# In 49 of 50 states one thing, in the 50th something else??? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2014, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653 "2014-07-08T17:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/141 "2014-07-11T04:58:40Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > In Oregon, OSU is not Ohio State. This is a really interesting phenomenon. I think it has come about through an increasing inclination of people who want to show off by sounding like “an insider”, who is in the know about local nicknames. Thinking back to the 1950s, the only college sports teams I can recall ever being referenced by abbreviation letters were USC, UCLA, NYU and CCNY. As well as LSU, since there was only one state beginning with L and there was no alternate University of Louisiana, so everybody knew that one. But nobody, even in Big Ten states, ever said MSU or OSU. You always say the name of the state in full (except long ones like Penn State or NC State), but you might shorten the rest, like Georgia Tech or Texas A&M. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/142 "2014-07-11T13:29:57Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > In Oregon, OSU is not Ohio State. But is it \*The \*Oregon State University? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/143 "2014-07-11T14:15:03Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I get that what people would receive the meaning of “the City” to be different, but to use it in active speech, I personally have only heard it from New York Metro’ers and that one San Jose’an. It’s extremely common in the greater Boston area. People say “We’re headed into the city” all the time. It is used in daily speech for most of eastern Mass and southern NH. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/144 "2014-07-11T15:52:50Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > As I said in an earlier post, in Oklahoma, “The City” refers to Oklahoma City. Regardless of whatever other town might be closer. Been that way for years here. I don’t expect anyone outside of OK to know that, but I wonder how many other states have something similar? As a New Yorker, I was delighted by how cute it was when I visited my in-laws in Oklahoma and realized they say “the City” for Oklahoma City (although it took me a while to adjust, I kept thinking they were asking me about things at home when they would say “which restaurant did you like the best when you were in the the City?”). I thought that at least part of the reason is that Oklahoma City, like New York City\*, has the actual word “city” in its name. So I wonder if this also happens more frequently in the area of Kansas City, or Salt Lake City, for example. \*really the City of New York, but even the official web site of the City of New York is [nyc.gov](http://nyc.gov) ---
**Author:** ![hyden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/35a633/32.png) [@hyden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hyden)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/145 "2014-07-11T17:11:13Z")
On the hoagie/sub topic, here in Buffalo, NY, each use the same bread. The difference is how the bread is cut and the sandwich is served. Sub: Roll is cut evenly in half and all the way through and the sandwich is served with roll on bottom, sub inards, sub top Hoagie: Also cut in half but not all the way through. Sandwich is served with the roll forming a ‘V’ as a basket to hold everything in. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/146 "2014-07-11T17:41:51Z")
> [@Baracus](#): > > FWIW, North Carolina has its own coastal region referred to as “Down East”. Specifically, the region east of Raleigh all the way to the edge of the mainland. The little ridge of land outside the Pamlico Sound is the Outer Banks and its own region altogether. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/147 "2014-07-11T17:52:14Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I thought that at least part of the reason is that Oklahoma City, like New York City\*, has the actual word “city” in its name. So I wonder if this also happens more frequently in the area of Kansas City, or Salt Lake City, for example. > > v I’m sure it does. Plus, don’t forget standard American regionalism, seen a lot in this thread even. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LonghornDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/148 "2014-07-11T19:58:28Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > I thought Houston et. al. echoed LA in the parish/ward thingie, but I haven’t lived there since I was little, so forgive my ignorance. The ward system of Houston stopped being used in the early 1900s. I believe the New Orleans ward system is still in use. Certain areas of Houston are sometimes referred to by their ward name (primarily the 5th Ward). The Parish system of Louisiana is just an alternative to the county system in the other states. Texas does not use a parish system. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/149 "2014-07-11T20:08:01Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > The question is then asked, “are you on this line, or that one?”, as if it were a trolley ride. Ahhhhhhhh, okay! That really does help me understand it. _I_ still won’t use it, but I grok the reasoning and it makes sense. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/150 "2014-07-12T02:27:22Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > It’s extremely common in the greater Boston area. People say “We’re headed into the city” all the time. It is used in daily speech for most of eastern Mass and southern NH. When I go to Boston, I “go into town.” I’m not sure if this is just a family thing. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/151 "2014-07-12T14:30:42Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#): > > The ward system of Houston stopped being used in the early 1900s. I believe the New Orleans ward system is still in use. Certain areas of Houston are sometimes referred to by their ward name (primarily the 5th Ward). The Parish system of Louisiana is just an alternative to the county system in the other states. Texas does not use a parish system. I grew up in a little town in Wisconsin, which was subdivided into Wards, and in fact I went to elementary at South Ward School. Milwaukee had wards, and Chicago, and I believe they still do. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/152 "2014-07-12T15:12:10Z")
I believe St. Louis is the only city that uses the term “depressed lanes” to describe off-ramp streets that are associated with the interstate highway. A traveler often hears local traffic vernacular on the traffic reports on the radio, which are often mystifying to an outsider. Denver has a region known as “The Mousetrap”. In New Orleans, when the traffic reporter says “Industrial crossings are in the down position”, he means the drawbridges over the shipping canals, and car traffic can move unimpeded when they are down. There is one city (I forgot which one) where commuters who live on the west side of town are called “Squinties”, because they have to drive into a low rising sun in the morning, and into a low setting sun in the afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/153 "2014-07-12T15:23:20Z")
When I was a kid in PA, road signs warned, “Bridge **freezes** before roadway”. Traveling through the southern US I laughed at signs saying, “Bridge **ices** before roadway”. Lately I’m noticing “ices” being used in PA! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653/154 "2014-07-12T15:34:11Z")
I was always annoyed by those signs. The bridge itself doesn’t freeze. I haven’t seen the “ices” version, but it makes more sense to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-49-of-50-states-one-thing-in-the-50th-something-else/692653.md?page=7)