more regional dialect discussion

RealMiniParker wrote: Contax, Milwaukee, WI. Here's some Milwaukee-ese, for yous guys: Bubbler

It's a bubbler here in Rhode Island too. Except we tend to drop the "r" from the end of words ending in "r" and put it somewhere else. So bubbler is bubbla. Car is cah. Park is pahk, etc. On the other hand the letter reappears in other words: idea is idear, Donna is Donner, Martha's Vineyard is Mah-ther's Vinyid, etc.

A milk shake with ice cream is a cabinet as opposed to a frappe.

We also pronounce the name of our state as Row Dilun, or even Vo Dilun.

Here the words "contacts" and "lenses" are both used.

In reply to paranoid_android74:

We do the "s" on the end of every business name too. I think of it as a possessive thing, like every business must belong to its owner, even when not named for them.

Also, check this out if you're into dialects and stuff and can excuse the piss poor web design:

http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#SmallMapUnitedStates

My board name is an acronym for the States I've lived in (I left CT and GA out because they complicate the otherwise ambiguous name, and I added the E for artistic license). Here are some location specific terms I've noted in my 44 years:

OH: Cart. Pop.

RI: Buggy. DrawRings. LawR.

SC: Fixin to. UseTaDidn't. Cokes. Y'all. Bless her heart.

MA: "how can you stand that RI accent'? (Made me chuckle)

Travels:

PA: Jagoff

Indian clerk at a PA hotel: Dinky Don's. (Guess that one and then laugh)

Has anyone ever heard another person besides "Bigfoot" on Howard Stern end every sentence with "it is"?

One of my favorite regional things (and it may be restricted to Grand Junction in particular, and possibly even a particular family in GJ that happens to have provided me with a spouse) is that all directions are given using expired landmarks. "Turn right at the Gibsons, then drive past Uranium Downs". Umm, the Gibsons turned into something else which turned into Alco which was torn down and is now a Mavericks, and Uranium Downs has been the Mesa County Fairgrounds for at least 20 years. We always park in the Woolworth's parking lot downtown, and I think Woolworths shut down their last US store over two decades ago.

Pop, soda pop; in Frontenac County always a soft drink. We also refer to the traffic circle as a directional landmark and it hasn't existed for almost forty years.

One of our local morning shows used to have the intro: "You gotta go straight down yonder lane, hang a left at the place where the old barn used to be an' if ya hit the gravel road you've gone too far..."

I've never had directions that easy round here....

Although, useless directions is a worldwide thing. In Northern Italy a few years ago, I was trying to get to one of the more famous mountain roads. Stopped in at a little store and asked the proprietor in my third year college Eyetalyun how to get there. "Eeehh, sempre diritto" (thatta way, keep going, sorta over there somewhere). Despite being the only directions 90% of Italians will ever deign to give you, I thought I might get better if I tried a different tack. That summer wasn't one of Amurrica's high points in international relations, so instead of English, I went with German. This portion of Italy ' s boot butts up against Switzerland, so probably better than two thirds of the locals are fluent in both. Keep in mind, this is the same guy, and the same question, just a different language:

"Ja, sicher, gehen sie sechs Kilometern, links an Porto Strasse, " and so on. Point by point, precise, exacting directions...

Spoolpigeon wrote: I have no idea how you get peckerhead from conduit box, but it's hilarious.

Because that is a peckerhead. I wouldn't know what else to call it.

I knew a guy from somewhere in PA that referred to going to the grocery store as food shopping. Not sure if that is a regional thing or an individual thing.

T.J. wrote: I knew a guy from somewhere in PA that referred to going to the grocery store as food shopping. Not sure if that is a regional thing or an individual thing.

I definitely hear that in common use. Never knew that was just a PA thing.

travellering wrote: "Ja, sicher, gehen sie sechs Kilometern, links an Porto Strasse, " and so on. Point by point, precise, exacting directions...

I'm not sure German is capable of imprecise information.

Sure buddy

Furious_E wrote:

T.J. wrote: I knew a guy from somewhere in PA that referred to going to the grocery store as food shopping. Not sure if that is a regional thing or an individual thing.

I definitely hear that in common use. Never knew that was just a PA thing.

The guys I lived with in Cali from Minnesota said the same. Of course I do, being from PA. But I never realized it was regional, it just came up "I'm going parts, food, an toy shopping".

"toy" referring to guns, ammo, fireworks, cars, videogames, anything to actually use for fun.

Of course, if a grocery store called Giant Eagle isn't weird enough, the old timers call it "Big Bird". We also have beer stores and liquor/state stores. Finally beginning to have beer in select grocery stores, otherwise it's 6 pack shop or case/kegs at the distributor. And all liquor must be sold at state owned stores, although wine can now be sold at wineries and some grocery stores.

Furious_E wrote:

T.J. wrote: I knew a guy from somewhere in PA that referred to going to the grocery store as food shopping. Not sure if that is a regional thing or an individual thing.

I definitely hear that in common use. Never knew that was just a PA thing.

