[DanBrew]

Being from the middle of Illinois, I have no accent at all, but I lived in Glasgow, Scotland as a wee lad, so I get accents. The parents were from Tennessee and we had an aunt there who was Aint Ethyl. The first time I heard someone from Cincinnati say "please" when they meant excuse me I didn't hear you, I tilted my head to the side. The Pittsburg folks say "you uns" which seemed very southern to me. I got all that while living in West Virginia working for DuPont. Now the WV folks have accents that differ across the state. I won't even try to type those pronunciations.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Dennys37Packard

Sprinkles or jimmies (NJ)

The black/brown ones are jimmies. The multicolored ones are sprinkles. And the little sugar ball ones are shots.

I stand by my conviction and my position is unassailable!

[MandoMan]

This has been a delightful thread. I love these local or regional differences in what we call things. Thank you, all.

However, I’d like to be a curmudgeon for a minute, since the thread title is about “Today’s Language.”

I’m tired of the word “ass” being used in words such as “bigass” and “badass” and “ass-hat” (whatever that is). I see the first two in television advertising a lot these days, and they all appear in shows, especially so-called “comedy specials”. What does an ass have to do with badass? (I have a friend who was just pronounced cured of a serious case of rectal cancer, but I don’t think they are referring to him.) If these words appear on tv, it’s because writers write scripts calling for actors to say these things. Why? Is this what they mean by “keeping it real”? What is real about it? It’s just imprecise and rude. I sometimes call someone an ass, but if I do, I’m referring to a donkey. I don’t mind calling a backside an ass. But “bigass” is unnecessary when “big” is sufficient, and “badass” is unnecessary when mean, violent, bad, or criminal will do quite well.

I’m also tired of the casual use of the word “dick” to refer to men who are unpleasant, thoughtless, mean, rude, sexist, etc. (I’m so glad my name isn’t Richard.) We are stuck with that slang term for a body part, but why then use it to describe a person? Just don’t say it!

This new use of the perfectly good German and Scandinavian name Karen to describe a certain type of older, entitled European-American woman is also disgusting. Please don’t use the name this way. Resist it! Tell off people who use it that way!

Another gripe is the use of the phrase “I be” instead of “I am” or the phrase “Ima” instead of “I’m going to.” There are Cajun areas in Louisiana where this is standard, due to their ancient French roots. My dear Uncle Johnny from Halifax County, Virginia talked that way, and I would never think of correcting him. But he also didn’t have a flush toilet. Don’t let this illiterate speech become part of your way of speaking. It isn’t amusing. Also, if I see a meme with that sort of language, whether from right or left, a wave of scorn rushes over me. I see this a lot in television advertising. It disgusts me.

One more common problem today that is due to people not reading and simply listening and speaking is when they write “should of” or “would of”. That makes no sense at all! They should write “should’ve” or “would’ve,” perfectly correct contractions of “should have” and “would have.” If you apply for a job and write “should of” in your application letter, you will be immediately classified as ignorant. Actually, you may simply never have thought about it. It’s not too late to learn.

[JanetMM]

Originally Posted by lem001

After much soul searching - i have decided :
you RED up the house
like giving a RED check mark for a job well done


also we would have hotdogs for a pic-a-nic down by the crick
where we would lift rocks to find crayfish

Dictionary shows spelling as REDD. And shows how we came up with it. I love using term redd up the house. Scots in my family I guess.

Originally Posted by Schaumburger

Having spent my first 18 years in Iowa, of course it is pop. What do you call your last big meal of the day...dinner or supper? Growing up in Iowa, we called it supper, but in the Chicago area, it is usually called dinner.

My dad pronounces Iowa as Ioway. I think he is the only one I know who does this.

Aunt is pronounced "ant."

Sofa, couch or davenport?

Was and still is Supper for us. Was davenport, but now we’ve given in to sofa.

[lynnschindel]

Originally Posted by GOLFER54

Gravy or Sauce ? In my Sicilian home, from Long Island, we said that sauce was put on pasta and gravy was put on mash potatoes, in pot roast, on turkey and used in many other recipes. But I have heard that gravy was referred to sauce on pasta also.

It was always sauce for the pasta and gravy for the meat. I'm from NJ, and that is a constant sore point for many. I always refer to the supermarket. There's no such thing on the shelves as Tomato Gravy!

[Primera199]

I am a native Rhode Islander and a cabinet is a thick shake and coffee is the preferred flavor for ice cream and milk . I have fond memories of having coffee cabinets!!

[mmignosa]

I also “ Pahked My Kah in Hahvids Yahd”. But now I go back to Maine in the summah. You can’t get they-ere ( 2 syllables) From here-er. The same terminology as the other Bostonian.

