From Adam’s housecat to zydeco: After five decades, Dictionary of American Regional English completed

What is a Maine-born doctor to do when a patient in Pennsylvania complains, “I’ve been riftin’ and I’ve got jags in my leaders?”

Consult the Dictionary of American Regional English to learn that the patient has been belching and experiencing sharp pains in his neck. After nearly five decades of work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the fifth volume of the dictionary, covering Sl to Z, is now available from Harvard University Press.

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