colloquialisms

[bkcunningham1]

I am curious and scared to start a new post with the fear that it will go nowhere or that it repeats another genius idea. Big breath. Anyway, here goes.

I have read a few posts pertaining to roundabouts. Where I come from we call them traffic circles. When we lived in New England; they were called rotaries.

Also in New England, what I call turn signals were called directionals. (Signage in a sharp turn on my street even said, "Check your directionals" in case your turn signal was still on after the turn.)

I put my groceries in a shopping cart but my girlfriend in Woonsocket, RI, called it a carriage.

I call winter headgear a tobbagan. My yankee husband says it a tuque. Wassup with that??

I say I am getting ready to do....my sister-in-law in Tennessee says she's fixing too....bless her heart.

My list can go on and on. I say spaghetti sauce; you say gravy...

[jblum8156]

well, a toboggan is a sled, I think. I really don't know what a tuque is.
Roundabout, rotarie, whatever. They're all over the world and nobody knows how to negotiate them.
I heard "fixing to" all my life growing up in Virginia.
Nobody says y'all any more.

[graciegirl]

Boy Howdy. Thank heavens we Ohioans don't talk funny.:thumbup:

[bkcunningham1]

Potluck and,of course, dinner on the ground.

[Boomer]

Gracie and a few others around here would know exactly what I meant if in the midst of conversation, I suddenly said, "Please." My fellow Cincinnatians would not look at me like I was from another planet, nor would they look around to see what I wanted them to give me. My fellow Cincinnatians would politely repeat what they had just said.

Boomer

[Avista]

I'm a nurse, and a number of years ago --I was new to the South. Saw FTD written on a patient chart. When I asked the doc what it meant, he said "Fixin to Die".

[Ohiogirl]

"Dinner on the ground"??? Please enlighten a midwesterner (who has also lived in California, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Florida - but admittedly, never New England).

Is this as opposed to "Dinner onboard an airplane"? (not that they do that anymore, either).

[bkcunningham1]

Dinner on the ground, usually, but not necessarily, around church events, is a southern tradition. Everyone brings covered dishes. It is like a homecoming, you probably don't know what that is either, where dinner is taken outside to eat under the trees on picnic tables, sitting in lawn chairs or on the ground in picnic fashion. A homecoming is a celebration of any kind, be it church reunion, high school reunion family reunion; where people gather back to their roots and of course have dinner on the ground.

[bkcunningham1]

Boomer, where I come from, we say, "I'm sorry" with a quizzical look and the missed phrase or word is repeated. Sometimes to our dismay or disappointment. Please, sorry, such polite words we were all taught....

[tony]

Here in Pennsylvania if we don't hear what somebody said, we say, "What?"

[bkcunningham1]

I'm sorry? What ... please?

[Halle]

"Say Again"

[ceejay]

Here in Pennsylvania if we don't hear what somebody said, we say, "What?"

:1rotfl:

[graciegirl]

Gracie and a few others around here would know exactly what I meant if in the midst of conversation, I suddenly said, "Please." My fellow Cincinnatians would not look at me like I was from another planet, nor would they look around to see what I wanted them to give me. My fellow Cincinnatians would politely repeat what they had just said.

Boomer

Oh you are right as usual Boomer, my dear.

I say it a lot anymore. Usually when my
"hearers" need a new battery.

[PR1234]

I am curious and scared to start a new post with the fear that it will go nowhere or that it repeats another genius idea. Big breath. Anyway, here goes.

I have read a few posts pertaining to roundabouts. Where I come from we call them traffic circles. When we lived in New England; they were called rotaries.

Also in New England, what I call turn signals were called directionals. (Signage in a sharp turn on my street even said, "Check your directionals" in case your turn signal was still on after the turn.)

I put my groceries in a shopping cart but my girlfriend in Woonsocket, RI, called it a carriage.

I call winter headgear a tobbagan. My yankee husband says it a tuque. Wassup with that??

I say I am getting ready to do....my sister-in-law in Tennessee says she's fixing too....bless her heart.

My list can go on and on. I say spaghetti sauce; you say gravy...

My husband was just telling me this morning that our new GPS was calling the roundabouts, rotaries. Must be our new "gal" is from England:)

[sunflower3630]

Regarding beverages, there's "pop" in the Midwest, and "soda" in the East. :beer3:

[Boomer]

If you ever hear a group of Cincinnatians talking about how they like it, a 3-way or a 4-way or a 5-way, please do not jump to conclusions.

