cum

en-verb

cum (third-person singular simple present cums, present participle cumming, simple past came or (nonstandard) cummed, past participle come or cum or (nonstandard) cummed)

cums (present singular third-person)
cumming (participle present)
came (past)
cummed (nonstandard past)
come (participle past)
cum (participle past)
cummed (nonstandard participle past)

Variant of come, attested (in the basic sense "come, move from further to nearer, arrive") since Old English. The sexual sense of come is attested since the 1650s. In this sense and spelling, attested from 1970s.

“Where'd he cum from?” the bowman inquired. “That's what we'd like ter know, yer see; where he cum from, and how he happen'd to cum,” responded the steersman. “But he's a jolly good feller, strong as a lion, […]”

1882, William Makepeace Thayer, From Log-Cabin to White House, page 162:

Eye dialect spelling of come (“move from further to nearer; arrive”).


of

A spelling of /əv/ influenced by Etymology 1.

I have refrained from giving many details which I might of done, from feelings of delicacy; indeed, they were of so dark and dreadful a nature, that I could do no more than hint at them

1846, Linus Wilson Miller, Notes of an Exile to Van Dieman's Land (McKinstry: Fredonia, NY) p. 367

"I had a woman up here last week to look at my feet, and when she have been the bill you'd of thought she had my appendicitus out."

1926, F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Penguin, published 2000, page 33:

‘You must of left your door unlocked. Or even open.’

1943, Raymond Chandler, The High Window, Penguin, published 2005, page 87:

"You couldn't of known," Livio says.

1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, New York: Bantam Books, →ISBN, page 340:

(usually in modal perfect constructions) Eye dialect spelling of have or ’ve, chiefly in depictions of colloquial speech.


bai

(Internet slang) Eye dialect spelling of bye.


Can I come 2?

(text messaging, informal, eye dialect) Abbreviation of too.


wen

(eye dialect) Alternative spelling of when


ter

"Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."

1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31:

‘Do you mean ter tell me,’ he growled at the Dursleys, ‘that this boy – this boy! – knows nothin’ abou’ – about ANYTHING?’

1997, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, section IV:


ter

"But he never speaks ter anybody, child—he hain't for years, I guess, except when he just has to, for business, and all that."

1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 8, in Pollyanna, L.C. Page, →OCLC:

‘What about that tea then, eh?’ he said, rubbing his hands together. ‘I’d not say no ter summat stronger if yeh’ve got it, mind.’


helluva

Written form of a reduction (relaxed pronunciation) of hell of a.

We had a helluva good time at the party.

(colloquial); (expletive) (A) hell of a; extremely or very.


madder

madder (third-person singular simple present madders, present participle maddering, simple past and past participle maddered)

madders (present singular third-person)
maddering (participle present)
maddered (participle past)
maddered (past)


stoopid

en-adj

stoopid (comparative stoopider or more stoopid, superlative stoopidest or most stoopid)

stoopider (comparative)
more stoopid (comparative)
stoopidest (superlative)
most stoopid (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-stoopid.wav

Perhaps imitative of the American pronunciation of stupid, or implying the referent would spell the word that way.

Did you read what he wrote? How stoopid was that?

(humorous) Eye dialect spelling of stupid, used as an emphatic form of the word.


fotograf

ILLUSTRATED / With Fotografs / By J. Doody, the Sourdough Fotografer

1916, “Platinum Bill” [pseudonym; Wilfrid Robert Smith], Under the Northern Lights, Portland, Ore.: The Columbia Printing Co., title page:

(nonstandard) Eye dialect spelling of photograph.


yew

A spinoff, “Major Crimes,” starring “Battlestar Galactica” veteran Mary McDonnell and a number of “Closer” cast members, premieres in August. Sedgwick won’t be among them, swapping Brenda’s syrupy “thank yew” for an upbeat “buh-bye now” to her co-workers.

2012 July 1, T.L. Stanley, “No more crimes for her to solve”, in Los Angeles Times:


az

The whole legiſlature likewize acts az a court for the trial of public delinquents.

1790, Noah Webster, A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings, pages 340–341:


wimmin

Eye dialect, also used as a feminist spelling of the word women in order to deliberately exclude the word men, which is synchronically a component of women.

I thank the lord that thare aint menny wimmin in the wurld who want tu know evry thing. I kalkerlate that 9 out ov evry 10 ov the wimmin who luv their huzbands and glory in their children, will sa that tha had ruther be looked down upon in luving tenderniss than tu be looked up tu in silent aw.

1871, Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings, page 27:

"Damn waste of time," he always said of the convention. "Nothin but drinkin and wimmin, and none of the wimmin even worth lookin at, let alone that other thing."

2009, Stephen King, Nightmares & Dreamscapes, page 195:


cud

'Twas the anchor-ice comin' up. To the right, to the lift, as far as iver a man cud see, the water was covered with the same.

1899, Jack London, The Men of Forty-Mile:

(nonstandard, informal) Eye dialect spelling of could.


tuff

tuff (comparative tuffer, superlative tuffest)

tuffer (comparative)
tuffest (superlative)

Tuff Stuff teaches that while life may go smoothly most of the time, ...

1980, Joy Wilt Berry, Ernie Hergenroeder, Tuff Stuff: A Children's Book about Trauma, Educational Products Division, Word, Inc., →ISBN:

… yet never to make us so strong as the strongest of Men, whose Sinnews are tuffer, and Bones stronger, and Joints closer, and Flesh firmer, than ours are …

2000, Margaret Cavendish, “Preface to the Reader (1655)”, in Sylvia Bowerbank, Sara Mendelson, editors, Paper Bodies, →ISBN, page 139:

It was rave reviewed in the Caribbean Times as 'the ruffest, tuffest and the boo-yacka of all modern gangster novels'.

2003, Ronald Carter, The Routledge Guide to Modern English Writing (Language Arts), Routledge, →ISBN, page 96:

TUFF METER

2006, Paige Hemmis, The Tuff Chix Guide to Easy Home Improvement, Penguin, →ISBN, page 36:

Its Tuff-n-Tiny USB flash drive is about the size of a thumbnail. … The company insists that the "tuff" part of the name is well-earned for being waterproof, dustproof and you can drive a car over it.

2010 January 20, Robert J. Elisberg, “CES 2020 -- Ohm on the Range”, in Huffington Post, retrieved 2012-09-14:

Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling

2011, Kristian Pope, Tuff Stuff Professional Wrestling Field Guide: Legend and Lore, Krause Publications, →ISBN:


dun

Now, ya dun it!

...a wise old lady exclaimed, "Why Mrs. M. warn't you orful skeerd wunst when you seed a dog fight? [...] an that ere big yaller dog bit orf your baby's hand that minit; in cors he dun it, so now that settles it."

1895 May 2, S.L.N. Foote, “Correspondence”, in International Journal of Medicine and Surgery, volume 8, retrieved 2016-10-13, page 194:

“Oh, Because I want their dollar.
 I don't want Anything they've not got. I never dun.
 I'm there, and they can pay me if they like.
 I go nowhere on purpose: I happen by.
Sorry there is no cup to give you a drink.[…]

2001 April 1, Robert Frost, Poems by Robert Frost: A Boy's Will and North of Boston, Penguin, →ISBN, →OCLC:

(nonstandard, informal) Eye dialect spelling of done: past participle of do


mite

From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-West Germanic *mītā, from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”) or *meh₂y- (“to cut”). Akin to Old High German mīza (“mite”), Middle Dutch mīte (“moth, mite”), Dutch mijt (“moth, mite”), Danish mide (“mite”).


dood

"Talk about yer doods," said a Texas stockman, on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy train last night, "but a leetle the doodest dood I ever seen wuz a feller that come down from Boston into our kentry a year ago las' September."

1884 August, “The Boston Dude”, in Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineer's Monthly Journal, volume 18, number 8:

An' now Oi suppose if Oi don't get thim rolls riddy fer der brikfus' av that small dood that comes ter see Alice, Oi'll niver hear der end av it. Wot do Oi kee-ur? If he gives me a quarter whin he goes, it's more'n he'll do, fer all he's a dood an' all.

