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Regional Words - Phrases

WarrantMan

WarrantMan

Extreme Member
Aside from vocation and interests in all things pepper, I have studied words, phrases, dialects and origins of “sayings.” Devoted a great deal of time to it.  I’ve found it to be of great interest and particularly in America where “regional” terminology differs when describing the same things. I discovered this as a kid from Georgia when I spent summers in New York (where I was often the target of ridicule.)
 
My involvement here on THP has seen correspondence with many around the world and I have learned even more….  slang and such for objects, situations and people that I had never before heard.
 
Do you say or know of something that you might call to be “different” than others?
 
The internet has made the world “smaller” than in years before, so I know that some terminology is in the process of slowly fading into a larger uniform one.  Such as it is...
 
Example:
 
I grew up in the Southern United States and to date:
 
I call what some know to be a “shopping cart” - a “buggy.”
 
A “bag” to me is - a “sack.”
 
Any soft drink – a “coke.”
 
Ever heard the term “cattywampus” or “sigogglin?”
 
Know what a “pole cat” is?
 
And of course I say “y’all.”
 
What say you?
 
 
Edit:  Forgot phrases
 
"Tighter than Dick's hatband."   "Uglier than a mud fence."  "Colder than a witch's tit."  "Nervous as a whore in church"   etc..
 
Evestrough = rain gutter

Chesterfield = sofa/couch

Toque =winter knitted hat/ watch cap / knit cap / I think I have even seen them called beanies.

Deke= fake out move in hockey. Fake one direction then go the other way type thing. "he deke'd the defenseman out of his jockstrap on that goal."

Kerfuffle - contraversial/ confused state. Commotion




Washroom = restroom

That one gets me so many weird looks when I am in the USA.

On a tangent. A friends Ex-wife asked for vinegar for her fries at a Macdonald's in Indiana one time.
The staff thought she was a weirdo.

"you mean the white vinegar we use to wash stuff with?!"
 
Ashen,
 
Dead on with the topic!
 
All my life the "Toque" you mention was in my world called a "Tobaggan."  Never knew it differently until the service when it was issued to me as a "watch cap."
 
In my American travels, the "Washroom" has only ever been called "Restroom" or "Bathroom." 
 
Concerning the vinegar, well, aside from Collards, I only had vinegar on my foods when I visited Ontario.  Been teaching people about it ever since, ergo "Clearly Guilty."  ;)
 
:cheers:
 
Ashen, SNF,
 
Thanks both for the "couch" references. I've heard both "Chesterfield" and "Davenport" before but did not pair the term with "couch."  I recall the song by the Canadian band Barenaked Ladies "If I had a Million Dollars" where they sing of a "nice Chesterfield or an Ottoman."  Makes better sense now. 
 
But, I knew the term "Ottoman" to mean a "footstool" so off I go to research that and again I am schooled. Search it for yourself, very interesting the origin....
 
From either of you or any who may read:
 
Someone who had some physical difficulty with head movement  or perhaps slept with a hard pillow might say they had a "crick" in their neck. Heard that as a kid.
 
Went to New York and kids told me they swam in the "crick." They showed me and I said "creek" much to their amusement. 
 
SmokenFire said:
gym shoes = sneakers or tennis shoes
 
hot dish = casserole of many types often brought to potlucks
 
pop = soda or coke.  was always taken aback when asked if I wanted a coke and then asked what kind.  lol
Click to expand...
 
Another midwesterner (Minnesota), confirming these. I understand "soda," but using Coke as a blanket term makes exactly zero sense to me.
 
WarrantMan said:
Someone who had some physical difficulty with head movement  or perhaps slept with a hard pillow might say they had a "crick" in their neck. Heard that as a kid.
 
Went to New York and kids told me they swam in the "crick." They showed me and I said "creek" much to their amusement. 
Click to expand...
 
Yep, you get a crick in your neck and swim in the creek.
 
It's not really an etymology or vernacular thing, but there was pretty much just one thing my friends in other parts of the country called me on. Minnesotans do not generally have a thick accent unless you're within about ten miles of Canada... but what we do often have is a long "o". I was driving a friend from Michigan around one day, and some bitch cut me off while talking on her cell. I leaned out the window and yelled "GET OFF THA PHOOOONE!" and my friend lost it. From that moment on, I've been very conscious of my long "o". 
lol.gif
 
Ruid said:
I hate when people refer to a soda as a pop.
Click to expand...
 
私もそんなのことがきらいよ！どうしてほかの人は別の言葉があるの？！やっぱりバ〜カだね！
 
Anyway, you're right. It's completely intolerable that different people would refer to the same thing with different words.
 