Boomer

[uujudy]

If you ever hear a group of Cincinnatians talking about how they like it, a 3-way or a 4-way or a 5-way, please do not jump to conclusions.

Boomer

What? Please? Excuse me??

[Pturner]

Boy Howdy. Thank heavens we Ohioans don't talk funny.:thumbup:

Boy howdy:popcorn:

Nobody says y'all any more.

I didn't get the memo, y'all.

Gracie and a few others around here would know exactly what I meant if in the midst of conversation, I suddenly said, "Please." My fellow Cincinnatians would not look at me like I was from another planet, nor would they look around to see what I wanted them to give me. My fellow Cincinnatians would politely repeat what they had just said.

Boomer

Glad you 'splained this, Boomer. 'til now, whenever I heard "please" suddenly injected into a conversation it was pronouced "puhlease" and it didn't mean a Pennsylvania what. It meant "gimme a break".

Dinner on the ground, usually, but not necessarily, around church events, is a southern tradition.

Southern where, cuz? I declare, I've never heard it.


"hearers

Thank heavens Ohioans don't talk funny! :popcorn:


Regarding beverages, there's "pop" in the Midwest, and "soda" in the East. :beer3:

You're right Sunflower. Southerners don't know from soda or pop. They drink co-cola. :wave:

If you ever hear a group of Cincinnatians talking about how they like it, a 3-way or a 4-way or a 5-way, please do not jump to conclusions.

Boomer

Whatever it means will never live up to the conclusion I jumped to. Please, I'm sorry, excuse me. :o

[bkcunningham1]

I had to type obits one weekend for a newspaper where I worked. I typed an obit that had tag-team preachers and dinner on the ground following the burial. Well, the burial would follow the preaching if the attempt at raising the deceased from the dead by the laying on of hands failed. I almost forgot...the dinner on the ground was to be held in the southern part of West Virginia next to the snake handling church.

[sandybill2]

Well, BK--since we seem to be from the same part of the country --I remember the 'burial services" held in the homes of deceased---lots of preachers ----the preaching of "hell-fire" , etc., ---even at funerals. The procession through the house to "view"----then the picnic on the grounds----there were snake-handlers in Ky but not at my Southern Baptist Church--but I remember our "preacher" on the pulpit one Sunday---preaching his hell-fire, etc. There was a "person" in the church with her arm in cast---the accident which caused it happened one Sunday when she was not at CHurch--but obviously should have been---and he actually included a reference to it in his sermon "and if people are where they should be on Sunday mornings--certain "things" would not happen to them"----well needless to say we all knew who he was addressing that one to!!!!! and you Villagers have to appreciate the fact that she was actually golfing that Sunday morning and had a fall on the golf course.

[Boomer]

Oh my! It looks as though some conclusions may have been jumped to, even though I said not to. I guess I got some splainin' to do. -- Whoops. (I've been watching that Lucy marathon off and on today.)

Anyway, it refers to our chili. Chili on top of spaghetti. Here is a menu from Skyline Chili that explains it. Actually, there are a few Skylines in Florida. I bet one would be a big success in TV. The stuff is addictive.

http://www.skylinechili.com/signature.php

Now I must go sit on my couch-sofa-davenport and watch Castle.

Boomer

[Yoda]

Regarding beverages, there's "pop" in the Midwest, and "soda" in the East. :beer3:

Tonic in Massachusetts

[Yoda]

I am curious and scared to start a new post with the fear that it will go nowhere or that it repeats another genius idea. Big breath. Anyway, here goes.

I have read a few posts pertaining to roundabouts. Where I come from we call them traffic circles. When we lived in New England; they were called rotaries.

Also in New England, what I call turn signals were called directionals. (Signage in a sharp turn on my street even said, "Check your directionals" in case your turn signal was still on after the turn.)


I put my groceries in a shopping cart but my girlfriend in Woonsocket, RI, called it a carriage.

I call winter headgear a tobbagan. My yankee husband says it a tuque. Wassup with that??

I say I am getting ready to do....my sister-in-law in Tennessee says she's fixing too....bless her heart.

My list can go on and on. I say spaghetti sauce; you say gravy...

