Regional slang and phrases

[AGBF]

Date: 11/16/2007 10:07:39 AM
Author: anchor31
Oh my, I don''t even know where to start. Us Quebecers have a WEIRD accent (the Francophones anyway!)

When I heard some French Canadians speaking French at the beach here in the United States it took me a very long time to figure out that it was French (which I try to speak)! I would have guessed it was a language I didn''t know (like Russian), not one with which I was somewhat familiar (like Italian or Spanish or German), except that I started to hear words that I knew. The longer I listened, the more words I heard. Finally I recognized that I really knew a lot of the words and then it dawned on me that I was hearing French! I know it is my own limitation only to have heard French spoken with one accent. My French needs work!



Deborah

 

[Haven]

I just love reading this thread!

I have to say, reading all of your regional quirks makes me feel so boring--I think Chicago is pretty bland. We don''t have nearly as many fun phrases as the rest of the country. Oh well, we''ll always have our deep dish.

 

[curlygirl]

I''m from New York and I''m sure we have lots of crazy things that we say but I can''t think of any!!

But I agree with ONLY mustard on hot dogs--never ketchup! And we say soda, not pop.

pennquaker, I have a sales job and my territory is the south and I absolutely LOVE southernisms. I use "bless his/her/your heart" all the time as a put down and nobody up here really gets it!!! I love that you can say something that sounds so sweet but it''s actually negative--just say it with a smile and a drawl! I love "fixin'' to", "cut on the lights", "mash seven" (like in an elevator), so many good ones.

I have a few friends in Charlotte who say "the theatre is right beside of the store". And I have friends in Columbus, GA who say "I might could do that for you". Oh man, I love the south, y''all!!!

 

[ellaila]

Another Boston girl here!

LOVE lime rickeys -- esp. raspberry lime rickeys!!

I will never stop calling jimmies jimmies! I call carbonated beverages soda, not pop -- I always thought pop was a southern thing? And yes, for whoever said that "car keys" and "khakis" are pronounced the same -- guilty! There's actually a "Boston dictionary" that has a sentence about that

I hate the word purse, to me it's a pocketbook. My aunts are ahnts. And "wicked" was a huuuuge part of my vocabulary growing up! I totally remember using the phrase "wicked pissah" too. Haha!

My other biggie is that I call a drawer a "draw" -- it makes some people nuts, but I cannot say "droooor"! We actually have designated "draws" and "droors" at home -- my desk has "draws," hubby's desk has "droors." (And for you locals, there was a recent Jordan's furniture commercial, where Barry or Elliot -- whichever one is still doing the commercials -- said "draw" like 10 times. Loved it!)

Oh, and I call a shopping cart a "wagon" -- but maybe that's just me?

My Mom's got a total Boston accent: north is "nawth," bath is "bahth," etc. -- as happy as I am to not have an accent like that, I do like hearing it on her! We still make fun of her for reading a birthday cake out loud once as "Lawdy, lawdy, guess who's fawdy!" (Lordy, lordy, guess who's forty)

ETA: a funny accent story. We have family friends that moved from MA to FL back in 1988. One of the daughter's names is Marla and even though she was 13 when they moved, to this day we all still call her Mahla -- her parents, her sister, everyone. Floridians are like "WHAT?!" but to us, that's just how you pronounce her name! They all call her "Morrrrla" -- sounds so silly to us!

 

[Cleopatra]

Date: 11/16/2007 10:42:07 AM
Author: ellaila
Another Boston girl here!


I will never stop calling jimmies jimmies!

Oh, and I call a shopping cart a ''wagon'' -- but maybe that''s just me?

I have never even heard the word Jimmies for sprinkles before! haha!

And I call a shopping cart a "buggie" - does anyone else say that or am I totally weird???? haha!

 

[Haven]

I just took this Accent Quiz, and here are the results. I don''t even understand how some of the words in the questions can sound the same to anybody! How interesting.

What American accent do you have?

