CREATED BY: MISS SCHRADER

American Tall Tales Vocabulary

Introduction to Tall Tales

Courage

Doing something that is hard or dangerous.

Example: Police officers have courage to go out and fight crime everyday.

Accomplish

To complete something

Ex. Miss Schrader will accomplish her goal of becoming a teacher this year.

Exaggerate

Describing something as larger and greater than it actually is

Ex. My sister likes to exaggerate her stories. She said she ate a ten pound hamburger when it was really only four ounces.

Paul Bunyan

Lumberjack

A person who’s job it is to cut down trees

Ex. My friend is a lumberjack and he is in the woods all day chopping down trees.

Ax

A tool with a heavy metal blade with a wooden handle used to cut things

A lumberjack usually uses an ax to cut down trees.

Ox

A type of strong cow/bull

An ox is so strong that they are often used to pull big objects.

John Henry

Slave

Someone who is owned by another person and forced to work without pay

Ex. In the 1800s, many slaves were forced to pick cotton out in the hot sun.

Railroad

Tracks on which trains travel and the company that owns them

Ex. There are railroad tracks that run right by my house!

Steel driver

A person who put big nails into railroad tracks to keep them together.

Ex. A steel driver was a very important person because they made the railroad safe to ride on.

Hammer

Tool used to put nails into things to hold them together.

Ex. I use my hammer to put nails in the wall so I can hang pictures.

Challenge

Doing something that is not easy and may be hard to do

Ex. I challenge all of you to sit in your desks in SLANT!

Sally Ann Thunder Ann

Whirlwind

Tug O War

A sport of strength where two teams grab a rope on each side and try to pull the rope (and the other team) over a line in order to win.

Ex. My team and I won at Tug O War but I got rope burn on my hands!!

Frontier

The outer edge of a large piece of land, may separate two pieces of land

Ex. We crossed the frontier when we went over the border.

References

All definitions taken from dictionary.comAll pictures taken from Microsoft Office

Clipart