Regional Expressions

[PrincessFiona]

OK...I was thinking this morning about different ways of saying things in different regions of the country...I'd love to hear everyone's input on this one.....

In Minnesota, something that is "pricey" or "expensive" is called spendy.

Here they also call coke pop. You literally order a "diet pop"

anyone else care to jump in?

kris

[Auspicious]

Oh goodness yes. I'm from the Chicago area and my boyfriend is from the Boston area, and this topic comes up all the time at our house!

Boston has a lot of them--just like they have that distinctive accent--and I suspect that like the accent it's especially prominent among the lower classes. Instead of saying "in the basement" they say "down cellar" as in "I'm going down cellar to get the laundry." Drinking fountains are "bubblers." Soft drinks aren't soda or pop, they're "tonic"--all of them, as in "I'll have a tonic." "What kind?" "Root beer, please."

A lot of times, though, when there's something we disagree on, it's "he said/she said," and we don't know if something we say is a personal verbal quirk or a regional thing.

For example, I was telling a story:
"So my neice had a blue sucker--"
bf: "What's a sucker?"
Me: "Are you kidding? . . . Like a hard candy, on a stick. . . A lollipop?"
bf: "Oh! A lollipop! You call them suckers?"
me: "You don't? Sucker is a much more common term for them than lollipop."
bf: "Hmmm. No, I think that must be a midwestern thing. I've heard of 'All-Day Suckers' I guess, but never just 'a sucker.' That sounds weird."
me: "Maybe it's an everywhere-but-Boston thing." :P

If anyone can shed some light on our sucker/lollipop debate, I would sure be interested to hear it.

The other thing is that I'll just say "That shirt needs washed" or "The bed needs made" and it drives him nuts that I don't say "that shirt needs to be washed" and "the bed needs to be made." He swears that this is (A) wrong and (B) midwestern. Anyone have input there?

Oh boy...this could be pretty funny...it is late right now, but I will have to think of the things that my dad's family says/used to say. They were from "the sticks"!!

[Meenah]

I grew up in Mississippi, hard candy on a stick IS a sucker. We also used the term carport instead of garage. Any type of soda was a coke!!! That cast iron thing you cook in is a frying pan not a skillet!!! I'm sure I'll think of many more.
Luanne

Spendy? That cracks me up. Eric's mom's family is from Wisconsin and they say "I s'ppose" (truncrated "I suppose") in response to just about anything. I'm not sure it that is just them or a rural Wisc thing. And it seems like it is the response to statements of varying seriousness.
"It seems cold; you should grab a coat." "I s'ppose".
"Hey, it looks like your car is on fire." "I s'ppose it is." (Ok, slight exaggeration on my part).

Colorado is pretty neutral in accent and language, in my opinion. I think people tend to say pop over soda. I prefer "soda" so I say that. The only other thing I can think of is the camper shell or canopy that people put on the back of a pick-up. My friend from WA state (she went to CU for college) thought we were nuts for calling it a "camper shell" or "canopy" and swears the only correct name for it is a "topper."

I know that a sucker=lollipop. I think we say lollipop -- or that's what Bryn likes to ask for -- but sucker is common too. I haven't heard "that shirt needs washed" and I have to agree with your bf that it sounds both midwestern and wrong! It sounds like something my grandmother, who grew up in Missouri, would say. But she would say, "that shirt needs warshed" in the "warshing machine". She also say the word "patio" like "potio" -- like a fancy word for potty. That would make the grandkids crack up.

[houseelf]

favorite Minnesota expressions:

-Ufda! (Think "Oy Vey" with a nordic accent)
-eh? (Signifies that the statement is a question, also used by Canooks)
-booya (some sort of northern food centered get together--like a pig roast without the pig)
-mild winter (only 6 months of snow)
-hockey (a near religious experience)


There are more but they are escaping me right now.

Kelly

Nellie--around here people say "I reckon" as opposed to "I s'posse." Also funny is to hear someone pronounce the word "fire tire." It comes out as "far tar."