1888 November 17, “The Cook's Soliloquy”, in Time, volume 8, number 223, page 7:

On the dood ranch the dweller from the city can renew his almost forgotten ambition to be one with the rider of the Western plains --the cowpuncher, the Indian fighter, the pony express rider, the buffalo hunter, the scout.


bye

'bye' may be longer than 'bi, by and buy' for some speakers

"So what shall I do, now, Patric? Can you think of any plan? "Bedad!" said Pat , as he scratched his head , “ I'm the very bye that can."

1883, Rose Garfield Clemens, “Pat and the Pig”, in Ballou's Dollar Monthly Magazine, volume 58, page 383:

'Och,' sez I, 'there's many a bye that's lonely livin' rite wid his friends an' naybors. Sure an' I'm lonesome mesilf.'

1887, “Pat's Love Episode”, in Parry's Monthly Magazine, volume 3, page 252:

There a bye has his hand toorn off, and there a bye loses his eyesight complately, and over yan a bye has his joogular vein torn wid a whistlin' boom, and forninst that is the bye who thinks his gun isn't loaded and kills his little sisther.

1903, Our Young People - Volume 12, page 51:

In thim days the bye who wint to work in the foundhry to learn the thrade, in goin' into the shop in the morning would meet a big, ruffneck boss wit his blue faunel shirt on and his schleeves rolled up to his ilbows, who could show him the mishtakes he made the day befoor, if he made any.

1907, International Molders' and Foundry Workers' Journal, page 545:

I know a nice bye who's goin' to git two cookies fer thim worrds.

1920, Marjorie Benton Cooke, The Girl who Lived in the Woods, page 184:

Hardy, weatherbeaten, intimately familiar with the winds and tides of his local shore, capable of turning his hand to many things, squeezing a hard living from the treacherous sea—a figure rendered familiar by the words “Ise the bye who builds the boat / And ise the bye that sails her / Ise the bye who catches the fish / And takes them home to Liza."

2012, Robert Craig Brown, Illustrated History of Canada, page 224:


toon

But why dress me in bloo? Why not in gray, ef I play Confedrit toons?

1872, David Ross Locke, The Struggles (social, Financial and Political) of Petroleum V. Nasby, page 556:

Hark at the way them wires plays toons, as if all the imps of wickedness, and—never mind where—was fiddling dismal toons on purpose to drive a man out of his wits, or to scare him so that he couldn't do his work.

1876, Eneas Sweetland Dallas -, Once a Week, page 45:

“But toon up, and a song all round.”

1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, page 39:

Why suddenly you're so eager to know the toon, now, Dwight? Before you was saying you didn't even hear no toon.


thru

American English
Merriam-Webster
Middle English

Modern use originated in American English as a phonetic and simplified spelling of through around 1839. The spelling had previously been one of several used in Middle English.

(UK, rare, regional or dialectal) Eye dialect spelling of through.


sez

Sez who? – Sez me!

"Whoo!" Dr. Blatnoyd had a soda straw and was busy snorting away. "No worries, it's on the house, as the TV antenna man always sez.... Hmm, missed a little...."

2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 169:


Missus

(informal) Mrs, a form of address for a married woman.


Misses

Perhaps we are disposed to smile at seeing so much made of titles; but after what we have learned of Lord Timothy Dexter and the high-sounding names appropriated by many of our own compatriots, who have no more claim to them than we plain Misters and Misseses, we may feel to them something as our late friend Mr. Appleton felt to the real green turtle soup set before him, when he said that it was almost as good as mock.

1890, O[liver] W[endell] Holmes [Sr.], “The tea is sweeneted”, in Over the Teacups, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], pages 274–275:

Eye dialect spelling of Mrs; alternative spelling of Missus.


Jessie

Variant of Jesse, from Ancient Greek Ἰεσσαί (Iessaí), from Hebrew יִשַׁי (Yishai).

(US, eye dialect) A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Jesse.


haz

Our daddy waz mad! He haz a big spaceship on toppa hiz stereo speaker. Dylan an' me wanted to 'xplore new wurlds when he waz at werk, so we klimbed up da speaker (he hatez dat, too, picky hoomin!) an' tryed to go fer a spin 'round da yew-niverse while Mommy an' Daddy waz gone.

1996 June 14, Cheryl L. Rankin, “MEOW: To boldly go were no kat haz gone...”, in rec.pets.cats (Usenet), retrieved 2022-04-11:

Keith ODonnell iz n0t with0ut rezpect in the hallz of the great. He haz t0lerated y0u, but d0ez n0t have t0. He d0ez s0 becauze he iz a g00d man.

2000 August 25, BARBAZZZZ!, “PH000LZ on public dizplay (what's really going on here).”, in alt.support.attn-deficit (Usenet), retrieved 2022-04-11:

He haz earnt hiz success, he's been litaraly 'battlin' to get where he iz today.

2001 February 10, Ali - B, “EXTRA UK EMINEM DATE...”, in uk.local.london (Usenet), retrieved 2022-04-11:


sais

'Yes,' sais I, 'what's left of me; but, good gracious,' sais I, 'you have got the 'heaves.' I hope it ain't catchin'.

1855 August, “Editor's Drawer”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XI, number LXIII, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 329 & 331 Pearl Street, Franklin Square, →OCLC, page 425:

Well, he tak some young man un he go off to Alsaroke to steal horse, un I seet roun' un watch dat woman. She watch me. Pretty soon camp was hunt de buffalo, un I was hunt Snow-Owl's woman. Every one was excite, un dey don' tak no 'count of me. I see de woman go up leetle coulie for stray horse, un I follar her. I sais, 'How do? You come be my woman. We run off to Meestar MacDonnail's tradehouse.' […] She sais she afraid.

2000, Frederic Remington, “Sun-Down Leflare's Warm Spot”, in John D. Seelye, editor, Stories of the Old West: Tales of the Mining Camp, Cavalry Troop, & Cattle Ranch, Norman, Ok.: University of Oklahoma Press, →ISBN, page 203:

Used to represent a nonstandard pronunciation of says.


bhoy

(West Coast Scottish, Ireland) Eye dialect spelling of boy.


pp

en-noun

pp (countable and uncountable, plural pps)


kwik

en-adj

kwik (comparative kwikker, superlative kwikkest)

kwikker (comparative)
kwikkest (superlative)


't

He could not miſſe't.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 6, column 2:

Then marke th’inducement. Thus it came; giue heede too’t:

1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 217, column 1:

(archaic or eye dialect) Contraction of it.

What was all that about?
Well, like all women, she's shoe-mad.
't’s a bit sexist, isn't it?
Do you know one woman who isn't obsessed with shoes?
No, but I only know one woman. And she just left the room shouting "THE SHOES!"

2006 February 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 2:


werk

en-verb

werk (third-person singular simple present werks, present participle werking, simple past and past participle werked)

werks (present singular third-person)
werking (participle present)
werked (participle past)
werked (past)

The LGBT slang usage is very recent and in essence an orthographical variant. It is independent from the far older and long-obsolete alternative form which derived directly from Middle English werk (noun) and werken (verb).

Werk it, bitch!

(obsolete except as LGBTQ slang and eye dialect) Alternative form of work


realist

He's the realist dude I know.


wanta

Written form of a reduction of want to, used informally in most English dialects.

“We don’t wanta. Come on aid us. It might be night time when de water hem you up in heah. Dat’s how come Ah won’t stay. Come on, man.”

1937, Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Harper Perennial, published 2000, page 163:


wot

Wot, no bananas? ― (popular slogan during wartime rationing)

Then, wot with undertakers, and wot with parish clerks, and wot with sextons, and wot with private watchmen (all awaricious and all in it), a man wouldn't get much by it, even if it was so.

1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:


wot

Fer, as the poit sez, me 'eart 'as got / The pip wiv yearnin' fer - I dunno wot.

1915, C.J. Dennis, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, published 1916, page 13:


wuz

She wuz robbed!

‘We wuz talkin’ and the monk got loose, and she sent me off to catch him.’

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 64:


tha

(US, African-American Vernacular) Eye dialect spelling of the.


would of

Eye dialect spelling of would have or would've.


should of

Eye dialect spelling of should have or should've.


could of

Eye dialect spelling of could have or could've.


aout

... and aout he come rasher nor iver, knockin' here and knockin' there, tell you couldn't hardly sleep for he.