Northern

You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

 

[jcrow]

hum. interesting. my quiz results:


Neutral
You''re not Northern, Southern, or Western, you''re just plain -American-. Your national identity is more important than your local identity, because you don''t really have a local identity. You might be from the region in that map, which is defined by this kind of accent, but you could easily not be. Or maybe you just moved around a lot growing up.


ummm... i didn''t do much moving growing up

 

[misysu2]

Date: 11/15/2007 10:10:44 PM
Author: Elmorton
Ooooh, I just love this topic! Dialectal variations are so interesting.

Central IL: Supper/Dinner
Dinner=largest meal of the day, Supper=the meal you're having in the evening
'Crick' instead of 'creek'
I went to school with a LOT of Chicagoans, and they always said 'freeway' when I said 'interstate.'

Rrrrrg, I'm drawing blanks now. I'll try to think of some more of our weird midwesternisms! My grandma has a very 'Missouri' dialect, so I'm sure I'll have some excellent ones after Thanksgiving.

I'm originally from norhern Iowa and central Illinois, so I see a lot of what Elmorton has described. Another is in Iowa-- couch/sofa= "davenport".

I also noticecd that central Illinoisans combine an "r" sound with their "w"'s, something I never picked up so I noticed more. "Are you going to warsh your car today?", "I just bought a warsher and dryer"

They also put s's on store names-- "I have to go to Krogers for grocery's", "I went to Best Buys for movies..."

Elmorton, I battle with "crick" vs. "creek"!! I think I say a different one every time!

One that REALLY gets to me down here in Texas...most of the highways have a SECOND name in the city that only the natives will know. I drove around for hours trying to find "Bee Caves Road", and finally had to stop and ask directions, and found out it's the local name for the highway I was already on!

Also, here in Texas they call the highways by their number. My poor dad was asking directions here, and they told him to "take 35 to John-Doe road", and he was like, "HIGHWAY 35, ROAD 35, 35th STREET?!"

 

[door knob solitaire]

"Hassock (someone said haddock...maybe I've just being saying it wrong my whole life!) for ottoman"

No, you are right... I pressed the d key instead of the s!

Jcrow...get out! Step down? really? How tall/high/large are the cars you people drive? Too funny!

DKS

 

[widget]

This thread is so much fun...but I'm coming to the conclusion that Californians and Left Coasters in general are BORING when it comes to language/dialects!

Should I be ashamed to admit that I don't know what "sprinkles" OR "jimmies" refer to?

And...is this a regional thing, or what: saying "impornant" instead of "important"? (It really bugs me..)

widget

 

[Cleopatra]

Date: 11/16/2007 9:58:50 AM
Author: jcrow
i didn''t read all of the responses, but we have a TON of slang where i live! i didn''t realize it was all so foreign until DH came here from another state. i had to explain SO many sayings!

we say ''get down'' when getting out of a vehicle -- as in if you''re stopping at the gas station, you turn to your passenger and say ''wanna get down and get something to drink?''


i''m drawing a blank, but i''m sure i''ll think of some others!

JCROW - You''ve got to be from Louisiana....that''s the ONLY place I''ve ever heard this. If not Louisiana, from the deep South at least!

 

[Nicrez]

From NY, but no real accent, thanks to speaking other languages! The Long Island accent is oddly the same in parts of Jersey, and Brooklyn/Queens. It's a bit much at times. Makes me twitch if it's heavy enough...

"Oh my GAWD! I tawked to Dawn last night! Yeah! We met at the mawl! Oh, my GAWD!" *twitch*

What I do find is that there are few little phrases here in NY (and California, people pointed out) in comparison to the central parts. I had a friend who traveled often to Nebraska, and he told me that their accent was just the cutest. Someone fill me in...?

Oddly, I have heard this phrase and I have no idea where I once picked it up, so does anyone recognize it?

"Ae are just sitting down to watch tv, want to join us? ...Sure, what's giving?"

 

[jcrow]

Date: 11/16/2007 11:01:44 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
''Hassock (someone said haddock...maybe I''ve just being saying it wrong my whole life!) for ottoman''

No, you are right... I pressed the d key instead of the s!

