"Finders were keepers unless title was proven. Plucking an occasional camellia, getting a squirt of hot milk from Miss Maudie Atkinson's cow on a summer day, helping ourselves to someone's scuppernongs was part of our ethical culture, but money was different."
"Our tacit treaty with Miss Maudie was that we could play on her lawn, eat her scuppernongs if we didn't jump on the arbor, and explore her vast back lot..."
Okay, the fairly obvious thing is that a scuppernong is some sort of fruit. My hunch is that it is fallen fruit, but I am not at all clear whether it is all fallen fruit or some particular kind of fruit, which gains a special name when it is fallen. Well, let's see if I have gotten this all completely wrong...
Well, I got the fruit part right, anyway. But that's about all I got right. Scuppernongs are grapes. They are a type of Muscadine grapes that grow in the southeastern U.S. They got their name because they were originally found along the Scuppernong River in North Carolina by the first European settlers of the area.
Here's a couple more things I found from this venture into the world of scuppernongs:
Those European settlers could not believe the amount of wild grapes they found in that coastal Carolinian region.
Scuppernongs, the grapes, quickly got new nicknames. "Big bubble", "suscadine", "sculpin", "bullets", which is slang for "bullis", and as it went further afield, "suppeydine" or "scuppydime". I must admit that I really like these variations.
Scuppernong, the river, gets its name from the Algonquian word "ascopo", which means "sweet bay tree".
The Mother Vine, which is of course a Scuppernong vine, contends in a pretty serious way for the title of oldest productive vine in the world. It's four hundred years old and lives on Roanoke island. Here's a little link to other possible contenders.
Roanoke Island, though? Isn't that where all those colonists disappeared? Yep, here's a little background on that.
Personally, I don't think the role of the Mother Vine in this disappearance has yet been adequately explored.
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I have never knowingly helped myself to someone's scuppernongs.
ReplyDeleteOften I'll have heard of a word even if I don't know its meaning. But I had never heard of scuppernongs, which makes mine a kind of super-ignorance.
Wow Seana, a word Peter hasn't heard...that's impressive!!
ReplyDeleteWell, Peter, I think that if you've gotten by without it so far, you probably would have been safe never knowing it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough technically, I suppose you could have stolen a lot grapes, little dreaming at the time that they were scuppernongs.
Glenna, I'm curious--did scuppernongs make it as far west as Texas? Or have you at least heard the word before?
The good Lord only knows how many scuppernongs I've unknowingly filched or even ingested.
ReplyDeletePeter, have you ever read To Kill a Mockingbird? It may perhaps set you on an unconscious crime spree.
ReplyDeleteUh, I meant may have, not may now.
ReplyDeleteNope, I haven't heard of them. It's a new one to me. Next time I snatch a grape from a bunch to make sure it taste alright though I'll wonder.
ReplyDeleteNice backtracking, Seana. But it's too late. Now that you're on to me, I'll have to ...
ReplyDelete... admit that To Kill a Mockingbird was not part of my Canadian youth.
I read it completely by chance--it wasn't part of the curriculum back then. But it does hold up. I did a recent blog post about it here.
ReplyDeletePeter
ReplyDeleteIf not Mockingbird, the Grapes of Wrath? Surely a wee bunch of scuppernongs in there.
Seana
ReplyDeleteA suggestion on the etymology of "bullets" as a synonym for scuppernogs.
"Bullets" is the name given here to the traditional sport of 'Road Bowls' - which is played along country roads by competitors hurling a small iron ball called a bullet. The balls were originally (small) cannon-balls and hence the name of the game and the 'ball'.
The game goes back to the early 1700s when it was common among the Scotch-Irish that went to the Appalachians back then in fairly big numbers.
We still talk of an unripe apple as being 'as hard as a bullet', but 'scuppernong' is a new one on me! Were these grapes a bit harder than the norm?
Thanks for this addition to the lore around these grapes, Philip. I would never have figured that out, but I bet it is a Scotch-Irish carry over. I'd bet that their larger size and maybe the way they often to appear to be rounder than other grapes might be the reason that they got this nickname.
ReplyDeleteYou are the Grapes of Wrath authority around here, though. It would be interesting if scuppernong or any of these other terms made it into 'Okie' language. It doesn't sound like either the word or the grape made it very far out of the deep South. And then too, Steinbeck would have had to have heard it used as well.
Philip, I read The Grapes of Wrath years ago. I remember parts of it, bit no scuppernongs.
ReplyDeleteI have heard about road bowls from Irish blog correspondents, though, and it sounds like a charming game, something like jeu de boules on a large scale.
Yea, no scuppernongs in Grapes of Wrath - the nearest it gets is the title (but any excuse to mention Steinbeck).
ReplyDelete"Bullets" or Road bowls is a bit like Golf along a stretch of windy road with the idea of completing the set course in as few throws of the cannon-ball as possible. It can even involve a spinning shot so that the bullet will go round a bend. As the road is lined (nowadays)with betting spectators, the excitement is in having to jump through the hedge to avoid the ball in full flight.
God help us if ESPN gets hold of it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the game crossed over at all. For all I know they are playing it down the roads of the deep South all the time and the rest of the country none the wiser.
ReplyDeleteSeana
ReplyDeleteI think they are still playing it on the streets of Laredo with real bullets.
Good point, Philip. Americans do tend to take things a bit too literally...
ReplyDeleteSeans, I have a Crime Spree magazine T-shirt that never fails to draw comments. Its front bears the slogan "Got Bullets?" in yellow type-style letters on a black background.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'd wear that one when boarding a plane (not that I'd wear a T-shirt when travelling, of course).
Uh, no. And not certain parts of Philadelphia either, I'd guess.
ReplyDeleteHere's a picture of the T-shirt worn as part of a smart-casual ensemble, sure to draw an appreciative chuckle from TSA inspectors and street-corner hoods everywhere.
ReplyDeleteSeems perfect for crime conventions anyway.
ReplyDeleteI have a Crime Spree magazine T-shirt that never fails to draw comments. Its front bears the slogan "Got Bullets?" in yellow type-style letters on a black background.
ReplyDeleteYou probably wouldn't get a second look wearing it here...except people asking where they could get one. My sons shooting club would probably really like it.
The most recent comment on the shirt came from a guy who I had the feeling had fired a gun or two in his time for legal purposes.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nicer if it had a big picture of scuppernongs on the back, though.
ReplyDeleteA thumbs up type comment, or an unprintable one?
ReplyDeleteA big thumbs-up. The shirt has generated much good will from all who have commented on it.
ReplyDeleteThe back of the shirt has no grapes -- they would not show up well against the black background. But it is eye-catching nonetheless. I'll try to remember to bring it with me when I vist San Francisco for Bouchercon in October.
Apparently many scuppernong are bronze, though, so that should work.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy to bear scuppernongs on my back.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'd go as far as all that. But I'd certainly be happy to eat some.
ReplyDeleteOr to drink some of the best scuppernong wine ever produced?
ReplyDeleteFrankly, it wouldn't even have to be that good.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are awesome!! My teacher is making me use the word scuppernong as a vocab exercise for the book To Kill A Mockingbird. I had to find a real life use. This was the only actual conversation using the word that I could find.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, anon. Glad we could help, though it seems we pretty much drifted off topic here.
ReplyDelete