—you might say, “Last week his face was all ________.”
- BB33a.What do you call a swelling under the skin, bigger than a pimple, that comes to a head?
- BB33b.What do you call a swelling under the skin—if it is very big or serious?
- –BB34a.What remedies do you use to bring a boil to a head?
- –BB34b.What is a poultice made with?
- BB35.The yellowish stuff that comes out of a boil when the head breaks:
- BB36.When there’s an open sore and this yellowish stuff is coming out of it, you say it’s ________.
- BB37.When yellowish stuff comes out of a person’s ear, he has a ________.
- BB38.When a person doesn’t look healthy, or looks as if he hadn’t been well for some time, you’d say, “He looks ________.”
- BB39.On a day when you don’t feel just right, though not actually sick, you might say, “I’ll be all right tomorrow—I’m just feeling ________ today.”
- BB40.If you’re inquiring about somebody acting strangely: “All of a sudden he got up and left. What do you suppose ________ him?”
- BB41.Not seriously ill, but sick enough to be in bed: “He’s been ________ for a week.”
- BB42.If a person is very sick you say he’s ________.
- BB43.A person who has to stay in bed all the time: “For two years now he’s been ________.”
- BB44.Words used around here about a person just starting some sickness—for example, pneumonia: “He ________ pneumonia.”
- BB45.The time that an illness lasts—for example, stomach trouble: “He’s been having a long ________ of stomach trouble.”
- BB46.Words and expressions about someone who has been very sick but now is getting better: “He’s ________.”
- BB47.Feeling in the best of health and spirits: “I’m feeling ________!”
- BB48.When a person has too much sugar in his blood and may have to take insulin for it, you’d say he has ________.
- BB49.What other kinds of diseases are common around here, or used to be common? (Open question)
- BB50a.What are the favorite remedies around here for a cough? (Open question)
- BB50b.Remedies for chest colds: (Open question)
- BB50c.Remedies for infections: (Open question)
- BB50d.Favorite spring tonics around here: (Open question)
- BB51a.What cures for corns or warts do you have around here? (Open question)
- BB51b.Are there any ‘magical’ cures for corns or warts, like rubbing them with something special, or in a special way?
- BB52.What joking words do you have around here for a dentist?
- BB53a.What joking names do you have for a doctor?
- BB53b.What do you call a doctor who is not very capable or doesn’t have a very good reputation?
- BB54.When a sick person is past hope of recovery, you’d say he’s (a) ________.
- –BB55.What other expressions are used around here to say that a person died?—serious expressions:
- BB56.Joking expressions for dying: “He ________.”
- BB57.If someone committed suicide, you’d say he ________.
- –BB58.The person who prepares a dead body for burial:
- –BB59.The box that a body is put into for burial:
- BB60.When friends and relatives gather together at the place where the body is, usually the night before the funeral, you call that:
- BB61a.Other words used around here for a cemetery:
- BB61b.Any joking names for a cemetery?
Religion and Beliefs
- CC1.On a church building, what do you call the part that sticks up high?
- CC2.What are the predominant religious denominations around here?
- CC3.Are there any religions that have come in recently around here or are a bit different from the common ones?
- CC4.What nicknames do you have around here for various religions or religious groups?
- CC5.Names for seats in a church, especially near the front:
- CC6.The place where the preacher stands to give the sermon:
- CC7.Words for a person who goes to church very seldom or not at all:
- CC8.Other names for the devil:
- CC9.Other words or expressions for hell: “That man is headed straight for ________.”
- CC10.What words do you have around here for an unprofessional, part-time lay preacher?
- CC11.When somebody has had a lot of good luck, you say he ________.
- CC12a.Expressions used about bad luck, or about somebody who has had a lot of it: “Poor Joe. He’s really been having ________.”
- CC12b.Or if a person has a lot of bad luck you might say, “He’s been ________.”
- CC13a.What names do you have around here for a forked stick that’s used to show where there’s water underground? (What kind of wood?)
- CC13b.And what do you call the person who knows how to use a forked stick to find water?
- CC14.Words or expressions used here, where one person supposedly casts a spell over another:
- CC15.When people say there are ghosts in a certain place, or when it gives you a creepy feeling to go near it: “They say that the old house is ________.”
- CC16.A small light that seems to dance or flicker over a marsh or swamp at night:
- CC17.Imaginary animals or monsters that people around here tell tales about—especially to tease greenhorns: (What are they like? What do they do?)
Tobacco, Liquor
- DD1.What different forms does chewing tobacco come in around here?
- DD2.The portion or quantity of tobacco chewed at one time: “He’s always got a big ________ in his cheek.”
- DD3a.What do you call a person who uses snuff?
- DD3b.How do people take snuff around here?
- DD4.Moisture in the mouth, colored brown by snuff or chewing tobacco:
- DD5.A metal or earthenware receptacle on the floor that tobacco-chewers use, or used to use:
- DD6a.Other names or nicknames for cigars:
- DD6b.Nicknames for cigarettes:
- –DD6c.Nicknames for a pipe:
- DD7.Different names for cigars around here according to size, shape, or the way they’re made:
- DD8.The part left over when a cigar or cigarette is smoked:
- DD9a.What expressions are used about a person who smokes a great deal? “He’s a ________.”
- DD9b.Of a person who smokes a great deal you might say, “He smokes like a ________.”
- DD10.When somebody gives up smoking: “He isn’t smoking any more—a month ago he ________.”
- DD11.When somebody gives up drinking: “I hear he ________.”
- DD12.What words or expressions do you have around here for a person who drinks steadily or a great deal?
- DD13.When a drinker is just beginning to show the effects of the liquor, you say he’s ________.
- DD14.When a person is partly drunk, “He’s ________.”
- DD15.A person who is thoroughly drunk:
- DD16.To have a drinking bout and get drunk is to go on a ________.
- DD17.To drink a great deal, or too fast: “He doesn’t just drink, he ________.”
- DD18.A drink of liquor, or the amount of liquor taken in one swallow: “He took a good ________.”
- –DD19.A little drink: “I’ll just take ________.”
- –DD20.A big drink: “He always takes ________.”
- DD21a.General words used around here for any kind of liquor:
- DD21b.General words used around here for bad liquor:
- DD21c.Nicknames for whiskey, especially illegally made whiskey:
- DD22.Other expressions meaning delirium tremens:
- –DD23.Sickness that comes the day after a drinking bout:
- DD24.Other diseases that come from continual drinking:
- DD25.What nicknames are used around here for beer?
- –DD26a.Other words for a beer mug:
- –DD26b.Other words for a beer glass:
- DD27.What nicknames are used around here for wine?
- –DD28a.Names and nicknames for kinds of liquor other than beer, wine, or whiskey:
- DD28b.What fermented drinks are made at home around here?
- –DD29.Common containers for liquor (now and in the past):
- DD30.Joking names for a place where liquor is (or was) sold and consumed illegally:
- –DD31.Joking names for homemade hard liquor:
- DD32.A person who sells illegal liquor is called a ________.
- DD33a.A person who drinks no liquor at all:
- DD33b.A person who is actively against drinking:
- DD34.A party at which there is considerable drinking:
- DD35.What are the favorite card games that people play around here? (Open question)
- –DD36.What expressions do you have around here that come from card games—for example, ‘an ace up your sleeve’?
- DD37.Other table games played a lot by adults around here: (Open question)
Children’s Games
- EE1.What games do children play around here, in which they form a ring, and either sing or recite a rhyme?
