Cowboy Slang & Humor

Summer officially begins later this month and is the time of year to kick back, relax and have fun. Below are sayings to enrich your Cowboy vocabulary and cartoons to tickle your funny bone. Enjoy!

Advertisin’ a leather shop: a tenderfoot dressed up in exaggerated leather trimmings, such as boots, chaps, and cowhide vest.

Airin’ his lungs: cussin’

Dealing brace: using crooked faro boxes or manipulating the cards so the dealer wins

Flannel mouth: a person who talks muck, a braggart

Grassed him: term used when a horse has thrown his rider

Hard-boiled hat: cowboy’s name fir a derby hat

Jamoka: coffee made from combining Java and Mocha

Kack: slang for saddle

Maniac den: cowboy name for a sheep wagon or camp

Pail fed: a calf raised on skimmed milk

Pimple: cowboy’s contemptuous name for a little eastern saddle

Rolls his own hoop: one attending to his own business

Sea plum: cowboy name for an oyster

Tank: a reservoir made by damming a stream

Cowboy Slang & Humor

From the Atlantic to the Pacific and from North to South, folks are firing up the backyard grill and spreading checkered cloths over tables in preparation of celebrating the 4^th of July. Potato salad, hot dogs and watermelon are in demand. Children are splashing in pools or running through sprinklers eagerly awaiting tonight’s fireworks. To add to the celebration across our great country, I present you with more Cowboy slang and humor. Happy 4th of July!!

Slang:

Bar dog: a bartender

Belly cheater: a cook

Camping on his trail: following someone too closely

Choke strap: derisive name for a necktie

Didn’t have a tail feather left: a person cleaned out at the gambling tables or a person who is completely broke

Dump: slang name for a bunkhouse

Flea bitten: a white horse covered in small, brown freckles

Gallin’: courting a girl

Haywire outfit: an inefficient outfit or ranch

Landed fork end up: thrown from a horse head first

Lead chucker: slang for gun

More lip than a muley cow: a person who talks too much

On the dodge: hiding from the law

Paul Pry: a meddler

Prairie wool: grass

Ride like a deputy sheriff: to ride recklessly

Roll your bed: command meaning you’re fired

Sacking: a saddle blanket

Shoots his back: when a horse bucks

Tear squeezer: a sad story

Humor:

 

More Cowboy Slang (and Humor)

Cowboys have a colorful slang. Here are some more terms to keep you entertained:

Advertisin’ a leather shop: a tenderfoot dressed up in aggerated leather ‘trimmins’, such as boot, chaps and cowhide vests

Airin’ the lungs: cussing

Base-burner: a drink of whiskey

Blue lightin’: a six gun

Down to the blanket: said of someone almost cleaned out

Educated thirst: a man who drinks champagne or fancy mixed drinks

Fly: a sheet stretched at the end of the chuck wagon to make shade for the cook

Gravel in his gizzard: courage or a brave man

Ivories: poker chips

Nice kitty: nickname for a skunk

On the dodge: hiding from the law

Peewees: boots with short tops

Quirly: a cigarette

Ranahan: a top hand or an efficient cowboy

Rib wrenches: spurs

Scratching gravel: climbing up a steep bank on horseback

Seraglios: a herd of wild mares with stallion

Shootin’ em out: getting cattle out of the corral an onto the range

Texas butter: gravy

Top Railer: man who sits on the top rail of the corral and advises who should do the work and take risks

Velvet couch: a bedroll

Went up to fork a cloud: a rider thrown high from his horse

  

Cowboy Slang & Humor

courtesy of: pinterest.com

Every generation has its own slang and humor. The same can be said for an era. The 1800’s is no exception. The cowboys from the Wild West had some colorful and funny expressions. I shared some with you last year and have chosen more to share with you this year. Enjoy!    

All horns and rattles: a person displaying a fit of temper

Among the willows: a person dodging the law

Bangtail: a mustang or wild horse

Barkin’ at a knot: trying to accomplish the impossible

Case of slow: a loser in a gunfight

Chew gravel: to get thrown from a horse

Couldn’t drive nails in a snow bank: said of an ignorant person

courtesy of: www.directory-online.com

Didn’t have a tail feather left: one cleaned out at the gambling tables, or one thoroughly broke

Dough belly or dough boxer: slang for the cook

Duffer: codger, or useless fellow

Educated thirst: a man who drinks champagne or fancy mixed drinks

Fence lifter: a very hard rain

Fish: a yellow oilskin slicker

Flag his kite: leave in a hurry

Full war paint: a cowboy’s best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes

Grabbin’ the brandin’ iron by the hot end: taking a chance

Guns on the table: fair play

Gut-warmer: slang for whiskey

courtesy of: pinterest.com

Hair case: slang for a hat

Heart-and-hand woman: a wife obtained through a matrimonial agency

Hide-out: a shoulder holster (I found this one interesting because my first instinct was a place where outlaws lay low)

Idaho brain storm: a twister or a cylindrical sandstorm

Ivories: poker chips

Jaw cracker: a traveling dentist

Just a ball of air: a very thin cow or calf.

courtesy of: pinterest.com