When I first moved to the south, after having grown up in the west, everyone asked me "You alright?", or "You okay?" I thought that they all thought I had been sick. In California, the same question would have been worded "How are you?"

This thread is hilarious!

Except the ones that aren't there. I recall as a kid listening to JFK talk about the Cuban missile crisis and wondering where the heck Cubar was.

When I wa growing up, I learned the hard way that a milk shake didn't have any ice cream, just milk and flavoring. But a frappe did. Then I met someone from Rhode Island who ordered a cabinet at the ice cream shop. Huh?

Not so much nomenclature, but attitude, was that when we were going into Boston (about 65 miles!), we took the car in for a check-up. Then I got to CA where it was no big deal to go from San Francisco to LA for a weekend. That's also where I learned travel is measured in time, not miles, and for good reason.

My mother used to say "Lawsy Mercy" My son thought it was so funny that he still repeats it.

in Ky fixin to go instead of ready to go is because ya can't get them to stop talking so they are always.... fixin to go...but the best one for me was if i did something very wrong like take my horse out when a storm was coming.. my aunt would say when i get ahold of you "i am going to slap you into next tuesday.."

And who is really named Lindar?

Mine is actually more British -- they don't got to the hospital, they go to hospital. If on the freeways (yup, I'm from California), you don't travel in a direction it seems (that is, you don't go north or south), the freeway signs say The North, The South (guess hospitals don't need articles but directions do?).

The Villages truly confused me -- I was always under the impression that an avenue was a minimum of 10 blocks. Not here, I've seen 2-block avenues.

I always loved that folks from Jersey don't live in a town, they live off an exit. More than once I've heard take "Exit 135 [fill in appropriate number] and that's where we are."

First time I heard a soda called a pop, I literally looked around for my classmate's father.

Now, can someone please explain to me why island is pronounced "aye land" and not "is land" and Arkansas is "ar can saw" and not "ar can sass"? Didn't understand that when I first heard those words (and understood to what they were referring) and still don't understand the logic behind those pronunciations.

When I moved from Texas to Georgia I found the women carried pocket books....I carried a Purse. If my car wouldn't start, they thought it wouldn't crank. Since my car wouldn't start/crank they would offer to carry me to work. That sounded a little weird to me but then I found out that meant take me to work.

On Long Island if you ask where people live they tell you the name of the developement. They'll say "House Beautiful" or "Colonial Oaks". We didn't live in a developement, I always felt left out.

Maybe the worst pronunciation of island is good old Lawn Guyland-lol.

This is So Much Fun
 

What fun this is --

I'm from Baton Rouge, La

"soft drinks" not "soda", that is "soft drinks" as opposed to "hard drinks" meaning liquor

"crayfish" like it rhymes with "aw" not "crayfish" like it rhymes with "a".

"mayonnaise" like "my-o-nase" not "ma-o-nase"

and it's always nice to get a little "lagniappe" - something extra, a Baker's dozen

and of course "y'all" is the plural of "you"

we "fix" dinner, we do not "make" dinner. I was with a group of knitting friends once and was asked what I was "making" for Christmas. I immediately started talking about all the things that I was knitting, until I realized that was not at all what I had been asked. The question was about what was I "making" for Christmas dinner for food to eat. I guess if I had been asked what was I "fixing" for Christmas I would have understood that the question was about food and not knitting, but then again that was my fault for not adapting to the language of the place where I was at the time.

Southerners are always apologizing as in "Oh, I'm so sorry. That was my fault." There have been times in other parts of the country where I have been chastised as in "Stop apologizing all the time." I don't know any other way to talk.

and digressing from the language a bit:

Southerners eat sugar on cottage cheese. At boarding school in Washington DC, I once asked for more cottage cheese for lunch. I was told that I could have some only if I ate it the "right" way and that was without putting sugar on it.

This is an interesting thread and I look forward to reading more. My husband is from Ohio and never heard of Johnny Marzetti but I looked it up and it sounds delicious Gracie, I might have to make it. I agree a pot luck should be as it sounds and not assigned, takes the fun out of it. I am from MA and many of us don't roll the 'r' as much as others but I love hearing someone say 'wicked awesome' brings me right back home.

The Kennedys have their own dialect. Nobody in Massachusetts talks anything like them

According to my wife, if some one is not wearing any clothes, they are nekkid.

Is that like "BUCK nekkid"? (far more naked, I think)

And what about saying "warsh" instead of "wash"? I used to hear that in the midwest.

Today on 640 AM radio here I heard one of the typical Villager on the Street interviews and the woman said she was from "Warshington State" (and would never go back to needing a snow shovel). She was lovin' the lifestyle as we all are.....

Some people call it BUTT nekkid!
LOL