- EE2.Games that have one extra player—when a signal is given, the players change places, and the extra one tries to get a place:
- EE3.Games in which you hide an object and then look for it:
- EE4.Games in which one player’s eyes are bandaged and he has to catch the others and guess who they are:
- EE5.Games where you try to make a jackknife stick in the ground:
- EE6a.Names for different kinds of marbles—the big one that’s used to knock others out of the ring:
- EE6b.Small marbles or marbles in general:
- EE6c.Cheap marbles:
- EE6d.Special marbles:
- EE7.What kinds of marble games are played or used to be played around here? (Open question)
- EE8.The line toward which the players roll their marbles before beginning a game, to determine the order of shooting:
- EE9a.The children’s trick of turning over rapidly straight forward close to the ground: (Gesture.)
- EE9b.If children jump forward, land on the hands, and turn over: (Gesture.)
- EE9c.What if children spread their arms and turn over sideways? (Gesture.)
- EE10.A game in which a short stick lying on the ground is flipped into the air and then hit with a longer stick, that’s ________.
- EE11.Bat-and-ball games for just a few players (when there aren’t enough for a regular game):
- EE12.Games in which one captain hides his team and the other team tries to find it:
- EE13a.Games in which every player hides except one, and that one must try to find the others:
- EE13b.In games in which all the others hide, the one who must try to find them, he’s ________.
- EE14.What do you call the place where the player who is ‘it’ has to wait and count while the others hide?
- EE15.When he has caught the first of those that were hiding what does the player who is ‘it’ call out to the others?
- EE16.Hiding games that start with a special, elaborate method of sending the players out to hide:
- EE17.In a game of tag, if a player wants to rest, what does he call out so that he can’t be tagged?
- EE18.Games in which the players set up a stone, a tin can, or something similar, and then try to knock it down:
- EE19.The game in which children mark a ‘court’ on the ground or sidewalk, throw a flat stone in one section, then go on one foot and try to kick it or carry it out:
- EE20.When two boys are fighting, and the one who is losing wants to stop, he calls out, “________.”
- –EE21a.When somebody goes into a fight very actively: “You should have seen Jack ________ Bob.”
- EE21b.When boys were fighting very actively, you might say, “For a while those fellows really ________.”
- EE22.What do you call the game in which they throw a ball over a building (a house or a barn) to a player on the other side?
- EE23a.In the game of andy-over (or other word) what do you call out when you throw the ball?
- EE23b.In the game of andy-over (or other word) if you fail to get the ball over the building and it rolls back, what do you call out?
- EE24a.When there’s snow, children go down the hill on a ________.
- EE24b.When children go down hill on a sled (or other word) they say they’re ________.
- EE25.When a child picks up his sled (or hand-sleigh/scoot), runs with it, and then throws himself down on it, that’s a ________.
- EE26.What games do children play in the snow around here? (Open question)
- EE27.Games played on the ice: (Open question)
- EE28.Games played in the water: (Open question)
- EE29.When swimmers are diving and one comes down flat onto the water, that’s a ________.
- EE30.Throwing a flat stone over the surface of water so that it jumps several times:
- EE31.Playground equipment with a long board for two children to sit on and go up and down in turn:
- EE32.A homemade merry-go-round:
- EE33.Other outdoor games not yet mentioned that children play now, or that were played in your childhood: (Open question)
- EE34.Other words used around here meaning a child’s toy:
- EE35.Long wooden poles with a footpiece that children walk around on to make them tall:
- EE36.To climb the trunk of a tree by holding on with your legs while you pull yourself up with your hands:
- EE37.The game where you try to throw metal rings or something similar over a stake in the ground:
- EE38a.A game played with pencil and paper where the players try to get three X’s or three O’s in a row:
- EE38b.If the game of tick-tack-toe (or other word) comes out so that neither X nor O wins, you call that ________.
- EE39.Other games played on paper by two people: (Open question)
- EE40.What table games are played around here, using dice? (Open question)
- EE41.A hobgoblin that is used to threaten children and make them behave:
Entertainments and Celebrations
- FF1.Do you have around here a kind of group meeting called a ‘social’ or ‘sociable’? What kinds are there? (What goes on?)
- FF2.What kinds of parties do people favor around here? (Open question)
- FF3.Do people give ‘showers’ or ‘gift parties’ around here? What kinds?
- FF4.Names and joking names for different kinds of dancing parties:
- FF5a.Names for different steps and figures in dancing—in past years:
- FF5b.More recent dance steps:
- FF6.Expressions used around here meaning ‘to be asked to go to a party’: “Did you get a ________ to the party?”
- FF7.A small musical instrument that you blow on, and move from side to side in your mouth:
- FF8.Another small instrument that you hold between the teeth and pluck on:
- FF9.A Christmas gathering, at church or at someone’s home, where there are songs and presents: “Are you going to the ________?”
- FF10.What do people around here say to greet each other on Christmas morning?
- FF11.What do you call the night of December 31st?
- FF12a.What do you call the first day of May around here?
- FF12b.What do you call the night of May first? (Do children give May baskets? Is there a Maypole? When?)
- –FF13.What other words do you have around here to mean ‘firecrackers’?
- FF14.What different kinds of firecrackers do you have around here?
- FF15.When a firecracker doesn’t go off, and you break it in the middle and light the powder, you call it a ________.
- *FF16.What other local contests or celebrations do you have? What goes on? (Open question) [Early QRs: What other local celebrations or holidays do you have?]
- FF17.Words meaning that people had a very good or enjoyable time: “We all had a ________ last night.”
- FF18.Joking words or expressions about a noisy or boisterous celebration or party: “They certainly ________ last night.”
- FF19.Words used about a very dull or unenjoyable time: “The party was ________.”
- –FF20.Short humorous stories that people tell to make others laugh: “He’s always telling ________.”
- FF21a.A joke that is so old it doesn’t seem funny any more: “His jokes are all ________.”
- FF21b.Or about old jokes people say: “The first time I heard that one I ________.”
- FF22a.Names for clubs and societies around here—for women: (Open question)
- FF22b.Names for clubs and societies around here—for men: (Open question)
- FF23.What joking names do people have for any of these clubs or lodges?
- FF24.The place or building where people go to see motion pictures:
- FF25.Joking names for motion pictures:
- FF26.Words meaning a large group of people at a public gathering—for example, an auction: “There was quite a ________ at the auction.”
- FF27.Joking names and nicknames for television:
- +FF28.What other kinds of fireworks do you have? (Open question) [This Qu. was included in some early QRs.]
Emotional States and Attitudes
- –GG1a.Words meaning ‘very fond of’ something—for example, card playing: “People here are ________ about playing cards.”
- –GG1b.Or very fond of something to eat: “He ________ ice cream.”
- GG2.Expressions meaning ‘confused, mixed up’: “So many things were going on at the same time that he got completely ________.”
- GG3.To tease: “See those big boys trying to ________ (that little one).”
- GG4.Stirred up, angry: “When he saw them coming he got ________.”
- GG5.When someone does something unexpectedly bold or forward, you might say: “Well, she certainly has a lot of ________.”
- *GG6.Talking about a person’s feelings being hurt: “When she said she couldn’t go with him, he was quite ________.” [Early QRs: Words meaning ‘offended’: “When she said she wouldn’t go with him, he was quite ________.”]
- GG7.Words meaning annoyed or upset: “Though we were only ten minutes late, she was all ________.”
- GG8.When a person is very easily offended: “Be careful what you say to him, he’s ________.”
- GG9.To suddenly embarrass somebody and throw him off balance: “When they told him what she had said about him, it certainly did ________ him.”
