You're listening to Away with Words. I'm Grant Barrett.

And I'm Martha Barnett. Grant, have you ever had a potato bargain?

I don't think so. I paid the usual price.

I'm not talking about shopping. I'm talking about a food term that you hear mainly in eastern

Massachusetts. Oh.

It's an economical stew consisting chiefly of pork, onions, and potatoes.

And because it's so economical, another name for this mixture is necessity mess.

Necessity mess.

Potato bargain.

Yeah, isn't that great?

Where'd you find this?

I found it in the dictionary of American Regional English.

Where else?

Oh, very nice.

You know, foodies look at recipe books and they're sitting there sighing over the luscious photographs.

Well, I flip through the pages of the dictionary of American Regional English and look for food names.

What else you got there?

Well, I was going to ask you if you'd like some Ming-Mang on your necessity mess.

Ming-Mang.

Ming-mang.

That sounds vulgar. It's not. It's a term in the Ozarks for butter and molasses or butter and gravy. And here's another one for you, one-eyed Susan. Any guesses? No, it's kind of pie maybe. I don't know. A cookie? No. It's a, I don't know, rib-eye.

You'd have it for breakfast in central Wisconsin.

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