TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Reviewed 8/17/2012

Cover art uncredited.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Harper Lee New York: Warner Books, December 1982? (31st printing) 1				Rating: 5.0 High
ISBN-13 978-0-446-31078-9
ISBN-10 0-446-31078-6	281pp.	SC	$4.99

There are a mere few errors in the text of this novel. Given the care with which Harper Lee wrote, I'd bet they all are transcription errors made in preparing this Warner edition. I present them here, but what I mainly do is highlight the regional terms she used to add verisimilitude and local color to the work. The general meanings of many of them are clear from context; for example, Scout speaks at least twice of a "redbug" which has to be some kind of insect bite. However, context does not always help decipher the meaning of these terms. I attempt here to pin down those meanings which remain elusive.

Errata

Page 8:

"The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard—a 'swept' yard that was never swept—where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance."

Missing word: S/B "remains of a picket fence". (But this is arguable, based on the possibility of it being southern dialect.)
Note also the regional terms "johnson grass" and "rabbit-tobacco." Johnson grass is considered one of the ten worst weeds in the world. Its excessive nitrates can cause bloating in ruminants, and if it dries out the concentration of hydrogen cyanide can be fatal to them. It's named after Col. William Johnson, an Alabama plantation owner who introduced it circa 1840. As for rabbit-tobacco, this source and others say it is commonly used as a tobacco substitute by rural youths.

Page 10:	"...the boys backed around the square in a borrowed flivver, resisted arrest by Maycomb's anciet beadle, Mr. Connor, and locked him in the courthouse outhouse."
	The closest to the intended meaning here is the derivation of "beadle" from "bailiff." But most definitions make it a minor church or British university official.

Page 11:	"My memory came alive to see Mrs. Radley occasionally open the front door, walk to the edge of the porch, and pour water on her cannas."
	Cannas are some kind of flower?

Page 35:	"Plucking an occasional camellia, getting a squirt of hot milk from Mrs. Maudie Atkinson's cow on a summer day, helping ourselves to someone's scuppernongs was part of our ethical culture..."
	The scuppernong is basically a big green grape. The name comes from the Scuppernong River in North Carolina, but the fruit is found throughout the South. Other variants of the name include "scuplin," "scupanon," and "scupadine."

Page 36:	" 'Yawl hush,' said Jem, 'you act like you believe in Hot Steams'."
	Ghosts

Page 97:	"...and Miss Stephanie said, 'Uh, uh, uh, who'da thought of a mad dog in February? Maybe he wadn't mad, maybe he was just crazy'."
	Typo: S/B "wasn't".

Page 129:	"Miss Maudie Atkinson baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight..."
	The Lane cake is a kind of sponge cake that's an Alabama specialty. For shinny, see next entry.

Page 131:	"He sent them packing next day armed with their charts and five quarts of shinny in their saddlebags..."
	So: "shinny" is "shine" or, better yet, "moonshine." This gives an ironic twist to the statement on page 129 since, much later, there's a big family dispute over whether she should be allowed to drink coffee.

Page 149:	"The south side of the square was deserted. Giant monkey-puzzle bushes bristled on each corner..."
	The monkey-puzzle tree is a conifer native to South America, often imported as an ornamental.

Page 165:	"After nine hours [...], Judge Taylor threw the case out of court. When asked upon what grounds, Judge Taylor said, 'champertous connivance' and declared he hoped to God the litigants were satisfied by each having had their public say."
	The adjective derives from Champerty, a scheme in which a third party finances a lawsuit in order to share in the judgement.

Page 178:	"Tricking lawyers like Atticus Finch took advantage of him all the time with their tricking ways."
	Dialect again? Or should it be "Tricky lawyers"?

Page 180:	"...there was this old chiffarobe in the yard Papa'd brought in to chop up for kindlin'..."
	From context, this is furniture, probably a wardrobe of some sort. A chiffarobe (or more properly chifforobe is a combination of a wardrobe and a set of drawers for clothes. There are many spellings.

Page 205:	"...a phrase that the Yankees and the distaff side of the Executive branch in Washington are fond of hurling at us."
	I've always understood "distaff side" to mean females.

Pages 254-5:	"...plunging from the shrill kee, kee of the sunflower bird to the irascible qua-ack of a bluejay..."
	Could the sunflower bird be a nuthatch? There is a type of songbird that feeds exclusively or preferentially on sunflowers. It ought to be easy to identify.