# Unique local/regional names for common things **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2021, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610 "2021-07-16T04:45:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/101 "2021-07-18T22:33:36Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’ve heard it called a road verge… But the real problem is, I’ve never gotten a real answer from anyone as to why it’s called what they call it. I mean, they’re using a word, with ZERO curiosity as to WHY! It’s called the verge in the UK too. I’d guess it’s because it verges on the road. But most people don’t think of the etymology of everyday words - it’d get exhausting! In England there are at least 20 regional words for the basic bread roll. The type of roll you put a hamburger in. The ones I’ve heard in real life are roll, stottie, bap, cob, bun, barm cake, even teacake (and no, neither of the latter two are actually cakes, they are basic bread rolls). > **[Why the UK has so many words for bread](https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180717-why-the-uk-has-so-many-words-for-bread)** > > Everyone in the UK has an opinion on just what to call what is perhaps the most inoffensive foodstuff known to man. ---
**Author:** ![Franklymydear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Franklymydear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Franklymydear)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/102 "2021-07-19T01:17:21Z")
What do you call a drive thru liquor store? That drew a blank from me. i had no idea such a thing existed. As did 48.26% of the population. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/103 "2021-07-19T01:25:07Z")
> [@Franklymydear](#): > > What do you call a drive thru liquor store? A bad case of faulty brakes? I’m trying to wrap my head around a drive-thru… I could see ordering online nowadays, but I’ll bet this was before that. Did they have a menu board like McDonald’s? Or did you just speak into the clown’s head: “A liter of Woodford Reserve 12 Year Bourbon, please!” and then pay whatever they charged you? Was this some state/municipality thinking it’d cut down on demon alcohol? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/104 "2021-07-19T02:16:27Z")
In West Texas, we had drive-through “package” stores. A package store sold only beer and wine. Hard liquor was in its own store, and you had to walk inside for that. Now the town I grew up in was dry, but the county was not. So we had what was called the Strip, which was just that – a long strip of stores selling alcohol right outside the city limits. Naturally you already needed to know what you wanted for the drive-through package stores. If you didn’t, you could still walk in and browse. I always used to hear the owners of the stores along the Strip were the driving force in keeping the town dry, because they’d all have to go to the trouble of relocating otherwise. But times apparently caught up, as I believe my hometown is now wet and the Strip no more. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/105 "2021-07-19T07:50:20Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Franklymydear](#): > > > > What do you call a drive thru liquor store? > > A bad case of faulty brakes? > > I’m trying to wrap my head around a drive-thru… I could see ordering online nowadays, but I’ll bet this was before that. Did they have a menu board like McDonald’s? Or did you just speak into the clown’s head: “A liter of Woodford Reserve 12 Year Bourbon, please!” and then pay whatever they charged you? > > Was this some state/municipality thinking it’d cut down on demon alcohol? In May we visited my sister and her husband at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. At one point they drove into this rundown strip mall parking lot and pointed at a stand alone building in the parking lot. Could we guess what it was? No? Drive-through Daiquiri store. I was so “what the -?!?!” I took photos. No, we didn’t buy any. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/106 "2021-07-19T17:51:45Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Does the sidewalk really run through the middle of the front yard or does the city/town village own everything from the sidewalk to the street? In Utah where I grew up, the city owns the land but the landowner of the adjacent property has a legal responsibility to landscape and maintain the land, and there are set standards. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/107 "2021-07-19T17:54:22Z")
My wife is from Los Angeles, and she calls grocery shopping “marketing.”. Like, “I’m going to make a marketing list, for the next time we go marketing at Wegmans.”. I never heard that before I met her. In Buffalo, New York, iffy corner stores are called “delis”, even though most of them don’t make or serve deli food. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/108 "2021-07-19T18:00:25Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > I just came across a second reference to raw red bell pepper as parika Parika or Paprika? I work in produce and often see ‘paprika’ on the boxes (or the wiki page when looking something up). > [@Franklymydear](#): > > What do you call a drive thru liquor store? I believe they’re popular in some areas (Texas? NOLA?), I’d never heard of them until I went to college (Kenosha, WI) and there was one nearby. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/109 "2021-07-19T18:29:17Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > My wife is from Los Angeles, and she calls grocery shopping “marketing.”. Like, “I’m going to make a marketing list, for the next time we go marketing at Wegmans.”. I never heard that before I met her. > > In Buffalo, New York, iffy corner stores are called “delis”, even though most of them don’t make or serve deli food. Interesting. I recall the only time I’ve ever heard shopping being called “marketing” or going to “the market” was on the TV show ‘The Brady Bunch’. Died-in-the-wool Los Angeles area show. In downstate NY it was the same thing with any mom & pop corner store being referred to as a deli. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/110 "2021-07-19T18:30:39Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > In Buffalo, New York, iffy corner stores are called “delis”, even though most of them don’t make or serve deli food. I think it’s a NYC thing to call those stores “bodegas”. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/111 "2021-07-19T19:30:50Z")