- –GG10.To be very eager to do something: “He certainly seems ________ to marry that girl.”
- GG11.To be quite anxious about something—for example, waiting for a letter: “The letter hasn’t come and he’s ________.”
- GG12.To have an inner feeling that something is about to happen: “There she comes now, I ________ she would.”
- GG13a.When something keeps bothering a person and makes him nervous, he may say, “It ________ me.”
- GG13b.When something keeps bothering a person and makes him nervous, he may say: “It gives me the ________.”
- *GG14.Names and nicknames for someone who fusses or worries a lot, especially about little things: [Early QRs: . . who worries a lot, . . :]
- GG15.Talking about a person who became over-excited and lost control, “At that point he really ________.”
- GG16.Words for finding fault, or complaining: “You just can’t please him—he’s always ________.”
- *GG17.Other words for longing (to see somebody who has been away): “She had been so lonely—she was really ________ (to see him).” [Early QRs: To keep wishing for something very much: . .]
- GG18.Other words meaning ‘obstinate’: “Why does he have to be so ________.”
- GG19a.When you can see from the way a person acts that he’s feeling important or independent: “He surely is ________ these days.”
- GG19b.When you can see from the way a person acts that he’s feeling important or independent: “He seems to think he’s ________.”
- GG20.Words or expressions meaning ‘very much surprised’: “When those two got married, I was certainly ________.”
- GG21a.If you don’t care what a person does, you might tell him, “You can go ahead and do it ________.”
- GG21b.If you don’t care what a person does, you might say, “Go ahead—I don’t give a ________.”
- GG22a.When you have come to the end of your patience, you might say, “Well that’s the ________.”
- GG22b.When you have come to the end of your patience, you might say, “Well, that certainly ________.”
- *GG23a.If you speak sharply to somebody to make him be patient, you say, “Now just keep your ________.” [Early QRs: . . “Keep ________.”]
- GG23b.If you speak sharply to somebody to make him be patient, you might say, “Hold ________!”
- GG23c.Any other expressions (to tell someone to be patient):
- GG24.Other words meaning to frighten: “Now don’t let those fellows ________ you.”
- GG25.To become frightened: “The children were ________ he was going to hurt them.”
- GG26.A feeling of weakness from fear: “When she saw the dog coming at her she got ________.”
- GG27a.To get somebody out of an unhappy mood, you might say to him, “Everything’s going to be all right, so ________.”
- GG27b.To get somebody out of an unhappy mood, you might say to him, “Don’t ________.”
- GG28.To be very pleased or happy about something: “She managed to come home for Christmas, and everybody was ________ to see her.”
- GG29.To be in a good or pleasant mood: “This morning he seems to be feeling ________.”
- GG30.To suddenly break out laughing: “When he told her that, she just ________.”
- GG31.To laugh very hard: “I thought I’d ________.”
- GG32a.To habitually play tricks or jokes on people: “He’s always ________.”
- GG32b.To habitually play tricks or jokes on people: “He’s an awful ________.”
- –GG33a.To feel very sad and upset about something: “When he got the news he was ________.”
- –GG33b.To feel very sad and upset about something: “I never saw a woman ________ so.”
- GG34a.To feel depressed or in a gloomy mood: “He has the ________ today.”
- GG34b.To feel depressed or in a gloomy mood: “She’s feeling ________ today.”
- GG35a.To sulk or pout: “It won’t do any good to ________ about it.”
- GG35b.Of a person who acts annoyed or disappointed you might say, “Because she couldn’t go, she’s been ________ all day.”
- GG36a.The kind of person who is always poking into other people’s affairs: “She’s an awful ________.”
- GG36b.The kind of person who is always poking into other people’s affairs: “She’s the ________ person I know!”
- GG37.Somebody who is very brave or courageous: “He’s got plenty of ________.”
- *GG38.Somebody who is usually mean and bad tempered: “He’s an awful ________.” [Early QRs: Somebody who is usually in a bad temper: . .]
- GG39.Somebody who seems to be looking for reasons to be angry: “He’s a ________.”
- GG40.Words or expressions meaning violently angry:
- GG41.To lose patience easily: “You never did see such a ________ person.”
- GG42.A reckless person, one who takes foolish chances:
Types and Attitudes of People
- HH1.Names and nicknames for a rustic or countrified person:
- HH2.Names and nicknames for a citified person:
- HH3.A dull and stupid person:
- HH4.Someone who has odd or peculiar ideas or notions:
- HH5.Someone who is queer but harmless:
- HH6.Someone who is out of his mind:
- HH7a.Someone who talks too much, or too loud: “He’s an awful ________.”
- HH7b.Someone who talks too much, or too loud: “He’s always ________.”
- HH8.A person who likes to brag:
- HH9.A very silly or light-headed person:
- HH10.A very timid or cowardly person: “He’s ________.”
- HH11a.Someone who is too particular or fussy—if it’s a man:
- HH11b.Someone who is too particular or fussy—if it’s a woman:
- HH12.A person who is always finding fault about unimportant things:
- HH13.Expressions meaning that a person is not very alert or not aware of things: “He’s certainly ________.”
- HH14.Ways of teasing a beginner or inexperienced person—for example, by sending him for a ‘left-handed monkey wrench’: “Go get me ________.”
- HH15.A very inexperienced person, one who is just learning how to do a new thing:
- HH16.Uncomplimentary words with no definite meaning—just used when you want to show that you don’t think much of a person: “Don’t invite him. He’s a ________.”
- HH17.A person who tries to appear important, or who tries to lay down the law in his community: “He’d like to be the ________ around here.”
- HH18.Very insignificant or low-grade people:
- HH19.Other words or nicknames for a tramp:
- HH20a.An idle, worthless person: “He’s a ________.”
- HH20b.Of an idle, worthless person you might say, “He doesn’t amount to ________.”
- HH20c.Of an idle, worthless person you might say, “He isn’t worth ________.”
- HH21.A very awkward, clumsy person:
- –HH22a.A mean or disagreeable person:
- HH22b.Talking about a very mean person, you might say, “He’s meaner than ________.”
- HH22c.Talking about a very mean person, you might say, “He’s mean enough to ________.”
- –HH23.A person who gets along well with everybody: “Now there’s a ________.”
- HH24.Somebody who doesn’t talk very much, who keeps his thoughts to himself:
- HH25.One who never has anything to say: “What’s the matter with him?” “________?”
- HH26.A person who is always ready to stir up trouble:
- HH27a.A very able and energetic person who gets things done:
- HH27b.Of a very able and energetic person who gets things done you might say, “He’s got lots of ________.”
- HH28.Names and nicknames around here for people of foreign background: (Get only those appropriate in your area.)
- HH29a.Names around here for people of mixed blood—part Indian:
- HH29b.Names for people of mixed blood—part Negro:
- HH30.Things that are nicknamed for different nationalities—for example, a ‘Dutch treat’: (Open question)
- HH31.Somebody who is not from your community, and doesn’t belong:
- –HH32.Other words meaning ‘a person’—for example, “In a case like that, what’s ________ to do?”
- –HH33.Other words meaning ‘people’—for example, “When they hear that, what are ________ going to say?”
- *HH34.General words around here for a woman, not necessarily uncomplimentary: [Early QRs: Disrespectful words around here for a woman:]
- HH35.A woman who puts on a lot of airs: “She’s too ________ for me.”
- HH36.A careless, slovenly woman: “She’s just an old ________.”
