What're Words For....part 4....

This week's phrase is one I was using even as a kid, and usually did not get in trouble for it. And by usually I mean, everyone but my Mom would let me say it.

Phrase: Ho-ah, son of a (N., phrase) [sp. "whore, son of a"] (Can also be pronounced "hoore", depending on locality. See below.)
Definition: As used in New England, this phrase demands explication. Elsewhere in the United States, it may be considered very vulgar, but the farther north you go in Yankee country, the less offensive becomes the epithet. This translation culminates in Aroostook County, Maine - known in the state as "The County" - where the expression has become innocuous and in speech, is as common as a conjuction.

In "The County" (Aroostook County, Maine's largest and Northernmost county) any male from the age of ten on must say "son of a ho-ah" at least a couple dozen times a day - often many more. If he's a true son, he comes down hard on the "r", since Aroostookers have the distinction, in the New England region where the letter is often ignored, of rolling their "r"'s. He will modify the phrase from time to time with the unblasphemous adjectives "jeezly" or "jeezless" for variety.

"Son of a ho-ah" is an all-purpose phrase in The County. Balky canoes or potato harvesters that keep breaking down are "sons of ho-ahs", but so is a canoe that runs straight and a harvester that works without a hitch. A good-sized deer is a "son of a ho-ah", and so is a small one. A close friend is thus termed, as is one's sworn enemy. A predicament is a "son of a ho-ah", but so is good fortune. Paper companies are "jeezly sons of ho-ahs", as are environmentalists. The B&A Railroad, the Governor, your favorite uncle: "sons of ho-ahs" all. Even women are "sons of ho-ahs!" No offense intended.

(Definition from: "How To Talk Yankee", by Gerald Lewis & Tim Sample, copyright 1979, 1986 by The Thorndike Press; copyright 1989 by the First North Country Press)

So there you have it, chummy....you son of a ho-ah!