say like the Cape Coddahs say

I grew up on Cape Cod, which is the easternmost land mass of the United States, a sand spit jutting out into the Atlantic. Technically it’s a peninsula, but a human-made canal makes it essentially an island. Like an island, it maintains an identity, culture, and dialect distinct from those on the mainland.


Some Cape Cod colloquialisms:

The rooftop porches on the old sea captains’ houses along Main Street, from whence one might anxiously watch for a ship to come into harbor, are called widows’ walks or widows’ watches.

Liquor stores, which like gas stations function as neighborhood community centers, are known as package stores or packies.

Chocolate sprinkles for your ice cream are called jimmies. Some say this is a racist reference (on the assumption that it dates from Jim Crow laws); others say it comes to us from the English slang “jim-jams”, meaning “trifles” or “knickknacks”. But there's no concrete evidence either way, so call them whatever you want.

A milkshake just means milk blended with something tasty. It doesn’t usually include ice cream.

Tonic means soda.

Wicked is an adverb: “That girl is wicked nice.” “Summer people are all wicked rich.”

Locals or year-rounders are permanent residents. Summer people spend Memorial Day through Labor Day there; they usually own property. Tourists are simply on vacation.

Eliminate prepositions such as in and on: “Down the cellar.” “Up the Cape.”


Accents: Take the Rs off the end of your words, add them to words ending in vowels, and you’re halfway there. You now drive around in a cah looking for beeah with Johanner. Cold, wet days are “rar.”




and now the sea shanty:


Cape Cod girls don’t got no combs
Heave away, haul away
They comb their hair with codfish bones
Heave away, haul away


Heave away me bonny bonny boys
Heave away, heave away
Heave away and don’t you make a noise
For we’re bound for Australia