Jcrow...get out! Step down? really? How tall/high/large are the cars you people drive? Too funny!

DKS

there are 2 theories for "get down" that i''ve heard.

1- lots of big trucks

that people drive around here.
2- back from the ole horse days. people would get down off their horse

 

[sap483]

What a fun thread! I was born in Maryland, raised in Connecticut, and went to school/currently live (for about 7 yrs) in the Boston area.

I say I''m "going for a packie run" instead of "going to the liquor store"
I sometimes pronouce the word orange as are-enj
My brother who lives in CT leaves out "r''s" so he will pronounce library as libary
My boss who lives on the "south shore" adds an r to the end of everything, so Donna is pronouced Donnar
I say I''m going to the supermarket or market instead of the grocery store
I take the highway instead of the interstate or the freeway
I say water cooler instead of bubbler or fountain
I go to the salon instead of to a barber or hairdresser
I get a spinach pie instead of a spinach pizza
I used to say wicked awesome all the time instead of extremely good (hard habit to kick)
I say taters or tater tots instead of hash browns
I call local airports by their name, instead of calling them the airport

That''s it for now...

 

[ellaila]

Widget, jimmies (sprinkles) are the little things that go on ice cream -- what do you call them?!

My boss, who I think is from MA, says "i-deer" for idea and "inter-esting" intead of "int-resting" like most people I know do. Those two always jump out at me when she says them!

I just thought of another funny story -- an accent one, not really slang. I have a friend from Cranston, RI, which has its own accent -- almost NYish, not NEish at all. Cawfee, tawk, mawl, etc. So I was talking to my friend about declawing cats, and she had NO clue what I was saying. She kept saying, "What''s declaaah-ing?" so eventually I said "Declaawwwr-ing" with as much of an accent as I could muster, and the lightbulb went on over her head - "Oh! Declawwwring!" I couldn''t believe that people that grew up 35 minutes away couldn''t understand each other!

 

[sap483]

I just thought of a few more- clearly I''m being very productive at work today.

- We order regular coffees- that''s not the size, it means w/cream and sugar. Especially from "dunkies"
- We call the little ice cream cups "Hoodsies"
- When guys meet other guys they don''t know, they often call them "boss"
- We call roads that go in circles w/exits rotaries instead of roundabouts

 

[mimzy]

i''m from the detroit area and while i don''t think we have any distinct regional dialectal differences, there are two classic signs your from MI.

1) you go up north in the summer (or for hunting season)
and
2) you use the palm side of your right hand to show people where you live

i had a friend that moved here from st. louis in high school and he couldn''t figure out how we were all going to the same place (''up north''). thinking about it we decided that anything north of Flint qualifies as "up north", but it was pretty funny how confused he was. I would imagine that other states, maybe NY in particular, used this phrase though?

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 11/15/2007 10:24:09 PM
Author: surfgirl
I never could understand two issues:

1. Submarine (subs) sandwiches vs. Grinders vs. Hoagies
Why, for the love of god, does there need to be THREE names for the same sandwich, depending on where one lives?!

2. Soda, pop, sodapop
Again, cant we all just call it one name??

As for regional slang...My grandfather lived in Queens and always said:

''ruff'' (roof)
''terlit'' (toilet)

One thing that IS a pet peeve of mine since I travel a lot is WHY cant people all call cities by the same freak''in NAME? And why (sorry British PSers) do the Brits always bastardize names and mispronounce them? Drives me batty! For example, If the Italians call their country ''Italia'' then why cant we all call it that? Why cant we call Fiernze instead of Florence? I mean, if the name is Fierenze, I can say that just fine. Where did they get Bangkok from ''Krungtep''?! I like when countries like China and India start taking back the original names from their cities...Like Beijing instead of the old anglo Peking. Or Mumbai instead of Bombay...It''s just not that difficult to say the name of a foreign country/city but the name the native people call it. Why not call Prague Praha, as they call it there? I dont get it at all and it drives me batty.