1895, Harry Jones, Fifty Years: Or, Dead Leaves and Living Seeds, page 144:

Git aout, else I'll split yer faice !

1919, Thomas Burke, Out and about London, page 115:

Ye see, they was able to live both in ant aout o' water–what they call amphibians, I guess.

1936, H.P. Lovecraft, Shadow Over Innsmouth:


whirled

without the wine–whine merger, non-rhotic


smol

en-adj

smol (comparative smoler or smoller, superlative smolest or smollest)

smoler (comparative)
smoller (comparative)
smolest (superlative)
smollest (superlative)

Smol doggos with cute messy hair from the rain.

2017 September 28, “Nope/Dope”, in The Rocky Mountain Collegian, page 8:

However, our penchant for smol puppers means lots more people are breeding these so-called teacup dogs.

2018 June 26, Jessica Lindsay, “Meet Otis-Woody, the dog gunning for the record of smallest pug in the UK”, in Metro:

A baby octopus the size of a pea was hitchhiking on a piece of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean when Hawaiian researchers spotted it and scooped up the smol, smol cephalopod.

2018 October 25, Mindy Weisberger, “Ridiculously Tiny Baby Octopus Riding Ocean Trash Is So, So Smol”, in Live Science:


punx

en-noun

punx pl (normally plural, singular punk)

(slang, eye dialect) Punks (members of punk subculture).


Beetlejuice

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Beetlejuice.wav

Compound of beetle + juice, from the similar sound to Betelgeuse.

(informal, humorous) Eye dialect spelling of Betelgeuse.


killa

Rude Boy was a killa and, to him, taking life was as simple as eating a hamburger.

2011, Maurice Rice, Seeds of a New Breed, page 159:


Hizzoner

1930, John Bright, Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson: An Idyll of Chicago, [book title].

Minnesota: Meet Hizzoner the Mayor... Canon... would go through an elaborate bowing-and-scraping routine as he addressed Hizzoner the Mayor.

1991, Max M. Kampelman, Entering New Worlds: The Memoirs of a Private Man in Public Life, page 56:

In 1989, they wrote a book, entitled His Eminence and Hizzoner, in which they set forth their differences in amicable fashion.

2002, James Gill, For James and Gillian: Jim Gill's New York, page 121:

(slang, US) Eye dialect spelling of His Honor, the mayor, especially of a large city.


uv

That gives them an advantage over their better-known peers, the Invisible Scratch Pickles: on the recent single "Invisbl Skratch Piklz vs. da Klamz uv Deth" the San Franciscans can spin heads with their superathletic scratching, but the side-length cut doesn't hold up as a piece of music.

1997 October 17, Peter Margasak, “Return of the Turntable/ Reich and Wrong”, in Chicago Reader:

On the scale of linguistic complexity, basic leet is about on a par with pig Latin, and with five minutes' practice just about anyone can crank out elegant prose such as: y c@N' p30p13 R3kO9nIZ3 eh 834UTy uv 1337???

2003 January 10, Cecil Adams, “The Straight Dope”, in Chicago Reader:

(sometimes leetspeak) Eye dialect spelling of of.


speerit

I’d call it a speerit, if speerits could handle sich rocks as that.

1882, James Jackson, Tom Terror, the Outlaw:


hunny

Eye dialect spelling of honey. (attractive woman, or as a term of affection)


iz

(Geordie) Alternative spelling of us (“me”).


educashun

(chiefly humorous) Eye dialect spelling of education.


licker

licker (countable and uncountable, plural lickers)


heckuva

Written form of a reduction of heck of a.

They had a heckuva row over where to spend the weekend.


woz

"You woz saying," said the farmer, with slow, matter of fact, New England deliberation, "ez how you guessed you woz beguiled amongst the Injins by your Mexican partner, a pow'ful influential man, and yet you woz the only one escaped the gen'ral slarterin'.

1893, Bret Harte, Susy: A Story of the Plains:

'If she woz mine' - tapping a brick - 'I'd bash 'er 'ed in!'

1894, George Egerton, Discords, page 120:

We woz robbed, Brian.

2002, Christopher Brookmyre, Country of the Blind, →ISBN, page 343:


likker

We've got tae get back wi' her, Hecky. Whit mercy we didna get fou!
 We'll no touch a drap o' that likker—
 that's hard, man, ye canna deny. . . .

1921, Robert W. Service, “The Twa Jocks”, in Ballads of a Bohemian:


gurl

Damn white gurl Thought you was A1 Yet your existence a none

2012, Krystina V, A Diva's love Affair, →ISBN, page 22:

An' Lee went closer to where the gurl was waitin'. His party follered an' I follered too.... Jest whin the moosic sthopped an' the gurl looked up—thin she seen Lee.

All gurl's good fur—jist To dust an' sweep, an' scold, An' sew on buttons what yo mus't Sewin' on last week. Wush't Iwuz a boy!

2013, Karen L. Kilcup, Angela Sorby, Over the River and Through the Wood, →ISBN:

(informal, nonstandard or eye dialect) Alternative form of girl.


tomayto, tomahto

George Gershwin
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

Uses the American English and British English pronunciations of the word tomato. Allusion to George Gershwin's song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off": "You like tomato (/təˈmeɪtə/) and I like tomato (/təˈmɑːtə/)".

"Tomayto, tomahto," she said, and Taylor laughed. So they ended on a good note.

2009, N. B. Grace, Disney High School Musical: #1: Stories from East High Bind Up #1, Disney Press, →ISBN, page 78:

“I withheld truth, but I did not lie.” “Tomayto, tomahto.”

2014, C.E. Murphy, Shaman Rises, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 282:

“Okay, then, how about Michael?” “Tomayto, tomahto.” Kacie sighed in disappointment.

2017, Cheryl Etchison, From the Start: An American Valor Novel, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 15:

(idiomatic) Used to express two similar things being exactly the same, when they are slightly different.


tray bon

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, his mind far away from the Colinqueaus, “I think that new bloke′s a bit of tray bon. The bayonet instructors would go absolutely fanti if they heard him, wouldn′t they? He sounded as mad as a maggot.[…]”

1961, John Harris, Covenant with Death, page 205:

[…]all the clerks were waving: “Au revoir, Sally.” “Mmmm, tray bon, y′all!” She flashed the peace sign again and clattered away in her ankle-strap shoes like a crack of sunshine on a foggy day.

1974, Rex Reed, People Are Crazy Here, page 79:

Eye dialect spelling of très bon; very good; all right.


youz

(slang, eye dialect) Alternative spelling of yous


dook

Put up your dooks!

Eye dialect spelling of duke (“a fist”).


librul

en-adj

librul (comparative more librul, superlative most librul)

more librul (comparative)
most librul (superlative)


lazer

He had worked on the motor and run it from city to dead city, through the lands of the idlers and roustabouts, the dreamers and lazers, […]

1977, Ray Bradbury, Long After Midnight, page 10:


old skool

old skool (comparative more old skool, superlative most old skool)

more old skool (comparative)
most old skool (superlative)

(slang, eye dialect) Alternative spelling of old school


wos

She wos real good to 'em all, she wos, ma'am.

1876, Edward Everett Hale, “Phillip Nolan's Friends; or, 'Show Your Passports!'”, in Scribner's Monthly, volume XII, number 1, page 20:


whatchoo

"I don't care whatchoo tell 'er, fo'real," he said, scooting to the end of the piano bench.

Well, whatchoo gonna do about it, Momma?

2007, Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Station:

"Whatchoo want 'em for?" "It's a surprise," he says.

2008, Carolyn Chute, The Beans of Egypt, Maine:

(eye dialect, informal) What you; what do you; what are you (mostly in questions).


wut

(Internet slang, nonstandard, eye dialect) What, both in its standard meaning as an interjection, but especially as a response to an outrageous or unexpected statement. This phrase became increasingly popular in the early 2000s due to internet culture.


'erb

A representation of the pronunciation of herb by a speaker whose dialect renders the word [ɜːɹb] rather than [hɜː(ɹ)b].

