Over the past few weeks I've mentioned several Ocracoke Island words and expressions dealing with illness. You may remember "collamaugus" and "collabogus." Then there was "quamished to the gut."In the past I have commented on "doasted" (as in "I'm doasted right") which comes from the word "dose" (as in "I've got a dose of the flu").
Here are a few more island expressions dealing with being sick: "You've caught that cough what killed Kermit's dog." "She's got the Patsy Lab." "Everyone down point's got the zeezes."
If you ever hear any of these comments you know there's an Ococker nearby!
Our latest Ocracoke Newsletter is a list of traditional island remedies. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news032111.htm.
Always thought/heard it as "Patsy Lauw" Don't know how to spell it, but it rhymes with wow, now, how.
ReplyDeleteDifferent folks pronounce it in different ways (maybe this too is a Down Point/Around Creek thing). Nobody seems to know how to spell it...or its origin. Maybe one of our readers knows.
ReplyDeleteZeezes?
ReplyDeletePatsy Lab?
All right, Philip, now you're just puttin' us on.
You've run out of REAL Ocracoke stories, and you've resorted to makin' stuff up.
Keep it up, and I might have to wish for you a case of what my dad used to call the flying cowboys.
;-)
An onion poltice on the chest, and whiskey & honey was always perscribed by my long-deceased Irish grandmother. This should take care of the above illness's.
ReplyDeleteWould any of the illness be connected to sea sickness. Bad sea food? On the subject of sea sickness is there a general rule of thumb when boating a) if in a charter boat you slow to make no wake when smaller boats such as a starcraft are nearby in the water B) if you are in a starcraft you avoid waters populated by big charter boats because yu know they don't care you are in a smaller boat. C) has the brotherly love of fellow boaters been missplaced, never existed or grown in expotentially to the size of the boat?
ReplyDeleteThe expressions are not about specific illnesses. They are general terms.
ReplyDeleteThere's no telling what operators of large power boats are thinking when they pass smaller boats.