Originally Posted by davem4616

I came from a place where we parked our car at Harvard Yard...growing up what some call 'pop' we called tonic

when someone says 'ya'll' to me, I still look around to see if my whole family followed me into the store

I have aunts....never had a 'ant'

and the liquor stores were all referred to as 'packies'....we never made a U-Turn...we "banged a youee"

and roundabout were called rotaries

[Duneahh]

Originally Posted by Schaumburger

Having spent my first 18 years in Iowa, of course it is pop. What do you call your last big meal of the day...dinner or supper? Growing up in Iowa, we called it supper, but in the Chicago area, it is usually called dinner.

My dad pronounces Iowa as Ioway. I think he is the only one I know who does this.

Aunt is pronounced "ant."

Sofa, couch or davenport?

On the KS dairy farm of my youth, the noon meal was Dinner as it was the biggest, more properly served, meal of the day. All the hired hands joined us around the table, where we held hands for the prayer which we all said together in unison, food dishes were passed clockwise (starting with Dad at head of the table and THE MEAT PLATTER). Nobody ate a bite until everybody had their plate filled. Last meal was Supper because it was light; leftover meat from dinner, summer produce, a plate of white bread, jars of miracle whip and pickles (vs. being in serving dishes as at Dinner) ... usually really late after all chores were finished, just before bed. Sunday supper was special: popcorn and our once weekly POP on tv trays watching Bonanza. The lucky first one got to sprawl on the COUCH while the rest of us kids were stuck on the floor and tasked with skooching over and change to the other tv channel! Dad had a city cousin who retired from MinnaSO-TA to IoWAY. Mother aspired to go to Ha-WAH-ya (vs. Huh-Wie-E). It was fun when our Ants & Cuzzins visited!

[NotFromAroundHere]

Originally Posted by ladyarwen3

thanks for the laugh GracieGirl ...

Here in NEPA we eat tomato and mayo "sangwiches" with our Cokes or cawfee; and we can go to one mining town for a "pan of pitz" (a tray of pizza) and the local church picnic to have a sausage and mango sangwich for supper.

Mango for Bell Pepper? That's what we called them in southern Indiana. Never hear it anymore.

[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by Duneahh

On the KS dairy farm of my youth, the noon meal was Dinner as it was the biggest, more properly served, meal of the day. All the hired hands joined us around the table, where we held hands for the prayer which we all said together in unison, food dishes were passed clockwise (starting with Dad at head of the table and THE MEAT PLATTER). Nobody ate a bite until everybody had their plate filled. Last meal was Supper because it was light; leftover meat from dinner, summer produce, a plate of white bread, jars of miracle whip and pickles (vs. being in serving dishes as at Dinner) ... usually really late after all chores were finished, just before bed. Sunday supper was special: popcorn and our once weekly POP on tv trays watching Bonanza. The lucky first one got to sprawl on the COUCH while the rest of us kids were stuck on the floor and tasked with skooching over and change to the other tv channel! Dad had a city cousin who retired from MinnaSO-TA to IoWAY. Mother aspired to go to Ha-WAH-ya (vs. Huh-Wie-E). It was fun when our Ants & Cuzzins visited!

Thanks for the info.

Just curious why was food always passed clockwise?

[Lindacg]

They did that at Woolworth’s in Baltimore

[dougawhite]

I grew up in New London, CT, where they make nuclear submarines. You might think it's obvious a long cold cut sandwich would be called a 'sub' but it wasn't, they were Grinders.
Pizza - Italian/NY, or Greek? Greek for me with a slightly risen crust that has a crunch to it. Italian/NY is flat and soft dough good for folding.
Clam fritters, YUM, are deep-fried dough balls with lots of clam chunks mixed in. A clam cake is similar ingredients but shallow-fried in a pan and shaped like a large thick cookie.
Clam chowder is at least 3 varieties: New England with a white creamy base, Manhattan which is just vegetable soup withh clam chunks added, and Rhode Island which has same ingredients as New England but no cream so the broth is clear.
Most New Englanders remove R's from the middle of words (pahking place) but make up for this by adding them to the end of other words (great idear).
Pancake, flapjack, johnny cake?
Porch, patio, lanai, veranda?
Played 'stoop ball' but not by that name. Problem was if you missed the corner of the step you could break the glass in the front door - RUN!

[Duneahh]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

Thanks for the info.

Just curious why was food always passed clockwise?

Don't really know... probably because Dad (THE boss) started the pass and it would have been a pointless waste of "argument capital" to shift the food flow and attempt to swim upstream while seated amidst hungry farm hands.

[xlhig]

Originally Posted by CaVillager

IN Rochester, we don't call them hamburgers, they're just hamburgs.
And yea we called hot dogs just hots but if they were made from pork and were white, we called 'em white hots or porkers. And go figure out this one. The area down by Lake Ontario is spelled Charlotte, like the city in North Carolina, but the locals pronounce it Shalott.

And don't forget Chili, NY - pronounced CHI-LIE not CHILL-EE