Distinctly Montana Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.distinctlymontana.com/i/1027685
D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • FA L L 2 0 1 8 58 A BUCK NINETY-EIGHT Montana slang for "expensive." A COUPLE THREE A few, as in, "A couple three years ago it snowed on the Fourth of July." APPLE PICKER Someone from the state of Washington. BACK EAST Anything east of the American plains states. BIG STICK A nickname for the city of Big Timber, Montana. BORROW PIT (OR BARROW PIT) A ditch along the side of a road. BROOKIE A brook trout. CAN OPENERS Spurs. CHICKEN FOOT A road that forks off into three different directions. CHINKS Similar to chaps, but shorter. Chinks typically end below the knee but above the ankle. Chinks are more common among the cowboy crowd than chaps. COWBOY UP A phrase used to encourage someone (usually a male) to "suck it up" or "deal with it" instead of standing around and whining. CRICK e generic Montana pronunciation of the word "creek," which is a small brook or stream. Often when a creek has a proper name it is then pronounced "creek," as in Willow Creek or Wolf Creek. Generically it is more commonly pronounced "crick," though. CRITTER A small living creature; an animal. COW COP BLM employee. CURTAIN CRAWLERS Children. Also known as Ankle Biters, Fuzz Pickers, Rug Rats, or Free Ranch Hands. DITCH e addition of water to any alcoholic drink. For example, whiskey and water is ordered "whiskey ditch." In other words, people in Montana do not drive into a ditch; they drive into a bor- row pit. But they do order their whiskey ditch, which may result in driving into the borrow pit after having done so. FENCE WRECKER A destructive horse. FISH COP Game warden. GOPHER A small, burrowing animal native to the short grass prai- ries of Montana. ey are disliked by most ranchers and farmers who try in vain to rid them. Technically they are not gophers at all, but Richardson's ground squirrels. GOPHER CROTCH, MONTANA Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It is near Bumble Fuck Egypt. photos by and text TODD KLASSY E VERY REGION AROUND THE WORLD IS KNOWN FOR ITS OWN COLLOQUIALISMS AND SLANG. Montana is no different. Perhaps more so. ere are many examples of slang that have woven themselves into Montana culture over the years. Some are disappearing as people spend more and more time buried inside cell phones, but among those who still like commu- nicating the old-fashioned way, that lexicon remains. Here is a list of words and terms positively unique to Montana, which I have collected over the years. MONTANA SLANG CHINKS GOPHER