I work on electric motors/gearboxes. I had a customer tell me they broke off a "peckerhead" from a unit. It was all I could do to keep from laughing while he was talking about it. Turns out he was referring to the conduit box on the motor. I have no idea how you get peckerhead from conduit box, but it's hilarious.
Kia_Racer wrote: In reply to Nitroracer: When I first moved to TX from IL sodas were all refered to as "coke" except for Dr. Pepper.
Haven't noticed that here. Go to a restaurant in east TN though, the server will ask you what you will like to drink, say coke, they'll then ask what kind and then you say MT dew or whatever.
Locally they insist on referring to a reciprocating demolition saw as a "saw-saw". It's a bastardization of the predominant brand of such things being a "Saw-Zall" but even when show the correct spelling they refuse to change.
In reply to KyAllroad:
We have a machine at work called a SASSO, is spelled out in big bold letters right on the machine. The guy from NY calls it a saw saw.
Michigan 'Contacts' England also 'Contacts'
Here's some fun ones that still catch me out. Although I was born in London, buy the time I was 6 or 7 we were living in Yorkshire approx 200 miles North of London. The area used to be a massive wool production area with thousands of mills. It was also where David Brown Tractors were based (The DB in Aston Martin) Being a big old industrial area, if you go back to the 19th and early 20th century most mill and factory workers had their main meal at work around noon rather than in the evening. So in that whole area the mid day meal is know as 'Dinner' and the evening meal is 'tea time' but not 'afternoon tea'. So at school (officially called that on timetables etc.) and when at local friends houses I had Dinner at school and tea in the evening. When at home with my London parents and for the rest of the world I have lunch at work and dinner at home. The issue is when something is completely ingrained throughout your formative years and schooling it's hard to shake so even though I left the area int he mid late 80's to go to Uni, I still get confused at times and ask people or my wife if they want to go out to dinner, meaning lunch!
Another one is candy. Here it's candy, in England it's 'sweets', in the area I grew up in the regional slang was 'spogs' which I've never heard anywhere but a 30 mile radius around the Town of Huddersfield.
There are more Norther English terms that are still in use derived from old Norse. There are a lot of streets called 'Gate' So instead of say High Street it's High Gate, Clough Gate etc. Gawp is almost universal amongst many for stare. Scar for a steep hill or cliff. Spelk for splinter, I knew kids growing up who'd never heard the word splinter and only knew 'spelk'. Thwait for a small village (Neighboring villages to mine were Slaithwaite and Linthwait, pronounced 'slow-it' and 'Lin-Fit' respectively. More common around the county Dale=valley, Fell=mountain all these are common in place names.
I could go on forever, if you met old timers back in the 80's the Yorkshire dialect was almost a different language. You could meet people who other than having gone to the war had never been more than 20 miles from where they were born and you could go 10 miles to the next valley and hear slightly different intonation in the words.
I'm sure there are more people here with similar stories.
Catty-corner in South-Central North Carolina, meaning located diagonally from.
spitfirebill wrote: Around here we are always "fixing to do something". How come?=why?
I'm almost nostalgic for the days of "How come?", because I've started to hear "Why come?" in the same context from folks within the last few years.
My grand parents, maybe even my parents used that in rural upstate NY.
Haven't heard it in ages.
Camper shell, cap, or topper on the back of your truck, or pickup?
Topper on the back of the pickup. Montana.
Spoolpigeon wrote: I work on electric motors/gearboxes. I had a customer tell me they broke off a "peckerhead" from a unit. It was all I could do to keep from laughing while he was talking about it. Turns out he was referring to the conduit box on the motor. I have no idea how you get peckerhead from conduit box, but it's hilarious.
It could be that a peckerhead is something that annoys you - in this case, because it broke off 
Keith Tanner wrote:Spoolpigeon wrote: I work on electric motors/gearboxes. I had a customer tell me they broke off a "peckerhead" from a unit. It was all I could do to keep from laughing while he was talking about it. Turns out he was referring to the conduit box on the motor. I have no idea how you get peckerhead from conduit box, but it's hilarious.It could be that a peckerhead is something that annoys you - in this case, because it broke off
Every industrial electrician over the age of 50 on the west coast calls them a "peckerhead". I can call up any of the motor suppliers in this area and ask for a replacement peckerhead and they will ask me what size without having to stop and think about it.
Appleseed wrote: Camper shell, cap, or topper on the back of your truck, or pickup? Topper on the back of the pickup. Montana.
Canopy here in Oregon. The wife is Iowish and she says topper.
