I grew up in northeast Ohio, too, and I agree with Yllaria and TruCelt. An accident could be anything from a little ding in your fender on up. A wreck is something you’re lucky to survive, something you mention to others that you’d seen because it affects your day.
You buy liquor 3 times in a week? Those college kids probably worship you as their goddess!
I’ve lived up north and down south and have always heard and used “wreck” in this way.
Please clarify: Do you mean that any car accident is referred to as a “wreck”? Because I would find that strange. If you told me you were in a wreck, would assume you were in a fairly serious accident, where your car was wrecked (i.e. sustained serious damage and was quite possibly totaled)—something more than just a dented bumper.
I’ve heard “car wreck” to mean a crash on occasion, but not just *“wreck.” Accident is much more common, with car put in front of it too obviously.
*without any context clues to indicate an accident - just something like “look at that wreck” - I’d be looking for a condemned house, not a car.
No, I’d probably use it for any accident, really. “Sorry I’m late - there was a wreck on the interstate!” could very well mean a little fender-bender that slowed down traffic. Now, “I wrecked my car” would mean I totalled it.
I’m from Northern California, and wreck is used to describe someone like Nick Nolte or Gary Busey.
That’s a “hot mess”.
Did you hear about the Aggie who locked his keys in the car?
It took him a week to get his family out.
They thought they were enrolled at USC…
I don’t know, I didn’t read the article, but was it meant to be humorous? Perhaps you were whooshed and kids from out of state actually do know what a “wreck” is. I’m from Pennsylvania, and I’ve certainly used the word as a noun all of my life. Everybody knows what a train wreck is, both a literal one and a metaphorical one.
Wreck’em hell! Damn near killed’em!
Southern California born and raised here. Oddly for some reason “wreck” is not the first noun I would choose to name the result of an auto accident; I’d probably say “wrecked cars”. I might say a car is a “wreck”, but that might not even be because it was in an accident. Out here we have a car rental agency called Rent-A-Wreck that specializes in cars that may be a little older and have a few door dings, but they’re not “wrecks” as in “totaled”.
Again for reasons that are not clear to me, “train wreck” sounds much more natural to me than “wreck” to mean a car accident.
So did you hear about the Aggies who set up a counterfeiting operating?
They were counterfeiting $2 bills.
By erasing the 0s off of $20 bills.
Here’s the article for anyone who is interested.
By the way, my Ohio-born-and-bred sister went to South Carolina for grad school – she received a Master of International Business (MIB) degree.
The OP reminded me of a commercial for the Smash-Up Derby toy of the 1970’s:
He’s drivin’ his old junker
And he’s headin’ for a wreck
He’ll smash a car, he’ll smash a truck
Or anything, by heck!
The article is amusing and light, but does claim factuality.
Okay, so the International Business school is well regarded. (So is the library school, but you don’t want to get me started on that.)
To me (grew up in MN), a wreck is the state of a car after it has been in an accident. However, a car can also be a wreck even if it has never been in an accident, say due to rust eating it away or mechanical problems that prevent it from running. I’d know what wreck means by the context, but it isn’t common from what I’ve heard. Accident is normal.
Also, the thing that hauls your car away after an accident is a tow truck, not a wrecker!
I have **never **heard this. (Grew up on Long Island, went to college & now live in Manhattan.) It has **always **just been “shopping cart.”
Michigan here, and I spent a lot of time in other places while in the Army and for current professional purposes (i.e., lots of people from all over). I’d tend to use “accident,” but I’m positive that I’ve used “wreck” and do probably use them interchangeably without a second thought. Perhaps I’d refrain from “wreck” and use “accident” for fender-bender type situations. What I don’t know is if this is normal for southeast Michigan, or if it’s something I picked up in all my years moving about.
Ditto. Northern NJ.
Could it be the accent?
If I read “there was a wreck on the freeway,” even though I’d use “accident” I’d know what was meant. But if I heard “there was a wreck on the freeway” and the vowel sound used was not the one I would use for the same word, it might take a couple beats for me to figure out what was in the middle of the road.
It’s been a long, long, long time since I’ve heard someone with an SC accent, and while I remember that there was a difference in his accent and the more commonly spoken accent in my neck of the woods, I don’t remember the particulars.