No Bread, Part I

The strange name of the inn, the "Swabberbushing," did not ease Peleg into his new environment. He had asked a number of people what a “swabberbushing” was, but no one seemed to know for sure. The barge captain thought he remembered a story about mythical sea creatures famous for inebriating sailors, but the more he pondered, the less sure he was they were called "swabberbushings." The surly constable who had pointed the way through the refuse of the docks didn’t know and didn’t care. The gipsy street magician at the alley-mouth had recited three different jokes, all of which had the word as their punch line and all of which were dirtier than he was. He said he had a dozen more.