Day 14: Learnin' the Lingo

Day Fourteen: Learnin’ the Lingo

6/21/11:

In the event that it appears as if all the good learin’ I done this summer were of a strictly archaeological nature, let me just say it ain’t so. Case in point: learnin’ the Williams lingo.

June twenty-first marked our second day of survey on the Cureton Ranch. Working on the Cureton Ranch was exactly the kind of collaborative effort Neil hoped to encourage: landowners allowing archies to explore their private property for artifacts and archaeological sites. This ranch has been in Travis’s family (he is of Cureton and Wamble stock) for almost a century, and walking the streets of Williams (of which there are not many), chances are someone around is a Cureton or Wamble relation.

The Wambles have been working with Neil and the KNF long before Travis joined the crew; Travis’s granddad John Wamble, an archaeology enthusiast, showed Neil many sites and petroglyphs in the area that he had come across while ranching. Grandpa Wamble even took things one step further by trying to use modern methods to achieve historic results: attempting to tan a hide via washing machine and using a modified drill bit to make holes like those found in prehistoric sherds being but two (ultimately disastrous) examples.

Not that archaeology was this Wambles only hobby. According to Travis, his granddad managed not only to catch a mountain lion, but intended to keep it in the family garage until his grandma put her foot down. During another point in the mountain lion trapping saga, Travis’ granddad found himself trapped in a cave with no weapon and a big, very angry, cornered mountain cat. Also of note: Travis’s uncle Allyn Cureton held, until very recently, the record for fastest rim to rim run; that is to say, his uncle ran from one side of the Grand Canyon to the other rather quickly. (Check out the Grand Canyon News article about it.)

With a history such as this, there was probably no one better or more qualified to initiate me into the Williams lingo than my fellow archy. A few gems of knowledge:

The Cureton/Wamble Lexicon

Boys ‘n berries (noun): boys= boys, berries =girls

Example: You boys ‘n berries ready for another four hours of survey?

El burrito (noun): name of endearment for the Cureton burros

Example: Damn burritos keep trying to eat my tent!

Buzz worms (noun): rattlesnakes

Example: Try not to kill yourself climbing and watch out for the buzz worms in the rocks up there.

Hogswaddle (verb): persuade with force if necessary

Example: Don’t tell me I’m going to have to hogswaddle you into helping me finish this survey.

Huckleberry (interjection): neat, cool, excitement worthy

Example: That rock shelter was huckleberry!

Lurpee (noun): awkwardly tall and skinny person with an unusual manner of walking

Example: Noah

Shin spears (noun): yucca

Example: That shin spear cut right through my shoe and almost got my toe!

Photos: 1. Travis in his native Arizona 2. Cureton horse emulating el burrito (photo credit: Noah)