Kendall--"Porta-John?" That's a great Maundegreen.

Now for seriousness. Leadbelly did this also; in Southern dialect (Black or Cracker matters not; I'm a Cracker descendant so I can say that) demijohn becomes "Jimmie-John." Leadbelly also sort of "fractured" the lyrics. When he got to the verse Al quoted for us, he sang it:

Two little boys they call me Papa;
One named "Sop" and the other named "Gravy."
Stand around, stand around the Jimmie-John (x3 or x4 or x till you get tired.)

Green corn, gwine tell Polly.
Green corn, come along Cholly. etc.

And that leads to the standard Cracker sop/gravy joke. Several of these things were told to me as if they really happened to relatives and only later did I discover (college education is broadening) that these were like rural urban-legends. Anyway, poor hillbilly goes to slightly more well-to-do home for dinner; comes back; parents or somebody asks how it went. Says, "Oh, twern't nothin'. They had somethin' they called "GRAY-VYE," but it twern't nothin' but common sop." Chickaboom!

Someday I might visit Kings County, Alabama, and see for myself.

Chicken Charlie