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A Erie Glossary: Or how to talk like a "canawler"

Aqueduct: a structure that carries a canal across another body of water. Basin: a wider, deeper section of the canal, where boats can be moored and cargo loaded or unloaded. Berm, heelpath: the side opposite the towpath. Canawl (canawler): pronounciation of canal; (those who worked on it.) Dutch or Irish derivation. Durham: a big, clumsy, flat-bottomed boat used by early settlers. Not a Packet: a sleek passenger boat. Fog-gang: workers who cleaned out the canal as an annual routine. Foofoos: immigrant workers; foreigners. Grog: a tankard of ale; rhymes with Prog: food. Hoggee: a mule driver who was paid pitifully low wages. Hoodledasher: a hook-up of two or more empty boats tied to a full-cargo boat, pulled by one team of mules. Jigger-boss: a boy given the task of doling out half-gills of whiskey to each workman 16 times a day. "Low bridge": The warning cry to hit the deck because the canal boat was about to pass under a bridge. Bridges were built low to save money. Mule: the sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse; sometimes called a long-eared robin by canawlers or a hayburner . Mudlarked: a boat grounded due to insufficient water level, frequently from a leak or break out. Prism: the traditional shape of the canal ditch with a narrow bottom and angled sides. Rhino: ready money, cash; a person with a great deal of ready money was rhino fat. Runners & scalpers: Agents, often young boys, hired to secure passengers or cargo. Shipshape macaroni: a sportily attired canal boat captain. Trippers: long-haul workmen who traveled back and forth between Albany and Buffalo.   Adapted from "Low Bridge! Folklore and the Erie Canal" by Lionel Wyld. Syracuse University Press, 1962 Back to main Erie Canal page

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