I don't know if this is regional, or just backwards, but here are some medical terms we know.

My husband, who is from a rural county (ask him where he is from and he will tell you the county, not the town. Our wedding invitations didn't have street addresses or even rural routes) claims that everyone there classifies any sort of neurological or psychological problem as "nerves."

For example, "She's got nerves."

"What was the exact diagnosis?"

"Nerves"

"What did they give her?"

"Nerve pills"

According to him, nerves can range anywhere from mild anxiety to full flledged schizophrenia.

Also funny is one of Will's friends, now a medical school graduate and getting ready to start a medicine residency, who still refers to diabetes as "sugars."

We are also very familiar with our cousins around here, and most know the difference between second cousin and first cousin once removed. Although contrary to popular belief, we don't marry our cousins.

[Auspicious]

Also, to me cars have "turn signals" or sometimes "blinkers" but to my boyfriend they're always referred to as "directionals."

The only other thing I can think of is the camper shell or canopy that people put on the back of a pick-up. My friend from WA state (she went to CU for college) thought we were nuts for calling it a "camper shell" or "canopy" and swears the only correct name for it is a "topper."

Wow, I've only ever heard those called "caps," as in "He drives a red pickup with a white cap."

"that shirt needs warshed" in the "warshing machine".

I'm pretty sure warsh is a rural thing. At least, I know people in rural Illinois say this but people from the Chicago area don't. Also, for me growing up washroom=bathroom, but for my rural relatives the "warshroom" was where you did your laundry. Rural Illinoians also say "crick" instead of "creek." ("It rained so much the crick warshed out.")

I hear ya on the "nerves" thing, too. I have an aunt that everyone always says died of "sleeping sickness" and I have never been able to get a more specific answer to my questions than that. I have no idea what they mean by "sleeping sickness."


It sounds like I'm going to have to concede on the "that shirt needs washed" thing and my boyfriend is going to have to concede on the "sucker" thing.

This is a great topic, Kris!

Julie, I too have heard of "turn signals" (I think that is what I usually say) and "blinkers" but not "directionals." I know that when I would visit a friend in Boston (at Boston College) her friends who were originally from Boston would say things I didn't always understand. Maybe it was some of those words you mentioned!

I agree that the "warsh" thing is rural -- I wonder if it extends beyond the central US . My grandmother did grow up in rural Missouri (or relatively rural, anyway). She also has several "modified" German sayings. She tells us to "shittle" things around to stir them -- grandkids loved that one too! My grandfather on the other side of the family grew up in rural Oklahoma and also says things like "crick" and there is a hint of an "r" in "wash". It's harder to tell with him, though.

[SueC]

In rural KS or MO people go to "the Wal-Marts", not to Wal-Mart.
I say "s'pose" a lot.
I concur that the shirt needs TO BE washed!
I call it a sucker usually.
My friend who grew up in a rural town in KS uses the term "dinner" for lunch and "supper" for the evening meal. So instead of having breakfast, lunch, then dinner, she eats, breakfast, dinner, and supper.
My husband and his family (they are Asian, but he grew up in rural KS) "gas up the truck", whereas I fill up the truck with gas.
I know there are more, but this is all I can come up with so far! Good topic Kris!

[mommax3]

Well, I have noticed lots of strange expressions since I moved to Texas -- the scary thing is that after six years, they are starting to creep into my vocabulary!

Fixin' to -- getting ready to, as in "it looks like it's fixin' to storm outside"

might could -- might be able to, as in "Do you think I could find (whatever) at Wal-Mart?" "You might could."

picture made -- picture taken, as in "I just got his picture made at Wal-Mart."

(Wal-Mart figures prominently in any discussion about commerce in small cities and towns everywhere!)

I will have to confess that I have been known to call dinner "supper" and my mom says "crick" instead of creek all the time. I grew up saying "pop" instead of "soda", but it was a generic term, as in "Do you want some pop?" "Yes, I will have some Coke." If I get in a hurry, I too might leave out the "to be" and say that "the bed needs made".

