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I am from western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area), have lived in Delaware, Illinois, Albany, NY, and for the last 29 years, Colorado. Some of the terms below that are ascribed to New England are used in other parts of the country as well. My responses are in blue.
Cellar = basement
Used in W. Pa, too.
Parlor (mostly RI and eastern MA) = living room
I thought that was a more old fashioned term for living room, also have seen it used in W. PA when there was a living room and a little anteroom off the living room that was more formal.
Supper = dinner (traditionally, "dinner" in N.E. is often used to refer to meals not eaten at home, or a late afternoon meal, particularly on Sundays)
Also used in this manner in W. Pa and the midwest
Rubbish = trash / garbage
Not unheard of in W. PA
Grinder = a sub sandwich
Also used in Delaware
Notch = a mountain pass
"Gap" is the term in PA for mountain passes, there are even some towns named such as Shade Gap. Valley is a low-lying area in the mountains in Colorado.
Dungarees (old-fashioned) = jeans
I heard this term back in my childhood in W PA
Flatlander = someone from the coast, usually used pejoratively by people in northern New England to refer to people from southern New England and elsewhere
Used here in CO, also pejoratively, to refer to midwesterners.
Pocket book = purse
Also used in Albany, NY, and by my mom from Wisconsin.
Elastic = rubber band
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Originally Posted by Drover
Well I've lived in the Midwest almost my entire life and "all set" is a familiar phrase to me.
My dad, a native western Pennslyvanian, used to say that a lot.
A term I had never heard until living in Champaign, IL was "scooping snow". At first, I couldn't figure out what it meant (it means shoveling snow). DH from Omaha had heard it there.
I am from western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area), have lived in Delaware, Illinois, Albany, NY, and for the last 29 years, Colorado. Some of the terms below that are ascribed to New England are used in other parts of the country as well. My responses are in blue.
Cellar = basement
Used in W. Pa, too.
Parlor (mostly RI and eastern MA) = living room
I thought that was a more old fashioned term for living room, also have seen it used in W. PA when there was a living room and a little anteroom off the living room that was more formal.
Supper = dinner (traditionally, "dinner" in N.E. is often used to refer to meals not eaten at home, or a late afternoon meal, particularly on Sundays)
Also used in this manner in W. Pa and the midwest
Notch = a mountain pass
"Gap" is the term in PA for mountain passes, there are even some towns named such as Shade Gap. Valley is a low-lying area in the mountains in Colorado.
Dungarees (old-fashioned) = jeans
I heard this term back in my childhood in W PA
Pocket book = purse
Also used in Albany, NY, and by my mom from Wisconsin.
I've heard all of those used while living in NC and GA.
A cellar was usually an unfinished or "dirt" basement with a concrete floor...usually used for storage or furnace/water heater.
Parlor is definitely an old-fashioned term. I remember old ladies referring to their parlor when I was little...and it was used on the Beverly Hillbillies.
My mom usually called it supper, but the rest of my family called it dinner. It varied from person to person in my experience.
I remember my grandfather talking about going to Fancy Gap, Virginia...and there was an area near where my Dad grew up called Roaring Gap.
Dungarees is another old-fashioned term...it was popular back when blue jeans first became mainstream. I only remember hearing it when I was little - like before I started school.
My mom always said "Will you bring me my pocket book?".
I am from western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area), have lived in Delaware, Illinois, Albany, NY, and for the last 29 years, Colorado. Some of the terms below that are ascribed to New England are used in other parts of the country as well. My responses are in blue.
Yes, I know that not all of these terms are exclusive to New England, but they do tend to be more commonly used there than in most other regions of the country.
Although "grinder" being used in Delaware is news to me, but I don't doubt it. It's interesting though because it tends to be a very marked shibboleth of New England.
The "supper" / "dinner" distinction is a really complex one -- I know that "supper" is still widely used in various parts of North America, but most regions have different ways of distinguishing the two (for example, "dinner" in New England is never used as a substitute for "lunch"). And there tends to be a lot of inter-speaker variability as "dinner" progressively becomes the standardized form.
Yes, I know that not all of these terms are exclusive to New England, but they do tend to be more commonly used there than in most other regions of the country.
