Learn to Speak Napleseaze
Here are some local terms and words you're likely to come across when in the Naples area.
Chickee
Originally a chickee was a house in the everglades with a roof, no walls and built on stilts. Now it refers to an open-air bar and eating area with a roof, no walls and built for patrons.
Florida
Pronunciations Local - flôr'i-du.
Other Pronunciations - floor-da, flah-ri-da, flaw-ri-da and flow-ri-da.
The Season
The very peak season in Naples is January through April. Full-time winter residents must spend six months to fulfill Florida's residency requirements.
We see one month and three month visitors turn into six month residents, then into nine month residents and then year round residents.
Sheet Flow
Be careful how you say it. Water from Lake Okeechobee and the rains over southern Florida flow to the gulf through the everglades at a very slow rate. Most of the natural flow has been redirected through channels and waterways over the years. There is a long-term effort now underway to restore much of the original sheet flow. Dressed Up 1: Putting on a nicer pair of shorts.
Big Cypress Swamp
The original swamp land environment surrounding the Naples area was heavily logged for it's cypress trees. The swamps are forested wetlands, dominated by cypress trees and are located along streams, river banks or in ponds with very slow moving water.
Cypress trees are tall trees with a buttress base giving the Naples area it's "forestry" look. They do well in swamps flooded for long periods of times. The bald cypress sheds its needles in the winter, can live 100 years and are the largest trees east of the Rockies.
Real Estate Agent
An individual that has satisfied the state's education requirements, passed the uniformed exam and has fulfilled other licensing requirements. The term REALTOR® is a registered mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Mangrove
Mangrove trees are short and bushy with a gnarly root system. They thrive on the waters edge and can extract fresh water from saltwater. The mangrove root system is exposed giving it the appearance it's walking. Prevalent in costal channels and estuary systems. 2. Natural fish habitats.
Pass
Passes are Gulf coast inlets to back bays and rivers, including Gordon Pass to Naples Bay, Doctors Pass to Venetian Bay, Clam Pass to Outer Clam Bay and Wiggins Pass to the Cocohatchee.
A pass could also be an event preceding a slap at a chickee bar.
Snook
A prized game fish, difficult to catch, fights hard and makes a great meal. Located in passes and bays in the summer, and mangroves in the winter. Species name: Centropomus or tastesgoodes onaplateus
Coquina (Ko Keena)
Used to make cart paths on many of the local golf courses. Coquina is a soft, porous lime stone, a mixture of mollusk shell fragments and quartz sand, bound together by calcium carbonate. If your ball lies on coquina, you need to hit off it.
Hammock
Areas of dense stands of hardwood trees that grow upon rises in land of only a few inches. Because of the lands' slight elevation, hammocks rarely flood.
Cracker
Crackers were whites of Celtic descent (Scots, Irish and Welsh) who first settled South Florida around the mid-eighteenth century from Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
Banyan
A banyan tree has aerial roots that descend from limbs to the ground. It looks as if several trees are fused together when in fact it is just one tree. They were reported imported by Thomas Edison to southwest Florida from India.
They are common to see in the older neighborhood, but can no longer be planted as they are exotic species.
