Local Terms/Slang (living in, accents, places, speech)

[Saphyre]

I just love all the differences in speech and language.

Do you call it soda, pop, coke, etc.?
wash/worsh?
you, y'all, yous?
bathroom, restroom, washroom?
toilet, commode, pot, etc?
Highway, freeway, expressway, road?
store, market, etc.?
Anything else that comes to your mind

Love it all! Please share, and don't forget to say where you're from

[grammy164]

I've lived in so many areas, I can never remember if I'm wearing sneakers or tennis shoes.
I do drink soda though. Could never get comfortable with the pop they drank in OH.
Though I never really lived in the south my Mom was from VA and I spent every summer visiting. Y'all still slips out ocassionally, but I've never gotten used to my husband's yous (he's from PA.)
In OH, as in most places I've lived, we lived in a town. In PA we lived in a borough and here in FL we live in a community.
...........Oh, and we definitely eat hoagies--not subs!

[pixieshmoo]

In NJ:

We drink soda, but you have to clarify which kind of soda (coke, pepsi, orange, etc.)

We eat subs, not hoagies or heroes

We shop at the store, not market for groceries and "the mall" for clothes

We drive on the Parkway (the others around here are called highways)

We say you's, wherejago, whatjado, whojasee, etc.

We don't say deli meat, we say cold cuts (and we like them thin cut)

That red sauce on pasta??? uh uh...it's gravy with macaroni (definitely on sundays especially, well, at least if you're Italian)

We're also from Jersey, not New Jersey (if you're telling someone)

Yes, yes, yes, we all sound like we have accents and attitudes but no, we're not all nasty and NO most of us do not know Tony Soprano!!!! If I can think of more slang, I'll be back.

[Blue Grass Fever]

in W.V., it's "by GOD" every 4-5 words...example: Wouldn't you know it, by GOD that was the biggest turnada i've ever seen.

In Nashville,TN, everything is a "coke" (pop, soda, ect) for example: Can i get a coke? Ya sure, what kind of coke do you want to drink? I'd like some Dr.Pepper.

[grammy164]

Oh, thought of one, Pixie. Most of my life I went to the beach (like I do here), but when I lived in PA, NJ and CT we went to the shore.

[Gram]

The living in Virginia is easy. I grab a nice icy glass of coke, and start in on my washing. AHHHHH thats good.... while the clothes are doing their thing, I'll run out and get a sub for lunch to finish of my coke....I grab my sneakers ( cause this Virginny gal is barefoot.) Jump in my car and hit the road. On my way to the sub shop I stop in the store and get cleaning supplies. The toilet in the bathroom needs cleaning. and don't ya'll know it, when I came out of the store I had a trunk full of groceries. Now I know some of you put your groceries in your boot, but then where do you put your foot? ( is that N.C.) I love it... I have heard some say you park your car in the dooryard and thats cute, too but we use a driveway in Virginia. Which all works out cause its in the yard and stops not far from the door. I love you all, and this is a great thread.

[grammy164]

One more post and I promise I'm done.
Gram just reminded me of one of the things I loved when I spent summers in VA. We went barefootin'--no need to worry about what to call your shoes.
Also when I was working here in FL, I didn't work with Judy, Bill or Nancy. I worked with Miss Judy, Mr. Bill and Miss Nancy.
And we drink sweet tea down here instead of iced tea.

[Gram]

We say beach here too, as opposed to shore. Another slang term I use and it makes no sense all all is GOOD GRIEF! now most grief is Bad anyway so why don't I just say bad grief... wonder where that term came from? Do you know? I think I need to learn a new expletive....ANY SUGGESTIONS? I used to say "I'll be John Brown" but that confused my grandson when he was little. He would say "who's that Gram...." anyway I plan to give positive reps to all who add on here. This is a good one.

[Saphyre]

My uncle says off to when I would say going to. He's off to the store, he's off to bed, he's off to run errands. Sometimes he's even fixin' to do something He's in WA.
I say tennis shoes most of the time but sneakers sneaks in
From my original post - soda (be specific), bathroom-even if there's no bath, freeways everywhere! We go to the store.

What do you call the local little convenience stores? I either call them the corner store or the liquor store (even if not on a corner or selling liquor!)

I'm glad everyone is having fun with this - please add more!

[pixieshmoo]

Originally Posted by grammy164

Oh, thought of one, Pixie. Most of my life I went to the beach (like I do here), but when I lived in PA, NJ and CT we went to the shore.

Oh my God! (that's actually another one we say alot)....how could I forget that!!!!!! Yes, we never, ever, ever go "to the beach"....we go "down the shore". Yes, we can sit on the beach, we love the beach, it's breezy on the beach, but again, I must stress this, we do not "go to the beach"....it's always been and always will be "down the shore". I have family that live "down the shore" because I live "up north" or, as my cousins used to say, I'm a "benny".

Oh yeah, we also judge where someone lives by the exit number off the parkway. For example, I grew up in the Nutley/Belleville area, so my cousins would always say to their friends "they came all the way from exit 150" and their friends would say "oh my god, that's soooo far! What's it like where you live?". (You'd think my cousins said we lived on Mars...it's actually only about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from where I lived to where they lived)

Here's more NJ slang (or "titles"):

Guido (pronounced gweedo) - This is huge around north Jersey. Girls have poofy hair, guys have greased/slicked hair. Guys had one earring and maybe a "tail" in the back of their hair (skinny long piece of hair). Wear lots of gold jewelry, I mean lots. Must've loved Cavaricci's in the 80's. Blue, black or green eyeliner and pink lipstick on girls. Guys wore those baggy pants (we called them skids). When you're an older guido, you may still look exactly the same as in the 80's (you are now also considered a "leftover") and you think you are part of the Soprano's crew. You say things like "ay, oh", grab your crotch, you always "gotta guy" for something. The women are still just as gaudy and talk like "oh my gawd". Basically, guidos make all Italians look like idiots.

Prep/Yuppie - dress like you're in college, whether you are or not. Wear dockers and your sweater or sweatshirt over your back with the sleeves hanging over your shoulders toward the front. The young ones in high school tend to be obnoxious. "Down the Shore" people used to be big on this.

Nerd - self explanatory

Burnout - listen to rock music, girls wore heavy black eyeliner, leather jackets (both guys and girls) some had dog chains hanging from the leather straps on the shoulders, suede boots, converse sneakers, ripped jeans, silver jewelry, men had earrings and long hair (yeah, baby), mullets in the 80's, said things like "dude", everyone assumed you did drugs (hence, burn-out) whether you did or not.

Jocks - hardcore into sports. Usually you were a "closet" mix of any of the above, but sports came first...so importantly that you would get in a fight over scores or with the next town over a friday night game. Always wore your team jacket...everywhere, all year...girlfriends wore the boyfriends jackets, no matter how huge, everywhere, all year. Girl jocks were respected (and some were feared LOL) by most of the other groups but were usually made fun of by the guido girls (because they were the rich/prissy ones). Did well in school but because you needed to stay on the team!!

Those were pretty much the main "slang" groups here in Jersey (I personally was a burnout who had big hair, black OR blue eyeliner but did well in school and loved sports...)