Depends on the neighborhood, the people who own the store, what food is sold, exactly how the store is set up, etc. In the neighborhood where I live and also the one where I grew up , there are Italian delis, and German/Polish/European delis as well as “bodegas” ---
**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:** [July 19, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/112 "2021-07-19T22:19:08Z")
Around here, there’s a thing called a “tully burger” This is simply a burger with lettuce, tomato, raw onion, cheese, and mayo. When I first moved here I got upcharged to one when I asked for lettuce and tomato on a cheeseburger. It was like a buck more. That place is no longer in business. 20 years later I still think tully burgers are bullshit. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/113 "2021-07-20T01:17:36Z")
I’m a Los Angeles County native, and we called it marketing. And going to the market. Maybe to differentiate from other kinds of shopping? We called that strip of grass between the lawn and the street as the parkway. ---
**Author:** ![dummygladhands71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c0e974/32.png) [@dummygladhands71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dummygladhands71)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/114 "2021-07-20T02:26:53Z")
Pittsburgh native here, and it was always “pop.” When I went to Penn State, middle of PA., I was working in a deli. Some guys came in wanting soda. I told them we don’t carry baking soda. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/115 "2021-07-20T04:12:35Z")
Geez, again Didi44?! Spellcheck! 😅 Yes, _paprika!_ TY! ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/116 "2021-07-20T04:16:38Z")
Interesting. Could it have been named after someone, as some things are? Is wrestler Tully Blanchard from you State? I’m sure somewhere there’s a _The Rock_ or _Stone Cold_ burger! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/117 "2021-07-20T04:27:08Z")
I’m from San Diego, but the NYT test puts me in San Jose. Interestingly enough, I swear that when I took a test like that one 10+ years ago, it picked San Diego. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in Olympia, WA since 2004 and my dialect has slowly been creeping northward. (God help me if I ever start saying “pop” instead of “soda”, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/118 "2021-07-20T04:29:01Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Could it have been named after someone, as some things are? Is wrestler Tully Blanchard from you State? > > I’m sure somewhere there’s a _The Rock_ or _Stone Cold_ burger! We do have a small chain called [The Rock](https://www.therockwfp.com/) in my neck of the woods, but all their burgers and other entrees are named after classic rock songs, not members of the Four Horsemen. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/119 "2021-07-20T05:09:26Z")
_Lightning bolt brainstorm!!_ Four sliders with horseradish! Makes you go Woooooooo! 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2021, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610/120 "2021-07-20T05:17:01Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Interesting. Could it have been named after someone, as some things are? Is wrestler Tully Blanchard from you State? [Apparently](https://www.ithaca.com/dining/restaurant_reviews/tullyburger-reconstructed-story-of-a-homegrown-pattie/article_1114fca8-541c-11e6-bd84-9b7e8ebde6db.html), it’s specific to the area of Ithaca, NY, and it’s named after a regular customer at a local diner. > [@](#): > > Cornell cultural historian Corey Earle was able to track down mention of it as far back as 1951, in a Cornell _Daily Sun_ ad for a diner on the inlet called Wes & Les’s, across the street from the old Lehigh Valley train station at 1002 West State Street. That puts it somewhere near the lot now occupied the gas pumps at Pete’s Grocery. The location would have made it a popular spot for passengers ready to climb aboard or disembark from the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad’s Phoebe Snow passenger train on its route between Hoboken and Buffalo through Ithaca. Wes and Les’s, open all night, served the college students too. One of these was John Martin Tully, class of 1946. > > And this, we think, is how the Tullyburger came into being. In later years, responding to a request in the Cornell _Alumni News_ from an alumnus searching for leads on its origins, Frank Senior, Cornell class of 1949, responded, “Wes, the [Wes and Les] night cook, would make anything you wanted and together he and John [Tully] created the Tullyburger.” Another alum, Bruce Bloom, class of ’56, responding to the inquiry, wrote “The Tullyburger was the gustatorial (and intellectual) property of Wes & Les’s, located in downtown Ithaca, hard by the railroad tracks. Wes & Les’s was open until the wee hours, and purveyed Tullyburgers by the bagsful to hungry Cornellians fortunate enough to have the cars required to journey from the Hill to fetch them.” It reminds me of a pizzeria here in Olympia where one of the signature menu items is a sub sandwich called “the Jake” - pepperoni, salami, and ham, on a roll with mustard-mayo mix on one side and Caesar vinaigrette on the other, topped with pizza cheese and broiled in the pizza oven, then finished with shredded lettuce, tomato, and more vinaigrette. It was supposedly the custom order of a man named Jake at some point in the '60s or '70s that eventually got added to the menu. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unique-local-regional-names-for-common-things/946610.md?page=7)