# Regionalisms in Language **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 27, 2001, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628 "2001-05-27T00:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/21 "2001-05-27T22:10:33Z")
I just went out to the store and heard one that I occasionally hear out here, but used to hear a great deal when I lived in the southern Plains. “on accident” as opposed to “by accident.” I will probably never forget the explanation that a junior-high-age student used do defend his use of “on accident”. “Well, sure, you don’t say ‘by purpose’ do ya?” I had to admit that I did not. TV ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/22 "2001-05-27T22:30:33Z")
In Rhode Island, things that are very cool are “wicked cool”. Out here in California, they’re “hella cool”. Water fountains in Rhode Island? Bubbler. Though said with a Rhode Island accent, it comes out something like “bubbla”. The whole milkshake/frappe thing is curious too. In RI, a milkshake is flavored syrup and milk, a frappe is ice cream, syrup and milk. But they’re not usually called frappes, they’re called cabinets. Go fig. ---
**Author:** ![TitoBenito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2acd7d/32.png) [@TitoBenito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TitoBenito)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/23 "2001-05-27T22:47:09Z")
I am a college student working as a telepoller for a voter consumer research company. Although I’m from Texas I have the standard american accent. When I was calling people in Wisconsin, Not a single person understood me when i said the word race. They all said I was saying res and that i needed a long a. But the way i say race is with a long a (or for the rest of the world the tense e)like in play way say day face tape. What gives? Whats up with Wisconsinites ( Besides that I rather like them though, one of the most pleasant people i call)? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/24 "2001-05-27T22:52:24Z")
“Hella cool” is specifically Bay Area, not California-wide. Hasn’t been much in this thread about non-North American regionalisms. Here are a few common Dublin terms: “grand”: as in “How’s your sister?” “She’s grand” **or** “Do you want a drink?” “No, I’m grand”. “your man”: sort of equivalent to “that guy”. As in “Would you look at the haircut on your man”. “jacks”: the restrooms. “kip”: multiple meanings, either a nap (this can be a noun or a verb), or a rundown flat/house, or a really dodgy neighborhood etc. “culchie”: any Irish person **not** from Dublin. See also “mucker” I’ll probably think of a few more later. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/25 "2001-05-27T22:56:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrNeutron \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by sjc \* > > **Seattlite ‘yeah’ (cooler than Minnestan Ja)** > > What do you mean by the Seattlite ‘yeah’? Using “yeah” as an informal “yes” is quite widespread in the states: > > “Want to get some lunch?” “Yeah, sure.” > > Does it have some other use in Seattle? \*\* It is used in the same way as in the rest of the United States, but somehow it can also have deeper connotations. I am hard pressed to think of an example that captures the essence of ‘yeah’ because it is difficult to separate it from the standard ‘yeah’. Also, I grew up in Washington so I don’t notice it when it is used. In any case, there are so many people originally from out of state here that it is difficult to pin down a precise regional accent (though one exists). Check out “How to Talk American” by Jim Crotty. Here are some (not very clear) examples: “So, your girlfriend left you?” “(as if weary with life) Yeah…” or “The Sonics game we went to last night kicked ass!” "Yeah? (excited, really?) or “I hear you got a job at Dick’s” “Yeah. (affirmative)” It doesn’t have a Norwegian or German accent like ‘Ja’ does in the northern midwest. I guess the distinction is that it gets used as the default slang affirmative. It isn’t as versatile as the Canadian ‘eh’ but it fills something like the same position. I think it is probably most common among the skateboarder/slacker set. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/26 "2001-05-27T23:12:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ruadh \* > \*\*“Hella cool” is specifically Bay Area, not California-wide. > \*\* I have to disagree on that. While ‘Hella cool’ may have originated in the bay area, it gets used in Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. It is kind of new slang up here (read well-known within the last 5 years or so). Also, we use ‘hella’ as an intensifier like: ‘that was hella dangerous’. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/27 "2001-05-28T00:59:58Z")
I’m trying and trying to come up with a good example of the Seattle Yeah, but I’ve failed so far. Has any one else noticed this word? I read about it in “How to Talk American” and I really recognized it as a distinct way of using yeah. Maybe it makes sense to describe it like this: A Minnesotan ‘Ja’ without the accent and the dorkiness. (I apologize to the Minnesotans for the dorkiness crack, but it does sound dorky. On the other hand, _I_ think it is cool). It sounds totally different from a MN ‘Ja’ but it has similar characteristics otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![illuminati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@illuminati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/illuminati)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/28 "2001-05-28T01:09:30Z")
can i suggest cockney rhyming slang? i live in south London and I dont know most of it Im sure that they just make it up when Im around e.g. butchers = look syrup = wig cockle = watch porkie pies= eyes cozzers = police to name a few of the well known ones the list is endless, give me a word and I will give you a translation ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/29 "2001-05-28T01:17:05Z")
After college in Maine, “wicked” came home in my vocabulary. I got odd looks during my year in Mississippi. I also use “draw” for “drawer” on occasion, a work I picked up from my Massachusetts(south of Boston) raised roommate. I say y’all. I don’t say that I’m “fixin’ to” do anything. My mother says warsh instead of wash, warter instead of water, and nekkid instead of naked. I broke myself of those habits when I was about 12. Apart from the typical southern turns of phrase often used in movies and on TV, I can’t think of any-and many of those that I hear on those I’ve never actually heard used in real life. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/30 "2001-05-28T01:46:30Z")
