# Milwaukee and/or Wisconsin-isms **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480 "2007-11-23T03:48:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/21 "2007-11-23T22:31:36Z")
[QUOTE=hekk] “Come here once” [/QUOTE] This one fascinates me. I’ve been saying it for years, without really realizing it was unusual-- or that I was even saying it-- it just came out of my mouth. Then one day, a co-worker responded to my “Come here once” with a “Only once? How 'bout twice? Or three times?” It was then that I realized that what I was saying _was_ a bit odd. I asked around, but everyone else thought I was nuts for tacking a “once” on the end of certain imperative sentences. So I just thought it was a quirk exclusive to me. Then last year, I was visiting my dad, and we were working on a project in his yard, and he told me to “hold this once.” So I asked him why he tacked a “once” onto the end of the sentence, and we got to discussing this quirk. He said that, yes, he too has been mocked by co-workers, and that he thinks _his_ dad passed it on to him. FTR, my dad and his dad were from South Dakota, and I live in Michigan. I wonder where this quirk of dialect comes from? It seems to be present in only a few people, of midwest origin, but not universally midwestern. ---
**Author:** ![hekk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@hekk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hekk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/22 "2007-11-23T23:49:44Z")
**Happy Lendervedder]** “Come here once”(or “hold this once”, “taste this once”) is very, very common here. I wonder if it has German origins (Komm hier einmal?) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/23 "2007-11-23T23:59:21Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] En-so: A statement closer, asking the listener for confirmation that the speaker is correct. “Awwwww, Brett, he’s da best Packer ever, en-so?” [/QUOTE] My grandpa used to say this all the time, but I think he is the only one I ever heard say it. He was born and raised in Wisconsin by German immigrants and I was raised and had lived in Wisconsin most of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/24 "2007-11-24T00:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan] En-so: A statement closer, asking the listener for confirmation that the speaker is correct. “Awwwww, Brett, he’s da best Packer ever, en-so?” [/quote] Now that’s a colloquialism that I haven’t heard 'round these here pots for a long time, nigh unto a coon’s age. But I used to think that it was “ain’t so”, used like the french [“n’est-ce pas?”](http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/int2.html) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/25 "2007-11-24T01:34:10Z")
[Bert Vaux](http://www.uwm.edu/~vaux/) at UW-Milwaukee is the guy who spearheaded the whole pop v. soda debate with an online survey a while ago. Lots of great links in the sidebar. A lot of the things listed by **Quadgop** I’d consider Northernisms, and not something the rest of the state says, like “ain-a-hey” (which I’d probably transcribe as “en-a-hey”) and “ya-hey.” My aunt says things like that, and she’s from Bagley. Conversely, my sister’s fiance is from near Eagle River, and doesn’t say anything like that at all. I’ve never heard anyone say “en-so.” I will admit that there’s a definite German flair to the way I say “yeah,” though, especially as a question. “Oh, yeah?” might as well be “ja?”. > [@GaryT](#): > > This puzzles me. The a in “bag” rhymes with the a in “had,” “sat,” and “back.” The a in “vague” rhymes with the a in “bake,” “made,” and “hate.” How is this not fathomable? Am I missing something? Wisconsin-ese has really nasal vowels when placed in front of “g”. You can hear it when we say things like “egg” and “beg” and “keg” (of course), and “bag” and “lag” and “tag.” I should make a voice-post on my Livejournal so you can hear the difference, because it’s impossible to understand until you actually hear someone say it. It’s really subtle – it’s not like we run around all the time using the long a. Of course, down here in the way southwest corner, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone told me I spoke like an Iowan (god forbid). And, just so we’re clear, it’s pop, and bubblers don’t exist down here. > [@Slithy Tove](#): > > In SW WI we used “you wannna come with?” > > Exclusivley in the hills where I grew up (the Madisonians only 40 miles away thought it was weird) was “wadder” for water, and having no “t” at the end of words; just a breathless, cough-like “eh!” with my name “what” pronunced “whuh-(eh!)” What part? Spring Green? Or farther south? We use “you wanna come with?” too. Did/do you ever not pronounce the t’s in “mitten” and rhyming words? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/26 "2007-11-24T02:17:07Z")
Green County, up in those hills where the glaicers never touched, and there’s all kinds of hidden hollows where people stay put for generations. And as I read your post I said “mitten” aloud: it came out “mih-nh” Then, trying to say “mitten” correctly (which made me feel terribly pretentious) the very tip of my tongue touches the rim of my hard pallet to make the “t” plosive, then flattened and moved slightly forward to form the “n.” bu as I pronounce “mitten” in my natural regional accent, I don’t make a plosive of the “t;” instead I make a catch in the back of my throat to make a silent “t”, and then an “uhn” grunt, with the tounge always being in position to make an “n” all the while. Almost like Dick Van Dyke-Cockney speech. Even other Wisconsinites thought we talked funny, in our “knidded mih-unhs” ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/27 "2007-11-24T02:24:54Z")
**Slithy** , I think we have the same accent. I live on the border of Iowa/Grant/Lafayette counties, and my family’s been kicking it here for 150+ years. I’m working on recording something for [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=445112), so tell me how we compare once I get it posted, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/28 "2007-11-24T03:13:15Z")
I posted my recording in my [journal](http://msmcknittington.livejournal.com/17109.html). It’s a pretty small mp3 file, and was easily listenable on my crappy dial-up connection. There are two selections for [Sunspace’s thread](http://msmcknittington.livejournal.com/17109.html), and then there are two for this thread. They are as follows: Nasalized vowels/why “bag” rhymes with “vague” Vaguely she said, “The jagged branch had snagged the bag, so there was a hole for the eggs to fall through.” Flapping and double t’s The adorable kitten rolled with its knitted mittens, but, alas, was bitten by the adder. (Please don’t take me less seriously because I sound like a little girl. It’s bad enough my dad has trouble hearing me sometimes because he’s going deaf and I have the highest voice in the family.) ---
