Stone County Missouri Dictionary

	*The Ozark to English Online Dictionary*

The Ozark manner of speech dates back to more relaxed times when people just said what they had to and didn't worry about "proper grammar." According to the folks in southwest Missouri, as a big city girl from the Chicago area, I have always had a funny accent, everyone I ran into would laugh and ask me what parts I was from. As a child will do, I tried to not stick out so much by learning to use their language, I don't think it worked to well because folks would still laugh at me and say how cute I was but I tried. <G> These terms are ones that I learned from my grandparents and cousins, and I still need to know a few of them when I talk to my my Aunts, but my cousins, who when we were children taught me most of these these terms, do not use any of them today.

Missouri Slang	English Translation	Proper Ozark Usage
Afeared	Afraid	He's afeared of his own shadow.
A-Fixin	Getting Ready	We're a-fixin to go to town.
Aim	Intend or Plan	I aim to go to town soon.
Biggety	Stuck up or Show off	Well aint she biggety lately!
Chimbley	Chimney	Sanna Claus comes down the chimbley.
Clum	Climbed	I Clum that tree over yonder.
Crick	Creek	I'm goin to the crick to go swimmin.
Dawg	Dog	That shore is a dumb dawg
Doin's	A function or gathering	Are you goin to the doins tonight?
Dreckly	Soon	I'll be there directly
Et	Eaten	Have you et yet?
Fetch	Bring or Go Get	I want you to fetch the eggs fer me.
Fer	For	Lets rest here fer a spell.
Frog Strangler	A Hard Rain	That shor was a frog strangler.
Gander	To look	Take a gander at that there bird!
Git	Get	Go git some milk from that cow.
Gully warsher	See Frog Strangler	That shore was a gully warsher.
Haint	Ain't	I haint going to the store for Roastners today.
Hankerin	Would like	I have a hankerin for Roastners.
Hisn	His	That dog is hisn
Holler	A Valley	My family lives down in the Holler.
Kivver	Covered	That tree is kivvered with leaves.
Liketa	Nearly	I liketa broke my neck when I tripped
Mighty	Definatly	She shore is mighty mean today.
Naw	No	Naw, I aint a-fixen to go to the doins.
Parts	Area or Neighborhood	What parts do ya'll come from?
Peakid	Pale or sick looking	You look mighty peaked today.
Pill-uh	Pillow	That shore is a fluffy Pilluh
Pizen	Poison	There are pizen snakes in these parts.
Plumb	Not a plumbing term	I shore am plumb worn out (very tired).
Poke	Paper Bag	I'm a-fixin to put the eggs in a poke.
Pritnear	Almost	I'm pritnear done with my mendin'.
Put Out	Angry, Annoyed	He shore was put out today.
Roastners	Corn on the Cob	Them roastners shore are good.
Set	Sit	Ya'll set and rest fer a spell
Shed of	Get rid of	I shore want to be shed of this cold.
Shore	Sure	I Shore like those flowers.
Skeered	Afraid	He is skeered of his own shadow.
Smart	To hurt	That leg shore smarts.
Spell	A period of time	I went to church fer a spell today.
Warsh	Wash	Warsh yer hands 'n face befer dinner.
Winder	Window	The pie is coolin on the winder sill.
Ya'll	You All	Ya'll set with us fer a spell.
Yonder	Over there	Billy Bob went yonder to fetch hisn dawg
You'ns	You or all	You'ns better aim to come for vittles
Yourn	Yours	This aint mine is it yourn
Younguns	Children	You younguns better git to bed now.

AND... For those of you outside of Missouri, the proper pronunciation is Mu-zur-a
P.S. - For you Ozark-ians, the proper way to pronounce Chicago is Shi-caw-go!

E-Mail Susan if I have I forgotten any terms that belong here?

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A giant thanks to our vistors for their submissions to this page!!

This page is an original written by me (Susan), with additions from our Stone & Barry County, Missouri USGenWeb visitors. If you see it anywhere else, they stole it from us! Tell them that they are low down dirty hornswagglers who better be skeered and git shed of it right quick because we are a fixin to git the good lord to send a frog strangler their way and they shore will be smartin a spell after that.