Charley Pike's Montana Terminology

Terms and phrases you might find useful...

Author

Charley Pike
March 12, 2024

Moving to Montana? Passing through? ‘Been here a while and a feel bit lost in some of the native terminology? Planning to visit and want to fit in? A quick cruise through some Montana terminology, while not necessarily unique to the state, might help you some!

  • First, there are features of the land. You’ll just have to figure out the differences and subtleties - best experienced by saddlehorse: Swale, gully, coulee, draw, wash, dry wash, knob, gumbo knob, ridge, saddle, canyon, ledge, slope, pass, bank, cut bank, peak, hill, butte, bottom, prairie, divide, grade, bog, sag, slide, park, meadow, marsh, and on and on…

  • You might be asked if you’re from “Back East” – be aware that can be anywhere east of Dakota and north of The South.

  • The “old country” is east of Montana – sometimes called Dakota.

  • Dakota can be broken into North and South.

  • Midwest is a town in Wyoming.

  • In Montana Choteau is one place and Chouteau is another…

  • Meagher (as in County) rhymes with car… Please tell the weather girl.

  • A truck is a vehicle bigger than a 1/2 -ton.

  • A pickup is a 1/2-ton “pickup truck.” Anything smaller than 1/2-ton is, well… worthless.

  • A semi is an 18-wheeler or - “truuck” pronounced with a low, guttural sound.

  • A four-wheeler is not a pickup or a truck. Any two-wheel drive is, well… worthless.

  • An SUV is a rig. Not a truck or a car.

  • Anything not Dodge, GM or Ford is a foreign job.

  • A farm can be called a ranch, but don’t call a ranch a farm! 

  • A ranch is not a “spread.” I’ll cover this more in the “How to talk to a rancher” section.

  • Breakfast is breakfast and lunch is dinner and dinner is supper.

  • Lunch is what you pack in a lunchbox, Tupperware, a brown sack, or put in your saddlebag - usually half of which is shared with the dogs.

  • “Brunch” is in the same category as quiche.

  • If it is Sunday, Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, dinner is any time after noon and before leftovers.

  • Oh yeah…. And “creek” rhymes with stick not geek!

  • A dry creek almost never runs water, duh. It’s kind of like a dry wash. See above.

  • A stream runs year-round but it doesn’t go dry unless the guy upstream is stealing water.

  • Ask a bartender in Butte about a “ditch” - as it isn’t always a man-made stream.

  • Those crafty canines that slip around our countryside are COYOTES (kai-OATS) not (kai-oat-EES).

  • The things you guide a team of horses with are “lines” - and the things you steer a horse with are “reins”.

  • Leather leggings are chaps (shaps) not chaps (like chap-ed lips).

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