regional slang - Page 2

Annabellethecat66 · ‎03-12-2010

I live in Northern Va. Virginia is so divided most have no idea. You could almost take a pencil and run it through the division. The recent political climate would make it easy.

Further down south in Va we have lots of slang words. Some of the differences are some people say pan cakes, we say hot cakes.

How about y'all? Supper? Actin' ugly (means acting bad), barkin' up the wrong tree, what cha' doin'? Well, bless your little heart darlin'.

And on and on. Yet if you go a few miles up toward DC (real Northern Va) they would look at you like you were from Mars. Mainly because there are so many people in the area (up there (as we say)) that comes from other places. They vote differently from us too.

People down here like to call themselves 'country people'.

abbeythe 8th · ‎04-17-2010

@151949 wrote:
@Plaid Pants2 My father was conceived in Ireland - County Donnegal - but born in the USA. My Grandmother had a brough and my Dad & his siblings did as well , though their's was not as pronounced as hers.My Dad was deaf from an explosion in WW11 and he reverted back to his brough more & more as the years past and he was only speaking from what he remembered - not what he heard daily.
@151949
What is a brough? Re-reading, did you mean brogue?

I've lived in suburban Philadelphia almost all my life. As a child I remember my cousins talking about their kellering books. It was awhile before I realized they were referring to coloring books. I never picked up an accent but I do remember we had a house "down the shore."

I went to college in Indiana and lived in Wisconsin for 3 years. Soda meant an ice cream soda and pop meant what I referred to as soda.

snappyfrappy · ‎03-10-2010

I'm in my j80s, was born and raised right here in SoCal. We always referred to soft drinks by the brand name. I'll have a Coke....or Pepsi. My favorite thing to do as a teen was go to the soda fountain, where you could buy milk shakes, and get a cherry coke. They didn't come from bottles, but from a machine that filled the glass after the syrup was added.

We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, not supper.

snappy

blackhole99 · ‎08-22-2013

I grew up in central Pa. and we always said we were going down the shore, and a soft drink was soda, and that beef and noodle dish was goulash. We must have a distinct way of expressing ourselves because when I moved down south, people would ask me if I was from central Pa.

Mary Bailey · ‎03-09-2010

I'm 35 sw of Chicago.

We say: soda, you guys, front room, where you at?

DH sounds like the old SNL skits of "da coach" Mike Dikta he says: dees, dems, and doez

sabatini · ‎06-29-2015

I'm originally from New England where the word "wicked" means very or really, as in 'They have wicked good pizza there!'

Many years ago, my SIL from CA called me up to chat about what kind of slippers she was gonna buy for her DH for Christmas. She said that in the LL Bean catalogue, it described a certain pair of slippers as "wicked good". She pronounced "wicked" like a candle 'wick'. She thought it meant that water wicked away from the fabric. LOL! I clued her in.

Also, when I was a young wife we moved to Alabama for awhile. I had a friend there who'd say "hogged down", as in 'I really hogged down on that BBQ last night!'

In New England, we'd have said "pigged out".

Haha!

Muddling through...

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

@blackhole99 wrote:
I grew up in central Pa. and we always said we were going down the shore, and a soft drink was soda, and that beef and noodle dish was goulash. We must have a distinct way of expressing ourselves because when I moved down south, people would ask me if I was from central Pa.

I am from south central PA and many of the things that people think is regional is farther reaching then you think,

Goulash is a stew that originated in Hungry. It is not an American dish that is regional.

Redding up is a PA Dutch term and many people who have German origins use this term. It is quite common in Amish and other plain communities. My mother always said this and I have heard it in Lancaster Co, PA and Ohio.

Yous is not spoken where I live, but I have heard it in York, PA and other parts of the US YInz is another PA Dutch (German) term. I hear it a lot. My DH uses it, I do not, but my mother did. I have never heard it spoken outside of PA.

We also say something is "all" instead of all gone. Many words are dropped from a sentence and because of TV and social media, some expressions are moving across the country.

I graduated College last June is popular. You should say I graduated FROM college last June. I see this incorrect English used by the media too.

Our language is always evolving and was formed by the many immigrants who came to this country. Everyone added a little spice to make our language so sweet.

Zita · ‎05-24-2011

@CareBears: I, too, am a native Minnesotan, but I NEVER say "Oof da" (think that's a Scandinavian expression), we have always called items like Coke "Pop" not Soda, always reference the main room as a "living room", and NEVER say "you betcha."

I'm from the Twin Cities -- maybe you are rural?

CareBears · ‎08-30-2015

@Zita I was raised in Cottage Grove, and then moved to Apple Valley, so not "real" rural but my parents & friends always said the phrases I mentioned, so I was always around them, I don't know maybe we are unique, we are of Scandanavian decent though!