(pronunciation spelling or eye dialect) herb


dooty

en-noun

dooty (countable and uncountable, plural dooties)

Glad to see you back at the post of dooty.

1861, Various, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 42, April, 1861:

When we gets back to the old Laughing Lass, then we drops back into our dooty again all right and proper.

1907, Stewart Edward White, Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Mystery:

It's your dooty to do just as she tells you, and you'll do right.


shure

"You see, sir, quite hand in glove with Dashing Jerry; met in the same inn last night--preconcerted, you may be quite shure."

1845, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Night and Morning, Complete:

"Oh, Mr. Munro, shure here's a card for yees," handing me a lady's card.

1873, Various, Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XII. No. 30. September, 1873:

1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, chapter VIII, in The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1906 February 26, →OCLC:


sho nuff

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

(sometimes) Eye dialect spelling of sure enough.

Pronunciation spelling of sure enough.
Eye dialect spelling of sure enough.


feechur

I ask you now, ain't honesty a-written on my feechurs?

1876, George Staunton Brodie, Vagrant Verses: And a Play, page 163:


speshul

en-adj

speshul (comparative more speshul, superlative most speshul)

more speshul (comparative)
most speshul (superlative)

My brother works on the Telegraph; he's a compositor and he'd give me the first pull of any speshul stuff and I could bring it to you.

1991, Frank Harris, John F Gallagher, My Life and Loves:

Theyve put me on the speshul detail. The speshul detail, Mable, is a bunch of fellos what knows more than any one else in the camp.

2005, Lieutenant Edward Streeter, That's Me All Over Mable:

(nonstandard, dialect, sometimes humorous) special


yores

"Whut business is this here of yores?"

You leave that gun alone, and lemme tell you, stranger, while we're together, that I want to buy that pup of yores.

1921, William Patterson White, The Heart of the Range:

Scotty, yores is the hombre on the west, ridin' the pinto.

1930, Ward M. Stevens, Kid Wolf of Texas:


Miz

When he got there, Miz Meadows asked him where was Brer Fox

1988, Julius Lester, More tales of Uncle Remus: further adventures of Brer Rabbit, his friends, enemies, and others, →ISBN, page 13:

Once upon a time, when dogs barked in rhyme, there was Miz Hattie. Miz Hattie lived all alone in the piney woods.

1995, Virginia Hamilton, “Miz Hattie Gets Some Company”, in Her stories: African American folktales, fairy tales, and true tales, →ISBN, Her Animal Tales, page 15:

Miz Rowe knew, of course, that Flary was at home, and knew that she was making a hand along with the old man and the boys.

2000, Janice Holt Giles, Hill Man, →ISBN, page 159:


tawk

en-noun

tawk (countable and uncountable, plural tawks)

Eye dialect spelling of talk, representing New York City English.


tawk

en-verb

tawk (third-person singular simple present tawks, present participle tawking, simple past and past participle tawked)

tawks (present singular third-person)
tawking (participle present)
tawked (participle past)
tawked (past)


stummick

Don't make me say it, Millie--it makes me sick to my stummick.

Mind you, he was always kicking and roaring about his liver or stummick, or some of his works.

1901, Henry Wallace Phillips, Red Saunders:

If you'll shove this 'ere meat an' bread into yer stummick, we'll begin fer to make tracks."

1922, Irving Bacheller, In the Days of Poor Richard:


somer

To the examples alleged by Richardson, in his Dictionary, add the following: "I se it by ensaunple In somer tyme on trowes; Ther some bowes ben leved, And some bereth none, There is a meschief in the more Of swiche manere bowes."

1853, Various, Notes and Queries, Number 182, April 23, 1853:

In Scotland, that somer, was nothing but myrth; for all yead[515] with the preastis eavin at thare awin pleasur.

1895, John Knox, The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6):


boyz

Boyz n the Hood (1991 American crime film)

Boyz II Men (American R&B vocal group formed in 1988)

eye dialect spelling of boys; plural of boy


kidz

In the 21st century, whose “kidult” blurring of the lines sees grown-ups listening to “kindie rock,” feeding their kids gourmet gelato instead of Good Humor, and dissecting the last Pixar film, the notion of a tree house in our collective backyard with a misspelled sign saying “Kidz only” is a healthy thing[.]

2008, Dade Hayes, Anytime Playdate: Inside the Preschool Entertainment Boom, or, How Television Became My Baby’s Best Friend, page 86:

K[evin] L[ambert]: Got 2 mates; dum as fuk; do nethin 4 me; can drive truks; fly planes, got kidz 2. / T[uhoe] L[ambert]: Cher cuz. Da dumber da better.

[2012 March 24, “A Nation Divided: Inside the Urewera Four Trial”, in The New Zealand Herald, Auckland, archived from the original on 2017-10-18:

Nah dude, wen im textin or whevs, i rite just like the kidz, fastest easiest way, and i dont correct r enythng.

2023 July 10, Xoic, “Is this a writer thing?”, in Writing Forums, archived from the original on 2024-04-22:

eye dialect spelling of kids; plural of kid


wuld

Archaic spelling of would; also, eye dialect spelling of would.


wus

She wus walking home when it happened.

(African-American Vernacular) Eye dialect spelling of was.


direcshun

[W]hen de man had tole me how to go, I went right long till I got out ob sight ob de little house, an' den I got into de woods, an' turned right round de oder way an' made tracks fast as I could in dat direcshun."

The company's post war the nearest, so I jest took down the river in that direcshun.

1874, Edwin Eastman, Seven and Nine years Among the Camanches and Apaches:


rize

rize (third-person singular simple present rizes, present participle rizing, simple past roze, past participle rizen)

rizes (present singular third-person)
rizing (participle present)
roze (past)
rizen (participle past)

Go on, lay me right here as I lay now; but I'll rize agen you, and the day'll come when you'd give every dollar ye're worth to dig me up, and give me life agen."


furst

They wur not paid for weet days at th' furst; an' they geet it into their yeds at Shorrock were to blame.

1862, Edwin Waugh, Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine:

"An' it black noight, an' men and women wild in the drink; an' Pat Harrigan insoide bloind an' mad in liquor, an' it's turned me an' the children out he has to shlape in the snow--an' not the furst toime either.

1888, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories:

"De furst work I done to get my food wuz to carry water in de field to de hands dat wuz workin'.

1936-1938, Work Projects Administration, Slave Narratives – A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves – The Ohio Narratives:


furst

I took a v'y'ge to Australia furst, just to put her out o' my mind a bit, an' I never seed her since.

"I was thinkin' it over, Stutter, all the way hoofin' it out yere," he said, chewing continually on his tobacco, "but sorter reckoned ez how yer ought ter see the writin' furst, considerin' ez how you're a full partner in this yere claim.

He started in on Microby Dandeline--we jest called her Dandeline furst, bein' thet yallar with janders when she wus a baby, but when she got about two year, I wus a readin' a piece in a paper a man left, 'bout these yere little microbys thet gits into everywheres they shouldn't ort to, jest like she done, so I says to Watts how she'd ort to had two names anyways, only I couldn't think of none but common ones when we give her hern.


minnit

I see they was goin, so I said:-- "My week-minded and misgided femails, hold your hosses a minnit, until an old statesman, who has served his country for 4 yeer as Gustise of the Peece, says a few remarks to you."

1870, Various, Punchinello, Vol. II., No. 34, November 19, 1870:

"I jest stood like a dumb critter the minnit I got in," said Marty.

1876, Helen Hunt Jackson, Mercy Philbrick's Choice:

I'll go in 'ere for 'arf a minnit and sit down.

1909, W.W. Jacobs, Sailor's Knots (Entire Collection):

Wait a minnit!

1918, Edna Ferber, Cheerful--By Request:

Wait a minnit, I didn't show you my pitcher what was in de paper, did I?

1936-1938, Work Projects Administration, Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States:


owld

en-adj

owld (comparative owlder, superlative owldest)

owlder (comparative)
owldest (superlative)

A sore penny it has cost me, first and last, and by all tales, not worth an owld tobacco pipe."

