Language and Life on Ocracoke: The Living History of the Brogue

by Jeffrey Reaser, Walt Wolfram, Candy Gaskill

In this follow-up to the celebrated Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks, Jeffrey Reaser, Walt Wolfram, and Candy Caskill have produced the most comprehensive linguistic look at Ocracoke yet. Many visitors are drawn to Ocracoke's natural beauty and fascinating dialect, known as the Ocracoke Brogue. During the summer on the island, despite the required ferry ride to even set foot there, tourists (or as the locals might call them, dingbatters or tourons) can easily outnumber residents fifteen to one. Though small in number, O'Cockers remain as iconic as the lighthouse.

The authors have continued to study Ocracoke and the Ocracoke Brogue while also participating in and partnering with the community itself. Building on the legacy of Hoi Toide, this book includes 120 new interviews with Ocracokers, documenting their evolving language and culture. With this prolonged and comprehensive approach to the region, the authors document the island's changes, providing readers with a deeply researched, empathetic, and engagingly written snapshot of one of North Carolina's most cherished places, one with a linguistic heritage worth celebrating.

296 pages, Paperback

Published May 20, 2025

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My wonderful vacations at Ocracoke fishing with my girlfriends are what prompted me to pick up this book. I have always wanted to know more about this unique, beautiful island. I will never forget what a treat it was to get to this remote island retreat and stay there with no commercial buildings - no McDonalds, Dollar General or Walmart - just local businesses and restaurants with the owners who lived there on the island. If you ever get a chance to go - take it. It is an unforgettable place.

This book provides a great deal of information about the island and its history. The focus is really on the language and dialects that are unique to the island. It was fascinating to read about how the island got its name and the local sayings. One of the features I enjoyed most were going to the webpages give n in the book where I could hear the people speak and hear their conversation as they describe the island and in their unique brogue. I realized that on my trips to the island I had not heard many of these terms and I'm not sure I got exposure to a lot of that language. Next time I visit I will be sure to listen more closely.

The book is written in a conversational tone that is easy to read and absorb.There are some photos as well that help capture some of the sights. I enjoyed the book immensely and I will always cherish my memories of Ocracoke.

Thanks to the University of North Carolina Press through Netgalley for an advance copy.

[Simms · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for anyone interested in the Ocracoke brogue, and somewhat more broadly the history and current life of the island. My only caveat is that any freaks out there who, like me, went back and read Walt Wolfram's previous book on the Ocracoke brogue beforehand (Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue; or the corresponding chapter in Talkin' Tar Heel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina will find that the majority of the linguistics content of this book is just a re-hash of that older work, with appropriate updates here and there to reflect the last couple of decades of development (such as, where Hoi Toide on the Outer Banks mentions the emerging slang word "touron" -- a portmanteau of tourist and moron -- among the island's youth to refer to off-islanders, this latest book says something along the lines of "For a brief period in the early 2000s it looked like 'touron' was possibly displacing 'dingbatter' to refer to visitors from the mainland, but that usage died away and 'dingbatter' remains the word of choice"). In addition to those updates, there's enough added color talking about life on the island that it makes the book worth reading even for sickos who dipped into Wolfram's back catalog first; for anyone else, this is a great first port of call to learn about Ocracoke and its dialect.

[Linda Sienkiewicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer, language as well as linguistics fascinate me. I picked this book up at a local bookstore on Ocracoke Island (my happy place) expecting it might be a bit dry. The book is actually entertaining, and the details are terrific. It encompasses everything from the island's history to how language evolves, with many amusing anecdotes and real life stories. What makes the book even more fun are QR codes sprinkled throughout the text that take you to actual interviews with people talking in the iconic Banker's Brogue.

[Antoinette B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffrey Reaser, Walt Wolfram, and Candy Gaskill have produced the most comprehensive look at Ocracoke Island yet and its Ocracoke Brogue.