Can you say “I’ll have the Italian Combo Wedge”, and the deli guy knows what you are talking about?
Yes = Westchester County, NY
Primarily southern Westchester, from Yonkers to Elmsford, moving eastward there are scattered locations, some are said to be in CT but the usage is dwindling
This sounds like the sequel to a Michael Caine movie, involving Oceans 11 / Mission Impossible level technology and deception rather than just Mini Coopers.
Or Oregon.
Do you have a snowmachine? = Alaska
Did you see the termination dust? Also Alaska.
I think an interesting way to do this would be to ask a series of questions, starting with less obscure locally-specific details, and see how many possible places qualify at each stage - narrowing it down with each successive question.
I just checked the ol’ homestead online, and they still use wedge at Rocky’s Deli in Millwood, and at Gigi’s Pizza and Wedges in Jefferson Valley, right at the northern edge of the county. Maybe it’s just the Taconic Parkway Corridor that is sticking with it. I haven’t been up that way in a while.
Is there a 90% chance that the person who sells you a donut speaks Khmer?
Yes: Southern California
So, you’ve had Imo’s Pizza.
Do your farms mostly grow rocks?
Yes: New England.
Do you have a loose rock wall between your property and the neighbor’s, because you needed a place to put the rocks you harvested from your garden patch?
Yes: New England.
Massachusetts has traffic circles, although the international word, “rotary”, is catching on.
Hmm, you might have drunk from a bubbler in RI, or even Massachusetts. But maybe they wouldn’t say drank.
Also Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
I remember Rocky’s deli, I would have thought that was the nothernmost use of the name. I might even know where Gigi’s is but never been there. I haven’t lived there for 25 years, a lot of the old little places are gone but there could be just as many or more replacements and I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept using that name. I remember moving there back in the 70s and first seeing a big sign on the front of deli advertising ‘Wedges’. Seemed bizarre at the time, not a sensible descriptive name like ‘Hoagie’ and ‘Grinder’.
When you want to show someone where you live, do you point to your hand?
Yes - Michigan.
(Obviously for the lower peninsula’s mitten, but it “sort of” works for the upper peninsula as well.)
We do this in Wisconsin too.
Is your capitol building known as the Paint Can?
Welcome to Oregon.
MA has rotaries and roundabouts, but rotary is the common term used in the state. Roundabouts are being built more often now for the safety benefits.
- Roundabouts are designed with slow vehicle speeds in mind and their central island and traffic separator islands make drivers react to them and force them to slow down. Rotaries are large circular intersections with wide sweeping lanes that allow vehicles to drive at much higher speeds.
I know it’s bad that I think this, but I always find it just a little bit amusing when I see tire tracks right across the center, particularly if there’s enough destruction (hardscaping, signs etc) on the way up that you know they probably left the ground at some point.
I remember reading somewhere that the point of the center being raised is specifically so you can’t see what’s going on across from you. If people see someone approaching from the opposite side, they’ll hesitate. With that side blocked from view, the only traffic you can react to is what’s immediately to your left. If it’s clear, you have time to go.
Do you know what a spiedie is?
Yes= Southern Tier of NY.
“Bubbler” is interesting in its regionality: it’s widely used in Wisconsin (primarily eastern Wisconsin), and southern New England, and almost nowhere else.
When 75% of the population hears the name of your state, they think of a city on the east coast of the US, not a state on the west coast? Yes, Washington.
I was way, way too old when I realized that the vast majority of the time someone says Washington and nearly every time they say Washington WRT something political, they mean DC, not the state over by Oregon.
My sister used to joke that Washington DC meant “del capo el fine,” and you had to go back to Washington State - in her violin learning days.