# 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:** 18
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/341 "2021-04-07T14:42:53Z")
You may recall that **nightshadea** is impervious on this point. Their posting style always was, and always will be … idiosyncratic. There are Pit entries available on this topic but I’ll say no more here. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/342 "2021-04-07T19:49:50Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Da trees is a lot differnt from around Trivers or Fondy I knew exactly what Trivers was! My sister used to work with a woman from Two Rivers, and that’s always how she said it. She was an RN and almost engaged (?), but she didn’t want to settle down without living somewhere else for a while. So, she worked and enjoyed L.A. for a year, then, went home. She was a kick. ---
**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 7, 2021, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/343 "2021-04-07T20:16:34Z")
@carrps watch this video to be reminded of what your Trivers friend sounded like. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7OR7yPK4wEw/maxresdefault.jpg "Midwest Voice Translator") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OR7yPK4wEw) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/344 "2021-04-07T20:17:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Nailed me right down to almost the zip code. Southern California all the way, although they did throw Fresno into the mix, of all places. Yeah!!! They had Long Beach and Glendale for me – which are close-ish – I grew up in West L.A… But they also threw Fresno in there, too. Weird. Wonder which particular answer pings the Fresno dialect? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/345 "2021-04-07T20:25:35Z")
I never realized “sunshower” (meaning rain while the sun is shining) is a regional expression. We get a lot of sunshowers in Florida. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/346 "2021-04-07T20:34:09Z")
That was _great_. Thank you. I laughed and snorted multiple times. ---
**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 7, 2021, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/347 "2021-04-07T20:37:54Z")
@carrps Berens and the Manitowoc Minute are great. Check out his other stuff if you care to. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/348 "2021-04-07T20:43:57Z")
I will, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/349 "2021-04-07T20:57:20Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > That was _great_ . Thank you. I laughed and snorted multiple times. Yes. Awesome. Thank you. I only worked with organizations based in Madison WI; never lived there. But the idea’s the same. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/350 "2021-04-07T21:08:05Z")
Finally got around to taking the NYTimes quiz. I’m old enough and have lived in enough states that I’m sort of a mutt language-wise. But grew up on So Cal with parents from Chicago at a time a LOT of Chicagoans were invading So Cal. The one thing NYTimes is certain of is that I was not born southeast of the Ohio river, nor in New England. They got that part dead right. But they think I’m either from the area around Lake Michigan or the west coast, but more NorCal & Oregon than SoCal or Seattle. Color me unimpressed. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/351 "2021-04-07T21:46:28Z")
But you didn’t get Fresno, did you? Weirdly, Silenus (IIRC) and I both inexplicably got that. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/352 "2021-04-07T21:51:16Z")
For me it showed Madison WI, Rock Island IL, and Grand Rapids MI. But the way it introduced / explained those cities was that those were the places where my choice of one particular answer was the most stand out or significant. Not that those were the cities I was likeliest to be from. Be damned if I can understand what they actually were trying to say by picking three cities, any three cities, by that criteria. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/353 "2021-04-07T22:12:32Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > When I was a teenager in Hawaii I used, “pau” meaning “finished” in front of a mainlander, and it blew my mind that it wasn’t universal. We once babysat a Hawaiian toddler, and were feeding her in a highchair. After a while, she pushed her plate away and said “pau”. We had no idea what it meant, so we gave her more. Another “pau”…we tried a different food. Another “pau”… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/354 "2021-04-07T22:16:20Z")
It was only recently that I found out that “hella” isn’t universal, but a California thing. (It’s synonymous with “very”, as in “it’s hella cold outside”, or “nice car. you must be hella rich”) ---
**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:** [April 7, 2021, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/355 "2021-04-07T23:11:13Z")
“Hella” has spread. I use it sometimes and I’m n Chicago. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/356 "2021-04-07T23:20:56Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > if you made them a lot of people might assume oh you made tuna helper … No, homemade tastes much better. Always. Even with peas. Unless the peas are canned. ---
**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 8, 2021, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/357 "2021-04-08T00:16:12Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > For me it showed Madison WI, Rock Island IL, and Grand Rapids MI. Not sure those cities have ANYthing in common… over-educated liberals, blue collar and The Rabidly Dutch. But, yeah, I’m betting you have one quirky saying that’s mostly used by people from The Quad Cities… ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/358 "2021-04-08T04:00:55Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > It was only recently that I found out that “hella” isn’t universal, but a California thing. My kids have been using it for at least 12 years, since their early-to-mid-teens. Pacific Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/359 "2021-04-08T08:59:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > “Bubbler” seems to be a hyper-localized term, limited to the far eastern part of Wisconsin (along the lakeshore, and thus, further east than Madison), plus parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Interestingly enough, I just saw this term for the first time earlier this week (though I believe it was bubbler fountain, not just bubbler). I was looking at old newspapers from either the late 19th or early 20th century (can’t recall which). It was in the context of sanitation and tuberculosis (and other diseases) and getting rid of shared drinking dippers/cups, so I guessed it meant water fountain (yes, I match the region on the map), but looked it up to be sure. And also found out the first water fountains were terrible in that regard because the water only went up like an inch, so people pretty much had to have their mouths right on the spigot. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263/360 "2021-04-08T09:13:06Z")
How we talk gave me three cities in Alabama. I have never lived anywhere other than Alabama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-expressions-you-didnt-always-realize-were-not-widespread/930263.md?page=19)