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Geographical phrases ?


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Can't think of a better term for it right now.

 

I find many people think saying eh? is a Canadian thing. I have personally never said it the way I have heard it used on various TV shows. I'm not even sure I have ever said it :lol: I did meet a man from Alberta once who cracked me up because every sentence contained "eh". He even recited a version of the alphabet that incorporated "eh". It was comical.

 

Now in my region - Eastern Canada- I do find a lot of people use the phrase "some good". As in "That poutine is some good!"

 

What pharse is common to your geographical local?

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I moved from southern WI to SE NM when I was 10 years old. I didn't understand ANYone! Between the accents and the new words I was completely lost! My grades went down and I didn't make any friends.

 

Here are a few that stumped me:

 

ya'll

fixin' to

 

I can't think of any more right now. I do remember, though, that in school things were really not explained. I went through months before understanding how "reading" class worked. Another student showed me, not the teacher. :001_huh:

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Hey ma heart, how's ya mom 'n' dem? Where y'all stayin' at? I'm fixin' to go down da road and make groceries. I see ya brake tag on ya K&B purple car's expired, ya best go across the neutral ground and get a new one. Come by my house later; we're havin' po boys and I know you like yours dressed.

 

If that makes any sense at all, you can probably guess where I'm posting from. :D

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:lol: These are great! SunD there's a hint of Newfoundland in there I swear, but the po boys leads me to think somewhere southern US.

 

I actually have no idea what a po boy is though I have heard of it. Sandwhich??? Off to google.

 

Newfoundland, hm? That's very (very!) far away. A po boy is a sub, a hero, a hoagie. It's served on French bread and "dressed" means mayonnaise, shredded lettuce, and tomato are already on it. So yep, a sandwich.

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I moved from California to south east Texas and these are a few I had never heard before

 

buggy instead of basket/cart @ grocery store

billfold instead of wallet

What's your no good? instead of what's up?

 

I love using "y'all" though! I use it all the time.

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Dh says "run go" and "might should/could" are clear regionalisms in my otherwise fairly generic speech patterns. I say, "Hey, ds, would you run go turn the dryer off for me?" or "I might should stop at the store on the way home from ballet..."

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Can't think of a better term for it right now.

 

I find many people think saying eh? is a Canadian thing. I have personally never said it the way I have heard it used on various TV shows. I'm not even sure I have ever said it :lol: I did meet a man from Alberta once who cracked me up because every sentence contained "eh". He even recited a version of the alphabet that incorporated "eh". It was comical.

 

Now in my region - Eastern Canada- I do find a lot of people use the phrase "some good". As in "That poutine is some good!"

 

What pharse is common to your geographical local?

 

Funny - when I was still living in the States 20 years ago, I made fun of a friend of mine who was from B.C. and said "eh" all the time! Guess what - I say it a lot now, and I actually once sent my friend an e-mail to apologize. :lol:

 

Now as for "some good," that drives me bonkers! :lol:

 

Apparently only Australians say "Yeah, no."

 

 

Rosie

 

Yeah, no, I've heard many North Americans say this. :D

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I moved from southern WI to SE NM when I was 10 years old. I didn't understand ANYone! Between the accents and the new words I was completely lost! My grades went down and I didn't make any friends.

 

Here are a few that stumped me:

 

ya'll

fixin' to

People in NM say "y'all" and "fixin' to"??? I had no idea. I thought for sure those were Southern-isms. LSNED. :-)

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In some parts of the South, you don't take someone to the store; you carry him. Something didn't cost you $5; you gave $5 for it. The theater isn't far away; it's right far. And you aren't swollen from the bug bite on your ankle; you're all swoll up (not sure how one actually spells "swoll" as a past-something of swell :lol:).

 

Here in Texas, you're fixin' to do something. Although I have embraced "y'all," I just can't say I'm fixin' to go to the store.:lol:

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Now in my region - Eastern Canada- I do find a lot of people use the phrase "some good". As in "That poutine is some good!"