1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, Lloyd Osbourne, “Irons in the Fire. Opes Strepitumque.”, in The Wrecker, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, […], →OCLC, page 115:

I was standin' by owld Foley's gate, whin I heard the cry of the hounds coming across the tail of the bog, an' there they wor, my dear, spread out like the tail of a paycock, an' the finest dog fox ye ever seen a sailin' ahead of thim up the boreen, and right across the churchyard.

Woy, owld Lind sends me in to Conly to cam in to him into the board-room. […] You should 'a seen the owld josser's feaches wnoy towld im.

1880, [George] Bernard Shaw, chapter X, in The Irrational Knot … Being the Second Novel of His Nonage, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1905, →OCLC, page 185:

Shure the Dog and the Cat both av thim was scairt, and the owld white-faced cow come a-runnin' an' jumped the bars to get aff av the road."

1917, Ernest Thompson Seton, Two Little Savages:


thort

"Who'd a thort there'd 've been any of the warmints about, whin we took sich pains with our fire.

Mayhap it wouldn't be right till take it from a sinner like me, but--I thort I'd like it, somehow,"--showing him the fly-leaf.

1862, Various, The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, Number 60, October 1862:

Off he goes, and the neks sean shows us the werry plaice, all filled with savidges, and demons, and snakes, and things; and presently, when Mr. Horfay is seen a cumming down, all the demons and savidges runs at him to stop him; but he holds up the Liar, and begins for to sing, and most bewtifully too, tho' I didn't kno the tune; they all makes way for him, and he gos bang into lots of big flames, and so I werry naterally thort as how it was all over.

1890, Various, Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 99., December 6, 1890:


thort

And he had jest the same helegant but simple lunch as before, with a bottle of the same splendid Champane, as before, and he didn't harf finish it, as before, and not a drop of what he left was wasted, as before; and so, when he paid me his little account, he arsked me if many of the werry bewtifool ladies, as I had told him of when he came larst, had been to the "Grand" lately, so the bold thort seized, me, and I says to him, "Yes, your ——, there's jest a nice few of 'em here now, and if you will kindly foller me up to our bewtifool Libery, and will keep your eyes quite wide open as you gos along, you will see jest about a hole room full of 'em."

1890, Various, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 99, July 19, 1890:

BROWN wound up the armony of our truly appy heavening by singing his new song of, "The LORD MARE leads a nappy life," and we sort our seweral nupshal couches as happy and contented a lot as his Lordship hisself, our werry larst drink all round being to the follering sentiment given out by me as the prowd Chairman: "May all the well to do in this grand old London of ours enjoy as merry a Crismus as we have enjoyed to-night, and may they all give a kind thort, and a liberal stump-up, to all the poor and needy who so badly wants it this bitter weather."

1891, Various, Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100., January 3, 1891.:

When we got to the Darby, in course our fust thort was lunch, but afore I coud get beyond laying the cloth, there came such a reglar buster of an ail storm that we was all drove hunder the homnibus for shelter, and when it leaved off, and I went on the roof, the table cloth was about three inches thick with round ale stones!

1891, Various, Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 100, June 6, 1891:


faix

(Ireland) Eye dialect spelling of fecks.


actially

Back-spelling of the reduced pronunciation of actually.

(nonstandard) Eye dialect spelling of actually.


methinx

Methinx that line in the sand has been drawn.

1997, Roger Waters, “VEWY VEWY QUIET IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH????”, in alt.fan.howard-stern (Usenet):

Just a suggestion, but I think that GNER do a very cheap rail ticket as long as you spend the Saturday night away from London ( damm good idea methinx! ).

1999, croft_house, “Exiles and the Borthdi Meet.”, in uk.local.geordie (Usenet):

(slang, nonstandard or humorous) Eye dialect spelling of methinks.


doosed

en-adv

doosed (comparative more doosed, superlative most doosed)

more doosed (comparative)
most doosed (superlative)

"Upon my word she's a doosed good-looking little thing," said Archie, coming up to him, after having also shaken hands with her; — "doosed good-looking, I call her."

c. 1867, Anthony Trollope, The Claverings:

I thought my nephew a fool ; I now know that he is a doosed sensible fellow, and the luckiest dog in Christendom — luckiest dog in Christendom, I declare.

1872, Laurence William M. Lockhart, Fair to see, page 149:

Accepted me, did she? Doosed awkward, that. I thought she had more sense.

1938, G.B. Lancaster (Edith Joan Lyttleton), Promenade, page 143:

(degree, dated) Eye dialect spelling of deuced.


mitey

He ain' got nuttin tall cep'n some mitey good nabors dat come by fer him ever day an' caird him up to lay him down by de back do' er dat air rich man, dat air Mr. Dives.

1909, Bruce M. Russett, John R. Oneal, Triangulating Peace: Democracy, Interdependence, and International Organizations, volume 10, page 238:

"I knowed your great-grandpaw mitey well, son, and your grandpaw and your own daddy.[…]"

1954, Charles Rice McDowell, The Iron Baby Angel, page 11:

They treats us mitey well and wants Amerikens to cum and settle among em.[…]They all talks so mitey funney.

1974, William Curtis Nunn, Escape from Reconstruction, page 67:


bloo

Another chap had got my jack-nife, and was amusin' hisself by slashin' holes in my bloo cotton umbreller, which two other Muskeeters had shoved up, and was a settin' under, engaged in tyin' my panterloon legs into hard nots.

1870, Various, Punchinello Vol. 1, No. 21, August 20, 1870:

"'That's whatever!' assents this marshal gent, 'an' you can gamble a bloo stack that hangin' you is a bet we ain't none likely to overlook.

The Consarvatives painted thurselves bloo, and the Radicals yaller, an' thay as danced the longest, the Roomans sent to Parlyment to rool the roost.

1918, J. Arthur Gibbs, A Cotswold Village:


bloo

I stayed there sicks years; from sicks, that is to say, till my twelth year, during three years of witch I distinguished myself not a little in the musicle way, for I bloo the bellus of the church horgin, and very fine tunes we played too.

1838, William Makepeace Thackeray, Memoirs of Mr. Charles J. Yellowplush:


thers

They've raised some fine buildings 'at's worth lookin at,-- They're a credit to th' city, thers noa daat o' that; But ther's nowt strikes a stranger soa mich as a seet O'th' craad 'at's i' Briggate at Setterdy neet.

Well, Miss Susan, thers plenty for you to eat and drink.

1905, George Bernard Shaw, The Irrational Knot:


admier

en-verb

admier (third-person singular simple present admiers, present participle admiering, simple past and past participle admiered)

admiers (present singular third-person)
admiering (participle present)
admiered (participle past)
admiered (past)


desier

en-noun

desier (countable and uncountable, plural desiers)


desier

en-verb

desier (third-person singular simple present desiers, present participle desiering, simple past and past participle desiered)

desiers (present singular third-person)
desiering (participle present)
desiered (participle past)
desiered (past)


eazy

en-adj

eazy (comparative eazier, superlative eaziest)

eazier (comparative)
eaziest (superlative)


eazily

en-adv

eazily (comparative more eazily, superlative most eazily)

more eazily (comparative)
most eazily (superlative)


praize

en-verb

praize (third-person singular simple present praizes, present participle praizing, simple past and past participle praized)

praizes (present singular third-person)
praizing (participle present)
praized (participle past)
praized (past)


likewize

The whole legiſlature likewize acts az a court for the trial of public delinquents.

1790, Noah Webster, A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings, pages 340–341:


sicc

en-adj

sicc (comparative more sicc, superlative most sicc)

more sicc (comparative)
most sicc (superlative)


cood

Dere Miss vilder and sermanthy. i herd you say i cood not stay here enny longer and other peeple sed nobuddy wood have me and what you sed about the home but as i do not like homes i am going to run away if its all the same to you.

1894, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Timothy's Quest:


somebuddy

(eye dialect) Eye dialect spelling of somebody.


langwidge

"Such langwidge," he says, "is unbecoming and beneath Me—leastways unless it is remembered in the wages."

1891, Punch, Vol. 101, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2004:

"Art thou weary, art thou langwidge?" he quoted after a reflective expectoration, which just missed my right foot.