America is a big place, requiring one to be multi-lingual

Yoda

[Walt.]

Here in Pennsylvania if we don't hear what somebody said, we say, "What?"

In Miami they say ¿qué?

Then I say... "Oh, good grief." :)

[golfnut]

Dang it Boomer, you got my hopes up but the nearest Skyline to TV is in Clearwater, 75 miles away.....gn

[k2at]

When my wife and I are having a conversation, half of the words are usually "what"?

[graciegirl]

Boy howdy:popcorn:



I didn't get the memo, y'all.



Glad you 'splained this, Boomer. 'til now, whenever I heard "please" suddenly injected into a conversation it was pronouced "puhlease" and it didn't mean a Pennsylvania what. It meant "gimme a break".



Southern where, cuz? I declare, I've never heard it.



Thank heavens Ohioans don't talk funny! :popcorn:




You're right Sunflower. Southerners don't know from soda or pop. They drink co-cola. :wave:



Whatever it means will never live up to the conclusion I jumped to. Please, I'm sorry, excuse me. :o

You, Pturner, are witty, disarming and just a tad ornery. I am gonna love ya!:clap2::D:thumbup:

[The Great Fumar]

Don't forget that the alleged citizens of Mass. call a Milkshake a "FRAP."


Fumar with extra Malt .......

:shrug:

[TomW]

"Hows come" for why.

[Atlantic]

Fumar That's frappe!

[graciegirl]

The other kind of "mango", explained to me by a person who drank "pop".

How you get mango as the name for a bell pepper is beyond me. I imagine a recipe might come out quite a bit different using the wrong kind of mango. I guess that would be called "fusion cooking" today :laugh:

But my favorite colloquialisms are the ones for those long sandwiches. I was raised calling it a zep (zeppelin), but later learned the other terms: sub, hoagie, grinder, hero, etc. Little did I know how localized the term zep was (around Norristown, PA).

I really never heard of mango as being a sweet fruit until I was past being a "hosenbruncer" (sp?). (By the way, Dictionary.com gives a second definition of mango as a" sweet pepper" but adds, "The Ohio Valley".)

When I was a kid the only thing we ate on a long bun was a hot dog or a brat or a mett. AND if we said the long name for them we said braht-vurst or mett-vurst.

[JohnN]

"Regarding beverages, there's "pop" in the Midwest, and "soda" in the East. "

In the south, all carbonated beverages are "coke" regardless of flavor.
And in Arkasnas , y'all is still prevalent, count on it

dinner on the ground is called a potluck.
I won't yet try the "squirrel brains 'n eggs"

I do like this saying:
"even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then"

and once when I visited New Jersey on business (I worked for AT&T)
someone started making fun of Arkansas, asking if the people wore shoes yet.

I replied with a few facts:
1) Arkansas has the largest brokerage off of Wall Street (Stephens)
2) Arkansas is home base to Wal-Mart, world's largest retailer
3) Jerry Jones is an Arkie and owns the Dallas Cowboys, one of the top valued sports franchises
4) Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas

then I asked what NJ had done lately, just to be ugly.

[bkcunningham1]

One of my first jobs outside of the region where I was reared was working for a boss from downtown Boston. After a couple of weeks of enthusiastically
working for someone I thought, at the time, was one of the most unappreciative people on God's green earth, we nearly came to blows.

He finally pulled me aside and asked me what I meant when he would need something done, and I'd quickly respond, " I don't care to make that call." " I don't care to write that story." " I don't care to "...do whatever he asked.

Of course, I meant I did not mind doing whatever he had asked. He thought I didn't want to do the chore and was begrudgingly doing whatever he'd asked.

I was young and carefree, eager to learn and do any job. I didn't have a care in the world. I didn't care for him much at the time; but I grew to care for him.

[graciegirl]

"Regarding beverages, there's "pop" in the Midwest, and "soda" in the East. "

In the south, all carbonated beverages are "coke" regardless of flavor.
And in Arkasnas , y'all is still prevalent, count on it

dinner on the ground is called a potluck.
I won't yet try the "squirrel brains 'n eggs"

I do like this saying:
"even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then"

and once when I visited New Jersey on business (I worked for AT&T)
someone started making fun of Arkansas, asking if the people wore shoes yet.

