A Glossary of Minooka-isms by Dr. Joe Lydon

Dr. Joseph Francis "Minooka Joe" Lydon passed away in September 2011 at the age of 88 years. He was a friend of my father's as they lived two houses apart on Pittston Avenue. Although our last names were the same, we were not related. He belonged to the "Sharkey Lydon" clan, while I was a "Black Tom." I only know this because he told me. My aunt, who grew up just inside the Scranton line, went to school with Dr. Joe at St. John the Evangelist, and she introduced us. That introduction began a friendship that lasted for eight years. In that time, he shared so much about the town he loved, including what he called "Minooka-isms." There will be more about Dr. Joe in a future post, but to kick off the blog, I wanted to share his glossary with you.

Arrah! - To begin any conversation. The suffix of "bee-gawd" was for emphasis, and the suffix "Musha" was for contempt.

The Bug - The Magnet Theater in Minooka, run by Nick Sciartelli, that had no restrooms. Once, during the Depression, Nick offered two tickets for a bag of coal or one ticket for a bushel of wood. The offer was rescinded in a week or two later when all of the back fences in the town began to disappear.

Blaggard - Like boys who put mirrors on the floors where the girls stood up to recite.

Chimbley - That's where the smoke goes up!

Corpse House - The home where a body was laid out. It was generally considered bad form to use a funeral home.

Crown - Hit over the head.

Cuppa - A cup of tea.

Didgee? - No joo?

Donnie - Ammunition - a good sized rock for throwing (probably from Donnybrook)

Down da line - Towards Wilkes-Barre

'een - Added for contempt to anything, such as "Crabeen!"

G'waaaan! - I don't believe you.

Hees - Belong to his, such as the blood on Mickey O'Malley's shirt: "It aint' my blood, Ma. It's hees!"

Hotel - A barroom

Houlie - Irish for "wing-ding"

Kilt - Fatally injured.

Loyer - An attorney

Offer him or her up!

Outen - When you "squench" a fire

Pisser - Something very good or very bad!

Putcha-a-reminda - To remind you of someone

Rainy Day Funeral - Great, wonderful - A classic "pishrogue" - Happy is the corpse the rain falls on!

Relief Beef - Canned parboiled Federal Surplus Commodities distribution during the Depression. Also called monkey meat by the kids.

Staven - Really drunk

Symmetry - That's where we bury people.

Tick - Credit used as a noun or verb

Up da line - towards Carbondale

Use-en-cha - Didn't you do something in the past?

Where the bus gets awf - That could be anywhere

Willya - wellya - won't - No can do

Wiltsberry - Wilkes-Barre

Yee - The plural of "you"

Also, the Irish almost always use the present tense when quoting, such as: "Just before he died, he SAYS to me..." and "Well, there was HIMSELF standing there!"

They say the last thing to leave the Celtic speech habit is the cadence. The beautiful rise and fall of the speech pattern defies class, status, education, etc. Notice it especially in actors: Burton, Guinness, Harris, etc. It can be discerned, admired, but never imitated. It is at its most obvious when you hear Dylan Thomas read his own poetry.

Contributed by Mary Lydon Simonsen