Hmm, that is an interesting one. I still call Padova, Padova instead of Padua, but I prefer the sound of Florence instead of Firenze.

Mind you, the Italians are just as bad: Londra, Edinburgo, Scozzia, Inghilterra.

I must admit I do use Mumbai instead of Bombay and Beijing not Peking (although Peking sounds so much more romantic)

I do hate people mispronouncing things though - like Kiribati - they always call it Kiri - bar - tee instead of Kiri - bas, and Tarawa as Te-Ra-W instead of tara-W. grrr, puts my teeth on edge!

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 11/16/2007 12:39:09 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Can anyone explain why some say...

She is in hospital

instead of... She is in THE hospital

I notice this alot in BBC television series. Not sure if this is a proper English practice...or if they are lazy.

Or I am going to the mall, you want to come with?

Instead of you want to come with me?

Am I just a uneducated boob? (ugh...it is ok if you don''t answer that one)

DKS

I don''t know anyone here who doesn''t say ''she''s in hospital'', although you would say ''I''m going to the hospital today'' if you were refering to a specific one, otherwise ''I''m going to hospital today.''

On the mall one, we''d normally just say ''do you want to come?''

 

[Maisie]

My kids call anything really exciting or brilliant ''Mint''.... It drives me mad!!

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 11/16/2007 1:56:28 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Thanks PO...Hubby gets frustrated when we are watching a BBC production...as it is difficult for us Yanks to understand the accents. He yells...''Speak English!!'' at the screen. I say, honey, they are.

I should not have left that LAZY word without a

...what I should have asked, who is proper? Me with my THE or them with their _____? I have also noticed ...

''He is at University''. ''You can find him at University.'' ''He teaches at University''. Arghhh. It drives me batty!!

You people need to spend some national funds and get a load of THE''S!!!

I am speaking for all of America...I think we changed colour to color because it looks better. Yep. Blanced. That is why. Not because we are lazy...we just want to get on with it! It is color...not KO Lar!! (

)

We were talking the other day about how difficult it would be to learn English. We have so many words that mean multiple things. This could be a sign that we are the lazy ones...can''t create new words for different things.

DKS

''He''s at University'' is correct over here, or ''When I was at University'', but ''you can find him at University'' is incorrect and should have the THE.

Some of the regional UK accents are hard to understand even for us - Glaswegian for example. But then we struggle with some of the US ones.

The thing that bugs me more than anything is watching films set in the UK in medieval times etc when some of the actors are american and their ''english accents'' slip all the time. Drives me nuts - or american accents full stop in period drama (unless they are supposed to be American). I''m afraid Shakespeare sound dreadful in a non-UK accent.

 

[surfgirl]

Date: 11/16/2007 12:28:10 PM
Author: Pandora II

Date: 11/15/2007 10:24:09 PM

Author: surfgirl

I never could understand two issues:


1. Submarine (subs) sandwiches vs. Grinders vs. Hoagies

Why, for the love of god, does there need to be THREE names for the same sandwich, depending on where one lives?!


2. Soda, pop, sodapop

Again, cant we all just call it one name??


As for regional slang...My grandfather lived in Queens and always said:


'ruff' (roof)

'terlit' (toilet)

One thing that IS a pet peeve of mine since I travel a lot is WHY cant people all call cities by the same freak'in NAME? And why (sorry British PSers) do the Brits always bastardize names and mispronounce them? Drives me batty! For example, If the Italians call their country 'Italia' then why cant we all call it that? Why cant we call Fiernze instead of Florence? I mean, if the name is Fierenze, I can say that just fine. Where did they get Bangkok from 'Krungtep'?! I like when countries like China and India start taking back the original names from their cities...Like Beijing instead of the old anglo Peking. Or Mumbai instead of Bombay...It's just not that difficult to say the name of a foreign country/city but the name the native people call it. Why not call Prague Praha, as they call it there? I dont get it at all and it drives me batty.

Hmm, that is an interesting one. I still call Padova, Padova instead of Padua, but I prefer the sound of Florence instead of Firenze.


