source: http://blues.about.com/library/blgloss.htm

American Blues has established a colorful language to go with the heartfelt music. Most terms come from the rural African-American experience or the melting pot of New Orleans. Here is a glossary of those terms.

Alligator - Or 'Gator. A dance from Florida that involves squirming on the dance floor.

Back Door Man - A clandestine lover who must sneak out the back door as the as the husband/wife comes in the front door.

Balling the Jack - A railroad work term that quickly became a metaphor for lovemaking. It was also the name of a popular dance step in the 1940's.

Barrelhouse - A common nightclub (see juke joint). Probably named after barrels of beer needed to fuel proceedings.

Beale Street - A Blues hotspot in Memphis, Tennessee. B.B. King started there. The area has been revived and is once again a thriving party scene.

Black Cat Bone - A mystical charm that is actually a bone from a black cat that has been ritually processed. Carried for good luck.

Blues - Musical form that came from rural African-American experience. Using flatted and bending notes in the common music scale, an ultra-emotional sound developed.

Boll Weevil - An insect that eats cotton. This pest was responsible for crop failures that plagued the South.

Boogie-Woogie - A Blues style most associated with the piano. From the ragtime and stride piano traditions of New Orleans and Kansas City, it evolved into a very Texas musical form.

Bourbon Street - Traditional party street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Famed for music and decadence.

Canned Heat - Sterno. Jellied alcohol that could heat your food or get you very drunk.

Captain - The big boss. The plantation owner or prison guard.

C.C. Rider - A prostitute's boyfriend or anyone who gets a free ride in exchange for sex.

Chicken Shack - A food establishment where a party could also be found.

Creeper - A clandestine lover who sneaks around town. The Midnight Creeper.

Delta - Fertile flat land in western Mississippi that was the heart of the slavery and cotton eras.

Dozens - An insult game usually about your mother.

Dust My Broom - Break up with a lover. Start an new life by cleaning out the old.

Eagle Rock - Popular dance from the 1920's

Flag a Ride - Hitchhike or jump a passing freight train.

Gandy Dancers - Railroad workers who straightened track to a call and response work song.

Gris-Gris - A magical spell or voodoo technique.

Hands - A collection of voodoo charms worn or carried for protection and luck.

Harp - A harmonica. Also known as the Georgia Saxophone.

Highway 51 - Highway runs north and south through the Mississippi Delta. It was the main route of the migration to Chicago.

Hobo - A homeless person who jumps on freight trains to travel the counrty. The source of some real Blues.

Honeydripper - A superlover. The one you love or hope to love.

Hoochie Coochie Man - A man obsessed with booze (hootch) and women (cootch).

HooDoo - A mix of African spirituality, Voodoo, and Christianity. Folk magic of the rural South.

House Party - Musical parties in an apartment or house instead of a club or juke.

JellyRoll - A metaphor for the female genitalia.

Jinx - The bearer of bad luck. A mojo hand would be worn for protection from a jinx.

Jitterbug - A popular dance of the 1940's.

Jive - Bogus, false, or untrue. B.B. King sings "My momma says she loves me, but she could be jivin' too".

Johnny Conqueroo - A woody tuber related to the sweet potato used in a mojo hand.

Jug Band - A band using common items like a jug, washboard, or kazoos to play music.

Juju - African musical genre and another term for a mojo hand.

Juke Joint - A bar or club in the rural South. Sometimes just known as "jukes".

Killing Floor - The room where cows are slaughtered. Usually referring to the stockyards of Chicago.

Lucille - B.B. King's guitar. Named after a woman whose love caused a man to burn the club he was playing in at the time.

Maxwell Street - Chicago market area where Blues performers could play and sell records.

Mojo - A magical spell or item. Someone could put some bad mojo on you or you could carry a mojo hand to ward off these evil intents.

Monkey - An addiction or addict. As in "monkey on my back".

Moonshine - Home made liquor usually distilled from corn.

Parchman Farm - Famous Mississippi prison that inspired the deepest Blues.

Piedmont Blues - Blues music that came from the East Coast and Appalachian Mountains.

Ramblin' - Blues music that came from the East Coast and Appalachian Mountains.

Rent Party - Musical parties in an apartment where admission was used to cover the rent.

Ride the Blinds - Riding a freight train.

Roadhouse - A juke joint or honky tonk next to a highway.

Root Doctor - Person versed in magical cures from plants.

Rounder - A real party animal and womanizer.

Sharecropping - Paying rent on your farm by giving most of the yearly crop to the farm owner. After the Civil War, this effectively kept African-Americans from economic advancement.

Slide - A guitar style that uses a glass or metal tube to slide on the strings, creating variable pitches.

Smokestack Lightin' - A mule fart. Some may say it describes a steam train in the night.

Stagger Lee - Criminal Folk hero who defined the "baddest of the bad".

VooDoo - Folk mysticism from the Caribean.

Yea You Right - New Orleans' answer to every question.

Wang Dang Doodle - A big party.

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