- There are only about 150 speakers
of the Ocracoke brogue now,
and they all live on one end of this barrier island
on the coast of North Carolina,
which is basically an enlarged sand bar.
Within the next 50 years, the brogue will disappear.
- Hoi toi to the sound side so laugh like water
far night moonshine no fish.
(boat engine bubbling)
- [Man] The dialect on this island is sometimes referred to
as hoi toiters which is their pronunciation of high tide.
- Hoi toid on the sound sides high tide on the sound side.
- In the United States the Ocracoke brogue is probably
the only dialect that is not identified
as being from America.
- I do, I have a lot of people that think I'm from Australia
or Ireland, yeah.
- [Man] You can look in this boat and see crabs.
- You know, the first people that came here
from England and Ireland and Scotland just stayed isolated.
I'm from Ocracoke, I am the 10th generation
in my family from Ocracoke.
That goes back to the mid-1600s.
- The reason this dialect was perpetuated
for a couple of centuries was because the people were
very isolated.
They didn't have much contact with people from the mainland.
Ocracoke is an island that has always
lived around the water.
- Got it!
- Many of the unique items,
particularly the vocabulary items,
are built around the water
and the sand and the weather.
- The wind's blowin' really hard, he says,
it's blowin harder then a pop car right there.
You know.
- So you're takin' a ride around the island.
You're just taking a little scud.
- When we come out here and the wind's blowin' really hard
and we take a bad beatin'.
Then you could say we be a mommuck.
- You also find here lots of terms for outsiders.
- Ya'll are dingbatters.
(laughing)
- My wife is from Maryland.
We've been married 43 years.
She's still a dingbatter.
(laughing)
- That's not a bad thing, OK?
(laughing)
- It was basically the dingbatters who changed the dialect
because so many people came in.
Even today there are more off-islanders who live here
than on-landers.
- Now it's changing, within time we're all gonna lose it,
ya' know?
- Because of so many people coming in.
It's a part of heritage that I'm proud of.
- Some people think we talk funny.
I think that's the way we talk.
(laughs)
It ain't funny to us, but it doesn't matter,
I mean, that's fine, you know?
(plucked string music)