- HH37.An immoral woman:
- HH38.A womanish man:
- HH39.A homosexual man:
- HH40.Uncomplimentary words for an old man:
- –HH41.Someone who has a very high opinion of himself:
- –HH42.Names and nicknames for a common laborer:
- HH43a.The top person in charge of a group of workmen, the ________.
- HH43b.The assistant to the top person in charge of a group of workmen is called the ________.
- HH44.Joking or uncomplimentary names for lawyers:
Relationships among People
- II1.Words meaning a close friend (or other ways of saying “He’s my friend.”): “He’s my ________.”
- II2a.When two people begin to be friendly: “He has just recently ________ with John.”
- II2b.When two people have become friendly you might say, “It’s been quite a while that Mary and Jane have been ________.”
- II3.Expressions to say that people are very friendly toward each other: “They’re ________.”
- II4.When people around here ask to be introduced to someone—for example: “I’d like to ________ John Smith.”
- II5a.When you don’t want to have anything to do with a certain person because you don’t like him, you might say, “I’d certainly like to get ________ of him.”
- II5b.When you don’t want to have anything to do with a certain person because you don’t like him, you might say, “I’d certainly like to give him the ________.”
- II6.If you meet somebody who used to be a friend, and he pretends not to know you: “When I met him on the street he ________.”
- II7.Somebody who doesn’t seem to ‘fit in’ or to get along very well, you might say about him, “He’s kind of a ________.”
- II8.When one person wants to share or divide something with another person, he might say, “Let’s ________ (on that).”
- II9.If several people have to contribute in order to pay for something, you say, “Let’s all ________.”
- II10a.Asking directions of somebody on the street when you don’t know his name—what you’d say to a boy: “Say, ________, where’s the post office?”
- II10b.Asking directions of somebody on the street when you don’t know his name—what you’d say to a man: “Say, ________, how far is it to the next town?”
- II11a.If two people don’t get along well together, you’d say, “They don’t ________.”
- II11b.If two people can’t bear each other at all, you’d say, “Those two are ________.”
- II12.Talking about meeting somebody on the street and speaking only a few words with him: “We just ________.”
- –II13.When you are friendly with people who live near you, and you do little things for each other, you might say, “We’ve always ________ with them.”
- II14.To pay a short visit: “Last night our new neighbors ________.”
- II15.When somebody is passing by and you want him or her to stop and talk a while, you might say, “________.”
- –II16.When a visitor stays too long or comes too often: “He ________.”
- II17.If you happen to meet someone that you haven’t seen for a while: “Guess who I ________ this morning.”
- II18.Someone who joins himself on to you and your group without being asked and won’t leave:
- II19.When you think somebody has been put ahead of you or has been given something you deserved, you might say, “I’d rather quit than ________.”
- II20a.A person who tries too hard to gain somebody else’s favor: “He’s an awful ________.”
- II20b.A person who tries too hard to gain somebody else’s favor: “He’s always trying to ________ the boss.”
- II21.When somebody behaves unpleasantly or without manners: “The way he behaves, you’d think he was ________.”
- II22.Expressions to tell somebody to keep to himself and mind his own business:
- II23.Joking names for the people who are, or think they are, the best society of a community: The ________.
- II24.Names or nicknames for the part of a town where the well-off people live:
- II25.Names or nicknames for the part of a town where the poorer people, special groups, or foreign groups live:
- II26.Joking ways of saying that you would not know who somebody is: “I wouldn’t know him from ________.”
- II27.If somebody gives you a very sharp scolding, you might say, “I certainly got a ________ for that.”
- II28.An unexplainable dislike that you feel from the first moment you meet a person: “I took a ________ to him.”
- II29a.An unexplainable dislike that you feel from the first moment you meet a person: “I don’t know why, but I just can’t ________ him.”
- II29b.Or you might try to explain the unpleasant effect that person has on you: “He just ________.”
- –II30.What other ways do you have of saying that you are firmly opposed to someone? “I’m ________ him.”
- II31.In an argument between two people, when one of them claims too much and the other shows him up: “He saw that he was wrong, so he started to ________.”
- II32.To manage some way to shift the responsibility: “He said it wasn’t his fault and tried to ________.”
- II33.To get an advantage over somebody by tricky means: “I don’t trust him, he’s always trying to ________.”
- II34.If you think somebody is trying to use you to his advantage: “I’m not going to be his ________.”
- II35.A person who is disliked because he seems to think he knows everything:
- II36a.Somebody who talks back or gives rude answers: “Did you ever see such a ________?”
- II36b.Of somebody who talks back or gives rude answers you might say, “She certainly is ________!”
- –II37.Somebody who is very courteous or polite: “He’s such a ________.”
- –II38.To be indebted to somebody for a favor or kindness (not money): “I’m very much ________ to him.”
- II39.What other ways do you have of saying ‘Thank you’?
Schoolgoing, Mental Actions
- JJ1a.Other words for a schoolteacher—a woman:
- JJ1b.Other words for a schoolteacher—a man:
- JJ2a.A child going to school, one in the lower grades:
- JJ2b.A person who attends high school:
- JJ3a.When a school child makes a special effort to ‘get in good’ with the teacher in hopes of getting a better grade: “He’s trying to ________ again.”
- JJ3b.When a school child makes a special effort to ‘get in good’ with the teacher in hopes of getting a better grade: “She’s an awful ________.”
- JJ4.A child who is always telling on other children:
- JJ5.A time-out of about 10 or 15 minutes in the middle of the morning or afternoon: (Note stress.)
- JJ6.To stay away from school without an excuse:
- JJ7.Words or expressions for cheating in school examinations:
- JJ8.To study very hard the last minute before an exam:
- JJ9.Somebody who studies too hard or all the time:
- JJ10a.Different kinds of pens and pencils:
- JJ10b.Parts of an ink pen:
- JJ11.Joking names for handwriting that’s hard to read: “I can’t make anything out of his ________.”
- JJ12.Little flourishes that some people put on their handwriting or signature to make it look fancy:
- JJ13.What joking words do you have for a name signed to a paper? “I’ll put my ________ on that.”
- JJ14.To write a person’s name and where he lives on a letter you are sending to him: “I’ll mail this letter as soon as I ________ it.”
- JJ15a.Sayings about a person who seems to you very stupid: “He hasn’t sense enough to ________.”
- JJ15b.Sayings about a person who seems to you very stupid: “He doesn’t know ________.”
- JJ16.When there was something you didn’t understand, then suddenly you do understand it, you might say, “Oh, now I ________.”
- JJ17.When you know that somebody has been trying to deceive you, you might say, “He’s not fooling me one bit, I’m ________ (him).”
- JJ18.If you want to have time to think about something before you make a decision: “Give me till tomorrow, I’d like to ________.”
- JJ19.If somebody has dishonest intentions, or is up to no good, you might say, “I think he’s got ________.”
- JJ20.If you felt very sure about something, and wanted to show it: “I’m so sure, I’d ________ it.”
- JJ21.If you want to be very positive: Somebody asks you “Are you really going to do that?” And you answer, “You ________.”
- JJ22.To express your opinion—for example, at a public meeting: “I went to the meeting, and ________.”
- JJ23.To refuse to give in or yield: “He tried to scare me off but I ________ .”
- JJ24.To refuse firmly: “He wanted to get some more money, but this time I ________.”
- JJ25.To show somebody that you’re the boss: “He thought he could take the place over, but I made him ________.”
- JJ26.If somebody has been doing poor work or not enough, the boss might say, “If he wants to keep his job he’d better ________.”
