Gorilla, My Love

Gorilla, My Love Glossary

chitlins

small intestines from a pig, often fried; a traditional Southern dish

congregate

to gather into a large group

dossier

a collection of documents and other objects, connected through their relation to a particular subject

dungarees

denim pants or overalls

eloquence

appealing, persuasive language

fricassee possum

a Southern dish of fried or stewed possum

genuflect

to bend down as a show of respect

glockenspiel

a melodic percussion instrument

guise

a costume or other deceptive way of covering up one's true identity

ice

slang for murdering someone

johnny pump

New York slang for a fire hydrant

malign

to talk about someone in an excessively resentful or critical way

miscegenation

an antiquated term for interracial breeding

nappy hair

slang which refers to the unique texture of some African and African-Americans' hair

prodigy

a young person with extremely advanced abilities in a given area

raffish

appealingly disreputable

Spaudeen

a phonetic spelling of Spalding, which refers to the popular pink bouncing balls produced by the company Spalding

sterno

flammable jelly used for fuel

the dozens

a practice, traditionally associated with African-American culture, of two people competing in a series of ever-escalating insults; this can be comedic and entirely in good fun, or quite serious, depending on the context

ventriloquist

traditionally, a performer who works with wax dummies and 'throws' his or her voice so that the dummy appears to be speaking; figuratively, anyone who speaks using the voice of someone else

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