Time for this month’s Appalachian Vocabulary Test-take it and see how you do.
- Turn about
- Top out
- Throw down
- Talk hard
- Toddick
- Turn about: to take turns. “Now you kids take it turn about or I’m going to put that thing up!”
- Top out: to climb to the top of a ridge/mountain. “Just as soon as I topped out above the Robinson Cove I saw the biggest deer I’ve ever seen!”
- Throw down: to give something up; to party; to fight. “I throwed it down and left them standing there with their mouths hanging open. I never wanted that job no way and I’ll be danged if they’re going to treat me like that anymore!” or “You should have come by. Uncle Keith brought a case of beer and we throwed down.”
- Talk hard: to speak harshly. “I hated to do it, but I talked hard to him. He has to get it in his head that we don’t act like that around here.”
- Toddick: a small measure. “Mother sent me to the mill to see if they’d let her borrow a toddick of meal till Daddy could take the corn.”
I use and hear all this month’s words on a regular basis-except the last one, I’ve never heard the word toddick used. How about you-how did you do on the test?
Tipper
29 Comments
warren
May 22, 2012 at 9:34 am3 and 4 I use but I have never heard the others…weird!
Bobby C
May 21, 2012 at 12:05 amSame for me Tipper, all but the last one.
susie swanson
May 20, 2012 at 10:51 amI heard them all except the last one too..
Jackie @Syrup and Biscuits
May 19, 2012 at 9:13 pmNever heard of toddick. Is that Middle English??
Becky
May 19, 2012 at 10:45 amI use all of them but toddick. Never heard it before either.
dolores barton
May 18, 2012 at 1:48 pmMany of them are a bit new for me. I’m learning, slowly.
RB
May 17, 2012 at 11:45 pmI’ve heard the term “talk hard” but not for a long long time. I actually think it was my paternal grandmother or maybe great-grandmother, her mother, who said it.
God bless.
RB
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Larry Proffitt
May 17, 2012 at 8:50 pmTipper, Toddick is new to me as well. The others are common to us. Larry Proffitt
Ethel
May 17, 2012 at 5:56 pm“Turn about is fair play.” I’ve heard that one all my life, as well as talk hard and throw down, usually about a fight. The others are new to me, but Grandma always said, “Learn something new every day!” Thanks Tipper!
Charles R. Perry, Sr.
May 17, 2012 at 1:51 pmDefinition of TODDICK
1
South a: a measure used by a custom miller to take out his toll from the grist b: a portion of flour or meal taken by a miller as his toll
2
South: a small amount
Ken
May 17, 2012 at 1:47 pmTipper,
Ain’t never heard toddick before
and I’ve hung out some around a
corn mill. Back when we use to
make a big corn field, I went with
daddy a few times to see how corn
was ground. Raleigh Gregory had a
corn mill grinder going into the
Nantahala Gorge, just below Topton. He was dad’s friend and
he took a portion of unground
corn for payment…Ken
Carol Killian
May 17, 2012 at 1:41 pmI have used or heard of all of the words except the last one. Thank you—I enjoy words and their different meanings.
Charlotte
May 17, 2012 at 12:59 pmDidn’t do too well on this one; I was only familiar with the first one.
B f
May 17, 2012 at 12:40 pmtipper
toddick is new to me too and i didnt think it possible as i,m older than dirt before it made a rock. most of the old things i,ve heard and more , i know the people that ground the meal always took what i,m presuming was their toll
think maybe some took more(ha)?
Lonnie Dockery
May 17, 2012 at 9:39 amWell, me too! I have never heard “todick”. I’ve read, but never used “throw down”. The others I’ve heard and used.
MadSnapper
May 17, 2012 at 9:05 amthis is the first of your series, that i have never heard or used any of the words.
B. Ruth
May 17, 2012 at 8:52 amTipper,
Heard them all but toddick, and my Grandfather had a mill…I hate to say this but could be if they didn’t bring the corn they didn’t even get a toddick….LOL
Nope, if someone was in need he gave the meal away and never ever asked for the return….As I remember one day, I was so excited that we were going down by the barn to the mill since some man brought the corn. I was always wanting to watch the process…cranking up the mill, watch the powders fly, and packing it up in the sack…He said nope he just brought me some corn…so I always wondered if he owed Grandpa some meal..or corn…They was great friends..but
I didn’t get to watch the mill run that day…Aww..shucks!
Thanks Tipper for a great thow down…errr word party!
Ron Banks
May 17, 2012 at 8:41 amI knew the first four but toddick is a new one on me so I had to throw open the dictionary on that one. It seems to be the amount of meal or flour the miller would keep as his toll for his services. How bout that, I done learnt me a new word today!
Thanks Tipper!
Miss Cindy
May 17, 2012 at 8:28 amNever heard toddick. Does that fancy book of yours give any information on the origin?
The remainder of the words are familiar. Turn about’s fair play. He talked hard to me and hurt my feelings. I thought those two were gonna throw down.
Tipper, those are interesting pictures. Would I correctly assume that there is no significance to them…just random interesting thoughts in picture form.
Uncle Al
May 17, 2012 at 8:07 amHeard them all except “toddick”. Interesting word.
kat
May 17, 2012 at 7:59 amHave heard all except toddick.
Laurie Stone
May 17, 2012 at 7:39 amToddick is also new to me – pinch – was a more commmon word. Pinch can mean anything from a real pinch sized portion to a pound of sugar.
Mary Shipman
May 17, 2012 at 7:30 amI know all but ‘toddick’
Jim Casada
May 17, 2012 at 7:29 amTipper–Usually I am intimately familiar with your vocabulary words, but toddick is new to me. It isn’t a part of my personal brand of “mountain talk.” I’ll be interested to see if others know or use the word. It sounds like a synonym for smidgenm touch, or pinch.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
Lewis
May 17, 2012 at 7:26 amFour out of five for me as Toddick is new. The more familiar word for a little bit for me is skosh.
Bill Burnett
May 17, 2012 at 7:25 amI’ve never toddick either, we use “A Tad” for a small amount. I have also heard and used Top Out as you define it here but I have also used it to describe weaving hay atound the pole on the top of a hay stack to keep water from running down the pole and ruining the inside of the stack as in “As soon as we get this last wagon load of hay on the stack climb up and top out the stack.”
Mike McLain
May 17, 2012 at 7:21 amToddick threw me, too. I also did not get top out. I would “top out” a tree, that is, climb it and get the bushy top off of it, before felling the main trunk.
Donna W
May 17, 2012 at 6:38 amThese are all new to me!
Ed Ammons
May 17, 2012 at 5:45 amSame here! Toddick escapes me too. And a throw down leads to a fight, ie bare knuckles, empty handed, no weapons. Just flesh and bone against flesh and bone.
Now we have two well worn v-belts hanging from a white pine limb. Looks like they need a second life. Maybe they could hold down the trunk lid of the old Buick when you’re hauling the tiller around.