- JJ27.To give somebody a hint for his own good: “He had no idea that she was up to anything, but I put ________.”
- JJ28.If you are afraid you may forget something, you may tell another person, “Before I leave tonight, be sure and ________ (me to do it).”
- JJ29.Talking of something that may have happened in the past: “Have you met him before?” “Not that I ________.”
- JJ30a.Other words or expressions for forgetting something: “I ________.”
- JJ30b.Other expressions for forgetting: “It ________.”
- JJ31a.What you’d say to a bus driver: “Please stop at the next corner—I want ________.”
- JJ31b.Or you might say, “The dog is scratching at the door, he wants ________.”
- JJ32.If you have to make up your mind between two things—for example, a dog and a cat, you might say, “I’d ________ (have a dog).”
- JJ33.When you can’t choose, but have to take what you’re given: “I’ll take a cat, but if I had my ________ I’d take a dog.”
- JJ34.When you decide it would be to your advantage to do something, you might say, “Yes, I ________ I’ll be better off that way.”
- *JJ35a.When you have just about reached the point of telling somebody what you think of him: “By gosh, I have a ________ (to tell him what I think of him).” [Early QRs: When you are considering saying something, though you haven’t done so yet: “I have a ________ to tell him what I think of him.”]
- JJ35b.Other expressions you might use when you have lost patience and are just about ready to tell somebody what you think of him:
- *JJ36.To work out a plan, especially a secret plan: “Mary knows more about that, you and she can ________ together.” [Early QRs: To make plans, especially secret plans: “She knows more about that, you’ll have to ________ with her.”]
- –JJ37.When you have reason to believe that someone is not honest: “I’m not sure, but I ________ that man is a thief.”
- –JJ38.When somebody agreed to do something, then changed his mind, you might say, “At the last minute he ________.”
- –JJ39.When somebody is being accused who doesn’t deserve it, you might say, “He couldn’t help it, so don’t ________ him.”
- JJ40.When you admit that you did something wrong and are willing to take the consequences, you might say: “It was my fault and I’m willing to ________.”
- JJ41.An embarrassing mistake: “Last night she made an awful ________.”
- JJ42.To make an error in judgment and get something quite wrong: “He usually handles things well, but this time he certainly ________.”
- JJ43.To give away a secret or tell a piece of news too soon: “He wasn’t supposed to know. Somebody must have ________.”
- JJ44.Expressions about someone who can be trusted to keep a secret: “Don’t worry about him, he’ll ________.”
- JJ45.When someone avoids giving a definite answer: “We tried to pin him down, but he just kept ________.”
- JJ46.Other ways of saying to pretend: “Let’s ________ we don’t know a thing about it.”
- –JJ47.If there is something you can’t do—for example, for fear of the consequences, you might say, “Doctor’s orders—I ________ eat any.”
Manner of Action or Being
- KK1a.Other words meaning very good—for example, food: “That pie was ________.”
- KK1b.Words meaning ‘in the very best condition’: “His farm is ________.”
- –KK2.Other words meaning ‘very likeable or popular’: “He’s ________.”
- KK3a.Words for the perfect condition—for example, in cooking: “It’s done to ________.”
- KK3b.Something done perfectly—for example, a piece of work: “It’s done to ________.”
- KK4.When things turn out just right, you might say, “Everything is ________ now.”
- KK5.A very skilled or expert person—for example, at woodworking: “He’s a ________.”
- KK6.Something low-grade or of poor quality—for example, a piece of merchandise: “I wouldn’t buy that, it’s ________.”
- KK7.When wood—for example, a tree stump—is starting to decay inside, you’d say, “It’s ________ inside.”
- KK8.Other words for succeeding, especially in spite of difficulty: “He had a hard time, but at last he ________.”
- KK9.When someone undertakes something too big for him to handle: “This time you’ve ________.”
- KK10.Other words for something failing—for example, a plan: “He didn’t work it out carefully enough, and his plan ________.”
- KK11.To make great objections or a big fuss about something: “When we asked him to do that, he ________.”
- KK12.A meeting where there’s a lot of talking: “They got together yesterday and had a real ________.”
- KK13.Other words for arguing: “They stood there for an hour ________.”
- KK14.Something that people disagree about: “I have a ________ to pick with you.”
- KK15.A disagreement or quarrel: “They had ________ about where the fence was to be.”
- KK16.A great noise or disturbance: “I wish they’d stop making that awful ________.”
- –KK17.Words and expressions meaning ‘worthless’: “It isn’t worth ________.”
- –KK18.If something is in good running order: “This sewing machine is ________.”
- *KK19.If a machine or appliance is temporarily out of order: “My sewing machine ________.” [Early QRs: If it’s out of order: “My sewing machine is ________.”]
- KK20a.Something that looks as if it might collapse any minute: “That old shed is certainly ________.”
- KK20b.Something that looks as if it might collapse any minute: “Our old washing machine is ________.”
- KK21.When something hollow is crushed by a heavy weight, or by a fall: “They ran the wagon over the coffee pot and ________.”
- KK22.Other ways of saying completely shattered: “The jug fell out of the window and was ________.”
- KK23.Weak or unsteady: “I think the footbridge will hold but it is a bit ________.”
- KK24.Something that breaks easily: “She broke her arm again: Her bones must be ________.”
- KK25.Something that bends or yields easily: “That willow branch is very ________.”
- KK26.Something that makes no difference at all to you: “He can think what he likes, it ________ me.”
- KK27.A very lively, active old person: “For his age, he’s ________.”
- KK28.Feeling ambitious and eager to work:
- KK29.To start working very hard: “He was slow at first but now he’s really ________.”
- KK30.Feeling slowed up or without energy: “I certainly feel ________.”
- KK31.To go about aimlessly looking for distraction: “He doesn’t have anything to do, so he’s just ________ around.”
- KK32.Do you use the word ‘busywork’ around here? What does it mean?
- KK33.Other ways of saying ‘in succession’: “He had a cold, then the measles, then chicken pox ________.”
- KK34.Other expressions meaning very neat and clean: “Her house always looks ________.”
- KK35.When someone wants to pass on a compliment about you, in exchange for one about himself, he says, “I have a ________ for you.”
- KK36.Talking about a person who is easily fooled: “It’s easy to ________.”
- KK37.Words to describe a very sly person: “He’s ________.”
- KK38.To put preparations on the hair to hold it close to the head and make it shiny: “I wish he wouldn’t ________ his hair down so!”
- KK39.Stirred up, upset: “Because of the storm, the pond was all ________.”
- KK40.Other words meaning ‘usually’: “They come twice a month, ________.”
- KK41.Something that is very difficult to do: “I managed to get through with it, but it was ________.”
- KK42a.Expressions about a person who does something very easily: “For him that would be ________.”
- KK42b.Expressions about a person who does something very easily: “He could do that ________.”
- KK43.When the hardest part of a task is finished: “We’ve still a long way to go, but at least we ________.”
- –KK44.To continue doing something even though it is difficult: “For five winters we’ve ________.”
- KK45.Other words for a narrow escape: “That time, he really had a ________.”
- KK46.Other expressions for taking things as they come and not worrying: “The whole family was sort of ________.”
- KK47.Something that is left undecided or unfinished: “Perhaps we’d better just ________.”
- KK48.When you work something out as you go, without having a plan or pattern to follow: “I didn’t have anything to go by, so I just did it ________.”
- KK49.When you don’t have the time or ambition to do something thoroughly: “I’m not going to give the place a real cleaning, I’ll just ________.”
