I seem to recall hearing “hella” earlier than the mid-nineties here in Nor Cal. I drove school busses in the mid eighties and heard it.
The younger kids around here (including my own) say “hecka”. Cracks me up.
I’m not sure where it might be from, but I’ve heard rural California people say “aight” (pronounced “ite”) for “all right”.
It wouldn’t occur to me not to know what is meant by washroom. But that’s pretty funny!
“Wanna come with?” definitely.
“Can you borrow me a dollar?” Tho’ I haven’t heard this is some time.
“Oh for dumb!”
My brother calls it a “rubber binder,” but he’s the only one I’ve heard call it that. And my other brother’s mother-in-law often goes out “gazootering” around, which I think is most excellent. Other than that, we have “hotdish” to refer to casseroles, which is just odd.
I have never heard this spoken; only seen it in writing.
I wonder if this is of German derivation; Quasi, are you with me? Taking a picture (as in photographing something) in German is “ein Bild machen” (making a picture) rather than “ein Bild nehmen” (taking a picture), which would be like taking a picture off a wall and walking away with it. One of the many idioms I have to avoid when I’m writing to international correspondents.
No, it’s not at all uncommon to say that something is “about an hour away” or something similar.
Ever hear the phrase “Run all the way around Robinson’s barn”? Ever drink a cabinet? Apparently those are (or were) local terms, but I only heard them from one person, so they might be REALLY local.
The first time I visited this region (as a kid), my mom was asked if she wanted her coffee regular, and was dismayed that the dumb waitress put cream and sugar in it. On the same trip, we discovered an exotic new drink called a frappe. We told the waitress “I’d like to try a frah-PAY, please.” We got looked at like we were complete rubes.
I think this usage of ‘Please’ comes from the German ‘Bitte?’ - lots of German heritage in western & southern Ohio (I’m one of em’). My sister moved to Virginia to teach elementary school, and when she explained how she used ‘Please?’, they responded that they just said ‘Huh?’ or ‘Whut?’.
There was a recent thread on catty-corner vs. kitty corner, too.
One new to me when I moved to central Michigan - outyard (the grass between the sidewalk and the street). Also ‘hamburg’ instead of ‘hamburger’
A former coworker used to say things like “I’m fixin’ to go to lunch.” Yeah, she was Southern.
So do I. In fact, I’m going to start using it!
Grew up in Western PA, so I still drop my “to be” from phrases. I also flatten my vowels (“den ten” is “down town”) and drop the “g” from “-ing” (walkin’ & talkin’).
I know what a gum-band is and I used to redd-up my room but we never used “yinz” in my family (but all my cousins did). The plural possesive isn’t “yinz guys’s” it’s “yinzes’” as in, “Is that yinzes’ car?”
Moved to western Kentucky and picked up “coke” as an alias for “pop”. I’ve seen signs on supermarket windows there: “Coke. All Flavors. $1.99”. That’s where I picked up “Fixin’ to…” and still carry that with me.
They also dropped the “l” (ell) from in front of consonants. “goff==golf, guff==gulf”. I had my electricity instructor say in class, “You take yer baar waar and you waar it to yer laht bub”. You also write (raht) with an “ink pin” to distinguish it from a “pin”, the thing that holds two pieces of fabric together.
Moved to Kansas and had to drop “Coke” to return to “Pop” (though I find that everybody understands “soda” even it if sounds a bit odd).
Moved to Alabama and now I “might could”, as in “That might could work but have you considered this option?” Most of the other things from Kentucky applied here, too. ( “Rat cheer” is a location for example, “Put it down rat cheer.” )
I’m moderately proud, though, that in neither southern state did I adopt “y’all” any more than I adopted “yinz” as a kid.
Now I’m in Colorado and it’s a “pop” state but not much else stands out to me. We’re so overloaded with ex-Californians and other non-natives here it’s a pretty generic accent.
However, lots of influences now allow me to make paragraphs like this…
I was fixin’ to make dinner but we might could go out to dinner if you want. I might get a glass of melk with it or maybe a pop. Oh, and the car needs washed before we go.
It’s a speach thing, though. My writing has always been a bit more formal.
One I hear all the time is referring to bee stings as bee bites. “Ow! A bee bit me!” WTF? Don’t you know one end of a bee from the other?
Another common one: “I’m fixin’ to get ready.”
Belrix nailed a lot of Kentucky phrases.
This leaves out a step. My relatives in Arkansas would say, "We’re fixin…, to get ready…, to go to the house. Just making this tentative statement might take several minutes.
There’s fixin, then gettin ready, then maybe going. A whole process of steps.
Just saying “We’re going home,” and then actually getting up and going, was just a whirlwind of an idea that should properly involve several intermidiate steps and much thought.
I hear these all the time, guess my location:
“Cut the light.”
“Where do you stay?”
“I know that’s right.”
“Girrrrrrllllllllll…”
“I’m fittin’ to go home now.”
“lemme do this right quick.”
Sounds like da hood!
Down in Nawlins they say “makin’ groceries” - meaning going to the grocery store.
I grew up in St. Louis. Two of my brothers that still live there say “Get that fixed!” I think it means “No way!” But I’m not entirely sure. Whenever they use it I usually just stare at them like this : - |
I’d never heard it before, so they must have picked it up somewhere since I moved away 20 years ago.
My wife (Western Kentucky native) doesn’t say “height” but rather “heighth”. She also says “That needs to be pitched” whereas I would say “That needs to be thrown away”. Then again, I grew up in the Bronx. I store my clothes in “draws”.
I love Britishisms–I used to have a friend who used “bless his/her little cotton socks.” I thought that was unique to her, but then I heard other Brits use it as well.
I also like “What’s that when it’s at home?”
I wish I was British so I could use expressions like that and sound charming, not dorky. I still do, sometimes, though, dorky be damned. 
I’d guess South Georgia. I hear all of those in Atlanta, but I hear them with more regularity when I see my family about 2 hours south.
I was also going to add “might could” but Belrix beat me to it. I got a lot of grief for that when I lived in Buffalo.
MA to NC: “…might could…”,
“I seen…” (“Saw” is the past tense of see. “Seen” follows “have” as in “I have seen…”.
“Me and my wife went to…”. That’s as wrong as “Me went to…”. “My wife and I went…” is proper.
Yeah, that’s it. All originated in the south, I’m sure.
A few more:
“I gotsta go now.”
“I got mines.”
“She favors you.” (looks like you)
“He’s triflin’.”