Although "grinder" being used in Delaware is news to me, but I don't doubt it. It's interesting though because it tends to be a very marked shibboleth of New England.
The "supper" / "dinner" distinction is a really complex one -- I know that "supper" is still widely used in various parts of North America, but most regions have different ways of distinguishing the two (for example, "dinner" in New England is never used as a substitute for "lunch"). And there tends to be a lot of inter-speaker variability as "dinner" progressively becomes the standardized form.
In my experience...supper and dinner are the same meal, while lunch is lunch. Some people say supper, and some people say dinner.
"Cellar" is definitely very commonly heard in the South, as is "pocket book".
In my experience...supper and dinner are the same meal, while lunch is lunch. Some people say supper, and some people say dinner.
So you don't make a distinction between a meal that is eaten in a more formal setting than another? Do you favor one of the terms to refer to a meal eaten in the late afternoon?
Quote:
"Cellar" is definitely very commonly heard in the South, as is "pocket book".
I know these are widespread (although coming under increasing pressure from more standard forms), but most dialect surveys show "cellar" being more commonly used in the Northeast, particularly in New England and western Pennsylvania.
The Harvard Dialect Survey is a decent resource for these lexical variations, although their maps aren't particularly good - they use a fairly large dot for a single respondent, so even a single speaker makes the term look categorical in a given area. As such, large metro areas look like they use every possible word! You can't get a sense of the percent breakdown unless you look at the state-by-state data (for example, "basement" is around 75% in Georgia, versus 30% in Massachusetts).
Another good source of information is the Dictionary of American Regional English, although I don't think there's any way to access their maps online.
Yes, I know that not all of these terms are exclusive to New England, but they do tend to be more commonly used there than in most other regions of the country.
Although "grinder" being used in Delaware is news to me, but I don't doubt it. It's interesting though because it tends to be a very marked shibboleth of New England.
The "supper" / "dinner" distinction is a really complex one -- I know that "supper" is still widely used in various parts of North America, but most regions have different ways of distinguishing the two (for example, "dinner" in New England is never used as a substitute for "lunch"). And there tends to be a lot of inter-speaker variability as "dinner" progressively becomes the standardized form.
It took me a while, living in Delaware, to figure out what a grinder was.
In my experience...supper and dinner are the same meal, while lunch is lunch. Some people say supper, and some people say dinner.
My parents used dinner differently. Both of them always said to me that dinner is just the biggest meal of the day. It can mean either lunch or supper.
So you don't make a distinction between a meal that is eaten in a more formal setting than another? Do you favor one of the terms to refer to a meal eaten in the late afternoon?
I know these are widespread (although coming under increasing pressure from more standard forms), but most dialect surveys show "cellar" being more commonly used in the Northeast, particularly in New England and western Pennsylvania.
The Harvard Dialect Survey is a decent resource for these lexical variations, although their maps aren't particularly good - they use a fairly large dot for a single respondent, so even a single speaker makes the term look categorical in a given area. As such, large metro areas look like they use every possible word! You can't get a sense of the percent breakdown unless you look at the state-by-state data (for example, "basement" is around 75% in Georgia, versus 30% in Massachusetts).
Another good source of information is the Dictionary of American Regional English, although I don't think there's any way to access their maps online.
But, the point is...none of those terms are unique to New England. They are very common in the South, and I assume in other areas as well.
I know. But that doesn't mean they don't belong to "New England slang," particularly when they are used with significantly higher frequency than other regions and when huge swaths of the country (like the entire western half) rarely, if ever, use words like "cellar."
Words like "dude" are used in lots of places of the US, but that doesn't mean they aren't an integral part of Southern California slang, for example.
I know. But that doesn't mean they don't belong to "New England slang," particularly when they are used with significantly higher frequency than other regions and when huge swaths of the country (like the entire western half) rarely, if ever, use words like "cellar."
Words like "dude" are used in lots of places of the US, but that doesn't mean they aren't an integral part of Southern California slang, for example.
Significantly higher frequency than the other regions? What are you talking about? You don't know that for a fact...and I'm pretty sure those words are used VERY frequently in my area.
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