By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Mountain National Historical Park

Every now and then I like to celebrate our heritage and list words that I’ve heard spoken in the mountain dialect. There is a difference between those raised in the country and those raised in the city, with the country folk using more dialect than those from the city. My parents and kin were of the country variety, so I had a rich collection of words to enjoy. In past articles I’ve covered A through C words. This one does the Ds. See how many you have heard used.
Daub (dob): a small blob of something; “Put a daub of jelly on my biscuit”.
The Deval (Devil): something difficult; “I had a devil of a time gettin’ here, or “beats the devil out of me.”
Dew Poisoning: infection in a scratch on the foot supposedly caused by walking in heavy dew.
Dinner: the midday meal; lunch
Dinner on the ground: a picnic done on a blanket on Decoration Day (the Sunday of Memorial Day)
Disgustses (3 syllable): disgusts; “It disgutses me the way he’s actin’.”
Done: completely, already; “He done got hisself married.”
Dogged: a mild oath; “Be dogged if he didn’t show up the next day.” Also “well dog my hide!”
Doin’s: an event gathering of people; “Granny just sat on the porch and watched all the doin’s.”
Dope: any carbonated flavored beverage; “I’m goin’ to the grocery store and get me a dope.”
Drag up: to move closer: “drag up a chair and sit a spell.”
Draw out: to remove an infection medicinally; “Use this poultice to draw out the pise-un (poison).”
Dreampt: to have had a dream; “I dreampt I had gone to heaven!”
Dreckley: to eventually get to some task; “I’ll get to it dreckley.”
Druther: a preference or choice: “I’d druther go fishing as to do chores”.
Dull as a froe: reference to something needing sharpening; a froe is a tool with a dull edge used to slit out wood shingles.
Dusky dark: the partial darkness shortly after sundown.