1901, PT Ross, A Yeoman's Letters, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2009:

The soldiers thought they were spies. "As speaking the langwidge," I asked him what the matter was.

1915, Captain WHL Watson, Adventures of a Despatch Rider, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2005:

"Sich langwidge!" cried the girl, with a laugh, covering her ears with her palms.

1914 October – 1916 July, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published 31 October 1921, →OCLC:

Grandpa grunted—and belched again. "That old windbag! And his langwidge!"

1930, Roy Milton Iliff, In the Red, reprint edition, Kessinger, published 2005, →ISBN, page 99:

… the boy ran up on deck and went aft to the skipper and complained of Bill's langwidge.

2003, William Wymark Jacobs, Light Freights, Wildside Press LLC, →ISBN, page 25:

That is 19 pages, and let us say the longest poem in the English langwidge.

2005, James Edwin Miller, quoting Pound, 1922, T.S. Eliot: The Making of an American Poet, Penn State Press, →ISBN, page 389:

But Pitjantjatjara, although it has four declensions and four conjugations, is alleged to be the simplest of all the bloody Australoid langwidges.

2009 Jun/Jul, Gary Jennings, “Sooner or Later or Never Never”, in Fantasy & Science Fiction, volume 116, number 6/7, page 171:


ermahgerd

From a humorously altered pronunciation of oh my God. Popularized by an image macro meme in 2012, which features the text "ermahgerd, Gersberms" overlaid on a photo of a teenage girl making a silly face and holding several Goosebumps books. The girl in the photo has a visible orthodontic retainer. The pronunciation spelling is intended to mimic the speech of a wearer of this device.

PLUS (please brace yourselves, fangirls) he's coming to play at the Perth Arena in a few months – ermahgerd.

2012 October 24, “Livin' A Teenage Dream”, in X-Press Magazine, number 1341, page 11:

Here's a scary thought: I'm a Canadian citizen over 18 years of age and I have lived in Saskatoon for more than three months and in Saskatchewan for more than six months. What does this mean? I can run for mayor. Ermahgerd!

2012 October 25, Travis Homenuk, “Let's all run for mayor”, in The Sheaf, volume 104, number 8, University of Saskatchewan, page 16:

Is that an Alber Elbaz pink-bubblegum macaron you're eating? Ermahgerd! You are so last year.

2013 March 3, Robert Epstein, “Being Modern: Macarons”, in The Independent:

(slang, humorous or sarcastic) Alternative form of oh my God.


int'resting

int'resting (comparative more int'resting, superlative most int'resting)

more int'resting (comparative)
most int'resting (superlative)

/ˈɪntɹɛstɪŋ/


basterd

"You're tryin to be a slick basterd," Uncle Dudley said.

1975, Wright Morris, My Uncle Dudley, page 12:

"Aw, we got this basterd now!" said Lester.

1991, Richard Wright, "Big Boy Leaves Home", in Dorothy Abbott and Susan Koppelman, The Signet Classic Book of Southern Short Stories, page 238

"That was pure luck you little basterd." He said. "I told you before we played the game. I said you wasn't going to take my money you rotten little basterd."

2005, Bonnie Ramey Standridge, Death Surrounds Her, page 142:

Dennis warned, “A dunt want any fuckin' bloke in my 'ouse. That basterd Luke were a basterd 'e were, a basterd.”

2008, John Fox, A Colliers Daughter, page 254:

“Is your basterd acting like it's father?” Jay asked. “Don't call my baby a ...” I tried to tell her not to call my baby a basterd but the morning sickness was kicking my ass.

2010, Elaina Ryan, What Changed, page 172:


asshurance

en-noun

asshurance (countable and uncountable, plural asshurances)


shurely

en-adv

shurely (comparative more shurely, superlative most shurely)

more shurely (comparative)
most shurely (superlative)


inshure

en-verb

inshure (third-person singular simple present inshures, present participle inshuring, simple past and past participle inshured)

inshures (present singular third-person)
inshuring (participle present)
inshured (participle past)
inshured (past)


wimmen

"But women," I suggested, when he had finished proclaiming booze the sole end of existence.
 "Wimmen!" He thumped his pot upon the bar and orated eloquently. "Wimmen is a thing my edication 'as learnt me t' let alone."

1903, Jack London, The People of the Abyss:


ohmygod

“Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod! I can’t believe I’m going on a date with Chance Kain!”

2023, James L. Sutter, chapter 19, in Darkhearts, Andersen Press, →ISBN:


noze

(informal) Eye dialect spelling of nose.


odycolone

"All the Fifth Avenue folks had fountain attachments put on to their carriages, and sprinkled themselves with iced lavender water and odycolone as they drove along; and the bronze statue in Union Square melted and ran all over the lot."

1891, Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards, Hildegarde's Holiday, page 270:

...specially Frinch-min, in their way o' handlin' the poorest patients, shprinklin' 'em wid odycolone, an sich like smellable ristoratives...

17 August 1855, The Sydney Morning Herald, "TO MISTHER SHAKY HACKETT, OF THE CITY OF WATERFORD, IRELAND", page 2


laydee

Another A-list laydee who has graced Don Saladino’s books, as well as PT Ramona Braganza, who told WH, Anne Hathaway tones up with five days of one-hour workouts, gaining muscle weight for her role in The Last Thing He Wanted with intense HIIT sessions.

2023 June 5, Rebecca Gillam, “18 celebs who swear by weight training, from Adele to Millie Mackintosh & Frankie Bridge”, in Women's Health:


grassy arse

'Then what are we waiting for? Waiter, the bill?' 'Gracias, senor.' 'And grassy arse to you. Come on, let's go.'

1955, The London Magazine, volume 2, page 63:

(humorous) Eye dialect spelling of gracias.


sumthing

"Fool, you crazy or sumthing?"

2005, Dana Jamar Mask, Enter … Brotherhood (fiction), →ISBN, page 178:

just to clarify sumthing, i am not overwhelmingly good at math as u guys seem to be, so it may take me more time than u guys to understand sumthing …

2009, Gerry Stahl, Studying Virtual Math Teams, →ISBN, page 144:

… and sum-how that makes you feel good about yourself—as if you've accomplished sum-thing—as if you're worth sum-thing and not nothing.

2014, Darth Figpucker, evi1 - a novel about you (fiction):

… so that they can see if there might be sumthing wrong before they try to go thru the gate.

2015, LT Wolf, The World King (fiction), →ISBN:


sid'

"I know Aurelia if you don't," responded Miranda. "I 've seen her house, and I've seen that batch o' children, wearin' one another's clothes and never carin' whether they had 'em on right sid' out or not; I know what they've had to live and dress on, and so do you.

1903, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm:


fanteeg

"Well, well; I've seen a number o' fanteegs round these parts in my time, but in all ninety year I never heard such a dovercourt as there were over that teetotal meetin'. […]

1909, Arthur Morrison, Green Ginger, page 273:


yorself

“Welcum to McCaufreys, Billy Dean” he says. “Make yorself at home & hav a pie.”

2011, David Almond, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, Candlewick Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 121:


majick

Burger, though, is a discarder rather than a collector; what items there are have a personal or aesthetic appeal: a few bits of stone that look like a miniature segment of Stonehenge; a pack of Max Maven playing cards, named after a famous "mentalist," a good friend of Burger's; a couple of trick devices, including one shaped like a skull; and a few lavishly weird "bizarre majick" books, these the work of Tony Andruzzi, a local magician.

1988 November 4, Bill Wyman, “Do You Believe in Magic?”, in Chicago Reader:

Mica, Kai, and Matthias find themselves at the epicenter of miracles, strange majick, and disaster.

2011, David Scherer, Majicians' Journey: The Prophecy, →ISBN:


majick

When Dieter was far enough away from the house, he took out the majick fire light.