I remember this guy who helped with a set for a play in high school. I think he was from New York and he always was saying “Killer”. What really cracked us up was when one of us came up with a good idea for the set and he said “Dude! And I’m not even smokin’ anything!” OK so we were niave at the time, but it was pretty funny coming from an adult. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/31 "2001-05-28T02:15:05Z")
Anybody able to associate saying “put it up” meaning “put it away” with a particular region of the United States? It sounds fine to me here in Texas, but I knew a girl from New York who stumbled over it the first few times she heard it. Oh yeah, **casdave** … there’s no evidence that mass media has had any effect on dialects in England or anywhere else. You get a short-term adoption of catchphrases, but zero influence on accent. -fh ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/32 "2001-05-28T02:24:44Z")
ooh…just thought of one. You know at stores like Wal-Mart or K-Mart they let you pay for things over a period of time while they hold it back in their storage area, right? It’s called Lay-away officially. Everyone I know calls it Lay-by. You put stuff on Lay-by at the store. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/33 "2001-05-28T03:18:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > \*\*New York state has a great linguistic divide: people in the east say soda, people in the west say pop. I have read online discussions which attempted to define down to the mile where the soda/pop border passes through the middle of the state. > \*\* Ah, the great soda/pop/Coke question! In Michigan, it’s always called pop. And apparently all carbonated beverages in the South are called Coke… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/34 "2001-05-28T03:32:23Z")
> [@](#): > > For example, in Minnesota, we went to a steak-house that had a placard on the table hawking their “Awesome Blossom”. It was a while before it dawned on me that up there, those two words rhymed! Please help me, **Libertarian** - how would you pronounce them? for me, they’re rhyming. > [@](#): > > Do you call a 66 oz bottle, a Texas mickey ? I do. **detop,** I’ve never actually had to buy one, but yes, that’s what we called them in high school. hmmm - any other Canucks able to contribute to this one? ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/35 "2001-05-28T03:35:14Z")
A pretty common question ending surplus word in parts of the Midwest with a prominent German tinge is “not.” For example: “That’s your car, not?” The source is the German phrase “nicht wahr,” which translates literally as “not true,” but is used in the sense of “isn’t that so.” It is used to turn almost any declaritive statement into a question. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/36 "2001-05-28T04:32:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrNeutron \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by sjc \* > > **Seattlite ‘yeah’ (cooler than Minnestan Ja)** > > What do you mean by the Seattlite ‘yeah’? Using “yeah” as an informal “yes” is quite widespread in the states: > > “Want to get some lunch?” “Yeah, sure.”\*\* I just noticed that ‘sure’ is found on the end of your quote. One thing about the Seattle ‘yeah’ is that it doesn’t usually have a ‘sure’ on the end of it. I think it is a matter of attitude more than usage really. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/37 "2001-05-28T04:51:59Z")
I’m a life-long New Englander, and there are things we say I had no idea were odd until I was in my late teens or older. - I was in 12th grade, when the teacher, a recent transplant from NJ, for my Spanish 4 class asked (all 3 of us) if we’d tell her the truth about something, since we were older she trusted us…“What does wicked mean?” we looked at her in surprise. “You do realize that people from other parts of the country don’t say that, don’t you?” We didn’t! The fact that not everyone uses the word to mean really or very came to quite a shock to us. - Is it true that people don’t use “all set” universally, too? I’ve heard that it sounded strange to some people. You use it like this. " Would you like some more pie?" " No thanks, I’m all set." - Like robinh said, “down cellar” is pretty common too. I don’t like the word basement. - I do pronounce the “r” in car correctly, but I can’t say the word “drawer” as it was meant to be pronounced, though neither can most people I know. We say it as one syllable. The stress is different from “draw,” but… “borrower” is hard to say also. - A book I read several years ago on regional expressions claimed that people here say pop and grinders, which I take exception to. They’re soda and subs! My dad said his aunt used to use the term “pop” in the 50’s, though, so maybe things have just changed. - When we say “the north country” we are not referring to Canada, but to the northern parts of NH. That confuses the tourists. I’m sure there are other expressions we us that I don’t realize are local, but if you want to know what they mean, I’d be glad to tell you 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![exchicagoan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/0ea827/32.png) [@exchicagoan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/exchicagoan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/38 "2001-05-28T04:56:38Z")
This has been verified by other Chicagoans---- BOUGHTEN—“past tense” of bought. “I haven’t boughten any new clothes in two weeks.” I didn’t know that there was no such word until I had moved to California. Lots of folks, including my Father, say taste-ez for tastes. They say that that was what they were TAUGHT. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/39 "2001-05-28T05:14:50Z")
Hella is indeed from the Bay Area like Ruadh said. People from So Cal at my Uni make fun of people who use it. I refused to incorporate that slang word into my speech. Dude is thought of as commonly Californian. But it’s widespread now. I remember our very own Psycat90 thinking the first time she saw me and Demo do a stereotypical Californian exchange in chat one day that we couldnt possibly really talk like that out here: Dude! Awesome! Killer! Rad! Totally! Dude! Naturally we dont…but demo is known to say killer and awesome a lot. ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628/40 "2001-05-28T05:34:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\* I’m a life-long New Englander, and there are things we say I had no idea were odd until I was in my late teens or older. > > - Is it true that people don’t use “all set” universally, too? I’ve heard that it sounded strange to some people. You use it like this. " Would you like some more pie?" " No thanks, I’m all set." > > \*\* I’ve heard that where I live in northwest Washington state, but I don’t think it is too common. The way I’m used to hearing it is something like: “are you ready?” “all set!” Does this strike anyone as odd? It sounds perfectly normal to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regionalisms-in-language/66628.md?page=3)