Bres & Scratcher

Having grown up on the Tampa docks, working with longshoremen and stevedores, I became aware of certain linguistic anomalies.  Two instances come to mind.  When working around a crew of blacks who were manually loading a railcar or truck, I heard the use the term "bres."  This was the forshoretned version of "breast" and was used in reference to coworkers who were working "abreast" of you.  What I actually remember hearing was "Where yo bres is?"  And I remember asking one of the workers what he meant, and he said, "You know.  Bresting you."  Very interesting.  

On another, more humorous note, I was supervising the loading of an enclosed railroad boxcar, and one of the young men cautioned his fellow laborers to be careful that they didn't fall out of the open door.  He said, woefully, that one of his mates had fallen out of a boxcar and they had to come and "put him on a scratcher."  He meant "stretcher."