Maine expressions (Eastport, Woodland, North Haven: house, live in, move to)

[woolwiTch]

I'm a native Mainer and I've always heard "from away" as meaning from out of state. I do remember a few years ago I was talking to a couple of friends in California and said something about being home in Maine and my husband being from away---they'd never heard the expression and they just thought it was the funniest thing. They'd also never heard of being "right straight out" and so many other useful expressions we have. I decided not to tell them I thought that was "number than a pounded thumb."

[Northern Maine Land Man]

I used to substitute teach when they could not find anybody else to do it. One boy was disruptive and fell off his chair. I told him, "You are about as graceful as a gandy dancer on a gallymander." He said there is no such thing and I told him to look it up. He spent the rest of the period finding it. They are real words. OK folks; What are they?

[reloop]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I used to substitute teach when they could not find anybody else to do it. One boy was disruptive and fell off his chair. I told him, "You are about as graceful as a gandy dancer on a gallymander." He said there is no such thing and I told him to look it up. He spent the rest of the period finding it. They are real words. OK folks; What are they?

A gandy dancer is a person who puts down railroad track I believe...hmmmm, you've got me on the gallymander 'tho. Folktale of some sort?

[BrokenTap]

A Gandy dancer is a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way (A railroad worker who works on the railroad bed), but back to the topic at hand.

A lot of being from "away" means you have lost votes in a particular town so you are from "away". In my family who owned 90% of Waldo County at one point, its is kind of silly, but when my Grandparents moved from Jackson to Thorndike...it was a HUGE deal even though they did not even buy any land. They just happened to relocate a hundred feet across the rockwall. Still that was 2 votes lost for Jackson so to the other family members it bordered on treason of the highest family order. That is why moving across town lines is looked upon as being negative.

Former Gandy Dancer 1997-2006 (UPRR/GRSRR)

[Northern Maine Land Man]

A gallymander is no folk tale. It was a very useful device in Maine. The word and device is still in use by a shrinking number of Mainers. It's people with my hair color that keep it from disappearing entirely.

[Mike Mc]

The only gallymander I ever saw was an extremely overbuilt wooden cart used to haul slabs of granite out of a quarry. Do I win a the prize, my weight in fiddleheads?

[moughie]

I must have seen the same gallymander! There is a beautiful speciman on display in the town park on Vinalhaven Island.

[forest beekeeper]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

I used to substitute teach when they could not find anybody else to do it. One boy was disruptive and fell off his chair. I told him, "You are about as graceful as a gandy dancer on a gallymander." He said there is no such thing and I told him to look it up. He spent the rest of the period finding it. They are real words. OK folks; What are they?

We have a song on an album in our stereo that talks about Gandy-dancers and gives an explanation [being named after the manufacturer of the shovel they used on the railroad crews]. I think the song is actually titled "Moose turd pies' though.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Mike Mc is correct. The blocks of granite were suspended on chains under the tall rugged wagon. They would roll the wagons onto rafts or sailing ships to ship the granite. I sent Maine Writer a photo of one that was taken on North Haven. If you Google "gallymander quarry" the site will pop up. The gallymander is blue in the photos.

Lumber yards used to have tall vehicles that moved large bundles of lumber slung under the vehicle. As late as 1980 these were referred to as gallymanders in Maine lumber yards and building supply outlets. Then that task was taken over by very large fork trucks and I have not seen a gallymander in use for about 25 years.

Even the gandy dancer's job has been automated today except for small repairs in switch yards.

The prize is not 300 pounds of fiddleheads, just an "attaboy" from the Northern Maine Land Man.

[meinca]

I am from Maine.... I live in Ca. Have for over twenty five years. I am NOT from away. When I go home to Maine everyone says I am from Ca. Well I did come to Maine From Ca... but I am not FROM here.. I am FROM MAINE.
IF I had been born in New Hampshire... but lived in Maine all my life I would not be from away... but I also would not be a Mainer... Not born there? Not a Mainer.
Move from one town to the other....... your FROM the other town but not from away.... away means a long ways and I also think it means a different State.
Just my two cents.

Now I have to find a reply to a post I made here. .. I have no idea how to do that!! lol
Arlene