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If you have ever lived or traveled away from home, what are a few of the regional slang words that you have encountered? What words just popped out at you right away and made you giggle or say "What the heck are they talking about"?
There has been quite a few regional *accent* threads lately but no regional slang threads that I can find. I know there are a couple big websites for this topic but they are full of vulgar and disgusting words. Go ahead and scoff if you like, but I for one don't want to read about those words!
So PLEASE keep this thread clean, people. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.
Pop = Soda
SE Michigan = Re-branding of the Detroit area without "Detroit" in the name.
Liquor store = Convenience Store
Take these cans and bottles to the store = Recycle them and get my 10 cent deposit back
The city = Detroit
Vernors = Ginger Ale
The water = Detroit River/Lake St. Clair
Go Across 8 Mile = Go to the city or go to the suburbs
For my area- NY Metro
"the City"- Manhattan
"the Island"- Long Island
"LB"- Long Beach
"the Jackie"- Jackie Robinson Parkway
"the GWB"- The George Washington Bridge
"the boros"- Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island or Bronx
"Crusin' the Pike"- driving up and down Hempstead Turnpike
"DPA"- Deer Park Avenue
We say subway, not metro
We say soda, not pop
We say sprinkles, not jimmies
- "Down the shore" means you're heading towards the beach towns. For me at least, it doesn't just mean "going to the beach", it means hanging out in any of the beach towns in general. If I go to the beach and only the beach, as in no boardwalk, restaurants, being by the bay, etc, I say "I'm going to the beach" but if I'm spending a day at the shore or visiting my family some of who live in the vicinity I say "I'm going down the shore." A "shorehouse" is a summer home at the beach in NJ.
- Some people say "bubbies" for "boobies, boobs, or breasts" but it's not too common. You hear it sometimes, like from Teresa on Real Housewives of New Jersey… I know, not the best example but growing up my mother frequently called them that, too.
- We say "soda", "subs" not heroes or grinders or whatever, "cold cuts" for deli meats, "ya's" or "yuhz" but mostly "you guys", we "take a shower", say "roof" not "ruff", pronounce water as "waw-ter" or "wudder" in South Jersey, we say "tawk" (talk), "wawk" (walk), "dawg" (dog), "awl" (all), "awf" (off) etc, "busting your chops (or balls)!" is like saying "I'm joking around with you!" and someone who's a tease is called a "scooch". Not sure how regional this is but my family and family friends have always said scooch and I've never heard it outside NJ. We say "merry-go-round" for carousel. We have "mischief night" which is the night before Halloween when you go out and TP people's trees or houses or if you're really mean egg their cars or houses!
- "The city" is New York in my area, nothing else ever. Not Philly, that's laughable . And it's pronounced "ciddy". We also tend to drop the 't' in a lot of words. "Atlantic" becomes "Allanic" or "Atlanic" for example.
- We take "a slice" of pizza from a "pie". Cheese pizza here is called "plain". Pasta is also "macaroni" and we know the various types around here: penne, rigatoni, capellini, farfalle, spaghetti, linguine, angel hair, ditalini, especially if you're Italian. One of my best friends is from Southern California, she moved to Staten Island, and when she visits me in NJ and we go out to eat, she's always so confused on the pasta types. They're all the same to her. Sauce is also known as "gravy" but in my family at least (100% Italian/Sicilian grandparents), "gravy" is always the special Sunday sauce that's cooked with the meats (meatballs, sausages) inside it. "Sauce" was usually plain tomato sauce without meat cooking in it all day.
Hmm there's so much more but since it's everyday speech for me it's hard to point out!
This is actually an upstate NY thing. They say things like cenner (for "center") or "Oneonna" (for Oneonta- town upstate). I picked up this horrible accent after attending college upstate NY for 4 years and I can't get rid of the damn thing.
Well, comparative frequency is difficult to gauge from anecdotal evidence, and the best scientific, quantitative data we have is from dialect surveys.
You could chalk up the differences in "cellar" usage to sampling, but there is still a pretty dramatic difference between the states in question. All data is from the Harvard Dialect Survey:
Georgia
only cellar: 0%
only basement: 74%
both, no distinction: 5%
both, semantic distinction: 21%
total cellar users: 26%
New Hampshire
only cellar: 9%
only basement: 26%
both, no distinction: 41%
both, semantic distinction: 24%
total cellar users: 74%
Maine
only cellar: 12%
only basement: 21%
both, no distinction: 43%
both, semantic distinction: 24%
total cellar users: 79%
Massachusetts
only cellar: 13%
only basement: 30%
both, no distinction: 35%
both, semantic distinction: 22%
total cellar users: 70%
Rhode Island
only cellar: 18%
only basement: 28%
both, no distinction: 34%
both, semantic distinction: 20%
total cellar users: 72%
Vermont
only celar: 11%
only basement: 28%
both, no distinction: 39%
both, semantic distinction: 22%
total cellar users: 72%
26% is still a pretty significant segment of the population, and certainly that rate might be higher in your area. But overall it seems like "cellar" is used with exceptionally high frequency in New England and a few other parts of the country, and as such is often considered a local dialect marker. The dialect literature seems to support this observation.
If I have a chance I will take a look at the Dictionary of American Regional English and the OED to see if they can shed any more light on the regional usage patterns for these words.
Interesting- I'm in NY Metro. My responses are below.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katiana
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.
It is BASEMENT here.
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.
It's LIVING ROOM for most areas. Parlor is a ridiculous term, IMO- no one has a parlor in their house unless maybe you own a hair salon or something.
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
We say DINNER. I have never heard anyone in my area call it supper but I do believe they could be used interchangeably if both were used in my area.
Rubbish = trash / garbage
Not unheard of in W. PA
The used term here is GARBAGE.
Grinder = a sub sandwich
Also used in Delaware
HEROS would be standard in my region.
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.
Agree on GAP.
Dungarees (old-fashioned) = jeans
I heard this term back in my childhood in W PA
DUNGAREES is an old people thing. My 66 year old dad always says it but most people just say JEANS.
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.
People from the coast are called EAST COASTERS- not flatlanders. Not all coastal areas are flat. Visit north shore Long Island- LI is considered on the coast but it's not completely flat.
Pocket book = purse
Also used in Albany, NY, and by my mom from Wisconsin.
I say BAG but all 3 terms are used interchangeably in my area.
Elastic = rubber band
RUBBER BAND is what we say.
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.
We use "mad" in FL too. I thought it was weird when i heard people say "wicked" when i was in NY, i never hear that here.
Also, when i go to CA or when ever i talk to one of my friends that live on the west coast they say "hella", i never hear people say that here in FL.
Where in NY did they say wicked? Not NYC! I hear "wicked" being said a lot in Boston- "wicked smaht" lol.
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. And it's pronounced "ciddy". We also tend to drop the 't' in a lot of words. "Atlantic" becomes "Allanic" or "Atlanic" for example. 
