The Dictionary of American Regional English

Unless you’ve been living in the willywags, you know that there are certain words you’ll hear in some places that you’ll never hear elsewhere. Oh, don’t know what the willywags are? The boondocks, of course - a word you’ll hear in some parts of Maine. It’s just one of the thousands of entries in the fifth and final volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English. The project was decades in the making – to collect the words and phrases unique to the forgotten corners of American speech. We’re joined by the dictionary’s editor, Joan Houston Hall.

We also sent Word of Mouth contributor Sean Hurley to some small towns in New Hampshire in search of rare local words for the next edition of the dictionary.