gabardines trousers made out of gabardine, a sturdy fabric of cotton, wool, or twill.
Gabriel Heatter a radio newscaster.
gal a derogatory term for a black woman; it corresponds to the term "boy" for a black man.
Garret . . . Buttercup brand names of oleomargarine, a substitute for real butter.
"Give me that again. Flat out to fit my head." When Hannah asks Eva if she had ever loved her children, Eva is so stunned by the question that she pretends not to understand. She sarcastically asks Hannah to repeat the question in clearer, simpler terms.
goobers peanuts.
Ham's sons The reference is to Ham, one of Noah's sons. According to the biblical story, which is often used to justify the persecution of blacks, Noah drank so much wine that he passed out, naked. His son Ham, which in Hebrew means dark or swarthy, discovered him and called on his two brothers to cover their father. Averting their faces by walking backwards toward their father, Ham's brothers covered Noah's nakedness with a cloak. On waking, Noah cursed his son Ham for having seen him while he was naked — nakedness being synonymous with Adam and Eve's Original Sin, according to the Old Testament — and proclaimed that all of Ham's descendants would be slaves. Thus, when the bargeman refers to Ham's sons, he's denigrating all blacks.
head rag a length of cloth, often matching the fabric of a dress, that is bound and tied around the head.
heifer a young cow; here, it is a cutting, insulting term.
[Helene] joined the most conservative black church During slavery, blacks usually adopted the Baptist church of the slaveholders, infusing their church with Africanisms. After slavery, in an attempt to distance themselves from the spirited, animated black Baptist churches, upwardly mobile blacks sought spiritual refuge in the more refined and quieter Catholic church. Because there isn't a Catholic church in the Bottom, Helene joins the most conservative black church available.
her nature was coming down The reference is to Sula's first menstrual period.
hunkies a disparaging term for a person, especially a laborer from east-central Europe. Here, it includes all white immigrants.
iceman . . . icebox People kept perishable items in a wooden icebox that contained large chunks of ice purchased from an iceman.