 

What pharse is common to your geographical local?

 

Are you in Newfoundland? (And if so, did I know that?) I grew up in NL, so 'some good' is pretty familiar to me (though I never say it myself). Right up there with 'whaddayaat?', 'go 'way by!', 'she/he do' , and a slew (;)) of others.

 

I lived in Ontario for 18 yrs and I found 'eh' to be somewhat common there. It's not something I heard much at all (ever?) when I lived in NL.

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People in NM say "y'all" and "fixin' to"??? I had no idea. I thought for sure those were Southern-isms. LSNED. :-)

 

Yep, mostly in SE NM though. I grew up less than 10 miles from the TX border (near Seminole). They have their own language in that part of the state! :tongue_smilie:

 

It's not as bad in central NM. We have a lot of "spanglish" though.

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I've got a weird one that I use, that no one else uses. Maybe someone can tell me where it's from?

 

"Directional" for turn signal/blinker.

 

I live in Oregon - where blinker is the norm and turn signal is common as well.

 

My mom grew up in Wisconsin, but my understanding is it isn't used there either. My only other thought is that I moved to Oregon when I was 8 and prior to that had spent 5 years in SE Alaska. So maybe it's an Alaskan thing? Anyone else use this one?

 

I can't think of any regional terms or phrases that are specific to the NW. Except for "The mountains out!" (Meaning the clouds have cleared up enough that we can see the mountains!)

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We moved from GA to MN.... the first time I heard this cute, middle aged farmer dude say, "Uff-dah", I thought I would die laughing. He was so cute I just wanted to pick him up and squish him! :lol:

 

To get an idea of when Uff-dah is used, this video might help... I don't know if it offends the locals, but I love it! It has scantily clad females...so be forewarned.

 

 

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Where I grew up, that thing kids get water from in the school hallways is called a "bubbler".

 

You must have grown up in Rhode Island then! :lol::lol:

 

We have a few...

 

That's wickit cool!

 

Translation: That's wicked cool!

 

I live on top uh my sista.

 

Translation: I live in the apartment above my sister.

 

 

 

Asking for directions in RI? Then you had better brush up on all of the old buildings that burnt down YEARS ago, cause that's what we use as landmarks when giving directions.

 

" Yeah, you just go pass that fire station up the street where the old mill used to be that burned down 5 years ago. Then you take a right at the old CVS they tore down 3 years ago. Follow that road until you get to the statue of the dog they replaced with a garden and take that street until you reach the old hardware store that closed and relocated 1 year ago."

 

But I love my state! :tongue_smilie:

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I'm from South Jersey, where we say "down the shore" as in "We're going down the shore this weekend" which means, "We're going to the beach this weekend."

 

Yeah, you can't go to the beach until you are already at the shore....since I live at the shore, I go to the beach. :tongue_smilie:

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Traffic circles (east coast) vs. roundabouts (midwest).

 

We call them rotaries. :D

 

I also use the terms "all set" and "wicked..."

 

I believe we are the only ones that refer to a liquor store as the packie(as in package store:confused:)

 

Oh, and jimmies, aka chocolate sprinkles on ice cream.

 

We are moving to NH from south coast MA, originally just south of Boston. I went up last week to open a new bank account and the teller giggled at my accent. This will take some getting used to.

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Well, we carry pocket-books not purses.

 

We carry our children to the doctor or our neighbor to the grocery store.

 

If we're talking about distance we don't generally use mileage we say something like - "go five minutes down the way or up the way." Or "down the road a piece."

 

We use ya'll and we are always blessen' someone's lil heart.

 

Children call friends parents Ms. Suzy or Mr. John - answer Yes mam and No Sir or Yes'm (not really sure how to spell that.).

 

I'm sure there are others but those are the ones I've had people comment on when I'm somewhere else visiting.

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It's also a grinder (Boston).