- KK50.When something is planned out carefully, down to the last detail: “He had it all worked out ________.”
- KK51.Very plainly or abruptly: “I asked him ________ what he meant by that.”
- KK52.To do something in an indirect and complicated way: “I don’t know why he had to go ________ to do that.”
- KK53.When one thing suddenly hits hard against something else: “He ran ________ into a car.”
- KK54.Just about equal, very close: “They were both fast runners and it was ________ all the way.”
- –KK54b.Just about equal, very close: “It doesn’t matter to me—it’s ________.”
- KK55a.To deny something very firmly: “No, not by a ________.”
- KK55b.To deny something very firmly: “Would you work for him?” “Not on your ________.”
- KK55c.Other expressions of strong denial:
- KK56.Wood that is heavy from being in water a long time: It’s ________.
- KK57.To take a thing up so as to judge its weight: “That suitcase must weigh forty pounds. Just ________ it.”
- KK58.An excuse that looks as if it would not stand up under questioning: “His story won’t ________.”
- KK59.To have a mistaken idea, or to be quite wrong about something: “If he thinks she’ll help him, he’s ________.”
- KK60.Having nothing in particular to do: “I’d just as soon go with you this afternoon—I’m ________ anyway.”
- KK61.Food taken alone, with nothing added: “Would you like milk or lemon in your tea?” “No thanks, I’ll take it ________.”
- KK62.When you want to make it clear that you will not do something: “I wouldn’t do that for ________.”
- KK63.To do a clumsy or hurried job of repairing something: “It will never last—he just ________.”
- KK64.Speaking of the part of a city that was once very fine, but isn’t any more: “The neighborhood is sort of ________.”
- KK65.Expressions meaning ‘the same sort’: “If you like Bob, I’m sure you’ll like his brother—they’re ________.”
- KK66.When you are showing somebody the right way to do something: “No, not like that—do it ________.”
- KK67.When people think alike about something: “On that particular thing, we ________.”
- KK68.When people don’t think alike about something: “We agree on most things, but on politics we’re ________.”
- –KK69.What other words do you have for ‘sort’ or ‘kind’? “What ________ rifle is that?”
- KK70.Something that has got out of proper shape: “That house is all ________.”
Size, Quanity and Number
- LL1.Something very small: “I only took a ________ one.” (Gesture with two fingers.)
- LL2.Other words meaning too small to be worth much: “I don’t want that little ________ potato.”
- LL3a.Shrunk, dried up: “These apples are all ________.”
- LL3b.Shrunk, dried up: “He’s a little ________ old man.”
- LL4.Very large: “He took a ________ helping of potatoes.”
- LL5.Something impressively big: “That cabbage is really a ________.”
- LL6a.A small, indefinite amount—for example, of cream: “I’ll take just a ________ of cream in my coffee.”
- LL6b.A small, indefinite amount—for example, of butter: “I’ll put in just a ________ of butter.”
- LL6c.A small, indefinite amount—for example, of cinnamon: “It still needs just a ________ of cinnamon.”
- LL7.In small amounts, by small degrees: “She didn’t get the money all at once, they sent it to her ________.”
- LL8a.A large amount or number: More than enough—for example, of time: “He’s got ________ of time.”
- LL8b.Or, a large number—for example, of cousins: “She has a whole ________ of cousins.”
- LL9a.As much as you need or more—for example, of apples: “We’ve got ________ of apples.”
- LL9b.Or, all you need or more—for example, of clothes: “She’s got clothes ________.”
- LL10.A whole group of people: “They made too much noise, so he sent the whole ________ home.”
- LL11a.In short supply—hard to get: “Good men are ________ these days.”
- LL11b.In short supply—hard to get: “There’s a ________ of seed corn this year.”
- LL12.Not to have enough—for example, of money needed to pay for something: “I’m fifty cents ________ of the price.”
- LL13.Not full or sufficient: “She gave us a ________ meal.”
- LL14.None at all, not even one: “This pond used to be full of fish but now there’s ________ left.”
- LL15.To write ten (10), what figure do you put after ‘1’?
- –LL16.The most basic thing, the simplest thing: “He doesn’t know ________ thing about plumbing.”
- LL17.Ways of saying there’s no more of something: “The potatoes are ________.”
- LL18.To do no work at all, not even make any effort: “She hasn’t ________ all day.”
- LL19.A few, anywhere from two to four: “Just put in ________ onions.”
- LL20.Beads to wear around the throat: “She wore a ________ of green beads.”
- LL21.Two things—one and also the other: “Do you want the red one or the blue one?” “I want ________ of them.”
- LL22.Less than you should get: “They’ll try to give you ________ every time.”
- LL23.Cheated, treated dishonestly: “These apples are wormy, I think you got ________.”
- LL24.To keep firewood neat you have to cut it, split it, and ________ it up.
- LL25.Expressions meaning entirely, completely: “He sold out the whole place, ________.”
- LL26a.Other words for ‘all the way’: “He drove ________ to the end of the road.”
- LL26b.Other words meaning ‘entirely’—for example, “He’s Irish ________.”
- –LL27.Other words meaning ‘thoroughly’: “The boss bawled him out ________.”
- LL28.Expressions meaning entirely full: “The box of apples was ________.”
- LL29.Any sign or trace: “He left last week, and nobody’s seen ________ of him since.”
- LL30.Words and expressions meaning ‘nearly’ or ‘almost’: “He fell off the ladder and ________ (broke his neck).”
- LL31.Other ways of saying all but one: “Everybody’s here now, ________ John.”
- *LL32.Expressions meaning that one man’s ability is not nearly as great as another man’s: “John can’t (or doesn’t, or isn’t) ________ Bill.” [Early QRs: Other ways of saying John is not as good as Bill: “John ________ Bill.”]
- LL33.A longer distance: New York or California—which is ________ from here?
- LL34.When a road is blocked: “This is all ________ we can go.”
- LL35.Words used to make a statement stronger: “This cake tastes ________ good.”
- LL36.To make a statement much stronger: “Poor fellow. I think it’s a ________ shame.”
- LL37.To make a statement as strong as you can: “I could have wrung her neck, I was so ________ mad.”
- –LL38.Very much, to a great degree: “He wasn’t ________ willing to come.”
Position
- MM1.Words meaning ‘opposite to’: Suppose the barn is here (Gesture with hands) and the shed is here, you could say, “The shed is ________ the barn.”
- MM2.Suppose a little girl accidentally gets her dress on wrong so that the back part is turned around, you could say, “Look, you’ve got your dress on ________.”
- MM3.When someone does something the wrong way round you might tell him: “This is the front, you’ve got the whole thing turned ________.”
- MM4.Words for a short distance past—for example, the mail box, a short distance past the pine tree, you could say: “The mail box is just ________ the pine tree.”
- *MM5.When you’re pointing out a house that’s not far away: “The house is over ________.” (Gesture.) [Early QRs: When somebody is pointing out a house that’s not far away: (Gesture.)]
- MM6.Other words meaning ‘very close’ or ‘only a short distance away’: “The house is ________ the park.”
- MM7.If there’s a house on each side of the school (Set up an object and use both hands) you’d say, “The school is ________ the houses.”
- MM8.A bad housekeeper sweeps the dirt either under the rug or ________ the door:
- MM9.If you are standing in line, and a man named John is in the position before you, you might say, “We stood in line and John was ________ me.”
- MM10.The opposite of ‘behind’: “Is the car behind the house?” “No, I left it ________.”
- MM11.When you’re trying to find something—you don’t know where it is—you might say, “I must have left it ________.”
