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Yes, old timers, cowboys and railroaders had their own language and they used some words a tad differently from everyone else…
…and then there’s Texan, a language unto its self. We’ll get to some of all of it, in here somewhere…

“they took along their runnin’ irons
and maybe a dog or two
and allowed they’d brand all the long eared dogies
that came within their view.

Now, many a long-eared dogie
that didn’t hush up by day,
had his long ears whittled and his old hide scorched
in a most artistic way”

from “Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail”
an old cowboy song

A.

above snakes – still alive (on top of the ground, on the right side of the grass).

acculturation – The psychological changes induced by cross-cultural imitation. – John Wesley Powell in 1883.

ace-in-the- hole – one’s hidden advantage in whatever; your back-up knife and/or gun.

adit – (mining) A horizontal tunnel from the surface.