Culture Vulture–Instant Casco’s Gonna Get Ya

So, yer cruisin' into town, after goin' upta Windham, traffic-ed out on the wayta Exchange  and the newest, new beer hall, loopin' to finda parkin' spot all the while blarin' CYY and wishin' ya had bounce-lifters in ya Jeep to pop a wheelee fronta OCC. Geeze, ya must be in Portland.

Like every good country, Portland has its own language: let's explore.

Ya liketa run the Boulevard, right? Ya see the Bean Factory from there, almost--can smell the beans bakin' on a good day, even if ya can't see the place.  Tukey's (often spelled Tookey's) Bridge.  295.  The Hill.  The Prom.  See "Peaks" out there? Old Port.  West End.  Hadlock.  Westgate.  Northgate.  (Southgate is in Scarborough).  Deering. "NORTH" Deering.  Woodfords.  Back Cove.

Portland kids learn the words "kayak carrier" at a very early age, and learn that the carrier stays put on the car all year.  (Funny, the ski carriers come right off in the Spring.)  We have performance food services for our restaurants.  One of our restaurants has Hora Feliz, while most others have a Happy Hour.  Always italicized.  Pretty much always written in colored chalk on a sidewalk sandwichboard sign.  We eat a variety of hummus-es, experience overcastness, and spend idle times in Spring wearing shorts and yer basic parkas: synonymous with tank tops...it's because we're near the ocean. Just ask your mother.

First Friday.  First Monday.  Third Thursday.

A "traffic jam" in Portland is 6 cars--we need to review Curdo's video from Ethopia about intersections, if we don't feel we can sit behind a couple cars at a Portland 4-way.

And, we like to repurpose buildings.  We call former stores Art Schools, old houses Restaurants, second-time-around-houses, houses and neighborhood libraries.  Old warehouses we call boxing studios.  Repurposing may not be a word invented in Portland, but we do it enough to claim it for our own.

Yer in Gawd's country now, Bub.  Speak Port-lish, will ya?