Now, that's "a whole nother thing"

Imagine that Smoky and his neighbor Joe are talking about what's wrong in local politics, and Smokey says, "This city stinks. They keep passing foolish rules. I can't believe they passed an ordinance limiting the colors I can paint my house."

Joe answers, "They passed a law like that two towns over last year, but a judge ruled it's not legal."

Smoky replies, "Well, that's another thing. The city council never does their research. What a waste of time!"

When he uses the word "thing," Smoky is giving one more reason the city stinks. Another way to say the same thing is "that's a different reason," but that sounds too formal and academic for friendly conversation.

But that's not the interesting bit. What's interesting is that if Smoky wanted to add yet another complaint about the city, he just might say "That's a whole nother thing." This has the same meaning as "an entirely different thing," but did you notice what happened? If we take the phrase "a different thing," and we add the adverb"entirely" for emphasis, we change the "a" to "an" to create "an entirely different thing." No harm, no foul, right?

But with "Another thing," "Another" is a single word that came from the two words "an" + "other." Over time, it became one word. So, if you want to add the adverb"entirely," where would you put it? "That's entirely another thing," right? But more often than not, we use the word "whole" instead of the word "entirely." Well, "whole" is not an adverb, it's an adjective of sorts. Because adjectives usually follow articles, like "a" and "an," (a big truck), our natural instinct is to tuck it into the word "another," and in conversation, we usually follow our instincts. We say, "that's a whole nother thing," and old-fashioned English teachers wrinkle their noses for what they think is a violation of the rules of English grammar. However, grammar doesn't really rule the way we use language, it just describes it, so if enough people say "a whole nother," than it ain't really wrong, now, is it.

Now ya know!

Gawjus, as in "Ain't she gawjus."

You say "potato," and I say "patata," is a famous line from a song about different ways of pronouncing the same word. When considering the "gorgeous" and "gawjus," you might be tempted to assume that they are also simply two different pronunciations, but you might be wrong.

Though "gawjus" did not evolve from a very different word like "cunnin'" (cute) did from "cunning" (clever), the meanings of "gorgeous" and "gawjus" are not identical. 

I suspect that while "ain't she gawjus," and "what a gawjus day" line up quite well with common English uses of the word "gorgeous," ("isn't she gorgeous" and "what a gorgeous day"), Mainers may use it in other ways that are unique to this part of the the world, like to refer to the way maple sap is running in sugaring season. I can't imagine people using the word "gorgeous" to refer to the flow of sap, but "gawjus?" Heck yes.

Of course, the word gorgeous itself emerged from the French "gorge," which means neck, which says a lot about what the French (and loads of other people) find beautiful.

Now ya know!

Cunnin', as in "Ain't she cunnin'"

While the word "cunning" usually means clever or tricky, it has another meaning that is used a lot here in Maine, "cute in a charming way, or adorable."

Typically, this word is used to describe small children, and the 'g' sound is dropped, as is often the case in Maine. "Isn't she cunning," is a common way of saying it, but even more common is "ain't she cunnin'." Lest you think that only people with poor grammar use the word "cunnin'," let me set you straight. The use of "ain't" is an older colloquial (conversational) form of "isn't" that ain't wrong; it's just different, and it's been preserved for generations in populations around the country. Thank goodness it has. The people who have held on to "ain't" are likely the same folks who have held on to "cunnin'."

So, is it only used to talk about cute kids? No, but because it is so often used in that way, when it is used with other objects, it tends to imply childishness, naivete, or other qualities we associate with a toddler, and so it can be used sarcastically to mean the opposite of cute. Imagine a friend who went out for a walk coming back covered in wet leaves and mud. It wouldn't be at all a stretch to laugh and say, "well, aren't you cunnin'!"

Now ya know!

A Mess A, as in "A Mess A Bugs"

Watch me explain what "a mess a bugs" means to a Mainer here,




or read about it below.

Picture this. You're visiting an old college friend for a week of rest and relaxation at her beautiful little harborside home. There's a wharf not too far from the house from which lobstermen and other fishermen leave early in the morning and return in the afternoon. A couple of days in, you've gotten quite used to the clear, golden sun filtering in through the curtains early in the morning--seriously, the sun rises early in Maine in the summer--and to the sound of the boats leaving the harbor at about the same time, then chug, chug, chugging back later in the day.

