Glossary

Glossary by Moira O’Sullivan Andy Williams Christmas Album: Williams, known as “Mr. Christmas,” released his first Christmas album in 1963. It remains one of the most popular holiday releases of all time.

Baby Jane: Reference to the 1962 film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? starring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, in which a former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

“Bali Hai”: Famous song from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical South Pacific, sung by the character Bloody Mary about a mystical island.

Baling wire: Also known as haywire, this thin type of wire is used to secure bales of hay.

Banty rooster: A banty rooster or bantam rooster is a smaller version of a regular rooster. It can be about a quarter to half the size of a standard chicken.

a Banty rooster aCtress Joan CrawFord Joan Crawford: (1904–1977) American actress, known for her roles in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Midred Pierce. After her death, her daughter released a tell-all book about her called Mommie Dearest that chronicled her abusive upbringing.

Crop-dusting: The spraying of powdered fungicides or insecticides on crops, usually from an airplane.

Bouffant: A woman's hairstyle, in which the hair is teased to give a puffed-out appearance and often combed to frame the face.

Censorship: The action of preventing part or the whole of work of art, or other kind of communication from being seen or made available to the public because it is considered to be offensive or harmful. Colonel Sanders: The founder of the fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, depicted in their marketing wearing a white suit, black tie, and glasses.

Covered-dish supper: A meal to which guests contribute food, such as casseroles, to be shared by all.

Bing Crosby: (1903–1977) American singer and actor, known for his crooning voice and his appearances in the holiday classic movies Holiday Inn and White Christmas, as well as his many recordings of classic Christmas songs.

Deuteronomy: The fifth book of the Old Testament, focusing on Moses’s addressing of the Israelites, enforcing certain laws of wellbeing before they enter the Promised Land of Canaan. Known for having many absurd, outdated, and problematic “laws."

The World of A TunA ChrisTmAs

ERA button: A pin showing support for the

Equal Rights Amendment, a gender equality and women’s rights amendment.

Faith healer: A professed Christian who mostly heals through prayer, laying hands on patients, and providing holy water and medicinal herbs.

Fifth wheel: A hitch that allows the driver to connect a cargo attachment to the back of a large vehicle, like a tractor or truck.

Fixing a cat: Also known as neutering; a surgical procedure performed by a veterinarian to remove a cat's testicles.

Frito pie: A staple menu item at Little League and high school sports concessions stands all over Texas, it is a pile of Fritos with chili on top, often served from the chip bag itself.

Homemade Frito Pie. Fundamentalist: An adherent of fundamentalism, a religious movement characterized by a strict belief in the literal interpretation of religious texts.

Gunsmoke: A Western TV series airing from 1955–1975 about a marshall keeping order in Dodge City. . Hot checks: Also called bounced checks; checks where the amount they are written for cannot be collected because of lack of funds in the account.

Hot rodder: A driver or builder of hot rods (automobiles specially built or altered for fast acceleration and increased speed); a fast and reckless driver. Hypoglycemic: Having an abnormally low level of glucose in the blood.

MYF: Methodist Youth Fellowship, a Methodist church group for teens.

Mame: An American musical written in 1966 by Jerry Herman, Robert E. Lee, and Jerome Lawrence, focused on Mame Dennis, whose eccentric, bohemian lifestyle is interrupted when her late brother's son is entrusted to her care.

Medea: A Greek tragedy play written by Euripedes; it centers on Medea who, after her husband Jason leaves her for the daughter of King Creon, kills their two sons and flees.

Mexican iguana: Mexican spiny-tailed iguana are large lizards with male bodies up to 18 inches in length with the tail another 18 inches. Though originally from Mexico and Central America, they can also be found in Florida and Texas.

The Miracle Worker: The broadcast, play, and film adaptations of Helen Keller’s autobiography, which tells the story of how Annie Sullivan taught Helen Keller, who was both blind and deaf, to communicate.

Moonpie: A snack food that consists of a graham cracker-like sandwich filled with marshmallow fluff and dipped in chocolate.

Audie Murphy: (1925-1971) America’s most decorated combat soldier in World War II as well as a famous movie star; Texas native.

Mustard gas: An oily liquid used as a chemicalwarfare gas, blistering the skin and damaging the lungs, often causing blindness and death; introduced by the Germans in World War I.

Mynah bird: A chatty, intelligent bird; one of the best avian mimics of human speech. Native to Africa, India, southeast Asia, and Indonesia.

The Night of the Iguana: A play written in 1961 by Tennessee Williams about tourists in a seedy Mexican hotel.

The Original Missing Link: A hypothetical intermediate evolutionary form between humans and their presumed ape ancestors from Darwin’s Theory of Evolution; an insult.

Pari-mutuel betting: Method of wagering introduced in France around 1870 that has become one of the world’s most popular methods of betting on horse races.

Philistine: Lacking in or hostile to culture; smugly commonplace or conventional.

Probation: A method of dealing with criminal offenders guilty of minor crimes or first offenses, by allowing them to be at large under supervision of a probation officer; the state of having been conditionally released.

A Raisin in the Sun: A play written in 1957 by Lorraine Hansberry about the Younger family, an African American family living together on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s who must decide what to do with the insurance money they receive after the death of the patriarch.

Requisition: An authoritative or formal demand for something to be done, given, or supplied.

Rhode Island Reds: A type of hen known for being very personable; their defining qualities are utilitarian, not good looks. They are the state bird of Rhode Island.

Lionel Richie: (b. 1949) American pop/soul singer-songwriter known for such hits as “Hello” and “All Night Long.”

Rio Bravo: A 1959 Western movie starring John Wayne and Dean Martin, in which a small-town sheriff enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Sheep dip: A lotion or wash applied to the fleece or skin of sheep to kill vermin, usually applied by immersing the animals in vats.

Skeet shoot: A sport played by hunters in the off-season to keep up their form.

usHuaia, a City on tHe tierra del Fuego arCHiPelago.

Smut: Indecent language or publications; obscenity. In Tuna, the Smut Snatchers of the New Order are by and large wrong about what is actually “smut” and are overprotective of children.

Soul Train: (1970–2006) African American–focused music-dance television program that primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, funk, pop, and hip-hop artists

Striped pajamas: A prison or jail uniform with black stripes.

Stun gun: A battery-powered, handheld weapon that fires an electric charge when held against a person to immobilize a person briefly and without much injury.

Subpoena: The usual writ for the summoning of witnesses or the submission of evidence, as records or documents, before a court or other deliberative body.

Tierra del Fuego: An archipelago, or collection of islands, at the southern tip of South America.

Twenty-Two Skidoo: An expression meaning to clear out or get away in haste before getting into or causing trouble.

Vaya con dios: Spanish phrase meant as a farewell; translates to “go with God.”

Natalie Wood: (1938–1981) American actress known for Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story.