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Talking Backward, 'A Mess of Greens': The Distinctive Dialect of Tangier Island

By: Courtney Collins // June 24, 2011
  
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Because Tangier is an island, most people use golf carts, mopeds or four wheelers to get around.
Courtney Collins
Because Tangier is an island, most people use golf carts, mopeds or four wheelers to get around.

The unique dialect spoken on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay has fascinated tourists and linguists for decades. Courtney Collins spends a day on Tangier to learn more about the dialect's origins, and to hear some of the "Tangierisms" you'll hear only on the island.

[Music: "Instrumental: Island in the Sun" by Dan McTavish from Only in Dreams: A Tribute to Weezer]

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