An item two weeks ago was about the word antigodlin. It means lopsided, at an angle or out of alignment. A reader had used it to describe a pickup with a load just short of toppling. It is mostly Western and Southern dialect.
Dictionaries list antigoglin as a variation. Beverlye Hancock of Winston-Salem has sent in another variation, not listed in my dictionaries. She wrote:
"I read the discussion of antigodlin with casual interest until I realized I had grown up with my parents' Georgia version of this word. Our family referred to anything lopsided as scigodlin. I use this myself and always assumed that everyone else uses it and knows what I am talking about. Now I am not so sure."
Bernard Appleton of Clemmons has cited another word that has a regional usage that some people may not be familiar with. He wrote:
"When I was growing up in northeast Pennsylvania in the '30s and '40s, a green pepper was called a mango. I never saw a true mango until the '50s, after leaving the area. Are you aware of any other region of the country where this mislabeling may have occurred?"
This is my first encounter with this usage. I have learned that it occurs or has occurred in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois and Missouri. Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary says that it is a Midland usage, mostly in the Ohio Valley.
One plausible explanation of the usage is this: Mangos (the real thing) that were imported into the American colonies were from the East Indies. Transport was slow. Refrigeration was not available, so the mangos were pickled for shipment.
Because of that, people began referring to any pickled vegetable or fruit as a mango. A 1699 cookbook refers to "a mango of cucumbers" and "mango of walnuts." And it came to pass that anything that could be pickled was a mango.
One of the most popular dishes was bell peppers stuffed with spiced cabbage and pickled. The dish became so popular that bell peppers, pickled or not, became known as mangos. In the early 18th century, mango became a verb meaning to pickle.
Speaking of dishes, a Mount Airy reader has commented about varying references to barbecue (or barbeque). He wrote:
"It still grates on my Southern ear to hear the word used as a verb or noun when describing the outdoor grilling of hamburgers and hot dogs. The noun by itself brings to my mind the delicious slow-cooked pork that most of us love, eastern style or Lexington style."
Dictionaries lend little support to this "Southern ear" view of what barbecue is. Random House Webster's says that barbecue consists of "pieces of beef, fowl, fish, or the like, roasted over an open hearth, especially when basted with barbecue sauce." Notice that pork is not mentioned, except by implication in "or the like."
It also says that barbecue as a noun can mean the cooking apparatus, such as a grill for cooking meat or vegetables over an open fire; a dressed animal roasted whole; or a meal at which meats are roasted over an open fire. (I wonder: In the Christmas carol, do chestnuts roasting on an open fire constitute barbecue?)
As a verb, it can be either transitive -- "Let's barbecue some spare ribs for supper"; or intransitive -- "Instead of heating up the kitchen, let's barbecue on the patio tonight."
The dictionary traces the origin of the word barbecue to the mid-17th century. It derives from the Spanish barbacoa, borrowed from the Arawak/Taino Indian word barbacoa, a raised frame of sticks.
Of the two most frequent spellings -- barbecue and barbeque -- the most logical one is barbecue, given its derivation. I like barbecue, but I am not likely to stop at any restaurant with a sign spelling it bar-b-que.
Richard Creed is a retired Journal editor. He can be reached at richcreed@triad.rr.com.
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