# Regional expressions you didn't always realize were not widespread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263 "2021-01-11T15:00:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/321 "2021-02-21T23:00:59Z")
It’s a bit like Seattle “freeze” for some folks. We used to be genuinely nice but this was abused too many times. We’ve learned to be very cautious. ---
**Author:** ![MrMrmrmr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrmrmrmr/32/5828_2.png) [@MrMrmrmr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrMrmrmr)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/322 "2021-02-22T00:33:46Z")
Nice thing about being in Northern Wisconsin this time of year is no fishtabs. Fucking Illinois shit heads towing a boat. We do have fishtast, fucking Illinois shit heads towing a snowmobile trailer. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/323 "2021-02-22T01:52:26Z")
Well that’s a new one. To me, “Italian fries” means shoestring fries with herbs and Parmesan cheese. ---
**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:** [February 22, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/324 "2021-02-22T02:01:15Z")
That’s what I would have expected as well from “Italian fries” – Italian-seasoned fries. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/325 "2021-02-23T05:33:49Z")
I did the NYT survey a few years ago and it gave me Yonkers/New York/Jersey City. I’m actually from the Bronx, so I don’t figure I’m apt to improve on that result. People from elsewhere sometimes express surprise when I say I’m from here, though they don’t seem to have a particular other place in mind. Regarding “mayn’t”, I’ve only ever heard it from Felix Unger. “I can’t? Of course I can…aha, you mean I mayn’t!” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/326 "2021-02-27T07:03:10Z")
I got Worcester and Providence. Well…I’ve spent 3/4ths of my life in New Hampshire, but I did in fact live reasonably close to both Worcester (within 40 miles of up until age ten) **and** Providence (within 8 miles of in my late teens) during that other 1/4th of my life, so close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/327 "2021-02-27T12:50:52Z")
The first time I took it I got Milwaukee even though I’ve spent less than a week in the western Great Lakes region. When I took it earlier this month the map had two loci, one, Milwaukee still, and the other, more accurately, Rochester NY, which I’ve spent less than a year in, but it is sort of an average between where my mom grew up and where I did, so that one makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/328 "2021-04-01T15:48:35Z")
Hehheheh, no… I actually truely love those oldschool names. I feel they have more substance than the diminutives of today (everyone is 1syllable-y, it seems.) Similarily, men’s (or whatever of the ever growing rainbow of Things I Don’t Quite Understand…) Names like Reginald, Winthrope, and, Theodore are equally awesome. So no hate on Constance! It is a very dignified and powerful name, just not one currently associated with youth I guess? (Kinda like how every guy named Rex is tough - I’ll see myself out now!) ---
**Author:** ![2\_More\_Bits](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2_more_bits/32/4148_2.png) [@2\_More\_Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2_More_Bits)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/329 "2021-04-05T17:12:07Z")
I lived in Pittsburg for two years in the late eighties and would furrow my brow when a local would say, “that needs painted,” for example, instead of “that needs _to be_ painted.” No, I didn’t become a Stillers fan. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/330 "2021-04-06T01:07:12Z")
> [@2\_More\_Bits](#): > > I lived in Pittsburg for two years in the late eighties and would furrow my brow when a local would say, “that needs painted,” I have Pittsburgh relatives, and my brow hasn’t stopped furrowing. But how 'bout when a local says “That needs red up.” ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/331 "2021-04-06T01:18:55Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m pretty sure the people I know will say stuff like “I’m going by my parents’ house” instead of “to my parents’ house.” I mean, both sound fine to my ears. My aunts used to say “we’re going by Marge’s house”, and a family friend would ask “why don’t you stop in for a visit?” ETA in Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/332 "2021-04-06T11:46:22Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > My aunts used to say “we’re going by Marge’s house”, and a family friend would ask “why don’t you stop in for a visit?” My aunts (who would ‘go by dere’ often) would have smacked 'em for that (if a minor child) or given them an icy dutch aunt glare. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/333 "2021-04-06T14:30:18Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > My aunts used to say “we’re going by Marge’s house” As a kid, you expect your parents to do things right, but my mom would always say “I’m going by the market, need anything?” I used to reply “Well, if you go _BY_ the market, turn around and go back to it and _STOP_ this time. Then get some peanut butter.” This was in Mi’waukee, WizGonsin… the pronunciation of which is a regionalism of its own. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/334 "2021-04-06T16:07:55Z")