**Author:** ![hekk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@hekk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hekk)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/29 "2007-11-24T03:35:35Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] I posted my recording in my [journal](http://msmcknittington.livejournal.com/17109.html). [/QUOTE] Thank you for that! I was thinking of posting my own audio recording, but it would have been kind of a hassle. A good reading for the purposes of this thread might have been: “John unplugged the battered lamp on the table. He had a vague recollection of leaving his bag in the front room. Bubbler.” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/30 "2007-11-24T06:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=Brad Serum] Highway 100 = Highway **A-hunnerd** [/QUOTE] I’ve only heard it as “Highway Hundred” Funny thing is, we’ve got three Highway 100s, but Highway Hundred really only refers to one of them (The stretch with Mayfair Rd/108th St), the other two are Ryan Road and Brown Deer Road. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/31 "2007-11-24T06:31:58Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] A lot of the things listed by **Quadgop** I’d consider Northernisms, and not something the rest of the state says, like “ain-a-hey” (which I’d probably transcribe as “en-a-hey”) and “ya-hey.” My aunt says things like that, and she’s from Bagley. Conversely, my sister’s fiance is from near Eagle River, and doesn’t say anything like that at all. I’ve never heard anyone say “en-so.” [/QUOTE] You’ll catch alot of that Minnesota and UP accent in Cudahy as well. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/32 "2007-11-24T13:57:43Z")
I always took en-so to mean “ain’t it so.” I am in the middle of a whole bunch of old German and Swedish farmers. Get me in a room with a bunch of them, and my accent gets really thick. Over 'dere 'Dem bastards. Gunna take ma booat up nort’ ta sout’ dakouta an’ catch me some big ole’ norderns. God’ta new lur, its gonna be a slaughder, ya wanna come widt? Bedder dan here, in Minnesooata. C’mere for a minnut, wouldja? 'danks. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/33 "2007-11-24T17:00:40Z")
Old friends of mine in Sheboygan had vanity plates that read “Ya En So” ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/34 "2007-11-24T19:33:03Z")
I grew up in Appleton and now live in central WI, so I’m a bit surprised to see some things I’ve heard and said all my life attributed to just the Milwaukee area: bubbler (I’ll NEVER call it a water fountain) come here once I’m going to the store, wanna come with? and so? (this is how I heard when my grandma said it) pop (I used this term when I was a kid, but somehow I switched to “soda”) Interesting about “mitten”; I do the “mih-nh” thing too, and I guess I’d consider actually pronouncing the t’s to be an overpronunciation. Also about “bubbler” not being used in Madison: really? I’ll confess that I rarely look for one when I’m in Madison, as there are much more interesting things to drink there besides water from a bubbler. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/35 "2007-11-24T20:21:00Z")
Kohler actually made a drinking fountain with the trademarked name Bubbler back in the late 1800’s. I’ve lived in Wisconsin my entire life, 47+ years, and the general Milwaukee area for 20+ (lived in West Bend the rest of the time, but don’t consider that a suburb of Milwaukee). I’ve heard it pronounced Mwaukee, MaWaukee, Wasconsin, 'Sconsin, and West Bend as Wess Benn. Don’t forget: \ ***Getting an ass full.** (means getting drunk as hell. My friend Wayne told me that when he first moved here he was told not to go drinking with this one guy from work because he tends to get an ass full. Wayne thought that meant he got so drunk he’d shit his pants at the bar!😛 😛 ) \*Look out for the **FIBS** on the highway (Fucking Illinois Bastards) \ ***Whorebucks** (old, old men on the prowl. Usually wearing white shoes, a white belt, or both!) \ ***Stop-N-Go lights** (traffic lights). \ ***Filling station** (gas station). \ ***Beer Depot** (liquor store). \*And if you ask me for a \*\*POP \*\*you are going to get popped in the head! It’s **SODA** goddamn it!! The only exception is: \ ***Barley Pop** (beer). Used here, but not that often. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/36 "2007-11-25T03:34:54Z")
I used to know a Wisconsinite who said “sor-rey” for sorry (which,when you look at the spelling, is closer than the more usual “sarree.” ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/37 "2007-11-25T14:36:51Z")
Is “ **coupla-three** ” a Wisconsin-ism? I heard it the first time when I moved here 40 years ago–but I’d only lived in New York and California. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/38 "2007-11-25T17:12:02Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] I grew up in Appleton and now live in central WI, so I’m a bit surprised to see some things I’ve heard and said all my life attributed to just the Milwaukee area: bubbler (I’ll NEVER call it a water fountain) come here once I’m going to the store, wanna come with? and so? (this is how I heard when my grandma said it) pop (I used this term when I was a kid, but somehow I switched to “soda”) [/QUOTE] “Come with” is also used around here (Chicago), as well as “go by” and “borrow” for “lend.” Oh, and “pop.” I had though that “soda” was more popular in the Milwaukee area, and “pop” elsewhere in Wisconsin. [This site suggests that “soda” is far more popular](http://popvssoda.com:2998/countystats/WI-stats.html) than “pop” in Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/39 "2007-11-25T21:37:29Z")
Noon thirty. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480/40 "2007-11-25T22:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] You’ll catch alot of that Minnesota and UP accent in Cudahy as well. [/QUOTE] Officially there is no city of Cudahy. It’s charter actually lists it as the city of Cuda. But so many of it’s residents would tell people _“I live in Cuda, hey”_ that outsiders started thinking that it’s name was actually Cudahy. L:dubious::dubious:k it up! 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/milwaukee-and-or-wisconsin-isms/427480.md?page=3)