 

In NH too. First time I saw them on a menu I had to ask. lol

 

We call them rotaries. :D

 

I also use the terms "all set" and "wicked..."

 

 

 

In NH I only heard them called rotaries. Except for the one in southern NH that is called "The Oval"... :D

 

I STILL have to stop myself from using wicked as an adjective. It gets some strange looks if you say it here!

 

Georgia

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"Santa in a Skirt"

 

Okay, maybe it's not exactly a saying, but it is a member of the town we live in. There is one gentleman who has a full beard and regularly wears skirts during his daily walks around town.

 

In December, his skirt is accompanied by the red coat of a Santa suit.....hence "Santa in a Skirt."

 

This is one of the true harbingers of the Christmas season in our town. In a town of 50,000 people, we all know who we are talking about when Santa in a Skirt is mentioned on a Facebook post or in conversation.

 

It can be a little confusing for the preschool set though....:001_huh:

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'spendy'

 

As in - "I can't buy that right now...it's too spendy." :lol:

 

Wait. That's not normal??? I use that ALL. THE. TIME.

 

I have no idea what I say that's regional and what's not. I just asked my DH if he uses 'spendy' and he said yes. So guess its not completely my mom's mid-west influence. But then when I said an example sentence I used "Yeah, No, that's too spendy." :lol: Which he doesn't use.

 

I'm such a mess.

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Hey ma heart, how's ya mom 'n' dem? Where y'all stayin' at? I'm fixin' to go down da road and make groceries. I see ya brake tag on ya K&B purple car's expired, ya best go across the neutral ground and get a new one. Come by my house later; we're havin' po boys and I know you like yours dressed.

 

If that makes any sense at all, you can probably guess where I'm posting from. :D

 

 

I know my N'Orleans talk when I hear it! My husband's family is there and I now consider it a second home. We go several times a year.

 

I am from the town of Marietta, Georgia. There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant near the center of town that has a very tall (30-40 feet?) chicken. See it here. It is a local landmark and all directions are given with reference to "the big chicken" - as in go to the big chicken and turn right. If you don't know where the big chicken is you will never find anything.

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When I was growing up in the South, all carbonated beverages were referred to generically as "Coke." If you wanted to get specific and differentiate among brand names, that was fine -- Coke, Tab, Sprite, Mr. Pibb, Dr. Pepper, Fanta, Nehi, Fresca, RC, whatever -- but when you were referring to the general category, you called it "Coke."

 

In the Northeast, we call it "soda."

 

I also spent some time in northern Vermont (VERY different from Alabama, let me tell ya :D), and we could order something called "frappes." They were sort of like very thick milkshakes that you could eat with a spoon, as I recall.

 

And we had grinders there, too.

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Hey ma heart, how's ya mom 'n' dem? Where y'all stayin' at? I'm fixin' to go down da road and make groceries. I see ya brake tag on ya K&B purple car's expired, ya best go across the neutral ground and get a new one. Come by my house later; we're havin' po boys and I know you like yours dressed.

 

If that makes any sense at all, you can probably guess where I'm posting from. :D

 

My money's on Louisiana.;)

 

"I been rode hard and put up wet!" (Relax, it's a horse term, not a dirty phrase.:tongue_smilie:)

 

It's okay to say something negative about someone as long as you end your sentence with "bless her heart". "She's dumb as a post, bless her heart."

 

All sodas are "cokes". Don't say "soda" here in Texas or we'll know you're an outsider.

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Lived on LI for 20 years.

 

You do have to go to the bathroom, you have to 'make'. :001_huh:

 

In LI, I stood on line. In Oregon, I stand in line.

 

I opened lights as well.

 

I honestly cannot think of any good PNW regionalisms. I guess I haven't been back long enough. :D

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I don't know about around here, but I drove from Florida to Texas a week ago and y'all down south are adorable with your accents.

 

THANKS! :D

 

And HA! I must live close to where Maverick_Mom grew up because I identify with nearly all her posts. :)

Edited by rootsnwings
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