Light Dawns Ovah Marblehead

This glossary (thanks, sis) reads like a Cliffs Notes to my childhood. The Lake vs. Nonantum bit under "L" is priceless Newton etymology; there really are places in MA that have 'official names' and then the names people actually call them. (e.g., all the signs on the Vineyard pointing arrows to "Aquinnah" when you're going to Gay Head.) And yes, streets there down the Lake really do have the center double line painted over with an italian tri-color stripe.

Some of my favorite entries:

Gahkablahka
Traffic tie-up caused by people looking at an accident on the other side of the road (or sometimes at excessively enthusiastic human billboards). Coined by long-time WEEI traffic reporter Kevin O'Keefe, who also came up with "stall 'n' crawl," "cram 'n' jam" and "snail trail."
[note: I did standouts in high school that are still on my resume.]

Jimmies
Those little chocolate thingees you ask the guy at the ice-cream store to put on top of your cone. The multi-colored ones are "sprinkles."

Quality
Worthless, at least in Newton (and in particular, West Newton). "My friends and parents still use it today,'' says Lucia Kegan. "If you had some piece-of-shit bike some mean kid might say 'quality bike' or if some guy got all loaded on malt liquor and threw up you would call him a 'quality kid.' ''