Old West Words and Phrases

[Silver Creek Slim]

My turn:

soogun

twister (ain't no tur'nader)

4 in hand

wasp nest bread (wild life fer Russ T)

Celestial

firkin

Kansas City Trout (more wildlife)

prairie coal

Soogun - Towel in Korean 
Celestial - heavenly, angelic
firkin - wooden barrel

Slim

[Russ T Chambers]

wasp nest bread (wild life fer Russ T)
   A dry light bread popular down south?   Haven't the foggiest what went into it, but I be Del does.

[Delmonico]

Slim:  Soogun:  might be a towel in Korea, but we ain't in Korea.  Might make some Kim Chee sometime, but I learned that from a Celestial who had spent time in Chosin, could make a firkin of it though.

Soogun is a cowboys bedroll, his house so to speak.

Celestial is someone from China cause it was called the Celestial Kingdom.

Firkin is a small wooden barrel of used ta ship butter in and often used by cosinero's for sourdough.
A true firkin is also a measure 1/4 barrel or 7 5/8 gallon, but any small barrel is often called a firkin.

Course Chosin is the old name for Korea.


Russ T. Ya might have me on this one, I know wasp nest bread as a cowboy term for white bread raised with good store bought yeast, light and full of air like a wasp nest.  Sourdough bread made with out addin' yeast (the yuppie way, sourdough in name only) is a heavier product and so more fillin'.

[Russ T Chambers]

Might a twister be a batch of dried tobacco twisted or braided for easy transport?  Or possibly one of those nice lookin' little cheroot's so loved by the Man wit No Name?  Just guessin' on this one, as it ain't widlife.

[Delmonico]

Tha chaw is twist not twister, hint it kinda has ta do with wildlife.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Gospel sharp

Put a spoke in the wheel

Grass widow

Game

[Russ T Chambers]

Tha chaw is twist not twister, hint it kinda has ta do with wildlife.

Would we be talkin' wildlife of the reptilian variety?  Possibly another name for a sidewinder?

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

The "twitch", sometimes confused with the "ghost cord", was entirely different.  It was a small loop of cord with a stick through it and was used to punish a leld horsse by placing the loop aroung the horse's upper lip and twisting the stick.  It was frequently called a "twister".

[Russ T Chambers]

Gospel sharp

Put a spoke in the wheel

Grass widow

Game

Gospel sharp      Good as gold, true?

Grass widow      a woman whose husband just disappeared on her?

Game         ready for what's comin'?

[Delmonico]

Russ T.  Nope!

A Grass Widow is not really a widow, but has been put out ta pasture while her husband is away workin' fer a long period of time.  Come from the Alps region of Europe, herders took the sheep and goats up to the high medows to find good grass in summer.  Savin' the lower grass for hayin' for the winter.

[Delmonico]

Dern it's hard ta post here with all the mouse clickin' goin' on.

so close Capt. and another double meanin'  the twister could use a twister ta get them wild horse's ready fer the cattle drive. 

[Silver Creek Slim]

Put a spoke in the wheel - to put a stick between the spokes of a wheel thereby stopping wheel from turning

Grass widow - sodbusters wife?

Game - ready and willing to do something. I am game.

Slim

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Dern it's hard ta post here with all the mouse clickin' goin' on.

so close Capt. and another double meanin'  the twister could use a twister ta get them wild horse's ready fer the cattle drive. 

Must also mean "bronc buster"?

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Russ T.  Nope!

A Grass Widow is not really a widow, but has been put out ta pasture while her husband is away workin' fer a long period of time.  Come from the Alps region of Europe, herders took the sheep and goats up to the high medows to find good grass in summer.  Savin' the lower grass for hayin' for the winter.

My original "grass widow" post was based on the definition being "a divorcee".  Check out this site http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gra1.htm and you tell me what grass widow means.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

I can only type so fast with one finger, and can't keep up with the flurry of responses that have just come in, so here are the answers that I had for the last four words/phrases that I posted:

Gospel sharp ~ a preacher. (Apparent opposite of a card sharp!)

Put a spoke in the wheel ~ to foul up or sabotage something.

Grass widow ~ divorcee

Game ~ to have courage, guts, gumption. "He's game as a banty rooster." Or, "That's a hard way to go, but he died game."

Congratulations to all you rapid typers who got the right answers.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Slim

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Dern it's hard ta post here with all the mouse clickin' goin' on.

so close Capt. and another double meanin'  the twister could use a twister ta get them wild horse's ready fer the cattle drive. 

Del,  You really know how to hurt a feller.  Here I went and dug out my dogeared copy of Ramon F. Adams' book Cowboy Lingo, A Dictionary of the Slack-Jaw Words and Whangdoodle Ways of the American West, and came up with a response to your "Twister" post THE OLD FASHION WAY, and here you go and 'cuse me of "mouse clickin' or some sech low-down soundin' thing.  How can I face the resta the pards after gettin' dressed down like that?

[Delmonico]

Must be the day for woords a many meanings, yep a bronc twister.

Since the day Mr. Google lead my a tray and caused me ta wash my own eyes out with soap, I don't trust the booger or was that bugger.

So I looked grass widow up in the paper google (dictionary) not only we both right it can also mean a Mistress that's been tossed aside or an unmarried woman who has had an illegitmate child.

[Delmonico]

Just 'cuse me a doin' da same thin', must be the day fer tryin' ta click at da same time.

[Capt. Hamp Cox]

Just 'cuse me a doin' da same thin', must be the day fer tryin' ta click at da same time.

Yep,

They usta tell me that idle hands was the devil's workshop, and now I'm 'bout convinced that Google be the devil.