Unique Phrases or Words? (Denver, Ken Caryl: construction, live, license plate)

[davebarnes]

Originally Posted by reed303

jack-a-lope = fictional cross between jack rabbit & antelope (rabbit with horns)

Wyoming lawmakers consider declaring jackalope state's official mythical creature

[davebarnes]

mile high = 5280 or stoned

[mountainman91]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Here's two more:

1. NATIVE. Refers to the accident of birth that one is born, raised and living in COLO. This special status is often pointed out via a bumper sticker that says, simply, NATIVE. A subset of these born-here types share a delusion that somehow they are better than the millions of people who've moved here over the years. Term is highly disrespectful of ACTUAL natives (e.g., Ute, Comanche, Anasazi, Jicarilla Apache, et al) who were here a thousand years before all of us, as well as Hispanics of Mexican origin as the lower half of Colorado WAS indeed a part of MEXICO until about 1848. The "native" bumper sticker is unique to COLO, the other 49 states, and their citizens, apparently aren't very special.

2. PIONEER. Refers to one being related to persons who came to Colorado for the Gold Rush and Land Rush events of Colorado history. Pioneers were the people who first put a steel plow into dry grassland prairie in hopes of makes wealth in wheat, but instead ended up giving us the Dust Bowl. Rah! Many "natives" are the offspring of "pioneers" and share the same delusion of specialness. Status as a descendant of "pioneers" is deemed deserving of a special license plate remarkable for it's pastel colors and the word "pioneer" cast in the plate. The remarkable thing is that these special people are even willing to spend the extra money for these plates, even though they won't spend the money to keep our street lights on. The "pioneer" license plates are unique to COLO, the other 49 states and 310,000,000 other Americans and their ancestors apparently weren't very pioneering, even though my ancestors in the WHITE family came over on the Mayflower and the first child born of those "invaders" was a White family member.

Have a nice day.

Wow, somebody had their politically correct Hate-orade this morning. Glad to see the electrolytes are flowing.

1. I've never seen anybody who was a native-born Coloradan treat anybody else any differently because they're from out of state. Mileage may vary, however. I do happen to know that they do take intense pride from it. Why? Because so much of the state is from out of state, something you rarely see anywhere else. So they (we, actually) feel outnumbered. Especially by Californians, who so often impose their own political and social preferences on the state and tend to drive costs up. So, we have a bumper sticker, because we can. Besides, what would Nebraska or Kansas put on a 'Native' sticker? A flat line?

2. Once again, it's a license plate. It's people celebrating their heritage. What's wrong with that?

[davidv]

Remember, a dialect is a local version of a language. It varies from the standard language in the following ways:
-Pronunciation
-Spelling
-Vocabulary

Many of the items above do not fit the criteria for dialect. Many of the above items are local names (toponyms) or nicknames. For example, Denver is the "Mile High City," but it is known as the Mile High City across the nation.

The best example above is 14er. It is the local name for what others would call a mountain that rises 14,000 ft or more above sea level. There is no such thing as a 13er.

Examples of pronunciations unique to Colorado include:
-Spanish names like Buena Vista (pronounced Be-yoona Vis-ta, instead of the standard Spanish of Bweh-na Vees-tah) or Pueblo (Pee-eh-blow) or Salida (Sa-leye-duh)
-Coloradans often drop the letter "t" in certain words like mountain (mow[rhymes with "ow"]-in) and fountain (fow-in)

As for unique words, they include:
-14er - a mountain that is 14,000 feet tall or more.
-Trustafarian - a young person who lives a hippie lifestyle financed by a trust fund from his/her parents back East (as described in 30h!3's song
Trust Me.

The only spelling difference I could think of is "Arapahoe" instead of "Arapaho" which is the usual spelling for the Native American tribe.

I am sure there are more, but I can't think of any right now.

[schoolproject007]

Thank you all! This has been the most helpful resource I could find!

