# Speak to me using Mercan **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 22, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530 "2012-10-22T15:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/1 "2012-10-22T15:50:21Z")
Mercan is both the language commonly used here in the USA, and a game. Track your points as you play. The rules are simple, you get 1 point for every syllable you remove from a phrase. The classic example is the English phrase “It is in the refrigerator”. It can be rephrased in Mercan as “tzinna fridge”. This is worth 6 points since the English phrase has 9 syllables and the Mercan version has only 3. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/2 "2012-10-22T16:15:43Z")
I think this game would work better in Strine. But here’s one: Y’et yet? Have you eaten yet? 3 points. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/3 "2012-10-22T16:57:30Z")
My dog loves to play “getchertoy” (aka "fetch) negative 2 points. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/4 "2012-10-22T23:56:45Z")
While there are certainly a few parts of this country that regularly swallow syllables (I’m living in one of them, y’all), I find it quite weird to assert that Americans in general do this, compared to, say, people from the British Isles. Certainly, it isn’t true in the Midwest, rarely true on the West Coast, and not really very likely in much of the Northeast, except perhaps from places like Rhode Island… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/5 "2012-10-23T00:15:59Z")
Yeah, people in Minnesota add syllables to words. And make the vowels longer, so they take two or three times as long to say. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/6 "2012-10-23T14:52:18Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But here’s one: Y’et yet? Have you eaten yet? 3 points. Djeetyet? Sup? (What is up?) Two points. Sapnin? (What is happening?) Three points. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/7 "2012-10-23T14:59:38Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think this game would work better in Strine. > > But here’s one: Y’et yet? Have you eaten yet? 3 points. Hell, you can contract it to “jeet” for “have you eaten” and you can argue the “yet” is implied, too. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/8 "2012-10-23T15:08:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Hell, you can contract it to “jeet” for “have you eaten” and you can argue the “yet” is implied, too. 4 points. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/9 "2012-10-23T15:41:39Z")
“Jeet?” “D’joo?” “Squeet.” That was a common conversation between my friends in college. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/10 "2012-10-23T16:19:44Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > “Jeet?” > > “D’joo?” > > “Squeet.” > > That was a common conversation between my friends in college. Did you eat? Did you? . . . . I got nothin’ for that last one though. Now if it said s’go-eet, I’d be with you. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/11 "2012-10-23T17:24:45Z")
Lets go eat. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/12 "2012-10-23T17:34:10Z")
Joowanna takboutit? Dowanna takboutit. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/13 "2012-10-23T18:21:29Z")
\ Translation: “My good man, I do believe you have offended me to such a horrendous degree that I have no choice but to eviscerate you where you stand both as a lesson to you and as an example to others who would dare cross me in such an egregious manner.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/14 "2012-10-23T19:05:19Z")
Dude? Translation: Are you behind the bushes with a butcher knife?!? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/15 "2012-10-23T20:50:52Z")
I’m in Kansas, and where I live we may not add or reduce syllables, but often the letter “r” is inserted where it does not belong. “I wa **r** shed my clothes” “I attended Wa **r** shburn University.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/16 "2012-10-23T20:58:25Z")
Note that there’s no rule saying you need to get a positive number as a result. It’s Mercan, there’s really no rules at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/17 "2012-10-23T21:01:09Z")
Huh, “warsh” is a Kansas thing, too? I’ve always associated that with the Appalachians. Along with “wooder” for “water”. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/18 "2012-10-23T21:26:34Z")
Know sayn? = Do you understand what I am saying? = 8 points ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/19 "2012-10-23T21:28:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Huh, “warsh” is a Kansas thing, too? I’ve always associated that with the Appalachians. Along with “wooder” for “water”. It seems to pop up almost anywhere. I noticed more of it in PA than other places. Another strange one is ‘crown’ for ‘crayon’. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530/20 "2012-10-23T21:30:57Z")
Then there’s the people who find a way to pronounce “green” as “gre-un”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speak-to-me-using-mercan/638530.md?page=2)