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"The cowboy was not a highly educated man as a rule," says Ramon
F. Adams in his introduction to Cowboy Lingo, "but he never
lacked for expression." After years of keeping his own notes on the
"terse, crisp, clear-cut language of the range," Adams decided that
it would be "selfish" not to pass them along. Thus was born
Cowboy Lingo, which was first published by Houghton Mifflin
in 1936 and appears now after being long out of print. Adams's book
is arranged thematically--with chapters on ropes, cattle, brands,
the trail, outlaws, and the like--telling as much about the life of
the cowboy (or cow-puncher or buckaroo or
ranahan or saddle-slicker or waddie) as about
his language. As might be expected from a pioneer of the western
range, the cowboy "respected neither the dictionary nor usage,"
says Adams, "but employed his words in the manner that best suited
him." And perhaps no other group has come up with a better
collection of insults. A bad tracker "couldn't find a calf with a
bell on in a corral"; a worthless person's "family tree was a
scrub"; and an ignorant person "couldn't drive nails in a snow
bank." Great fodder for word mavens, writers of Western fiction,
and Wild West enthusiasts alike. (Amazon.com Review -Jane
Steinberg )
内容简介
The cowboy that enigmatic, larger-than-life icon of our culture
has long been considered a figure of fast hands, steel nerves, and
few words. But according to Ramon Adams, cowboys, once among
themselves, enjoyed a vivid, often boisterous repartee. You might
say that around a campfire they could make more noise than a
jackass in a tin barn. Here in one volume is a complete guide to
cowboy-speak. Like many of todays foreign language guides, this
handy book is organized not alphabetically but situationally, lest
you find yourself in Texas at a loss for words. There are sections
on the ranch, the cowboys duties, riding equipment, the roundup,
roping, branding, even square dancing. There are words and phrases
youll recognize because theyve filtered into everyday language blue
lightnin, star gazin, the whole shebang plus countless others that,
sadly, are seldom heard in current speech: lonely as a preacher on
pay night, restless as a hen on a hot griddle, crooked as a snake
in a cactus patch. As entertaining as it is authoritative, COWBOY
LINGO captures the living speech of the Great Plains and serves as
a window into the soul of the American West.