Mind you, the Italians are just as bad: Londra, Edinburgo, Scozzia, Inghilterra.


I must admit I do use Mumbai instead of Bombay and Beijing not Peking (although Peking sounds so much more romantic)


I do hate people mispronouncing things though - like Kiribati - they always call it Kiri - bar - tee instead of Kiri - bas, and Tarawa as Te-Ra-W instead of tara-W. grrr, puts my teeth on edge!

Pandora, I hear you on the "Kiree-bahtee" thing! But then again, who'd know how to pronounce it unless you were there, right? It's such an odd lingustic thing...

I had a friend in college from the illustrious berg of Saugus, MA, and she always said everything excellent was "wicked decent!" Drove me crazy.

But my favorite slang thing is how when I'm home in the NY/NJ area, how people so easily use the word F*#K as an adjective, a verb, noun, whatever. I love that about NY/NJ...People in CA just dont know how to throw around that word the same way a solid citizen of Brooklyn or Bloomfield does!

 

[Maisie]

Date: 11/16/2007 12:40:09 PM
Author: Pandora II

Date: 11/16/2007 1:56:28 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Thanks PO...Hubby gets frustrated when we are watching a BBC production...as it is difficult for us Yanks to understand the accents. He yells...''Speak English!!'' at the screen. I say, honey, they are.

I should not have left that LAZY word without a

...what I should have asked, who is proper? Me with my THE or them with their _____? I have also noticed ...

''He is at University''. ''You can find him at University.'' ''He teaches at University''. Arghhh. It drives me batty!!

You people need to spend some national funds and get a load of THE''S!!!

I am speaking for all of America...I think we changed colour to color because it looks better. Yep. Blanced. That is why. Not because we are lazy...we just want to get on with it! It is color...not KO Lar!! (

)

We were talking the other day about how difficult it would be to learn English. We have so many words that mean multiple things. This could be a sign that we are the lazy ones...can''t create new words for different things.

DKS

''He''s at University'' is correct over here, or ''When I was at University'', but ''you can find him at University'' is incorrect and should have the THE.

Some of the regional UK accents are hard to understand even for us - Glaswegian for example. But then we struggle with some of the US ones.

The thing that bugs me more than anything is watching films set in the UK in medieval times etc when some of the actors are american and their ''english accents'' slip all the time. Drives me nuts - or american accents full stop in period drama (unless they are supposed to be American). I''m afraid Shakespeare sound dreadful in a non-UK accent.

Pandora have you been watching The Tudors on BBC2? I am so in love with Jonathon Rhys-Meyers (Henry)

 

[oldminer]

"Mash down on the gas" was a favorite of my speedy driver instructor years ago. I still laugh at how that conflicts with driving a BMW today. I try to follow his example of not being a slowpoke driver.

"Yous have a nice day" says the friendly morning waitress after bringing back my change. On the way out someone at the front asks "How was everything" and the reply is "Every time I come here is better than the next" and they say "Oh, that's wonderful" I smile and leave content that they are feeling good this morning and I am too. Its good to bring a little warmth to the lives of others.

In Philly when you want a steak sandwich with cheese on it, you say "One with" and it says it all. They grill guy slathers a heaping ladle of melted Cheese Whiz fresh from the #10 can heating on the cooler end of the grill onto a pile of well cooked meat of unknown oriigin and a superbly baked, fresh Italian roll. I never got sick or even indigestion from this Philly treat and with the help of Lipitor, it remains on the healthy diet list.

A local river which bisects the city is the Schuykill, pronounced school-kill, but in some parts of the city it is The skoo-kl. An expressway right next to part of the river is called the skoo-kl, too. Funny how this expressway which runs East to West parallels two older roads on both sides of the same river which run North and South. Try to explain this to someone from out of town or to a visiting driver. The lost, distant look in their eyes says it all. They thought Billy Penn set out a city on a neat grid. He did, but things grew a little since the 1700's. Drive south in the morning from where Iive and you often drive direclty into the sun. Only in Philly does the sun choose to rise in the South.

