Spread laughter and positive energy with wordplay! Dictomancy - Everyday Wordplay is a Wednesday blog series that features rare, bizarre, and absurd words and their meanings. Work one of these words into your day and spark some laughter and curiosity!
Red shitepoke - red shite*poke n Cf shitepoke B1 A sandhill crane 1 (here: Grus canadensis). 1949 Leopold Sand Co. Almanac 99 WI, The cranes whinnied. . and retreated to the far fastnesses. ‘Red shitepokes’ the haymakers called them, from the rusty hue which at that season often stains the battleship-gray of crane plumage.
“We’re always seeing red shitepokes at work.”
“Did you go the zoo just so you could shout, ‘Let’s see the red shitepokes?’”
“Calling them red shitepokes is totally safe for work. It’s an indigenous slang term, not a curse.”
Please share and comment on today’s Dictomancy and feel free to post your uses for the words in a positive, lighthearted way. Audience participation makes Everyday Wordplay hilarious!
Works Cited
Cassidy, Frederic G. Chief Editor. Dictionary Of American Regional English. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985. Print