Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Local Terminology

I suppose it's natural for each region to have it's own dialect, and I've been collecting terms--just a couple so far--from the Northwest. The first one I noticed was using the term "going nonny" for going to bed. I'd heard it before, but I've heard it more in the last year than I'd heard it the rest of my life up until last year. It's cute and endearing.

The other one I've noticed just recently as we've been preparing to get chickens is the use of the term "the girls" for laying hens. I'd never heard this before! I've had to realize that people aren't talking about their daughters.....or female anatomy, as I'd heard it used before now. :-) They're talking about their female chickens. Seems everyone uses this term--at first I'd thought perhaps it was a PDX chicken list thing--yes, there is a Portland chicken email list. I might as well give it some publicitity here! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PDXBackyardChix/
Anyway, they were constantly talking about "the girls" there, and I thought maybe it was a list thing. But I called a feed store to see if they sell mature hens, and the woman I talked to said I'd have to wait until her husband came back and he would round up "the girls" for me.

Not that I don't have any language quirks myself. Just yesterday I found myself, when startled by a bus that decided suddenly, while I was driving around it, that it was going to get back into traffic, muttering "Dude!" Yep, born in Oregon, currently an Oregonian, but no one will ever be able to take away my Californian upbringing.

On the chicken front, a woman from the chicken list posted that she was "re-homing" her "girls" and was there anyone there who wanted them? Yes! So, tomorrow I think, I'll be picking up two Auracanas. Not laying currently, she said, but should start again in the spring. I'll be anxiously awaiting the first blue/green egg!

3 comments:

Susan said...

Going nonny for bed is a greek term. They sing "nonny nonny" to babies. I think its sweet.
Your so lucky to be having chickens. I want some. Are they hard to take care of. As in, if you go out of town do they die!?

Lisa said...

Arucana eggs are gorgeous! Got some last year from Eatwell and I couldn't bear to break them. So, I blew them out, stuck them in a little basket and put them out as a spring/Easter decoration. Great project. Mark wants chickens, but I say the cement back yard is not a nice, happy home for chickens!

Elizabeth said...

Oh! I hadn't realized that going nonny was a Greek thing. It is sweet!

If you go out of town and you have chickens, you just have to get someone to take care of them, just like you would if you had another kind of pet. We have neighbors who have chickens so I think we'll see if they'd like to trade chicken and pet care. The hardest thing about taking care of chickens, at least out in the country, was keeping them safe from predators. Other than that, they were easy easy. And fun to have around!

We had one Auracana when we lived at St. Nicholas Ranch, Lisa, and I had the same feelings about not wanting to break the eggs. But the eggs kept coming, and I did break them. I usually saved them until they were the last eggs in the box, so I could look at them every time I opened the carton. :-)

There is a patch, though, of dirt in your back yard? But then you use it for gardening. I don't know--I think you certainly could keep a pair of chickens in your backyard with some provisions. They really are social animals, so I wouldn't recommend just one. Maybe you could take them to the park every day. :-) Or, tear out some of the concrete. I know, easier said than done! Your back yard isn't all that much smaller than ours.