One particularly fine day, you finish your lunch and walk down to the wharf to watch them unload their catch, something you've never seen before. One of the fishermen arrives, and after she does what she does, she walks up to you and says, "I've got a mess a bugs if you're looking to buy."

"Excuse me?" you say, wondering what the heck she's talking about. Well, there are two parts to this possible misunderstanding. Number 1. The word "bugs" is another word for lobsters, and 2. "a mess a" really means "a lot of." She's offering to sell you some lobsters straight from the cold waters of the Atlantic, and unless you're allergic, flat broke, or already have plans for supper, you should probably answer "You betcha." You'll get a better price from a lobsterman than from any dealer.

Most people use "a mess of" to mean disorder, or something that needs to be cleaned up, as in "Boy, you made a mess of your room. Clean it up before your mother gets home, or she's gonna be awful mad at you." In Maine, though, we use "a mess a" often to mean "a lot of," as in "You're gonna be in a mess a trouble if your father finds your room lookin' like this." or better still, "Barbara baked a mess a pies for Thanksgiving dinner: apple, blueberry, pumpkin, graham cracker, chocolate cream, lemon meringue. You'd better bring your appetite!"

Now ya know!

Jeat? No, Joo?

Watch the video of me explaining "Jeat? No, Joo?" 

or read this!

Imagine you're on vacation in Maine sitting on a bench outside a local ice cream parlor enjoying two scoops of something good in a waffle cone when you see a man, let's call him Carl, walk up to a car another man has just parked. The second man, let's call him Dick, gets out of his car to speak to his friend, "Funny runnin' into you here."

"Imagine that," Carl answers. "Jeat?"

"No. Joo?" says Dick.

"Well, let's go," replies Carl, and the two walk off together.

This could be a confusing situation for anyone unfamiliar with how to talk like a Mainer. What did they mean?

Well, in any language, speakers quite naturally shorten what they say and speed up how they say it, especially when they know they're talking to a member of the same language group. By language group, I mean a group of people who use the language in the same way, not just who use the same language. If either if these men were speaking to someone he didn't know, he'd likely speak more clearly.

"Jeat" and "Joo" are examples of this kind of shortened, sped up speech. "Jeat" is simply a reduced form of "Did you eat?" and "joo" is part of the reply, "Did you?"

I'm not sure if this exchange is strictly a Mainerism, or if you'll hear this question and reply all over the English-speaking world, but I suspect you'll find it mostly closer to the woodlands and harbors where some locals have lived for generations.

This type of reduction is actually quite common, and is usually a lot easier to understand when the word which follows "did you" starts with a consonant instead of a vowel. Consider "Ja buy anything for me?" Is it clearer that this means "did ya buy?" The "did ya (you)" is a lot easier to perceive because it contrasts with the 'b' in "buy," whereas the 'e' in "eat" is a lot harder to distinguish from the preceding "ya."

So, if a friend comes up to you and asks, "jeat?", you'll know to answer, "you buying?"

Now ya know.

Ayuh, as in "Ayuh, that's right!"

Watch me talk about "ayuh" on my YouTube Channel...

or read the gist of it below!

Stand around anywhere Mainers tend to congregate, say at Dunkin Donuts, a public suppah, or a hardware store, and your liable to hear more than a few "ayuhs." The word "ayuh" means "yes" and is used for agreement,  and there's likely to be a lot of agreement at these places, especially if the conversation turns to the quality of the baked beans, or the biscuits.

For some unknown reason, "ayuh" is probably the most mispronounced Mainer word in the tourist lexicon, maybe because  it's made up of two syllables  instead of one: "a" and "yuh." The first syllbles is said just like the name of the letter 'a,' and the second syllable rhymes with "huh." Put it all together, and you get "ayuh."

Now, if you're really lucky at one of these public suppers, you'll hear a rare linguistic phenomenon: implosive speech. When old time Mainers say "ayuh," they sometimes say it while breathing in, not while breathing out, and this way of speaking is heard in very few languages. When we do, we also often drop the "a" syllable, and just say "yuh" a few times in a row, "Yuh, Yuh, Yuh." Listen for it.

It's pretty darned rare.

And now ya know.