Regional Expressions

Sue -- are you from the upper midwest? I'd love to hear your "I s'pose". I've heard people say a shortened version of "I suppose" but the thing that sticks out with Eric's fam is the accent. The first "s" is just a whisper of an "s" and the "o" is more of a short "o" than a long "o". I think that is why it stuck out to me.

I love the regional variations in what people say and do and I think that is one of the fun things about travelling, especially east or south of colorado (it seems like everyone sounds similar to the west). Quite a while ago, I was driving through Virginia to get from Wash DC to east Tennessee. I stopped at a Subway in a smaller town in Virginia to get a sandwich. Who knew there would be a language barrier! The woman helping me had a very thick southern-ish accent and I'm sure I sounded totally alien to her. Getting my sandwich built was a little frustrating for both of us and we were both happy to get to the the mayo/mustard oil/vinegar stage. I told her I wanted pepper on my sandwich. (Apparently I talk a little fast and certainly faster than the norm for a smaller town in VA). That was the last straw. She stopped completely, put her hands down, and said (read with a thick accent): "Honey, you want peppah....from a shakah?" Huh??? I couldn't figure out what she was saying. I mean how many kinds of pepper are there? She already put green peppers on my sandwich.... Then I realized she was trying to distinguish between ground pepper (from a shaker) and those banana peppers or jalepenos or something. I think. Needless to say, I was happy to have my sandwich and she was happy to see me leave with it!

Trisha,
I think it's "fair to middle-ing" as in, My feelings range from being fair to in the middle, but not great.

[houseelf]

These are great!

I forgot the most classic Minnesota phrase of all,

youbetcha... again usually comes within close range of "eh"?

From my Kentucky days....When the girl at the drive through asks if that is all you want, you reply:

That'll git her.

Kelly

[SueC]

Nellie,
I grew up right smack dab in the middle of KS, and now I live in KC--does tha count as the upper midwest?
I say s'pose as basically a one syllable word, with a long "o" sound. Sounds like your variation is a little different?

Yes, I think it is different. It has a strong Minnesota/Wisconsin accent. I think that is why I noticed them saying it -- it sounds really different!

Yes, I think it is different. It has a strong Minnesota/Wisconsin accent. I think that is why I noticed them saying it -- it sounds really different!
Along the lines of the "youbetcha" and "eh" that Kelly mentioned. Kind of like the accent in "Fargo".

[Auspicious]

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".

I forgot about the "carriages"! Good one.

They also say "drawring" and think nothing of it.

Yeah, I mentioned my theory that the Boston accent is more common among the lower classes and he was like "No way--think of the Kennedys! You don't know the half of it--Boston Brahmins, Southie, it's this whole complex thing." I'm still learning.

My boyfriend grew up with the southie accent (think Good Will Hunting--the rest of his family except his brother still talks that way) but purposely lost it in college. HOWEVER, my still occasionally slips into the accent just for one word and it completely confuses me:

"It's like in that shock movie."
"huh?" (I'm trying to think of movies involving electricity that we've seen)
"Remember, when the shock jumped up and ate the guy?"
"Oh SHARK! Yeah."

[Rapunzel]

I can totally see why "shock" confused you. I have a friend up here who is a local with the same "southie" accent that your husband has so I could read what you wrote with her voice in my mind. I would've reacted the same as you did - "What shock movie?" "Oh! You mean 'shark'." This same friend explained to me that the Bostonian theory of their accents is that they are variations of British accents with the "upper crust" Boston accent deriving from the upper class British accent and the other accents coming from lower class British lingo. It makes sense - but in my mind the average Boston accent sounds like a cockney accent with a bit of a speech impediment. I don't think my friend would agree with the speech impediment part but it has helped me decipher what people are saying when I think of it that way.

There's also a TON of people with Irish accents in my particular (partic-uh-ler) part of town because I live in a very Irish neighborhood it seems. Home Depot on a Saturday morning sounds like you just crossed the pond and landed in Ireland! I also routinely encounter a lot of French speakers (large Carribean immigrant population around here) as well as native Italians (that is a much easier accent for me to understand for some reason - even easier for me than the native Boston accent). Anyway, I kind of miss the Tex-Mex accent - it doesn't exist up here at all!

