In October I visited the Flying Monkey (restaurant and renovated movie theater -- very cool) in downtown Plymouth. There I met Melissa Greenawalit-Yelle, who kindly sent me some of her favorite Yankee stories.
Among them:
Yankees are precise in their language -- some might say literal. Melissa writes, "I asked a farmer, Bob, in Campton how long he’d been sugaring. He said, 'You’re asking how long I’ve been doing this? Or my family? I’m the fifth generation, if that’s what you’re asking.'"
Bob recounted for Melissa the story of the couple from away who stopped at the sap house. The woman asked: “What are the cows for?”
Bob said: “They’re field ornaments. They just stand there.”
Bob’s take on proper terminology: “Just don’t call it a sugar shack. It’s not a sugar shack; it’s a saphouse. When I hear sugar shack, I think of down Cuba. Some guy called it a sugar shack, I give it to him two ways.”
Give it to him two ways -- there’s an expression for the next edition of Headin’ for the Rhubarb: A New Hampshire Dictionary (well, kinda).
Among them:
Yankees are precise in their language -- some might say literal. Melissa writes, "I asked a farmer, Bob, in Campton how long he’d been sugaring. He said, 'You’re asking how long I’ve been doing this? Or my family? I’m the fifth generation, if that’s what you’re asking.'"
Bob recounted for Melissa the story of the couple from away who stopped at the sap house. The woman asked: “What are the cows for?”
Bob said: “They’re field ornaments. They just stand there.”
Bob’s take on proper terminology: “Just don’t call it a sugar shack. It’s not a sugar shack; it’s a saphouse. When I hear sugar shack, I think of down Cuba. Some guy called it a sugar shack, I give it to him two ways.”
Give it to him two ways -- there’s an expression for the next edition of Headin’ for the Rhubarb: A New Hampshire Dictionary (well, kinda).
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