V1 When you suspect that somebody is trying to deceive you, or that something is going on behind your back, you say, “There’s ________.”
V2a What do you call a deceiving person, or somebody that you can’t trust? [V2 in early QRs]
V2b About a deceiving person, or somebody that you can’t trust, you might say: “I wouldn’t trust him ________.” [Early QRs (as V3b): About a thoroughly dishonest person you might say, “I wouldn’t trust him ________.”]
V2c About a deceiving person, or somebody that you can’t trust, you might say: “I wouldn’t trust him any further than I could ________.” [Early QRs (as V3b): About a thoroughly dishonest person you might say, “I wouldn’t trust him any further/farther than I could ________.”]
V3 And about a thoroughly dishonest person, you might say, “He’s a ________.” [Asked in early Questionnaires only]
V4 Other words for stealing something valuable—for example, a watch: “Yesterday somebody ________ my watch.”
V5a To take something of small value that doesn’t belong to you—for example, a child taking cookies: “Who’s been ________ the cookies?”
V5b If you take something that nobody seems to own, you might say, “Before anybody else gets it, I’m going to ________ this.”
V6 What words are used around here for a thief—any kind of thief?
V7 A person who sets out to cheat others while pretending to be honest:
V8a What do you call a paper ordering somebody to appear in court? “The sheriff came with a ________ for him.”
V8b Of a person who has been given a paper ordering him into court you might say: “He was ________ into court.”
V9 What nicknames do people have around here for a policeman?
V10a And what joking names are there for a sheriff?
V10b And what joking names for a marshal?
V10c And what joking names for a constable?
V11 What joking names do you have around here for a county or city jail?
V12 Words for the amount of time a person has to spend in jail—for example, “He’s in for a ten-year ________.”
DARE Data Summary by Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.