of the Ocracoke brogue now,

and they all live on one end of this barrier island

on the coast of North Carolina,

which is basically an enlarged sand bar.

Within the next 50 years, the brogue will disappear.

- Hoi toi to the sound side so laugh like water

far night moonshine no fish.

(boat engine bubbling)

- [Man] The dialect on this island is sometimes referred to

as hoi toiters which is their pronunciation of high tide.

- Hoi toid on the sound sides high tide on the sound side.

- In the United States the Ocracoke brogue is probably

the only dialect that is not identified

as being from America.

- I do, I have a lot of people that think I'm from Australia

or Ireland, yeah.

- [Man] You can look in this boat and see crabs.

- You know, the first people that came here

from England and Ireland and Scotland just stayed isolated.

I'm from Ocracoke, I am the 10th generation

in my family from Ocracoke.

That goes back to the mid-1600s.

- The reason this dialect was perpetuated

for a couple of centuries was because the people were

very isolated.

They didn't have much contact with people from the mainland.

Ocracoke is an island that has always

lived around the water.

- Got it!

- Many of the unique items,

particularly the vocabulary items,

are built around the water

and the sand and the weather.

- The wind's blowin' really hard, he says,

it's blowin harder then a pop car right there.

You know.

- So you're takin' a ride around the island.

You're just taking a little scud.

- When we come out here and the wind's blowin' really hard

and we take a bad beatin'.

Then you could say we be a mommuck.

- You also find here lots of terms for outsiders.

- Ya'll are dingbatters.

(laughing)

- My wife is from Maryland.

We've been married 43 years.

She's still a dingbatter.

(laughing)

- That's not a bad thing, OK?

(laughing)

- It was basically the dingbatters who changed the dialect

because so many people came in.

Even today there are more off-islanders who live here

than on-landers.

- Now it's changing, within time we're all gonna lose it,

ya' know?

- Because of so many people coming in.

It's a part of heritage that I'm proud of.

- Some people think we talk funny.

I think that's the way we talk.

(laughs)

It ain't funny to us, but it doesn't matter,

I mean, that's fine, you know?

(plucked string music)