The Dixie Dictionary (2002)

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THE DIXIE DICTIONARY:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SOUTHERN LANGUAGE
edited by Thomas W. Howard
Crane Hill Publishers (www.cranehill.com)
143 pages, paperback, $12.95 ("Humor/Reference")
2002

   The author was an editor of the RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH.  "_The Dixie Dictionary_ is the result of more than 30 years spent collecting and studying Southern words and phrases."
   There is a Bibliography on pages 137-142.  It cites Ramon Adams's WESTERN WORDS, American Dialect Society's WORD LISTS FROM THE SOUTH (1944), A WORD LIST FROM SOUTH CAROLINA (ADS, May 1946), SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF SOUTH CAROLINA WORDS AND PHRASES (ADS, April 1954), D.A.R.E., A WORD LIST FROM THE APPLACHIANS AND THE PIEDMONT AREA OF NORTH CAROLINA (ADS, April 1953), Dillard's AMERICAN TALK, Hendrickson's WHISTLIN' DIXIE, ther Hermans' AMERICAN DIALECTS, PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH IN THE ATLANTIC STATES, Major's DICTIONARY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN SLANG, Montgomery and Bailey's THE LANGUAGE VARIETY IN THE SOUTH, Wentworth's AMERICAN DIALECT DICTIONARY amd DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG, Wolfram and Christian's APPALACHIAN SPEECH, A WORD LIST FROM VIRIGINA AND NORTH CAROLINA (ADS, November 1946), and WORD DISTRIBUTION IN THE INTERIOR SOUTH (ADS, April 1961).
   The RHHDAS is not included here.
   This book should certainly be reviewed in AMERICAN SPEECH.  Maybe the ADS can also ask for royalties?...Is Howard an ADS member?
   There are about five drawings in the book.
   There are no footnotes and there's little analysis.  It's strictly a word list.  It's all alphabetical.  There is no arrangement by subject or state.  For example:

Pg. 30:  _blinky-blue_ n: sour skimmed milk.
Pg. 31:  _booze_ n: liquor.  Some believe it derives from a Kentucky distiller named Booze
Pg. 69:  _hoppin' john_ n: dish of black-eyed peas cooked with hog jowl, usually eaten on New Year's Day for good luck

   This "author" is more of a Robert Hendrickson than a Tom Dalzell.  "Edited by Thomas W. Howard" is a good clue.  You're allowed, for example, to steal from Paul McFedries and Gareth Branwyn, pay them nothing, and write that your book on new words is "edited by."
   "Humor/Reference" is another clue about this book.  It's another STRAIGHT FROM THE FRIDGE.  Buy it and read it, if you will, on those terms.