I replied with a few facts:
1) Arkansas has the largest brokerage off of Wall Street (Stephens)
2) Arkansas is home base to Wal-Mart, world's largest retailer
3) Jerry Jones is an Arkie and owns the Dallas Cowboys, one of the top valued sports franchises
4) Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas

then I asked what NJ had done lately, just to be ugly.

Good for you, John. I am frequently annoyed at people who make fun of other peoples home State and have never visited in that area. You were right to point out their error, because " They can't learn any younger".

[Hawkwind]

Ending every sentence with the word "right". A director at the company I use to work for would use this all the time. It was a local thing to the KC area and soon became popular with all his managers. During one meeting he used the word "right" 68 times in a 50 minute meeting. We had a departmental pool as to how many times he would say it and I was the official counter that day. During the same meeting 3 people hit bingo's playing bsbingo.

For anyone under 25 having the word "Dude" in the sentence.

[ssmith]

We haved lived in several Midwest states. When we moved to St Louis MO, I soon learned that to call someone a "Hoosier" was a put-down....you know... not the brightest lightbulb ...so to speak. :shrug: Now back home, in Indiana, we like being called Hoosiers.

Also Y'all is alive and well in St Louis; but I decided we had to get my husband "outta there" when he started using "ain't". I had to remind him that he has an Engineering Degree from Purdue University and perhaps that made him sound uneducated. (OOOPs didn't mean to offend if that is a part of your speech... it simply is not used in Indiana).

My sister -who lives in Massachusettes- makes fun of those from Indiana (eventhough she was raised there too) who put r's in words like "warsh the dishes" instead of "wash the dishes". I say to her "we figure those in Boston aren't using the r's so we might as well. :)

[18togo]

It's amazing how even a few miles makes a difference. When I moved from Central PA to North Central PA, a distance of a whole 50 miles, but up the mountain, I learned many new sayings. Instead of chili dogs they eat Texas hots, to agree that they have done the same thing, they say "So don't I", they call anyone from downstate a flat lander. There are even ones who speak with a hillbilly drawl. You know that twangy kind of voice that sounds like Peter Brady when he sang When it's time to Change.

Whoever said Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh in the West, Philadelphia in the East, and Arkansas in the middle had it right. :agree:

[Pturner]

"Regarding beverages, there's "pop" in the Midwest, and "soda" in the East. "

In the south, all carbonated beverages are "coke" regardless of flavor.
And in Arkasnas , y'all is still prevalent, count on it

dinner on the ground is called a potluck.
I won't yet try the "squirrel brains 'n eggs"

I do like this saying:
"even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then"

and once when I visited New Jersey on business (I worked for AT&T)
someone started making fun of Arkansas, asking if the people wore shoes yet.

I replied with a few facts:
1) Arkansas has the largest brokerage off of Wall Street (Stephens)
2) Arkansas is home base to Wal-Mart, world's largest retailer
3) Jerry Jones is an Arkie and owns the Dallas Cowboys, one of the top valued sports franchises
4) Bill Clinton was born in Arkansas

then I asked what NJ had done lately, just to be ugly.

I went to Univesity of Denver my first year in College. When I told people I was from Atlanta, you wouldn't believe how many people asked me if I lived on a plantation! It's funny sometimes what people "know" about places they've never been.

[JohnN]

Pturner,
I thought this was a funny one. I had some Europeans (Dutch) come into town (Atlanta) for a meeting and I was the social guy, took 'em out to dinner and such. I'd gone there on business and knew these guys, so they were "friends" and we enjoyed each others company.

I took them to a pretty nice restuarant (on the expense voucher of course LOL) and there was some kind of "corn" thing as the vegetable of the day.

They kept saying "corn?? what is this corn" and I was trying to explain what corn looks like. Finally, one of them got it, like a light bulb over his head, and he said

"Corn!!! We call it maize. That's what we feed the pigs!"

and we all just busted a gut laughing.

[SNOK]

I went to Univesity of Denver my first year in College. When I told people I was from Atlanta, you wouldn't believe how many people asked me if I lived on a plantation! It's funny sometimes what people "know" about places they've never been.

Being from Oklahoma, I have been asked if the indians still live in teepees, and if we still get around on horses. Of course, the answer is that teepees do exist (but only for tourists), and people still ride horses - a lot, but they usually have to get to the horses in their cars (or, more commonly, in their pickups).