[dude_reino]

'Tourons' = tourist/morons
'Gapers' = tourons on skis
'Snowtards' = tourons driving in snow, or even residents who can't drive in snow
'Bro-brahs' = teenagers who ski in sagged pants with unutilized suspenders and 3XL sized T-shirts

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by livecontent

The Hogback, a ridge of expose rocks that resemble the back of a hog, just west in the suburbs of Denver.

Livecontent

I believe you are referring to the Dakota Hogback - nowhere near any Dakotas, and in south Jeffco separates the "valley" of the Ken Caryl subdivision from the "plains" or older part.

The Dakota Hogback is a long hogback ridge at the eastern fringe of the Rocky Mountains that extends north-south from southern Wyoming through Colorado and into northern New Mexico in the United States. The ridge is prominently visible as the first line of foothills along the edge of the Great Plains. It is generally faulted along its western side, and varies in height, with gaps in numerous locations where rivers exit the mountains. The ridge takes its name from the Dakota Formation, a sandstone formation that underlies the ridge. The hogback was formed during the Laramide orogeny, approximately 50 million years (50 my) ago, when the modern Rockies were created. The general uplift to the west created long faulting in the North American Plate, resulting in the creation of the hogback http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_Hogback

[proveick]

S P O R E
Stupid People On Rental Equipment!

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by mountainman91

Wow, somebody had their politically correct Hate-orade this morning. Glad to see the electrolytes are flowing.

1. I've never seen anybody who was a native-born Coloradan treat anybody else any differently because they're from out of state. Mileage may vary, however. I do happen to know that they do take intense pride from it. Why? Because so much of the state is from out of state, something you rarely see anywhere else. So they (we, actually) feel outnumbered. Especially by Californians, who so often impose their own political and social preferences on the state and tend to drive costs up. So, we have a bumper sticker, because we can. Besides, what would Nebraska or Kansas put on a 'Native' sticker? A flat line?

2. Once again, it's a license plate. It's people celebrating their heritage. What's wrong with that?

Of course, there are native-born nitwits who treat people differently because they were not born here. Have you not heard the tirades of this Jazzlover on this forum. There may not be many but they are here and I run across enough in my 34 years in this State. They start their bloated red faced bellowing whenever they are challenged about their belief that they know it all. Being a New Yawker with a distinctive accent, I attract these blowhards.

There are native born in every state who have the same attitude of pride that makes them obnoxiously boastful. I came here from Texas.; I am originally from New York and both those states have their native bullies.

Colorado is at least smart enough to think of how to make money from them because it cost more to have these native plates. I would not pay more for any plates than I need to register my car.

Pioneer always makes me laugh. The only "Pie" that they got "Near" is by their coffee.

Livecontent

[mountainman91]

Originally Posted by livecontent

Of course, there are native-born nitwits who treat people differently because they were not born here. Have you not heard the tirades of this Jazzlover on this forum. There may not be many but they are here and I run across enough in my 34 years in this State. They start their bloated red faced bellowing whenever they are challenged about their belief that they know it all. Being a New Yawker with a distinctive accent, I attract these blowhards.

There are native born in every state who have the same attitude of pride that makes them obnoxiously boastful. I came here from Texas.; I am originally from New York and both those states have their native bullies.

Colorado is at least smart enough to think of how to make money from them because it cost more to have these native plates. I would not pay more for any plates than I need to register my car.

Pioneer always makes me laugh. The only "Pie" that they got "Near" is by their coffee.

Livecontent

Like I said, mileage may vary. Thanks for weighing in with your experiences. It seems that people with 'big city' accents from back east do often get teased over their accents. I love people from the Midwest and East coming here (in reasonable numbers, of course) to balance out all the 'hippies' from CA with a more practical hard edged perspective on life. (For the record, Colorado has native hippies, too. That's always been around.)
That being said, I am a proud native. I love the lifestyle my state has to offer. There are people at my church who are the real 'pioneers'...ranching for generations along the 105 corridor, and frankly, they've put enough blood and sweat into that land to deserve the moniker 'native'...offensive or not.

Standard American is a rather repressive dialectical instrument. More's the pity.