[SueC]

I thought of another one my husband says and back when I was an OT a lot of my elderly patients said it as well. If my husband gets hurt he will say "that smarts!", instead of "that hurts". I have no idea where that expression came from but for the longest time I had no clue what it meant.

[Rapunzel]

Oh! I forgot a very common regional phrase in Boston: "Wicked awsome." Everything is "Wicked" this and "Wicked" that. But, wicked comes out sounding like "wikid" rather than "wicked" (they say it with a short i rather than a short e before the d). Awesome is also very common - but it is said like "oo-wah-sum" it's hard to type exactly how the first part is pronounced - it's not quite an 'oi' sound and it is said very quickly. Anyway, that's something that was never said in Texas but is part of the everday vocabulary in Boston.

And here's another weird thing about Boston: If you ask for a milkshake you will literally get milk with syrup in it. I am used to a milkshake being a concoction of icecream and different flavorings/fruit. Here, though, a milkshake is literally a flavored milk! You have to ask for a "frap" to get a milkshake!!! That still confuses me!

[DCJenn]

How funny!

If you grew up on one side of DC, you grew up outside of Warshington, on the other- Washington.

We drink soda, eat subs and drive on highways (as opposed to freeways) to the beach. Unless you're going to Jersey, in which case you're going to the "Jersey shore" - apparently only Jersey has a shore, none of the other states do. and, New Jersey is actually two states, North Jersey and South Jersey.

There are entire regional accents on the east coast- the Chespaeake Bay area has some really wierd sounding words.

And when you live in DC/Maryland and you go to an "O's" game, aka the Orioles, when the National Anthem is played and they get to the part that says "Oh say does that..." you YELL the "OH" part. So much so that I literally have to hold myself back from doing it at games in other parts of the country.

Jenn

and also, we use rubberbands, not gumbands. and those of us who are true Marylanders, we also slur our words together in a mumbling sort of way- makes my husband nuts-

[PrincessFiona]

wow

These are great......I've had a ball reading through them..

Something weird here in MN...though it isn't a saying...is the garage sale timetable....In TX and PA and IL...well, everywhere else I've lived big garage sale days are on Saturdays...here in MN, the big day is....drum roll please....Thursday. : It seems to have something to do with people going to their cabin's on the weekends......

Isn't that weird.

kris

[mommax3]

That is so funny, Kris, because I thought that was a north TX thing -- it is the same here! A lot of people here have little lake homes, so maybe THAT is the reason.

Sally

[PrincessFiona]

hmmmm

Really, Sally? I thought it was just a weird MN thing! It is really crazy because when we were here I'd see the garage sale signs up and I thought that it was for the weekend...so I'd drive by on Sat and there were no garage sales at that address...Thursdays are so inconvenient for me....payday isn't until Friday ! Also, we're so busy during the week...I have no desire to take 3 small children with me to garage sales so I have just been passing on them....

You are right..it must be a cabin thing. I want a cabin!!! Oh wait...another area to clean...I think I'll pass on that too

kris..

After thinking about it and reading some of these posts, I have been laughing and relating....now I can add a couple.

My dad's family is always saying "yonder"....as in 'over yonder'-typically a west to southwest direction, or 'back yonder'-an east to southeast direction and finally, 'up-yonder'- a general north direction...there isn't really a 'yonder' classification for South...wonder why??

then there is the shortening of words.... instead of saying, isn't it. It sounds more like...iddn. "Iddn that right?"
also
can't becomes...cain't. "We cain't make it for supper." (which is the late meal of the day, and sometimes the middle meal too!)
then there are many of the same...warsh, sweep the house-though it is a machine, reckon, fix'n to...

One that I hesitated to put on here but will anyway could be mistaken for racist but by all means is only, TRULY, back-wood's country....'a coon's age'.
"I haven't seen you in a coon's age"-referring to a raccoon and about a time span of 1-6 years, unless they live near a busy dirt road then it would be more like 1-2 years.