- MM12a Other ways of saying ‘in all directions’—for example, you might say, “He shot into a flock of birds and they went ________.”
- MM12b Other ways of saying ‘in all directions’—for example, you might say, “When she was out on the dance floor, she broke her beads and they went ________.”
- MM13.The table was nice and straight until he came along and knocked it ________.
- MM14.If a drugstore is on one corner of a square and a gas station is on the far corner you might say, “The drugstore is ________ the gas station.”
- MM15.If a carpenter nails a board crossing another board at an angle, you might say, “He nailed the board on ________.”
- MM16.If you’re walking with somebody to the other corner of a square, and you want to save steps, you might say, “It’ll be shorter if we ________.”
- MM17.If two things are next to each other, you might say, “He put the two boxes on the table (Gesture with hands) ________.”
- *MM18.“Going from the kitchen to the back steps, he walked ________ the door.” (Pointing gesture) [Early QRs: Other ways of saying ‘out’—“He walked ________ the door (through!)”]
- MM19.“He took the letter ________ his pocket.” (Gesture.)
- MM20.“So that she could sit down, he took his coat ________ the chair.” (Gesture.)
- –MM21.Other ways of saying ‘off’: “Get ________ my land.”
- MM22.If you are talking to a friend who lives in another place and you want to inquire about his neighborhood, you might ask, “How are things ________?”
- MM23.Do you use ‘uptown’ and ‘downtown’ around here? What do they mean?
- MM24.Other expressions meaning ‘a short distance’: “The river is just a ________ from the house.”
- MM25.Expressions meaning a long distance: “Texas is a ________ (from here).”
Exclamations
- NN1.Other words like ‘yes’: “Are you coming along too?” (Give response in IPA; include the ‘grunts’.)
- NN2.Exclamations of very strong agreement: Somebody says, “I think Smith is absolutely right,” and you reply, “________.”
- NN3.Words and expressions meaning ‘Don’t you agree?’: “She’s a nice-looking woman, ________?” or “We ought to come back here again, ________?”
- NN4.Other ways of answering ‘no’: “Would you lend him ten dollars?” “________.”
- NN5.Other ways of saying ‘Do you understand?’: “You take hold of it this way, ________?”
- NN6a.Exclamations of joy—for example, when somebody gets a pleasant surprise, he might shout “________.”
- NN6b.Expressions of joy used mostly by children:
- NN7.Exclamations of surprise: “They’re getting married next week? Well, ________.”
- NN8a.Exclamations of annoyance or disgust: “Oh ________. I’ve lost my glasses again.”
- NN8b.Other expressions of annoyance: “This jar won’t come open, ________ it.”
- NN9a.Exclamations showing great annoyance: “________. The electric power is off again.”
- NN9b.Exclamations showing great annoyance: “He’s run off with my hammer again, ________!”
- NN10a.Expressions (such as ‘hello’) used when you meet somebody you know quite well:
- NN10b.Greetings used when you meet somebody you do not know well:
- NN11.Informal ways of saying ‘good-bye’ to people you know quite well: (Include humorous expressions.)
- NN12a.Things that people say to put a child off when he asks too many questions: “What’s that for?” (Pronounce ‘fur’.)
- NN12b.Things that people say to put off a child when he asks, “What are you making?”
- NN13.When you think that the thing somebody has just said is silly or untrue: “Oh, that’s a lot of ________.”
- –NN14.When you doubt something that somebody has said, and you want to be sure that it is true, you say: “Is that really so?” He answers “________.”
- –NN15.An oath or profane word: “Every time he opens his mouth a ________ comes out.”
- –NN16.Swearing or using obscene language: “He’s always ________.”
- NN17.Something that keeps on annoying you—for example, a fly that keeps buzzing around you: “That ________ fly won’t go away.”
- NN18.When somebody sneezes, what do people say to him?
- NN19.When you want people to stop talking for a moment so that you can listen for something, you say: (Gesture, raising finger and cocking head.)
- NN20a.Exclamations caused by sudden pain—a blow on the thumb:
- NN20b.Exclamations caused by sudden pain—a slight burn:
- NN21a.Exclamations caused by sudden pain—a pinched finger:
- NN21b.Exclamations caused by sudden pain—a hard blow on the chest:
- NN21c.Exclamations caused by sudden pain—a twisted ankle:
- NN22a.Expressions used to drive away people or animals—for example, flies:
- NN22b.Expressions used to drive away children:
- NN22c.Expressions used to drive away a dog:
- NN22d.Expressions used to drive away animals other than dogs:
- NN23.Exclamations when people smell a very bad odor:
- NN24.Humorous substitutes for stronger exclamations: “Why the son of a ________!”
- NN25a.Weakened substitutes for ‘damn’ or ‘damned’: “________ it all!”
- NN25b.Weakened substututes for ‘damn’ or ‘damned’: “Well, I’ll be ________!”
- NN26a.Weakened substitutes for ‘hell’: “Oh ________!”
- NN26b.Weakened substitutes for ‘hell’: “Go to ________!”
- NN26c.Weakened substitutes for ‘hell’: “What the ________!”
- NN27a.Weakened substitutes for ‘god’: “My ________!”
- NN27b.Weakened substitutes for ‘god’: “For ________ sakes!”
- NN28a.Exclamations beginning with ‘good’: “Good ________!”
- NN28b.Exclamations beginning with ‘goodness’: “Goodness ________!”
- NN29a.Exclamations beginning with ‘great’: “Great ________!”
- NN29b.Exclamations beginning with ‘land’: “Land ________!”
- NN29c.Exclamations beginning with ‘holy’: “Holy ________!”
- NN30.Exclamations beginning with the sound of ‘j’: (Make the sound ‘jee-’, get all variants.)
- NN31.Exclamations beginning with the sound of ‘cr-’, for example, ‘cripes’:
- NN32.Exclamations like ‘I swear’ or ‘I vow’: “I ________.”
Verb Forms (Scattered throughout QR)
- –OO1a.To buy: “Have you ________ your groceries?”
- –OO1b.To buy: “Yes, I ________ them an hour ago.”
- OO2a.Talking about eating: “He feels sick—he must have ________ something (that disagreed with him).”
- OO2b.Talking about eating: “I don’t feel right—I think I ________ too much.”
- OO3a.Speaking about drinking coffee: “The coffee’s all gone—we must have ________ (a lot).”
- OO3b.Speaking about drinking coffee: “There’s not a drop left—we ________ (it all).”
- –OO4a.To knit: “When we were young, she ________ all our socks.”
- –OO4b.To knit: “She has also ________ sweaters and mittens.”
- OO5a.Talking about heating houses: “Before furnaces came in, our house was ________ (with a stove).”
- OO5b.Talking about heating houses: “Years ago they ________ (the house) with a stove.”
- OO6a.Talking about dough with yeast in it: “The room was warm, so the dough ________ (quickly).”
- OO6b.Talking about dough with yeast in it: “She put the dough in the oven too soon—before it had ________ enough.”
- OO7a.Talking about giving presents: “Yesterday was John’s birthday so everybody ________ (him presents).”
- OO7b.Talking about giving presents: “I didn’t know about it in time or I would’ve ________ (one too).”
- +OO8a.Talking about hanging a criminal: “Before the electric chair came in, a murderer would be ________.”
- +OO8b.If a man committed suicide by hanging, you’d say he ________ (himself).
- –OO8c.Hang: “He ________ his coat on my hook.” [Early QRs numbered OO8a]
- –OO8d.“It has ________ for two days.” [Early QRs numbered OO8b]
- –OO9a.To ask: “He won’t tell me even though I’ve ________ him many times.”