Heh. Said family friend is a Priest, so smacking wasn’t gonna happen. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/335 "2021-04-06T16:57:13Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Said family friend is a Priest, so smacking wasn’t gonna happen My aunts would have glared at a priest, but not a predikant. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/336 "2021-04-06T17:36:26Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > a predikant Speaking of regional expressions, I had to look that one up; though maybe it’s national, not regional. It occurs to me that I’ve got an extremely regional example, though it needs a bit of explanation: Grapevines are grown on a trellis; in this part of the world, at least, generally a trellis made by driving a post into the ground about every 15’ and stringing wires along the row of posts. A large vineyard will have rows long enough to have many posts in each row. When and where I first started working in vineyards, the distance from one post to the next was called, logically enough, a postlength. ‘Short rows down at that end of the vineyard, only about ten postlengths’ or ‘Judy’s fast, she can prune x postlengths an hour’ – that sort of thing. One year, we had somebody from Cornell, a bit over an hour’s drive away, come out to teach us something or other, I’ve forgotten what. He didn’t say “postlength”, he said “panel”. After he left, we had a good snicker over that; we thought Cornell had decided “postlength” didn’t sound academic enough and had come up with “panel” because they thought it sounded more formal. Then I stopped working over there, and took a job in a vineyard in the next county over, about halfway to Cornell from where I’d been working. And I discovered that everybody over there said “panel”, and apparently had been doing so for generations. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/337 "2021-04-07T06:09:18Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > My aunts would have glared at a priest, but not a predikant. Makes perfect sense in Afrikaans. I was in my 20s before I found out other countries don’t have all the [robots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_light) South Africa does. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/338 "2021-04-07T07:01:16Z")
but i like peas… 😢. You ever notice tho that hamburger/tuna/meat helpers have ripped off most of these regional recipes to the point that if you made them a lot of people might assume oh you made tuna helper … i grew up in california and indiana and i use to/by interchangeably … ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/339 "2021-04-07T08:44:29Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > In western PA, we buy bottles of liquor at a store owned/operated by the state. We call it the State Store or Liquor Store. The first time I was in a state where they had Package Stores I was blown away. > > Have you ever been to California? You can buy all kinds of alcohol at any grocery store, although specialized liquor and wine stores do exist as well. i have funny story here’s some background first Ok in california most liquor stores are pretty much convenience stores with all the hard liquor on shelves behind the counter and anyone of any age can go in them Well in indiana in the 90s a liquor store only sold a few snacks party supplies enough soft drinks to use for mixers and the rest of it is hard booze and no one under 21 can go in them Well I go back one summer for a visit … im about 16 or so and im up early one morning so i decide to ot go pet a paper and some donuts from the store down the road a bit …I walk in the store and get the items i went for totally oblivious to the signs on the door saying i couldnt be there Well when the cashier comes out and sees me she starts having a fit and trys to kick me out… and im there confused as hell becuase all i wanted was a newspaper donuts and a coke …So im slightly yelling back … and them the manager comes out …looks me over and says " boy youre not from here are ya ?" I say no im from ca and he says thought so … and i say howd ya guess … he replied CA is one of the few places hes been where a kid would be in a liquor store at 9 am and after explaining the law to me he lets me buy my items … ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/340 "2021-04-07T14:34:22Z")
**Nightshadea** , punctuation is your friend. Really. I gave up after the first “sentence.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263.md?page=18)