Here are two new ones that I think also stem from my midwestern heritage: I say that I need to "run the sweeper" when I mean that I need to vacuum, and I grew up thinking that the name of a couch/sofa was a "davenport". Anybody heard those before?

This is fun!

Sally

[Rapunzel]

Well, growing up in Texas here's my own peculiar dialectic/lingo:

-Fixin' to (Sally mentioned this). I am ALWAYS saying things like, "I'm fixin' to go to the grocery store."

-Ya'll. I don't say this unless I am talking fast or to a person who has a Texas dialect as well.

-Sol used instead of the word "saw". As in "I sol that movie last week." I am guilty of using this mangled word often but I didn't realize it until just last summer when my sister pointed it out. We had a good laugh. :P I still say "sol". 8)

-Coke is used routinely when referring to soda pop. Although in my family since we didn't drink Coke we just called it "soda pop".

-Both sucker and lollipop are used although sucker is much more common.

-Yankee. There are tons of native Texans who use this term - but they are referring to ANYONE not from Texas or the southwest.

-Particular gives some people a hard time (including me and President Bush). I sometimes slip and say, "Partic-uh-ler." Particularly can be dangerous for me depending on the day.

OK, now for the Boston vocab:

-The accent. I've noticed a number of distinct local accents - both within the "upper" and "lower" class and variations of the typical accent among various ethnic groups. I have a very difficult time understanding people with a heavy Boston accent. Instead of "car" it's "cah", instead of "wash" it's "warsh" (although I have heard it said correctly by those with a heavy accent), instead of "it's hot outside" they say "it's a scorchah", etc, etc.

-There are no shopping carts or grocery carts in Boston. They are referred to as "carriages". My friends (who are mostly Western transplants) and I had the most difficult time with this when we all first moved here. Apparently it throws tons of people off. Similarly in Boston strollers (what I'm used to hearing and saying) are called "baby carriages". It feels like I'm living in a time-warp sometimes!

-I mentioned it above but it deserves an elaboration: The weather has it's own "lingo" around here. A hot day is a "scorchah". A wet day is a "soakah". And a thunderstorm is, of all things, a "boomah".


It's funny but I routinely have this converstation with people:

Them: You're from Texas!? You don't sound like you're from Texas!
Me: I lived there for 27 years.
Them: Texans talk funny! (This is usually said by Bostonians with the heaviest accents which is hilarious).
Me: Well, most of them talk like me although there are various other accents in the state - it's kind of a big place.
Them: You don't sound like you're from Texas!

I've had the above conversation almost verbatim at least four times now. I think a lot of people in New England think Texans all talk like Jon Wayne in an old cowboy movie or something. I have an accent on certain words but you have to really listen to me to catch them.

I grew up in California and my husband grew up in NY. We have numerous differences in the way we phrase things. It reminds me of the song...."You say 'tomayto,' I say 'tomahto'......"

He says : I say:

pop soda
knapsack backpack
shore beach
pocketbook purse
pump fire hydrant
draw blood get a blood test
remote control clicker
get a slice have a piece of pizza
comics (newspaper) funnies

There are more, but these come to mind now.

That didn't come out right, I had made columns on the above post ---oh well.

Being born and raised in West Texas we have a couple that to this day there are still a few that I still can't figure out.

"How are you today?" ---"Fair to Midland" WTH?? Midland is a small town in West Texas but i guess once you get there life goes pretty much downhill.


"Where's Joe today?" "He had some rat killin to do" Meaning he had to run some errands

I use the term "fixin" around here all the time but have learned in Ohio you have to assign a time limit to it. Such as I'm fixin to run to the store means that you will be leaving in the next hour or so. You can't say I'm fixin to move back home to Texas and have them understand that that could mean a month or so from now like you can in Texas.

"Youbetcha" is one word as is "youbet".

I'm sure I can come up with more once DH finally gets up today.