My wife oftens "axes" a question and sometimes she "wrenches" the dishes before putting them into the dishwasher. The "axe" thing is Philly speak for "ask" and "wrench" is Western Pennsylvania for "rinse". Her mother was from just outside Pittsburgh.

Have fun with the thread. Yo, I'm outta here.

 

[Selkie]

I think California (at least SoCal anyway, the Central Valley feels a lot like the midwest in terms of culture, accent, and attitude) is too much of a mish-mash of cultures and ethnicities to have developed a distinctive regional slang or dialect. Unless you count surfer-dude or Valley-girl speak, I guess.

My mom has more of a Boston accent while my dad speaks more like a Vermonter or Mainer...very slowly, "You cahn''t get theah from heah." It''s really funny because they grew up in adjacent towns on the ''Nawth Shawh'' (North Shore, the towns north of Boston). I somehow managed to end up with the neutral newscaster accent, and can''t even mimic the Boston accent very well.

Joe Froggers are a huge, chewy, molasses and ginger cookie that we make around the holidays. According to Google, they originated in the Marblehead area, so that explains why my mom''s family made them. They are SOOO good. In fact, I''m going to make them for Thanksgiving! Here''s a link to the recipe:

Joe froggers

 

[Pandora II]

Too true surfgirl, I posted a bit on Kiribas in the How Rude thread.

UK/US words...

Restroom Loo, Lavatory, Bathroom, Ladies, Toilet

Trash/Trash Can Rubbish, Wastepaper Basket

Garbage/Garbage Can Rubbish, Rubbish bin, Dustbin, Bin

Gas Petrol

Freeway etc Dual Carriageway (2 lanes), Motorway (3 lanes +)

Store Shop

Mall Shopping Centre

Candy Sweets

Cookies Biscuits

Ocean Sea - we use ocean when talking about 'the Atlantic Ocean, or Pacific Ocean etc)

Sailboat, Rowboat Sailing boat, Rowing boat

Pants Trousers - pants are underwear.

Purse Handbag, Bag - a purse is a smaller bag with your money in that goes into your handbag

Vacation Holiday

Horseback Riding Riding - what other sort is there???

Diapers Nappies

Then there is the whole colour/color, flavour/flavor, favourite/favorite, honour/honor (why do you guys change this for formal invitations???) and jewellery/jewelry thing.

On the last, a girl I know here in the UK who makes and sells jewellery online (with a .co.uk web address) , got an email from an american woman saying that she would 'never buy jewelry from someone who was uneducated enough not to know how to spell the word, and surely you have a friend who could proof-read your website as you will lose a lot of customers this way.'

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 11/16/2007 12:45:03 PM
Author: Maisie

Pandora have you been watching The Tudors on BBC2? I am so in love with Jonathon Rhys-Meyers (Henry)

I am addicted - especially since I''m having a Tudor style wedding dress. (First appointment with the designer tomorrow - I''m so excited)

JRM is gorgeous - FI is not happy that I watch and tape the series so I can drool over him!

 

[Maisie]

I have missed a couple of episodes Pandora, so I am eagerly waiting for the DVD to come out!!

 

[OUpearlgirl]

I think this is a Texas thing, but regardless of how spicy it is I always call salsa "hot sauce."

My dad refers to his wallet as his billfold.

I had a British nanny when I was a kid and one day when it was cold outside she told me to go get my jumper. When I returned with a dress instead of a sweater she was very confused!

I''ve heard some of my more hick relatives actually say "Ya''ll come back now, ya hear?"

 

[Pandora II]

Date: 11/16/2007 1:10:58 PM
Author: OUpeargirl
I think this is a Texas thing, but regardless of how spicy it is I always call salsa ''hot sauce.''

My dad refers to his wallet as his billfold.

I had a British nanny when I was a kid and one day when it was cold outside she told me to go get my jumper. When I returned with a dress instead of a sweater she was very confused!

I''ve heard some of my more hick relatives actually say ''Ya''ll come back now, ya hear?''

Lol, I forgot that one!

Sneakers is another one - what are sneakers? Are they trainers?