Hello all, this is my first thread, and I know VERY little of the etiquette of the board even after reading a post about things newbies should pick up, so if I’m in the wrong section of the board, forgive me.
Anyway, my question is does anyone know names of products that differ by location? For example, I live in the rather stereotyped eastern KY, and we say pop instead of soda.
However I have heard that some people in different places call it Coke no matter what kind of soda it is.
Can anyone relate to what I’m saying about soda and/or think of other products whose names differ by location in the country?
Hope this is an adequate first thread for a newbie.
I’ll try…These are my experiences, mind; they are based on asking for/about an (object), getting a blank stare, then a reply of “Oh, you mean (object)”…I could be wrong.
A “plain” donut in the south is a “glazed” one in NY…
A “Boston creme donut” elsewhere, is in Oklahoma a “Bismarck”…
A license plate here in Oklahoma is a “Tag”…
As for the soda/pop thing, I hear pop used most; the “coke” meaning any beverage is used too…
NY “soda” = Boston “tonic” (order tonic water and they bring club soda)
NY “milkshake” = Boston “frappe”
NY “Beefaroni” = Boston “American Chop Suey”
NY (strips of chicken finger food) = Boston “chicken fingers”
Nitpick: A “hoagie” and a “sub” are actually slightly different sandwiches. The roll is sliced differently. In a sub, the roll is sliced completely through, and then stacked back together. In a hoagie, the roll is only partially sliced and opened, like a hot dog bun. Hoagies are certainly more popular in Philadelphia than subs, though, and I’ll take your word that it’s the reverse in Chicago.
If you’re curious about this sort of thing in a big way you need to check out the Dictional of American Regional English, a massive multi-decade project to chart how English terms change from region to region.
When I read the OP I thought that it was referring to products that had different “brand” names in different regions. It reminded me that a friend from Utah always used “Best Foods” mayonnaise and on the East Coast it was called “Hellman’s”. It was the same stuff. The labels were pretty much identical, except for the brand name.
And when I was in Ireland, the candy bar that the US calls a “Snicker’s” was called a “Marathon”. I guess snicker means something less then nice in Ireland.
Well Vertigo I mean anything in general, products/objects/brand names, anything like that. I always thought it was cool how people say things differently depending on where you go.
Most parts of the US - license plate
US Southern states - auto tag
Buffalo, New York - chicken wing
Rest of the US - Buffalo wing
In New Mexico, a large irrigation canal was called a lateral. In Colorado, “lateral” was used to describe small spurs off of larger irrigation canals.
In southern New Mexico, those bags with candles in them that are used as Christmas lights are called luminaria. In northern New Mexico, they’re farolitios.
In Buffalo, the British English term flat is used to describe an apartment in a two-flat duplex. I’m told that folks in Boston use “flat” to describe apartments in triple-deckers.
My very first job was at a grocery store in a predominatly African-American neighborhood in Buffalo, New York. One day, a woman approached me in the aisle, and asked me, in Ebonics, “Where the little Baby Jesuses at?” To this day, I still have no idea what “little Baby Jesuses” are.
Well, if it’s any help, we on the west coast seem to use “Coke” as sort of a generic term…In casual conversation, “A coke” could refer to any “Cola” type soft drink. A “soda” could be any carbonated beverage, and a “Pepsi” would be, well, a Pepsi.
Pop = soda I’ve heard Pop mostly in the North, PA and NY
When in Canada I notice Mac and Cheese refferred to as Kraft Dinner. Took a while to figure that out.
Could she have been asking about baby juice? (no not freshly squeased babies, but small juice cartons) I’m afraid I’m not quite fluent in ebonics so I don’t know if they sound the same.
Welcome to the SDMB, Black Lite. Although this is a factual question, there are too many right answers to fit conveniently into the General Questions format. I’ll move this thread to MPSIMS.