- –OO9b.To ask: “Today I’m going to ask him the same question I ________ him yesterday.”
- OO10a.Talking about climbing trees: “When we were children we often ________ (trees).”
- OO10b.Talking about climbing trees: “Some trees were dangerous—we shouldn’t have ________ (those).”
- OO11a.Talking about catching mice: “Some mice got into the cellar but our cat ________ (them).”
- OO11b.Talking about catching mice: “That makes five she’s ________ (this week).”
- OO12a.Talking about dogs biting: “Some dogs will bite—last week the mailman was ________.”
- OO12b.Talking about dogs biting: “It was a big black dog that ________ him.”
- OO13a.About breaking a leg: “He limps ever since he ________ his leg.”
- OO13b.About breaking a leg: “That’s the second time he has ________ (that leg).”
- OO14a.About the wind blowing hard: “Last night the wind ________ (very hard).”
- OO14b.About the wind blowing hard: “One of my apple trees was ________ (down).”
- OO15a.About freezing your ears: “I was so cold my ears nearly ________.”
- OO15b.About freezing your ears: “If he had been out last night he would have ________ (his ears).”
- OO16a.Talking about bringing tools: “I was supposed to bring the nails—you should have ________ (the hammer).”
- OO16b.Talking about bringing tools: “I did bring the hammer, and I also ________ (a saw).” (Gesture of sawing)
- OO17a.Talking about someone coming home: “Yesterday her son ________ home.”
- OO17b.Talking about someone coming home: “He was late; he should have ________ (days ago).”
- *OO18a.Talking about drawing a plan: “Last year the plan for the new school was ________ (up).” [Early QRs (numbered OO18b): “He has already ________ the plans for three other schools.”]
- *OO18b.Talking about drawing a plan: “I know that man ________ (it).” [Early QRs (numbered OO18a): Draw: “He ________ the plan for the school.”]
- OO19a.Talking about stretching out to rest: “He felt tired, so he went to the couch (or other word) and ________ (down for a while).”
- OO19b.Talking about stretching out to rest: “He’ll feel better after he has ________ (down a while).”
- OO20a.About the school bell ringing: “When it was time for school, the bell ________.”
- OO20b.About the school bell ringing: “It’s eight o’clock. Has the bell ________ (yet)?”
- –OO21a.To learn: “Even as a child, he ________ fast.”
- –OO21b.To learn: “He has always ________ quicker than the others.”
- OO22a.About knowing people: “He used to live next door. At that time I ________ (him well).”
- OO22b.About knowing people, “For the past twenty years I’ve ________ (him well).”
- OO23a.About a child growing: “Billy has to have new clothes—during the summer he ________ (two inches).”
- OO23b.About a child growing: “You wouldn’t think a child could have ________ (so fast).”
- –OO24a.To fight: “Bill ________ hard, but Jack beat him.”
- –OO24b.To fight: “Bill has ________ with every boy in school.”
- OO25a.Talking about diving: “The water is deep enough—the children have often ________ (there).”
- OO25b.Talking about diving: “Only yesterday the children ________ (there).”
- +OO26a.Talking about drowning: “The current is very strong. Several people have ________ (there).”
- +OO26b.Talking about drowning: “Only last week a boy was ________ (there).”
- –OO26c.Drown: “The water is quite deep. Lots of people have been ________ there.” [Early QRs numbered OO26a]
- –OO26d.“Only last week a child ________ here.” [Early QRs numbered OO26b]
- OO27a.Talking about riding horses: “When she was a girl she ________ horseback.”
- OO27b.Talking about riding horses: “All my life I’ve ________ (horses).”
- OO28a.Talking about running: “John was so scared he ________ (all the way home).”
- OO28b.Talking about running: “He was out of breath because he had ________ (so fast).”
- OO29a.Talking about swimming: “The water is clean—we have always ________ (there).”
- OO29b.Talking about swimming: “When we were children we ________ (there too).”
- OO30a.Talking about a horse throwing the rider: “John got a bad horse and was ________ (off).”
- OO30b.Talking about a horse throwing the rider: “Last week the same horse ________ (his brother).”
- –OO31a.To dream: “Last night I ________ I was going away.”
- –OO31b.To dream: “I have ________ that same thing often.”
- –OO32a.To wake: “Last night I ________ three times.”
- OO32b.If a person can’t sleep steadily but keeps on waking, he might say, “Every night this week I’ve ________ (several times).”
- *OO33a.Talking about doing chores: “Seven days a week, chores have to be ________.” [Early QRs (numbered OO33b): “I guess I’ve ________ that a thousand times.”]
- *OO33b.Talking about doing chores: “This morning as usual we ________ (the chores).” [Early QRs (numbered OO33a): Do: “I ________ it again this morning.”]
- OO34a.Talking about writing a letter home: “It’s weeks since she last ________ (us a letter).”
- OO34b.Talking about writing a letter home: “She should have ________ (long ago).”
- OO35a.Talking about vegetables thriving: “Last year we fertilized the garden, and the plants really ________.”
- OO35b.Talking about vegetables thriving: “That land is poor—nothing has ever ________ there.”
- –OO36a.To wear: “He went dancing and ________ his new shoes.”
- –OO36b.To wear: “His new shoes were no good. He has ________ a hole in them already.”
- *OO37a.Talking about clothes shrinking: “The first time my wool socks were washed they ________.” [Early QRs (numbered OO37b): “They ________ the first time they were washed.”]
- *OO37b.Talking about clothes shrinking: “I can’t get them on because they’ve ________ (too much).” [Early QRs (numbered OO37a): Shrink: “My wool socks have ________ so that I can’t wear them.”]
- OO38a.About shoes fitting just right: “When I tried these shoes on, they ________ (just right).”
- OO38b.About shoes fitting just right: “I wouldn’t have bought them if they hadn’t ________ (just right).”
- OO39a.Talking about a meeting beginning: “Has the meeting ________ (yet)?”
- OO39b.Talking about a meeting beginning: “Yes, it ________ (an hour ago).”
- OO40a.About driving a car: “They borrowed our car last night and John ________.”
- OO40b.About driving a car: “That was the first time John had ever ________ (our car).”
- OO41a.About taking too many chances: “He got hurt because he ________ (too many chances).”
- OO41b.About taking too many chances: “He would be alive today if he hadn’t ________ (so many chances).”
- OO42a.About stealing money: “He admitted that he ________ (the money).”
- OO42b.About stealing money: “He says it’s the first time he has ever ________ (money).”
- OO43a.About pleading with somebody: “She said she was afraid to be alone and ________ (with me to stay).”
- OO43b.About pleading: “I wouldn’t have stayed if she hadn’t ________ (so hard).”
- OO44a.About somebody in a chair: “He did nothing at all—he just ________ (there).”
- OO44b.About somebody in a chair: “All day long he has just ________ (in that chair).”
- OO45a.About seeing somebody: “He thought nobody was looking but I ________ (him hide it).”
- OO45b.About seeing somebody: “Many’s the time I’ve ________ him hide things.”
- OO46a.Talking about dragging something heavy: “We hitched the log on and ________ it out (of the woods).”
- OO46b.Talking about dragging something heavy: “Half a mile or so we must have ________ (it)!”
- OO47a.Talking about horses sweating: “It was a warm day and the horses ________ (a lot).”
- OO47b.Talking about horses sweating: “They wouldn’t have caught cold if they hadn’t ________ (so much).”