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I don't know if I've incorporated any new phrases, but I notice that if someone says "Bah"(bye), I say "Bah" right back to 'em.
Ever had anybody wave at you with the index finger? Just stick it straight up at you. Very common while driving in the car here. My brother-in-law from NY had a hard time getting used to that when he moved down here
Wouldn't say I picked up a whole lot of the uniquely local/southern sayings; but I did drop a lot of my northern ones. "Pop" was the first to go. Nobody knew what I was talking about asking for pop in the grocery store so that was gone within a few weeks. "you guys" when referring to a group of people eventually started sounding ridiculous to me, but "y'all" sounded just as ridiculous when paired with my nasaly great lakes accent..so "you all" was the compromise.
Just curious because I don't have any friends from out of state. I still hang out with the same friends I made in the 60's and 70's.
Like for example: When you want a kiss do you say "give me some sugar" to your kids? Do you call your kids "young'uns"? Do you call everything a coke? If someone asks what kind of coke do you want, you might say sprite or some other soda.
It might be a Raleigh area thing, don't know about the whole state, but it's what we grew up with. Just curious what transplants to NC think of our customs and speech and if they start using the same words after living here a while?
I've never heard any of those things said by anyone since I've been here, whether they are a NC native or not. Most of the native NC's I know barely have any accent. My friend who went to UGA for 8 years of schooling has a heavier southern accent than them, and uses more southern phrases than they do (she asked for sweet tea her first trip back to NY and the server was like "whaaaat?").
My kids have given me a few though. THey've "yes ma'am"ed me a couple of times and the other day one of them asked me for an "ink pen".
When I'm out in public I try and say siren and cement, but back at home I am myself and say sireen and seement. !
I think you just answered your own question. Perhaps many natives are like you and talk one way at home and another way when out in public. The question you should be asking is why do you do that?
By the way I don't know where in NJ that guy was from but I've never, ever heard any one from the northeast say "switch off the light" - maybe HIS ancestors came from a different part of the country??? Although I'm from NY my mom is from NH, the child of Canadien immigrants and she says some things strangely that got passed down to us kids. We also used to say "crack the window".
When we say, "I'm gonna get a drink", we mean a Coke or Pepsi. However, I only drink Diet Dew.
I've never heard anything except "turn on the light" and my parents are not from here.
Hubby used to say to the kids..."don't make me jerk a knot in you".
I think the reason people say "ink pen" is because many people here say "pin" and "pen" the same way so saying ink pen made it more obvious as to which one you wanted.
I have a good friend from Alabama and if you wanna hear some strange things...you should talk to her!
Haha-good thread.I've been out of NC for 18 years and still say "Y'all" and "might kin."As in "I might kin do that"I like to think the native NC friends I made down there still say "Ay" and "youse" that I taught them.As in "Ay! what are youse doing over there?!"
Last edited by exnj1970; 03-24-2013 at 08:49 AM..
Reason: bad typing
Get uppity about it, son, and I'll jerk a knot in your tail.
My father, born and raised it NJ, used to say that except he said "don't get your chain in a knot" lol Used to get offered the 'knuckle sandwich' option alot too!! lol
We went to the shore, Here you go to the 'Coast'. Going to the beach ment you were actually walking up on the beach.
We always said 'flick that switch please' for the lights, here I heard 'cut on the light'
In NJ, we had accidents, here we have wrecks. In NJ we got 'pulled over' but the cops, here you just get 'pulled'
We have pants up north, you got 'britches' down here!! lol
There are a few construction terms that are quite different here too....
Everwho thinks "ink pen" is only Southern has not been to Alabama, Pennsylvania.
Alabama is in the south... and Pennsylvania is pretty 'southern' in between Philly and Pittsburgh!!
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