I remember seeing a geographical heat map , detailing the usage of soda, pop and coke as generic terms for soft drink.

Pop is the most prevelant here, although no one will look at you strange for saying soda. If you ask for a coke you will get a cola.

I can pick out someone who wasn't born here or at least lived here for a very long time simply by the way they pronounce Toronto. No matter what it looks like, there is no second t. ;)

I think it is a leftover Scots English thing. I know a lot of people that say Saturday without a t.

There tends to be a distinct rural small agricultural town vs urban centre accent on some words and expressions.

On top of that I have the Italian English patois concoction my Dad and his friends would use.

To this day I still say, Close the light or open the light, instead of turn on or off. Interestingly, those expressions are hold overs from the old knob and tube wiring switches. Similar to how we still talk about dialing a phone number.

I guess some of us still can :)



https://youtu.be/uJsjgDOwYAk
 
Oh boy, this should be interesting.....
 
Lollies = Candy
Snag = Sausage 
Servo = Service Station 
Coldie = Beer
Acca/Dacca = AC/DC
Sunnies = Sunglasses 
Piss up = Party 
Runners = Sneakers 
Tinnie = Can of beer or Small Aluminum boat
Arvo = Afternoon
Sanga = Sandwich 
Sickie = Sick day off work
Barbie = Barbecue 
Bloody Oath = Yes, it's true
Fair Dinkum = Honestly?
Durrie or Cancer Stick = Cigarette 
Esky = Ice box/Cooler
Stubby holder = Coozie
Galah = Stupid person 
Knickers = Female underwear 
Thongs = Flip flops 
Bludger = Someone who is lazy
Legless = Really drunk
Maccas = McDonald's 
Mozzie = Mosquito 
Tea = Dinner
Piece of piss = Easy
Rooted = Tired
Root = Make love
Sheila = Woman
Bloke = Man
Stiffy = Erection
 
And for further clarification, the historical documents below can be used for further reference.
https://youtu.be/NE-al0xSFJo
https://youtu.be/yY73f1bRO6Q
 
This could take a while...... :rofl:
 
SR. :metal:
 
 
Ashen said:
On a tangent. A friends Ex-wife asked for vinegar for her fries at a Macdonald's in Indiana one time.
The staff thought she was a weirdo.

"you mean the white vinegar we use to wash stuff with?!"
Click to expand...
 
I give weird looks to tourists who dine at McDonald's too :rofl:
 
Ashen said:
To this day I still say, Close the light or open the light, instead of turn on or off. Interestingly, those expressions are hold overs from the old knob and tube wiring switches. Similar to how we still talk about dialing a phone number.

 
Click to expand...
 
That's an interesting one and in reading, I realized that I "cut the lights on" or "cut the lights off."  :shocked:  
 
THP,
 
I seem to think that one was regional. Common to where I was raised but I don't know for certain. (Could be a holdover from older times said that way too in other areas.) Maybe someone here knows. Do recall seeing signs along the highways in North Carolina or perhaps Tennessee, where they advised by state law that it was mandatory to "Burn your headlights during rain." I always thought that sounded funny.
 
Here's one that certainly is (regional) for the part of country I live, but differs across the rest of the nation.
 
"BBQ", or "Barbecue" - slow cooked/smoked "pork" only. If you go "to a BBQ,"  you get pulled pork.
 
I've found that many folks elsewhere call "anything" cooked on a grill "BBQ" and some even call a grill itself a "BBQ." Here, it is only "pork" and other stuff simply put on a grill and cooked is not BBQ. 
 
Not "dissing" anyone else's definition (I know some have strong opinions on such things) just mentioning it for the sake of enlightenment. 
 
The whole pop/soda/coke thing has always got me going. Coke is a brand name for a soda/pop product. Soda jerks at the soda fountain counter in the drug store...not sure where the pop comes from but can probably assume...

Waitress- what would you like to drink
Customer- I'll have a coke
Waitress- what flavor
Customer- rootbeer


Really?!?!??? When you are asked what you want to drink, just say ROOTBEER! How hard is that!!!!

You don't go into the diner and say "I'll have a Starbucks". :rolleyes:

Ok, off the soap box...


Regional words...
About all I got is a "touron", probably a very local term. Tourist + moron. Pretty sure that I have been and will be the touron in others' towns in the past and in the future.
 
Edit-Referring to Pookies post....

And we love to write the panel schedules with a refer on it. Just a little tongue-in-cheek...back when some stuff was illegal...
 
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