Sunday, August 05, 2007

Well, I'm goin' downey ocean, Hon.

What did he just say?, you ask. You have to understand that people around here talk funny. The most widely spoken form of English is the Merlin Dialect, followed by Bawlmerese. Merlin is a somewhat watered down form of Bawlmerese.

Merlin itself is bordered on the north by Pennsylvania, to the south by Virginia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and to the southwest by West By God Virginia. Bawlmer, the home of Bawlmerese, is a bit more loosely defined, though it's generally agreed that the limits are as follows: The Emerald Inn on Putty Hill Road marks the northernmost point; the Gentleman's Gold Club marks the northeast corner; the Chesapeake Bay demarks the eastern limit; Patapsco Avenue, with its lovely views of petroleum farms and sunken hulls of ships scrapped out by Striegal Supply defines the southernmost limit and Leakin Park, the dumping ground of choice for the bodies of those who hacked off the wrong drug dealer, marks the western limit, although it can be argued that Bawlmer actually doesn't end until the Windsor Inn, where the Baltimore Ravens go to slap their women around.

Interestingly, residents of Bawlmer are referred to as Baltimorons. Baltimorons all refer to each other as “Hon”. Presumably this is a truncation of Honey, but nobody is entirely certain of the etymology of the word.

Merlin differs from Bawlmerese chiefly in that it's not necessary for the speaker to sound like he or she has catarrh, although there is less idiosyncratic vocabulary in Merlin.

Some interesting vocabulary from Bawlmerese :

Snew tares: What you put on your car in the winter

Amblance: The vehicle which will pick you up if you forget your snew tares and slide into a tree

Far truck: Usually accompanies the amblance

Warsh: What you do to your hands before meals

Zinc: Where you warsh your hands

Wooder: What you use to warsh your hands

Earl: A petroleum product used chiefly as a lubricant

In Merlin, everyone goes “down to” the ocean. Nobody knows why, it just is. Hence when one decides to spend an enjoyable week battling biting flies, mosquitoes, sand in the sphincter and the greatest population density outside of Mumbai, the process is called “goin' downey ocean, Hon”.

Next week we discuss Merlin's eastern shore where watermen dredge oysters in a process known as “drudgin' fer ersters”.

5 comments:

Murf said...

I have a feeling that when I actually hear it, this accent may beat out the Boston accent as being the worst.

David M said...

Trust me...it is the worst....I've been here 30 years and I still don't get it.

Anonymous said...

Too funny.

Unknown said...

I'm ex-USAF, spent two tours of duty at Ft. Meade in Merlin, just south of Bawlmer. I'm from much farther west (and south) and tell you what, I thought I had a patent on the term "Baltimoron," having invented it more than 30 years ago! This is hilarious, I haven't been back to Merlin for decades now and this really brings a lot of memories vividly back. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Haha, "Baltimoron". Yeah, never heard that one. Hardly creative. I laugh at the retards who say it.

But, I will say I'd rather live in Maryland than Pennsyltardia or PennSUCKvania. These shoe fly pie eaters have no manners whatsoever. They'll cut you off on the road (some of the worst drivers, third behind Virginia and New Jersey). They'll bump into at the store and won't even say "sorry" or "excuse me". And their accent is completely ridiculous and annoying. Problem is, they all come down to Maryland for jobs! Stay in your own damn state!

Maryland accent worse than a Boston accent? Hardly. Bostonites sound like they have Bell's Palsy or something when they talk.

Don't like MD? STAY THE FUCK OUT!