South Shore Phrase Book

About the Book

Collected from the talk of the people who live along Nova Scotia's South Shore, from Halifax to Yarmouth on the Atlantic shore, this book is a lively guide to the unusual way they speak. It is both very old, including words and phrases spoken but not written down since before Chaucer, and in a lively way, new and elaborate, like the original, complete version of "happy as a clam." It provides a guide to the life and character of these resilient fisher and farm folk. The work is illustrated with old photographs from the region, and it includes scholarly appendices on "Elizabethan English on Nova Scotia's South Shore" and "Rough Measure in Maritime Dialect Research," the latter written with Jacqueline Baum. The language will bring back vivid memories to those who have visited this scenic Maritime place and attract those who have not, to do so. As the record of a limited speech community, it may help students of English as a Second Language. It has been used by novelists, playwrights, and poets (including Robert MacNeil of the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour, Canada's prolific dramatist Paul LeDoux, and George Elliott Clarke, a much-honored black Canadian poet), to give authentic flavor to their works. It will bring joy and insight to all who love language.

About the Author

Lewis J. Poteet has compiled two dictionaries of old words and phrases from the South Shore of Nova Scotia, and he describes a scale of goodness: good, some good, right some good, and right some Jesus good. A raincoat [on the South Shore] fits just like a smack on the lips.

He is also co-author of Car & Motorcycle Slang (with Jim Poteet) and Cop Talk (with Aaron C. Poteet), both available from iUniverse.