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Long, involved journey to something. Usually referring to someone giving a lengthy, involved and probably unnecessary explanation, usually Jim. |
| Trade (x) for a dog and shoot the dog. | Whatever (x) is, it's pretty worthless. Sometimes used in reference to a person, or the way you're feeling (tired, wiped out), which is where the person would say 'You might as well trade me for a dog and shoot the dog.' |
| Good as a Sabre Room Christmas | Horrifically bad and tacky to the extreme. Refers to a Christmas Party at Susan's old office that was all that and more. |
| Eat it, Jule. Our boys like it. | Refers to something blazingly inedible. Reference is a family joke about a great-aunt's miserable cooking. The 'Jule' in question is a maternal great-grandfather of Jim's (Julian Gaible). |
| In the direction of... | To the purpose of... |
| Hotter/Colder than billybedamned | Very hot/cold. |
| Briar | Kentuckian specifically, subset of 'hillbilly'. Moderately derogatory, can be used interchangably with 'hillbilly' in most cases, but really means the more restricted area of the Easter hill country of Kentucky. |
| (about to eat a) Moron Burger | Long vanished diner (Morgan House) near Dayton used to serve a very large pie-sized hamburger (served sliced like a pie) for 99 cents - you were a moron if you were going to try to eat the whole thing yourself. Generally refers to someone foolishly trying to be a glutton. |
| Goin' down (up) the pike. | Taking a medium longish trip. |
| 5th and Ludlow | Notorious red-light district in Dayton, Ohio. |
| Eyetracks | Mythical tracks made by a reader's eyes as they read a page. Usually joking reference to someone 'leaving eyetracks' over something being read intently. |
| Happened to me in a previous existence. | Jim uses this to refer to something that happened to him during a previous marriage without mentioning the person's name. Susan knows this as a polite way to address the topic in public. |
| Ursine | Jim's 'totem animal', the bear. Specifically, a Kodiak. Refers to his size, furriness and demeanor. |
| Marmot | Susan's 'totem animal', more specifically a groundhog or woodchuck. Susan's birthday is Groundhog Day, and allegedly she has many similar characteristics to the critter. Derivant for Marmot(whatever). |
| Marmotage | Wherever Jim and Susan live. |
| P.O.D. | POINT OF DIVERGENCE, the APA Jim founded and runs for alternate history enthusiasts. |
| R-I-T-T-E-N-H-O-U-S-E (sung to the Mickey Mouse Club tune) | Mnemonic employed since Jim was small to get *other* people to spell his last name correctly. Usually breaks the hearer up. But they remember. (Doesn't work well on people born since 1975 who aren't used to the song.) |
| Chinese Secret Agent | Meredith's 'profession' as a preschooler. Her Chinese passport gave it as 'underage'. |
| Bundren | Communal name for Susan's high school friends (and former teacher). Comes from a Faulkner novel (As I Lay Dying) that they were all given by the teacher as a class project. |
| doppus | term of admonishment for someone who has dripped food on their clothes while eating. Comes from Jim's Mom's family, who were mostly low-German types; it's been noted by readers of this website as a rare family term that was used in their (Dutch/German) family. |
| West River | the area of South Dakota west of the Missouri River; dry high plains, badlands and few people. Very conservative. |
| the Hills | the Black Hills of South Dakota. |
| East River | similar to 'West River' - applies to the prarie farming area of Eastern South Dakota. Greener, more people. |
| so....... | well...um...uhuh....um.... (Fargoese) |
| you betcha | Absolutely; used ironically in imitation of Scandahoovian-descent Upper midwesterners. |
| Fargoese | Jim's term for various phrasing, tones and figures of speech used by Scandahoovian-descent Upper Midwesterners. Made famous in the movie FARGO, where everyone talks like that. |
| Cincinnati-style chili | Uses cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, and no chili powder or cumin. Spicy without being hot. Served over spaghetti pasta with the beans cooked in the sauce; often called '4 way' or '5 way' chili, depending on the toppings used (shredded cheese, finely chopped onions, sour cream). First set to table in Greek greasy spoons in Cincinnati in the early 1900s, and a great favorite of the area. Texans say this ain't chili, it's a bizzare form of spaghetti. Jim says that Texans can bite him, hard. |
| wormville | kid expression of Jim's referring to what you find under a rock. |
| WS | Weirdo Shit. Refers specifically to anything in the occult, psychic or esoteric religious area, but can be extended to anything that Bubba and the boys at Lem's Gas-n-Stop would consider too weird to touch. Usually used ironically, orginates with Jim's dad. |
| twilight zone | distant city lights seen far off in the inky darkness, reminiscent of the opening titles of the TV show, from Jim's childhood. |
| Thursdays | defunct Chicago open floating house party for fans; died out around 1990 after about fifteen years of existance when too many fans moved out of town and too few were willing to host an open party. |
| underwear dance | to be so wrapped up in self-upset and internal procrastination that all you can do is to stay home and run around in your underwear all day without actually doing anything. (cf. Rich Rostrom) |
| can't find their balls with both hands if their underwear were on fire | utterly incompetent and clueless idiots. |
| thump-thump | someone so arrogant but unable to communicate that they try to put forward wordless commands with a double stomp and a pointing finger. (cf Deirdre Murphy) |
| radicals | old term for a group of extreme and raucous libertarians who faced-off with Jim for control of APA-69 in the legendary APA-69 wars in the mid 1980s. They lost. |
| APA-69 | Now-defunct APA that discussed sex and relationships; died out around 1998. Jim was OE of this for ten years (1985-1995). |
| APA-69 wars | Major fight in APA-69 (1985-6) for control of the apa, which ended in one side (the radicals) either being thrown out (for outrageous behaviour) or leaving. |
| Arcade | old enclosed shopping area in downtown Dayton that consisted of many small counter/stall businesses; Jim's family ran a food shop in here before World War II, and a huge picture of his grandmother and grandfather was posted in the center court in a revival of it in the 1980s. Since then, the revival went bust and the building has remained (unfortunately) vacant. Has great sentimental cachet in Jim's Mom's family. |
| FRY! | eager cry of Meredith's when she sees her favorite food. (circa her second birthday) |
| on top of the television | response to a endlessly repetitive question, silly way to say 'shut up with the dumb questions.' Originated from Meredith asking where something was and having to be reminded about it every time she asked (about every five minutes). Also where the penguin sets (cf. Monty Python). |