Appleseed wrote: Camper shell, cap, or topper on the back of your truck, or pickup? Topper on the back of the pickup. Montana.
Cap is what we called them in southern Ohio, or camper shell if it was a big one.
Brett_Murphy wrote: Catty-corner in South-Central North Carolina, meaning located diagonally from.
Kitty corner here in Michigan, I thought that one was universal throughout the USA.
'Cap' here in MI for truck 'caps'
Brian wrote: Oh dialect and accents. I will never grow tired of Bostonian profanity. It's an art.
That's one of the things I miss most now that Tim's dad is gone.
And Adrian, I grew up in Kentucky with the big midday meal being called "dinner," too. Evening meal was "supper."
Margie
Jumper K. Balls wrote:Keith Tanner wrote:Every industrial electrician over the age of 50 on the west coast calls them a "peckerhead". I can call up any of the motor suppliers in this area and ask for a replacement peckerhead and they will ask me what size without having to stop and think about it.Spoolpigeon wrote: I work on electric motors/gearboxes. I had a customer tell me they broke off a "peckerhead" from a unit. It was all I could do to keep from laughing while he was talking about it. Turns out he was referring to the conduit box on the motor. I have no idea how you get peckerhead from conduit box, but it's hilarious.It could be that a peckerhead is something that annoys you - in this case, because it broke off
Huh, that is a new one. I've heard "peckerhead" as an insult, but never as a piece of electrical equipment. I'm going to have to make sure I use that term often and with enthusiasm.
Appleseed wrote: Camper shell, cap, or topper on the back of your truck, or pickup? Topper on the back of the pickup. Montana.
Canopy. Cap or topper are usually reserved for tonneau covers.
We can fast-forward through the cap/camper shell/canopy discussion, because it already happened here
In reply to Marjorie Suddard:
Dinner was supper at our house too, lunch was just lunch though. Mom is from Kentucky, dad from Texas.
Contacts here in Chicago.
Fun story, my mom is an elementary school nurse. Beginning of the year, she's reviewing a new kids file and the mom wrote that he has a Lens in his eye. She assumes, a contact lens and thinks nothing of it, other than the kid is a little young to be using them.
Well, first day of school about 11AM sure enough he comes in says his lens is bothering him. Mom says, OK, go to the bathroom and take it out. Kid whips out a miniature plunger and removes a glass eye. That threw her off a little.
Keith Tanner wrote: Here's one: is it "Ski doo" or "skid-doo"? Warning, there is only one correct answer to this one.
It's skid-doo.
On a related point, around these parts, it doesn't matter what brand of PWC you own, it's ALWAYS a "Jet Ski".
spitfirebill wrote: Around here we are always "fixing to do something". How come?=why?
Here too, except we shorten it to "fittenta," as in "I'm fittenta whip yo ase." "How come?" "You done been callin mah wife agin!"
No kidding, it's like living in a Jeff Foxworthy joke some days.
Adrian_Thompson wrote:Brett_Murphy wrote: Catty-corner in South-Central North Carolina, meaning located diagonally from.Kitty corner here in Michigan, I thought that one was universal throughout the USA. 'Cap' here in MI for truck 'caps'
They also use Cattywampus, but that's fading out of use, and it means either disorganized or diagonal, depending on context.
Keith Tanner wrote:Jumper K. Balls wrote:Huh, that is a new one. I've heard "peckerhead" as an insult, but never as a piece of electrical equipment. I'm going to have to make sure I use that term often and with enthusiasm.Keith Tanner wrote:Every industrial electrician over the age of 50 on the west coast calls them a "peckerhead". I can call up any of the motor suppliers in this area and ask for a replacement peckerhead and they will ask me what size without having to stop and think about it.Spoolpigeon wrote: I work on electric motors/gearboxes. I had a customer tell me they broke off a "peckerhead" from a unit. It was all I could do to keep from laughing while he was talking about it. Turns out he was referring to the conduit box on the motor. I have no idea how you get peckerhead from conduit box, but it's hilarious.It could be that a peckerhead is something that annoys you - in this case, because it broke off
They taught is this in my apprenticeship- motor leads get made up in a peckerhead. End of story. If you called it anything else around here you would get a strange look in response.
Adrian is right too, kitty-corner is a big one.
"Dontcha know where the Krogers is?"
"No, I got no ideal"
"Well ya know where the Meijers is on Main Street? Right across from Fords? It's kitty-corner from that."
"Oh, next to where the Big Boys [the restaurant] is?"
"Yeah, that's it. Grab me a pop while yur there, wuldja?"
You'll need to log in to post.
