[Schaumburger]

I grew up in Iowa, but moved to Chicago 34 years ago. For your last meal of the day do you call it supper (Iowa) or dinner (Chicago)?

[Schaumburger]

I called my grandmothers "Grandma." My nieces who grew up in Wisconsin call their grandmother "Grandma." My niece who lives near Cincinnati calls her grandmother "Nana."

So what do your grandchildren call you, Nana, Grandma, something else, or what did you call your grandma? And is the grandma vs. nana title a regional difference?

[TrudyM]

Originally Posted by jpharmat

In Massachusetts:
grinder = sub sandwich
bubbler = water fountain
elastic = rubber band
soda = pop
cellar = basement
wicked good = awesome!
And of course we do not pronounce our r's... lol

I remember seeing signs in southern New Hampshire and parts of mass when I was a kid that read Tonic and grinders. Which was soda and a sub. Also I remember drug stores having signs that read Rx and sundries.

When I moved to Hawaii, I didn't understand a thing. Most locals are bi lingual , Mainland English and Pigin. Everything was try. Ie Try wait, Try think. and more betta (much better). And of course "Da kind" The one Hawaii term I always thought was descriptive was " talk story" As in " I don't go there for Da Kind food, just go for talk story"

I picked up the slang and my husband started talking like he was from New England go figure.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Patty55

They also lived on Independence Ave in Riverdale.

Geez, that's right—in an appropriately stunning mansion overlooking the Hudson River; in my old age I'd forgotten that.... For those who'd have no reason to know, Riverdale is part of the Bronx; the nature of the area is such that people who live there never say they're from "the Bronx" but rather from "Riverdale"....

[queasy27]

I grew up telling time by using the terms "until" and "after", such as 10 until 5 or 20 after 6. I was in Washington DC once and asked a police officer for the time and he said it was 10 of 10. I wasn't sure if that was 10 minutes until or 10 minutes after 10. I've since adopted the digital method, 10:15, 4:45, etc. It seems to be more universal.

Huh. I've never thought about it before, but I'd only use the "X of X" wording if the time was less than 30 minutes before the hour. And usually only 5 or 10. Like, I'd never say "30 of 4." I guess you need to be creeping close to the hour to make that phrasing useful.

I was taking a Samoan language class once and we were learning how to tell time, for which there is a specific syntax. The instructor told us if we used numbers to say something like "2:15," a Samoan would think we were referring to a hotel room number or the price of rice.

Being a perverse person -- and because I could never remember the correct syntax -- I determined that I would henceforth use the "2:15" wording, just to see what kind of looks people gave me. Sadly, no Samoan person ever asked me the time.

[AriaGrandparents2013]

I grew up in Massachusetts and upon graduating from college started my first job in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where I often heard the following:

Living room suite........pronounced as "living room sweet" in PA.......suit in MA
Up the creek.....pounced as "up the crick"
Outen the lights........for shutting lights when leaving the room

Positive response especially from females to a statement with......"Ah Ahh"

[buggyone]

I had a college roomie from the Laurel Highlands area of Pa. I asked him which can of soda was mine. He pointed to one and said, "That's urine." He meant "that's yours".

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by buggyone

I had a college roomie from the Laurel Highlands area of Pa. I asked him which can of soda was mine. He pointed to one and said, "That's urine." He meant "that's yours".

I believe in that context it would be spelled "your'n".... When I was in college, back in the days when college was first being invented, I had a friend whose mother was a public school teacher who had a student named "Urine." Exactly this spelling. The teacher found it awkward and uncomfortable to address the student by her name like this, instead altering the pronunciation to "You-Rine" or "You-Reen," but the girl always corrected the teacher back to "Urine"....

[Buckeyephan]

Great thread! I grew up in suburban Cleveland and was surprised when attending OSU in Columbus. People here put groceries in a sack not a bag. In Southern Ohio, they poosh the door open. Our neighbors had a dog named Bootch (Butch). Of course, there they warsh and wrench their laundry. My neighbor wouldn't let her son piece (snack) between meals. People on the East Coast seem to interchange bring and take. We use bring when we keep the item with us and take it when it gets left somewhere. I bring my lunch to work but I take my trash to the curb.

[bluedog103]

Originally Posted by stuckinparadise

I am originally from Wisconsin but when I joined the Army, my first duty station was in Alabama. Needless to say, their choices for words were very different from what I was used to, ie. toboggan is used to describe a hat worn by robbers (in Wisconsin, we called them stocking caps or beanies). According to Wikipedia: A toboggan is a simple sled which is a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill or other slope for recreation. Th

Where I grew up in Alabama a boggin was a wooly hat we wore in cold weather. I knew it as an abbreviation for toboggan. When we moved to NY I was a teenager and wondered why in the world anyone would try ride down a snowy hill on a hat. Took awhile to realize they were talking about a sled-like platform mainly used to slide into trees.

[queasy27]

I'm not sure if these are regional differences, but what do you call a spatula --

this: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yqzNGNP71l...0.51.49+PM.png

or this: http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbvie...es-spatula.jpg

And what's a macaroon?

this: http://www.theculinarylife.com/image...mmacaroons.jpg

or this: http://mobile-cuisine.com/wp-content.../macaroons.jpg

[dndlion]

Originally Posted by redwitch

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.

This reminds me of friends of ours when we were stationed in England. She was in a store looking for her husband and started to yell out his name. She got some interesting looks. His name was Randy...

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by dndlion

This reminds me of friends of ours when we were stationed in England. She was in a store looking for her husband and started to yell out his name. She got some interesting looks. His name was Randy...

And in The British Isles, they might pop by and knock you up.

Honest.

(It means knock on your door)

[DougB]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

And in The British Isles, they might pop by and knock you up.

Honest.

(It means knock on your door)

Whew, thought a wedding would be soon afterwards.

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by dndlion

This reminds me of friends of ours when we were stationed in England. She was in a store looking for her husband and started to yell out his name. She got some interesting looks. His name was Randy...

Good thing his name isn't Willy.