Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I love this topic! I'm actually always thinking about doing a site or blog on the subject of language usage, slang, regionalisms, etc. I'm so glad to find this here.
I grew up in the South, but in south VA, not the deep South, and then I lived in NYC, Mpls., Lancaster PA, and Philly. Philly has many phrases and much slang that I haven't heard anywhere else. One thing I hear here, lol, (and most of this is language used by Blacks over 50 years old... I'm White, but I have a large number of Black friends and most of this is not used by my White friends.) is "he called me to myself". This is used to mean "he took me aside, to speak to me personally, or privately". Another that's currently in vogue but I've heard used here for years is "joi'", which is "joint", but pronounced without the "nt" at the end. This is used, basically, to mean "thing"; it can be anything, a place, a body part, a thing, an object, it can even be an action: "Show me how to do that joi' (dance step)". "Boo" is used as a term of endearment, in my experience usually by women towards men, "Hey boo, how you doing?"
One term I hear used by White and Black is "up the way". "You going up the way after you eat?"; "Where were you yesterday? Oh, up the way...". It refers to a place that both parties recognize and are very familiar with. White people in Philly still say "Yous" for the 2nd person plural. I'm not sure if this is used by other ethnnic groups. Actually, "yous" is used much less than it was up to maybe the 1980s. I think it's interesting that in English, we don't have a 2nd person plural that's different from the singular, "you", and so have to invent ways to distinguish whether we are speaking to one person in a group or the group as a whole! But, this quirk of English has led to a host of regionalisms, so in this case it's a good thing. Another phrase not specific to Philly or White, Black or any other group is "It's all good." I started hearing this in Philly sometime in the 1990s. It's used, usually, after the speaker has listed some complaints or negative situations in their life, and then sums it up with the phrase in order to indicate that in spite of any complaints, in the larger scheme of things, everything is for the "good": I'm taking four classes this semester, and every one of them has a TON of homewwork and papers I have to do, plus, they all have a group project, which I just hate! But, I only have two more semesters, and so far I'm doing well, so, it's all good." Obviously I could go on, as I have already done, lol, but I'll end my post here. I'm loving reading everyone else's posts, so thank you everybody for sharing!
I too, have lived in so many parts, ever since childhood, my dads job always moved us all over. Some I do remember are
I call it soda or pop.
Wash.
Y'all
Back home is WI, most were 2 lane country roads, many other areas are called freeways, but we didn't have that kind of traffic in many parts of WI.
There were also phrases we used a lot back home (don't need the technical correcting here) like tailgate parties, 'go pack go' and cow tipping.
Yep, Ive heard the term 'wife beater' shirts, mostly coming from the south though.
Shopping cart, I call it, as many others do, a 'buggy'.
My mother, I swear, uses midwestern hillibilly. Everything has an "r" in it no matter what and if I never hear the word "warsh" for "wash" I'll be the happiest woman alive.
I've lived in:
Northern VA
Cincinnati, OH
Des Moines, IA
Olympia, WA
Colorado Springs, CO
And so I've picked up a number of regional thingies along the way. And some of my husband's speak has rubbed off on me against my will. Also as a big fan of British sci fi and comedy, I've picked up some words and phrases from Monty Python, Red Dwarf, and Dr. Who.
Wanted to mention to the person who lives in IA and said that the Mafia is a myth or something from TV...not if you know your history of the Des Moines region!! My husband grew up there. He says that back decades ago when the mob was shooting up Chicago all the time, they sent their families to Des Moines to be safe, and those people put down roots in the South Side. I often wonder if that's why so many insurance companies are headquartered out of Des Moines...? "Pay us for protection!" lol
So living in Cincinnati, if they don't hear you, instead of saying, "what?" they will say, "please?" Weird, huh?
I say interstate for the biggest and highway for like state or rural highways (or Route 1 up and down the East Coast would be a Highway in my thinking, although I call it simply Route 1.) Everything else...if I'm driving on it I think of it as a road but if you're standing on it or crossing it, it's a street. Also when referring to the position of a house, it's "my street" even if it's a "Drive" or "Road" or "Avenue."
I drink soda and wear sneakers. I think pop sounds silly. I used awesome and cool to the point where I got annoyed with myself and wanted better synonyms...I started using "amazeballs in awesomesauce."
I say ya'll sometimes, but not with a slow southern kind of "yawwwllll" sort of thing, more like yall. Just quick. I also use you guys even if a group is all women, but I have actually had the rare occasion where a southern lady got ANGRY at me for that, because she grew up believing that a "guy" refers to Guy Fawkes--not only a male person but a bad and/or ugly person. I was floored by that. To this day when I use that for a group including women I cringe a tiny bit inside hoping they won't be upset by it! But I've also had touchy women get upset about being called "ladies" as though it referred to "old ladies." The one I don't like is ma'am, because it sounds like the sound a goat makes maaaaammm...I dunno. Just don't like it on phonetic principle.
Another mannerism my husband has, maybe from Iowa, and it's rubbed off on me and I don't like it is "interesting." I grew up saying INT-res-ting....he says it INNER-resting. And he also says irregardless, which isn't even a word and that annoys me.
I'm from Northern California, and we say
Soda
Wash
You
Bathroom
Toilet
Freeway
Store
My mother was from Iowa. To her, the living room was "the front room," the sofa was the "davenport," a dresser was a "chest of drawers," and wasps were "meat bees."
A good friend of mine is from Minnesota. She says "Do you want to come with?" She also pronounces "aunt" to rhyme with "font." (I say "ant.")
I saw a billboard once in New Jersey that made this California girl first scratch her head, then laugh. It was for a local dairy, and it said: Don't Be Quart Short! I got teased a lot when I lived back East for pronouncing the word "roof" to rhyme with "woof" instead "poof."
You. Have used "y'all" jokingly. But people would think you were a bit idiotic if you used it in general everyday parlance in England.
bathroom, restroom, washroom?
Bathroom.
toilet, commode, pot, etc?
Toilet
Highway, freeway, expressway, road?
Motorway
store, market, etc.?
Supermarket, shops.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