2011, Diana Winter, The Last Snow Dragon, →ISBN, page 41:


nev'r

(African-American Vernacular, dated) Eye dialect spelling of never.


wahter

en-noun

wahter (countable and uncountable, plural wahters)


sumbody

(African-American Vernacular) Eye dialect spelling of somebody.


somebudy

(dialectal) Eye dialect spelling of somebody.


anybudy

(dialectal) Eye dialect spelling of anybody.


som'

(African-American Vernacular) Eye dialect spelling of some.


nat'ral

en-adj

nat'ral (comparative more nat'ral, superlative most nat'ral)

more nat'ral (comparative)
most nat'ral (superlative)

(African-American Vernacular) Eye dialect spelling of natural.


sumwhere

(informal) Eye dialect spelling of somewhere.


guhrl

(nonstandard) Alternative spelling of girl


govermint

en-noun

govermint (countable and uncountable, plural govermints)


helluvalot

I think that, reduced to a very simple statement, it means a helluvalot to me whether Auschwitz actually happened or was simply imagined by someone.

1999, E. L. Doctorow, Christopher D. Morris, Conversations with E. L. Doctorow, page 29:

Struggling into a sitting position, I clamped both hands over my shredded thigh. There was a helluvalot of blood, but it was pouring, not pumping, which meant the bastard missed the artery.

Anderson: No matter how good you think you are, there's always somebody quicker, faster, and a helluva lot smarter than you just around the corner.

2013, BioWare, Mass Effect 3: Citadel (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Apartment:


wazn't

He wazn't about to leave.


of'en

en-adv

of'en (comparative more of'en, superlative most of'en)

more of'en (comparative)
most of'en (superlative)

(sometimes eye dialect) Pronunciation spelling of often.


cheezburger

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cheezburger.wav

(Internet slang) Eye dialect spelling of cheeseburger.


vaginer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-vaginer.wav

(vulgar, slang, nonstandard, in non-rhotic accents) Eye dialect spelling of vagina.


fucc

en-verb

fucc (third-person singular simple present fuccs, present participle fuccing, simple past and past participle fucced)

fuccs (present singular third-person)
fuccing (participle present)
fucced (participle past)
fucced (past)

(humorous, Internet slang) Eye dialect spelling of fuck.


brawt

"Ware in all the wide wurld was a man, and has bin ni to death's dore, evvur brawt bak to life to be so insulted in his own house."

1883, “Journal of a Yankee Girl: A Nawty-Biography”, in The Tatler, volume 1, page 147:

"The young man belonged to 1 of the first famerlies in Utiky. I sood him, and the Joory brawt in a verdick of Arson in the 3rd degree."

1918, James Ford Rhodes, History of the Civil War, 1861-1865, page 259:

When he said wuz h'any h'aggressive weapon brawt into play? I burst out laughing and my mother said I should excuse myself.

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, page 29:

"I did a lot of stealin' in my time, but I never hurt nobody. I never should hav brawt the gun. Sorry."

2014, Kevin J. Ryan, Thinning the Herd, page 285:


lissen

lissen (third-person singular simple present lissens, present participle lissening, simple past and past participle lissened)

lissens (present singular third-person)
lissening (participle present)
lissened (participle past)
lissened (past)


back atcha

"You drive me crazy," she said flatly. "Back atcha, my sistah," I said with a laugh, then changed the subject.

2007, Victoria Laurie, Crime Seen: A Psychic Eye Mystery, page 109:

“Or how about . . .Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got FINE written all over you.” Back atcha, gorgeous.

2014, Candis Terry, Something Sweeter, →ISBN:

“Back atcha, mister,” I say, holding my hand over my eyes to block out the sun.

2016, Alecia Whitaker, The Way Back Home, →ISBN:


God-a-mercy

Content thee, tis no matter, and Iacke Strawe godamercie,
Herein thou haſt done good ſeruice to thy country:
VVere all inhumaine ſlaues ſo ſerued as he,
England would be ciuill, and from all ſuch dealings free.

1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], Act I:

Baſt[ard]. A foot of Honor better then I was,
But many a many foot of Land the worſe.
Well, now can I make any Ioane a Lady,
Good den Sir Richard, Godamercy fellow,
And if his name be George, Ile call him Peter;
For new made honor doth forget mens names: […]

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 2:

(obsolete) Eye dialect spelling of God have mercy: an exclamation of dismay or of relief.


folx

Variant of folks. While the word was already gender-neutral, the suffix -x is a deliberate social signal of awareness of sexual minorities. Compare English Latinx.

I presume yoᵣ lo. will fynde to be very stronge besides the qualitie of the peticonars to be lookte vppon, whoe if they be noe other then as folx [also fox] is stilde mear mariners, it cannot promise muche of their extraordinarie performancis, as hath bin made appeare formerlye in this perticuler designe, [...]

G. T. C[lark], R. O. J. (1862 July 2) “Some Account of the Parishes of St. Nicholas and St. Lythan (continued)”, in Archaeologia Cambrensis, number xxxi, London, page 192

De kommitte told me dere wus a great gedderin ob de culored folx at Brudder Jonson's Eatin House, [...]

1857, Julius Caesar Hannibal, Black Diamonds, Or, Humor, Satire, and Sentiment, page 183:

If some do, da hypocrites, and dat don't militate 'gains de siety; for cause da some hypocrites, dat proves dat some good folx.

1879, M. Star, in The American Temperance Cyclopaedia of History (Joseph Beaumont Wakeley), page 185, ostensibly quoting one Missa Param

Eye dialect spelling of folks, representing African-American Vernacular English.


coff

coff (third-person singular simple present coffs, present participle coffing, simple past and past participle coffed)

coffs (present singular third-person)
coffing (participle present)
coffed (participle past)
coffed (past)

that mothah as often as fambly prayers were said mawnins as the years went by, would wrap her nice, clean tow apron about her boy, as she coffed and choked and pressed her baby to her soah side

1903, Josiah Marshall, “Melissy and tha chillens”, in W.H. Emerson, editor, Tha Ole Watah Mill and Melissy And Tha Chillens, page 111:


doodz

eye dialect spelling of dudes; plural of dood


wun

He, that would write exactly, muſt avoid a Barbarous Pronunciation, and conſider for facility, or thorow miſtake, many words are not ſounded after the beſt dialect. Such as […] Wun, one.

[1687, Chriſtopher Cooper, “Chap. XIX: Of Barbarous Speaking”, in The Engliſh Teacher, London: John Richardſon, for the Author, pages 77-78; republished Menston: Scolar Press, 1969:


sonuvvabitch

My lieutenant was my bitterest opponent. "A queer's a queer," he insisted. "Christ, they’re no damn good, any of ’em. You know that. Why waste sympathy on the faggoty sonuvvabitch?"

1959 February, Didgeon, “Arrow in the Air”, in Mattachine Review, San Francisco: Mattachine Society, →ISSN, page 6:

(slang, eye dialect) Alternative spelling of son of a bitch


boutcha

(informal) Eye dialect spelling of about you.


kanoko

Eye dialect spelling of kanaka. Romanization of ꦏꦤꦏ


akshly

Akshly, I've been here for an hour — not that I wanted to disturb you, dear, but I thought if you weren't awfly busy right at the moment since I was...

1969, Lawrence O'Sullivan, The Miscreant, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, page 187:

Akshly ... um yeah. If there's one there, for whatever reason, it'll use it. If not, ya make one.

2001 February 3, Steve Rindsberg, “Templates”, in microsoft.public.powerpoint:

But when you told me about your JR and that harassment case, I knew that name rang a bell, akshly, tooted a bloody great hooter[…]

30 June 2011, Imogen De La Bere, Understanding Of Jenner Ransfield, Random House, →ISBN, page 94:


ackshully

But on a What does he do, but goes and buys a washin'-machine and sends it home, and ackshully the lite left me eyes when he tould me that with it[…]

1874 December 26, “Corney Cluskey's Calamities”, in The Shamrock, volume 12, number 428, Irish National Newspaper and Publishing Company, Limited, page 195:

But on a winding road it wasn't no manner o'good, I declare, They was onto, an'over you, before ackshully you knew they was there.

1914, Charles G. Harper, The Kentish Coast, Good Press, page 129:

It was, therefore, a relief when Erin almost light-heartedly announced: “I don't ackshully know the way from here to Marksty-thing-something, er, where is it you ackshully live?”

