It'll drive a cowboy crazy
It'll drive the man insane
And he'll sell off everything he owns
Just to pay to play her game
And a broken home and some broken bones
Is all he'll have to show
For all the years that he spent chasin' this dream they call Rodeo
-Garth Brooks
Rodeo Lingo
These terms were developed by cowboys during the era of the range cattle industry in northern Mexico and the western United States (1867-87). Some of the more common ones are listed below. For a brief history of rodeo look here!
Please /msg me if you have more you would like to add:)
Arizona Nightingale: A burro or donkey.
Arizona Strawberries: Dried beans, usually pink in color.
Average: The aggregate or total score for each contestant at a rodeo with more than one go-round.
Bangtail: A horse.
Barking Squirrel: A prairie dog.
Batch of Crumbs: Bugs one might find in blankets.
Barrier: In rodeo a rope stretched across the front end of the box from which the roper's or steer wrestler's horse emerges. The barrier drops when the calf or steer achieves a predetermined head start.
Bean Master: A cook
Biting the Dust: Being thrown from a horse or a bull.
Beef Tea: Shallow water fouled by cattle.
Biscuit: A saddle horn.
Boiled Shirt/Fried Shirt: A white or stiff shirt.
Build a Loop: Prepare a lasso for a throw.
Buckaroo:A cowboy who does ranch work for a living. In contrast, a professional rodeo cowboy's occupation is rodeo competition.
Bull-Dogger:The slang term for a steer wrestler.
Burn the Breeze: Ride fast.
California Banknote: A cowhide used as currency.
Catawampously: Fiercely.
Cavvy-man: The one who looked after the horses.
Champion:The winner of the most money at any rodeo event.
Charlie Taylor: A makeshift butter made from molasses and fat.
Chuck Line Rider: A man out of work who rode from ranch to ranch for grub.
Community Loop: An extra large lasso noose.
Coonie: A dried cowhide used to hold equipment, fuel, etc., on a chuck wagon.
Cowboy Up: Get ready to ride. The term cowboy up possibly refers to the men behind the chutes who would bellow out cowboy-up! to the next cowboy getting ready to ride. It is the spirit of contribution, hard work and strong determination.
Cowjuice: Milk.
Crow Hops: Mild bucking motions.
Doofunnies: Knives and trinkets carried in pockets.
Dust: To move about quickly.
Fence Lifter/Goose Drownder/Gully Washer: Heavy rain.
Fixin' for High Riding: Preparing to depart quickly.
Flagman: The rodeo official who signals the end of time elapsed in timed events.
Flag Your Kite: Hurried departure.
Flannel Mouth: An overly talkative man or a boaster.
Forty Rod Lightning: Whiskey.
'Fraidy Hole: Cave or cellar.
Fumadiddle: Fancy dress.
Great Seizer: The sheriff.
Go-round: A round of rodeo competition.A rodeo in which each contestant competes once has one go-round.
Hay Waddy: Extra hand on a ranch used to cut hay.
Hazer; A cowboy who rides along beside a steer on the opposite side of the steer wrestler.
His job is to keep the steer running in a straight line and close to the contestant's horse.
Hang-up: When a bull rider falls off the bull opposite his riding hand which becomes stuck or "hung-up" in his bull rope.
Hemp Fever: A hanging.
High Roller:A horse that leaps high into the air when bucking.
Hog: An expression bull-riders use to describe a large, unagile bull that is not considered a good draw.
Hooey: Slang term for nonsense, as in That's the biggest bunch of hooey I've ever heard!
Also a half-hitch knot used to tie a calf's legs together in calf roping.
Hornswoggling: The movements of a cow, by which it threw off or evaded the rope.
Hurricane Deck: The back of a bucking horse.
Idaho Brain Storm: A dust devil.
Leavin' Cheyenne: Going away.
Life Preserver: A revolver.
Lincoln Shingles: Hard bread.
Lining His Flu: Refers to a man who is eating.
Loblolly: A muddy puddle.
Longhorned: Experienced.
Love Apples: Canned tomatoes.
Mother Hubbard Loop: A very large loop or lasso.
Oklahoma Rain: A dust or sand storm.
Overland Trout: Bacon.
Parade Chaps: A pair of chaps strictly for show. Might be worn for the grand entry parade at a rodeo.
Pepperbox: Coffee mill.
Pick-up Man: A mounted cowboy who helps bareback and saddle bronc riders off when the ride is completed and leads the horse out of the arena.
Pimple: An Eastern (or English) style saddle.
Pirooting: Fooling around.
Pulling Leather: When a bronc rider holds on to any part of the saddle, he is said to be "pulling leather." This disqualifies a saddle bronc rider if it is done before the eight-second ride is completed.
Quirly: A cigarette that is rolled by hand.
Rocky Mountain Canary: A burro.
Rowel: A small wheel with radiating points that form the extremity of a cowboy's spur.
In rodeo, rowels are required to be free-wheeling and blunt.
Seeing Daylight: When the rider leaves the seat on a bucking horse.
Silk: Barbed wire.
Slick Heeled: A person not wearing spurs.
Trail Boss Lead cowboy of cattle drives.
Tenderfoot: What you are if you didn't know the meaning of Rodeo Lingo.
Turn Out: When a rider decides not to ride an animal he has drawn, or it is decided that he will be re-assigned to a different animal, the bull or horse is released from the chutes to make it easier to get the animal back into the pen.
Love them tough-talkin' cowboys? Why, who doesn't! Oddly enough, though, ole' western cowboy slang was a bit different from what you'll pick up from Hollywood productions (go figger). Here's a list of some of my favorite authentic old southern slang.
Sources
Festival.com:
http://www.festivals.com/
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros:
http://www.emol.org/emol/tucsonrodeo/index.html
Misc: Cool Western Slang:
http://www.bibble.org/western_slang.html
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