I still call it food shoppin'. My folks as well as my grandparents would call it 'getting the order' as in placing an order at the old company store. Long gone now.

travellering wrote: Sure buddy

"Ve haff passed ze tests you told us to pass. What is ze problem?"

I'll bite... If you're shopping for food, what would you call it BESIDES "food shopping"??

Here it would be grocery shopping.

travellering wrote: Here it would be grocery shopping.

Same in IL and the MS Gulf Coast.

petegossett wrote:

travellering wrote: Here it would be grocery shopping.

Same in IL and the MS Gulf Coast.

Grocery shopping in central GA, or "gettin' groceries."

Keith, the expired landmark direction thing is common here too, particularly in the rural areas. "Turn left at the old Johnson place..." Except the Johnsons sold that farm in '68, and the house was actually torn down in '91 to build that Quick Stop that the "nice indian man" runs....

I think it's because most people in the area never leave, so everyone still knows what everything was 15-25-45 years ago. Plus, they did say "old," so that makes it technically correct...?

I worked with a guy from California and he added "the" in front of every highway number when talking about driving. It sounded really odd to my Georgia ears. We say "Take 247 south and then turn on 96 and head east." He would say "Take the 247 south and then turn east on the 96." I harassed him about it.

I suppose English Vs American is too easy.
Lorry = Semi
Lift = Elevator
Chemist store = Drug store (always found that one hilarious as young kids. What the hell legal would you buy at a DRUG store!)
Knickers = girls panties
Trainers = sneakers
Pumps (abbreviation of plimsolls)= A sort of athletic shoes similar to Chuck Tailors
Dressing Gown = Bath robe
Holiday = Vacation
Rubber = Pencil eraser
Lollipop man/woman = School crossing guard
Lolly = sucker
Badge = pin
Pavement = Sidewalk ( had a friend who helped out at her kids school and took them on a walk to a nearby park. Getting ready to cross the road she told the kids to stay on the pavement, the look of horror on their little faces was apparently priceless.
Skip = Dumpster
Bungalow = Ranch house (Imagine my confusion when I moved here and looked at real-estate listings and saw all these Ranch's. I was perplexed where all these horse farms were)
Dustman = garbage man
Plaster = band aid
plaster = cast
Knock up = call on a friend
Solicitor = Attorney
Estate agent = Realtor
Duel Carriageway = divided highway
Main road = highway
Motorway = freeway or interstate

And of course Aluminium to aluminum

And finally Zed not Zee

You all know the car ones so no point there, I'm acclimatized to most American car parts, but I still call Sills, sills not rocker panels.

I still can’t understand why Americans mispronounces Lieutenant as ‘loo-tenant’ rather than correctly as ‘Left-enant’

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I still can’t understand why Americans mispronounces Lieutenant as ‘loo-tenant’ rather than correctly as ‘Left-enant’

Uh, because there's no "f" in the word?

Margie

T.J. wrote: I knew a guy from somewhere in PA that referred to going to the grocery store as food shopping. Not sure if that is a regional thing or an individual thing.

That's a Delaware thing, too.

EvanR wrote: I'll bite... If you're shopping for food, what would you call it BESIDES "food shopping"??

A fair enough question, but how often to you go to the grocery store and come back with nothing but food? I've always called it grocery shopping, or just "shopping".

Marjorie Suddard wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I still can’t understand why Americans mispronounces Lieutenant as ‘loo-tenant’ rather than correctly as ‘Left-enant’

Uh, because there's no "f" in the word? Margie

Yea, I don't follow that one Adrian. It can be decomposed into the words lieu and tenant, which are pronounced in exactly the same way.

Keith Tanner wrote: One of my favorite regional things (and it may be restricted to Grand Junction in particular, and possibly even a particular family in GJ that happens to have provided me with a spouse) is that all directions are given using expired landmarks. "Turn right at the Gibsons, then drive past Uranium Downs". Umm, the Gibsons turned into something else which turned into Alco which was torn down and is now a Mavericks, and Uranium Downs has been the Mesa County Fairgrounds for at least 20 years. We always park in the Woolworth's parking lot downtown, and I think Woolworths shut down their last US store over two decades ago.

Hilarious because this is a Pittsburgh, PA thing as well. When I moved here back in 2009, I was constantly given directions like "take a left up air by where duh Cogos used to be an'at." "Huh? I'm not from here originally." "Wait, what? What do you mean you aren't from here? You mean you moved here from somewhere else???"

Pittsburgh has its own language "Pittsburghese" and it's own group of folk who speak it called Yinzers. As in you all is yinz instead of yall. Usually the lower middle class, think steel mills (pronounced still mills).

Another good one are the Outter Banks and Inner Banks dialect of North Carolina. Google "high tiders".

Marjorie Suddard wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: I still can’t understand why Americans mispronounces Lieutenant as ‘loo-tenant’ rather than correctly as ‘Left-enant’

Uh, because there's no "f" in the word? Margie

Explain why we say "Erb" when it is spelled herb, then. (queue Eddie Izzard)