2020, George Lambelle, Call Me Stranger, Balboa Press UK, →ISBN, page 82:


ackshually

To shaw 'e, neighbours, just the man he is, I may tell 'e that a larnèd piece like Martin Grimbal ackshually comed all the way to Newtake[…]

1898, Eden Phillpotts, “The Zeal of Sam Bonus”, in Children of the Mist, G. P. Putnam's Sons, published 1889, page 207:

Ackshually, Ontario Hydro, per se, no longer exists. The Provincial Crown authority was split up a few years back.

2005 December 15, Nobody, “Denver light rail to open early”, in misc.transport.urban-transit:

Says solemnly, 'ack-shually – that'd be really fun, because, ackshually – there hasn't been anyone to take me for a while'

2013 April 2, Wendy James, The Steele Diaries, Pan Macmillan Australia, →ISBN, page 185:


ackshly

I've heerd say, by gents who were at Cambridg College, that his love for the young fellers was ackshly affecting to see[…]

1847, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Mr. Jeames' Sentiments on the Cambridge Election”, in The Complete Works of William Makepeace Thackeray, volume XXI, Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, published 1889, page 222:

Ackshly, it already exists, so you can't :-) You'd still need your two nameservers...

1995 December 30, Marcus Bainbridge, “InterNIC has bounced my .COM registration - Help needed!”, in demon.ip.www:

“You write it for me then.” He stopped his pacing. “Ackshly, that's not a bad idea.” “I can't come into the room with you. Exam conditions."

2017 April 27, Kate Dunn, chapter 24, in The Dragonfly, Aurora Metro Books, →ISBN, page 184:


akshully

And then the amazin thing about it was, Jess, that the preecher akshully peered to bleeve his own dockturn, and put it into praktiss[…]

1892, Elijah P. Brown, chapter IV, in Blasts from a Ram's Horn: Meetin Matters on the Ciderville Sirkut - Sayings, Sermons, and Lectures, Eaton & Mains, page 119:

Can you believe that Knopf akshully is publishing a book/screenplay on Walter Winchell, the gossiper of the 1930s? They are.

1989, West Coast Review of Books, Rapport Publishing Company, page 19:

They didn't akshully go that way, but Finnen thought they had.” Diffi Maffin frowned, and the many lines of her face crinkled and spread over her features like ripples expanding across a pool.

2012 December 11, Robin Jarvis, Thorn Ogres of Hagwood, Open Road Media, →ISBN, page 217:


ten-shun

Company, 'ten-shun—(More violently.) 'ten-shun, please... (He draws himself up exaggeratedly.) Stand straight, like soldiers!

1946, Harry Lester Baum, Prelude to Victory: A Masonic Play:

(US, military) Used to bring a marching band or group of soldiers to attention.


at-ten-shun

Respelling of attention to show the stress pattern.

"At-ten-shun !" commanded he, with that peculiar inflexion only attainable after considerable service.

1906, Joseph Edgar Crowell, The Young Volunteer: The Everyday Experiences of a Soldier Boy in the Civil War:

At-ten-SHUN! ¶ The United States Marine Corps wants your children.

2003, “Family Fare”, in The New York Times:


naansense

The officer asked him, 'Have you rounded everyone up?' 'No sir. There was only this one fellow here.' 'Naansense! Four of them were together in this!'

2016 March 2, Ashokamitran, translated by N. Kalyan Raman, Still Bleeding from the Wound, 9789385890833, →ISBN, page 128:

... Be quiet I say all you buggers, naansense I say!” shouted the teacher, eliciting more of the laughter. The months of[…]

2021 June 21, Abhishek Talwar, Chronicles of a Wanderer: Adesh Dhamija’s search for himself, Notion Press, →ISBN:

... What is this naansense? Stop that and get off the bus, I say!' The gang loves it.

2016 June 17, Kavitha Mandana, Trapped, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

(South India) Eye dialect spelling of nonsense.


choklit

en-noun

choklit (countable and uncountable, plural choklits)


noosance

Respelling representing the pronunciation of nuisance in an accent with yod dropping; for speakers with this kind of accent (such as the majority of American English speakers), this spelling would constitute eye dialect since it is identical to their pronunciation of the standard spelling.


dooce

Respelling representing the pronunciation of deuce in an accent with yod dropping; for speakers with this kind of accent (such as the majority of American English speakers), this spelling would constitute eye dialect since it is identical to their pronunciation of the standard spelling.


lisen

en-verb

lisen (third-person singular simple present lisens, present participle lisening, simple past and past participle lisened)

lisens (present singular third-person)
lisening (participle present)
lisened (participle past)
lisened (past)


doose

What the doose is the matter?

1860, Henry Kingsley, The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn, page 27:


chorizzo

en-noun

chorizzo (countable and uncountable, plural chorizzos)

Another example is the spicy Spanish sausage chorizo. In Spanish the -izo part can be pronounced ‘ee-so’ or ‘ee-tho’. But very often in English what you hear is the Italianate ‘cho-reet-so’, with the z pronounced like the double z of pizza. As you’d expect, you find spellings based on that pronunciation: choritso and chorizzo. Pronouncing a Spanish loan word in an Italian way is one of the many quirks of English.

2009 July 23, Jeremy Butterfield, Damp Squid: The English Language Laid Bare, page 57:


forgeddit

(informal) Eye dialect spelling of forget it.


road dawg

Eye dialect spelling of road dog (“a trusted friend”).


deepo

"This is the nucleus, the nucleus," said the Colonel, unrolling his map. "Here is the deepo, the church, the City Hall and so on."

1873, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], Charles Dudley Warner, chapter XX, in The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-day, Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company, published 1874, →OCLC, page 190:

You'll find it so in every place. Sometimes it's water, sometimes it's a car track, and sometimes a deepo, but it's always there, though more'n likely there ain't no real line exceptin' the one what's drawn in folks' fool heads.

1904, Myrtle Reed, chapter VII, in The Master's Violin, New York, N.Y, London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, published 1911, page 92:

Then I put him on leash, and the two of us walked around and around that great granite temple of travel. It's the Parthenon of transportation. Marge; imagine my eyes for it after nineteen years of eye-feast on our "deepo!"

1916 May, Clarie Marchand, “The Saleslady”, in Photoplay, volume IX, number 6, Chicago, I.L.: Photoplay Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 96:

Every day the trains disgorged their multitude of bewildered boys and girls, men and women, sick in their souls of cows and corn and spaces, into the iron "deepos" from which a trolley car, harassed by its curves, would carry them into a new life, for better or worse.

1940, Roger Burlingame, Engines of Democracy: Inventions and Society in Mature America, New York, N.Y., London: Charles Scribner's Sons, pages 399–400:

Therefore, the deepo was our leading social center. No one came into or left town unnoticed; he or she was sure to be seen boarding or leaving the train.

1953, Benjamin A[lbert] B[otkin], Alvin F[ay] Harlow, editors, A Treasury of Railroad Folklore: The Stories, Tall Tales, Traditions, Ballads, and Songs of the American Railroad Man, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, Inc., page 184:


chocklit

chocklit (countable and uncountable, plural chocklits)


woat

Eye dialect spelling of what. Alternative form of wot, wut


doobious

en-adj

doobious (comparative more doobious, superlative most doobious)

more doobious (comparative)
most doobious (superlative)

Well, Jim, far be it from me, an' me your brother, to go avouchin' views to make you feel doobious of your choice. But candor's got the drop on me an' compels me to speak my thoughts.

1902, Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville Days, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, page 46:


lis'en

en-verb

lis'en (third-person singular simple present lis'ens, present participle lis'ening, simple past and past participle lis'ened)

lis'ens (present singular third-person)
lis'ening (participle present)
lis'ened (participle past)
lis'ened (past)


grachki

Grachki (grach’-key) as in, “Yo, Theresa, waja do wit da grachki? Howmy supposta cut da grass if I can’t git intada grach?”

1997 January 30, Mike Royko, “Words Just Escape Ya When Dealing with Chicagonics”, in Chicago Tribune:

(slang, Chicago) Eye dialect spelling of garage key.


Toorkey

"Ye've bin in Toorkey, han't ye?" inquired a fisherman.

2014 March 13, Robert Michael Ballantyne, Delphi Complete Works of R. M. Ballantyne (Illustrated) (Series Four), Delphi Classics: