# Do What Now? And Other Regional Phrases **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 5, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781 "2010-01-05T19:34:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/101 "2010-01-07T18:29:53Z")
I used to get teased for saying ‘barrette’ - the thing you use to hold your hair back. I guess some people call it a clip or hair clip . . . But when you buy it - it’s listed as a barrette, so i don’t know what i’m saying wrong . . . ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/102 "2010-01-07T19:00:21Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > Hmm, I’m from the midwest and I always call dollar bills singles. I thought that was universal. It might be universal. In Pittsburgh, I had only ever heard it referred to as a “one” or a dollar bill. The first time my roommate (from NJ) asked me if she could borrow a single there were no context clues and I had no idea what she was asking for. ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/103 "2010-01-07T19:08:24Z")
i know i started this thread, and i know i was talking regionally, but i’m going to hijack my own thread a second based on Sidney’s last post (i.e., context). When I was in college, I was helping a new student get settled in her room (she was a cousin of a society sister). She was very prim and proper classically trained pianist from Venezuela. I needed to run some errands and asked if i could pick her up anything. ‘i really need some hookers, please,’ she replied rather earnestly. :eek: turned out, she meant hangers. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/104 "2010-01-07T19:14:24Z")
I had a buddy in college who told this story. He was from New England somewhere. His mother came to visit him at college and took him out to lunch. When they finished, my buddy reached for the check and his mom said: “I’ll blow you for it.” After some shocked discussion he learned that she meant (of course) that she would pay for the meal. He had to uncomfortably explain why that was not a good phrase. Anybody from New England heard this before? ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/105 "2010-01-07T19:19:24Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > I had a buddy in college who told this story. He was from New England somewhere. > > His mother came to visit him at college and took him out to lunch. When they finished, my buddy reached for the check and his mom said: “I’ll blow you for it.” After some shocked discussion he learned that she meant (of course) that she would pay for the meal. He had to uncomfortably explain why that was not a good phrase. Anybody from New England heard this before? Not I. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/106 "2010-01-07T19:25:27Z")
In a previous post I mentioned the difference between you’ns and yinz in Pittsburgh, but didn’t explain. My relatives near Tarentum, Brackenridge and Natrona (part of the Allegheny Valley) all said/say “you’ns.” (Do you’ns want anything to drink?) I used to work at an amusement park in West Mifflin, PA, and I noticed that some people from the Mon Valley said “yinz” (Where are yinz guys goin’ tonight?). I think yinz is more common overall in Pittsburghese. A couple more that I remembered are that some people say “counsint” instead of counsin, and it seemed pretty universal that a sub sandwich is a “hoagie.” ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/107 "2010-01-07T19:28:41Z")
I’ve lived in Indiana my whole life, and this is the only place I know where people constantly call a vacuum cleaner a “sweeper”. They use it as a verb too. “I’m going to sweep the family room”. Really? because sweeping the carpet isn’t going to do much…you should vacuum it. That’s why it’s called a vacuum cleaner!! It _cleans_ via a _vacuum_ God that drives me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/108 "2010-01-07T19:33:39Z")
No, we called it a sweeper/sweeping in Pittsburgh, too. Also, my grandma called her purse a pocketbook (not sure if this is regional or an age thing). ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/109 "2010-01-07T19:37:03Z")
> [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > Also, my grandma called her purse a pocketbook (not sure if this is regional or an age thing). That reminds me, my gram called the couch a davenport. She was from outside Pittsburgh but, like **Sidney** , I don’t know if it was an age thing or regional. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/110 "2010-01-07T20:19:43Z")
> [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > No, we called it a sweeper/sweeping in Pittsburgh, too. Also, my grandma called her purse a pocketbook (not sure if this is regional or an age thing). Ahh…more Hoosierisms. I grew up using a sweeper, carrying a pocketbook (and I still call my purse one) and my parents call the thing 2-3 people can sit on to watch TV on a davenport. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/111 "2010-01-07T20:39:28Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > That reminds me, my gram called the couch a davenport. \ Oh, you mean the chesterfield? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![legalsnugs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@legalsnugs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legalsnugs)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/112 "2010-01-07T22:26:25Z")
I don’t know how regional these are, but in Alabama I’d hear: “Cut off the light.” Or to turn it on: “Cut own the light.” “You want I should [do something]?” Ex.: “You want I should change the channel?” “I could care less.” (This one makes my teeth hurt.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/113 "2010-01-07T22:55:45Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > “Bubbler” (for drinking fountain) is confined to a few, very small parts of the Midwest and will either confuse the hell out of anyone outside of those areas, or make them laugh hysterically at your backwards dialect. I encountered bubbler on my very first day in college in Boston. Someone asked me where the bubbler was and I said “Sorry, don’t know, I’m new here”. I \*thought \* ‘what the hell is a bubbler??’ Who knows, maybe the person asking was from that small part of the Midwest. It’s unlikely though as my university had very few non locals going there (I was quite the oddity). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/114 "2010-01-07T23:58:51Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I don’t know if it’s regional or if it was a trend that was just starting at the time but I never heard anyone refer to their young male children as “buddy” until I moved to Florida. Buddy is a term of affection for small boys and male animals both here and we’re almost as far away from FL as you can get northwards. In fact, my dad’s new Christmas present, a mini rex bunny, is named Buddy. > [@shiftless](#): > > I had a buddy in college who told this story. He was from New England somewhere. > > His mother came to visit him at college and took him out to lunch. When they finished, my buddy reached for the check and his mom said: “I’ll blow you for it.” After some shocked discussion he learned that she meant (of course) that she would pay for the meal. He had to uncomfortably explain why that was not a good phrase. Anybody from New England heard this before? Um. No. There’s something really wrong with his mom if that was a true story. > [@Dr.Righteous](#): > > I encountered bubbler on my very first day in college in Boston. Someone asked me where the bubbler was and I said “Sorry, don’t know, I’m new here”. I \*thought \* ‘what the hell is a bubbler??’ > > Who knows, maybe the person asking was from that small part of the Midwest. It’s unlikely though as my university had very few non locals going there (I was quite the oddity). Bubbler and Water Fountain are entirely interchangable in Boston and on up north. As are grocery carriage and grocery cart. Everyone there will know what you mean by either term in those pairs. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/115 "2010-01-08T00:08:14Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > I had a buddy in college who told this story. He was from New England somewhere. > > His mother came to visit him at college and took him out to lunch. When they finished, my buddy reached for the check and his mom said: “I’ll blow you for it.” After some shocked discussion he learned that she meant (of course) that she would pay for the meal. He had to uncomfortably explain why that was not a good phrase. Anybody from New England heard this before? Reminds me of one of the lyrics to an old “Blues Brothers’” tune (and probably someone elses’ before that), but I can’t quite recall it. I can hear SOME of it in my head, but don’t know the title. So I would say it is a qolloqualism. Q ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/116 "2010-01-08T05:23:04Z")
Definitely Blues Bro’s. A little more of the lyrics just “trickled in”: “I blew each and every one of my friends Felt so good I had to blow them again…” Belushi singing, but just can’t think of the name of the song! Anyone? Q ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/117 "2010-01-08T06:23:00Z")
“Hey, yous guys busy this weekend? Want to go down the shore?” I’ve heard that “you guys” is somewhat local to the NYC/Philly regions, but I have friends from all over who I’ve heard use it. I got laughed at the first time I said “yous guys” to a couple friends from non-NJ places. Also, Pittsburghers talk funny. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/118 "2010-01-08T07:00:20Z")
[![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZzP0GCILr7c/hqdefault.jpg "Blues Brothers - Hey Bartender") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzP0GCILr7c) A _few_ grey cells still active, ah reckon! 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/119 "2010-01-08T12:06:54Z")
I used to live in the rural west of Ireland and have a list as long as my arm. Some of my favourites: - I’m after having my dinner. (I’ve just had my dinner) - He does be going there. (He tends to go there a lot) - Anything strange? What’s the craic? How’s the form? How’s she cuttin’? (“How are you” or “What’s up”?) - I have the tea made. (rather than “I’ve made the tea”) And of course: That’s _grand_. On the edit: “Ye” for plural “you”. “Are ye going to the pub for a few scoops?” I believe in Dublin it would be “yis”. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781/120 "2010-01-08T12:32:49Z")
> [@melodyharmonius](#): > > Actually, it was Cynthia - who I thought was from Pennsylvania, but after looking it up it appears she was from California. I think hella evolved from hell of a/helluva.which was big in 80s black slang. Slangified usage of helluva would be: This BBQ chicken is helluva. Dolly Parton got some helluva titties. See also: hellafied [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-what-now-and-other-regional-phrases/523781.md?page=7)