# US Regional Vocabulary Differences **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 5, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006 "2009-01-05T22:31:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/41 "2009-01-06T04:22:02Z")
I used to sit on a chesterfield but now I sit on a couch with my feet on a footstool. Sometimes I sit on the couch after dinner, but we still say supper sometimes, too. I wear gumboots, although we also call them rubbers or rubber boots. Galoshes are overshoes, and we only had one kind, the kind with buckles you wear over your street shoes. Some were for high-heeled shoes. What you call braces the other guy might call suspenders and what he calls suspenders another guy might call galluses. Farmers wear overalls and the kind with sleeves are called coveralls. The red thing they might wear around their neck is a bandana, but once it was a neckerchief. My dad used to wear “bone dries”, which were waterproof work gear, sort of like oilskins, but not. They wear oilskins in NFLD. A toque is headgear and a toboggan is a long wooden/metal sled. We drink pop, and whisky means Rye Whisky. If you want Scotch, say so. A “case” of beer in BC is a dozen, but in Ontario a case of beer is a 2 - 4. We stand _in line_ and “regular” coffee is black without sugar. A doubledouble can be got at Tim’s, Timmy’s or Tim Ho’s, but since I drink black unsweetened coffee I’m not really sure what a doubledouble is. When Tim Ho’s has their “rrrrrrrrrroll up the rrrrrrrrrim to win” contests you can actually buy a little gizmo to make rolling up the rim easier. A well built sturdy device or man is “skookum”. I know what a steam donkey is, also a high rigger, a choker, and a grease monkey. There used to be a skid road in the back of my dad’s place, from the olden days and one of our neighbours used to be the grease monkey who greased the skids with axle grease and oxen pulled the logs over. Jeez. Yes, I’m pretty old. I could go on for ages and ages, but I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/42 "2009-01-06T04:34:40Z")
Southern Ontario checking in… 🙂 The first and last piece of bread: the bunny end. I think that was a family expression though. A carbonated non-alcoholic beverage: pop or soft drink. Toboggan - a flat wooden vehicle with a curved-up front. The entire bottom of the vehicle slides across the snow. It’s definitely not a sled; a sled has runners that slide across the snow and support a separate body raised above. Throw a pass downfield: no frickin’ idea. I know little of football of any sort. The long chair in the living room with cushions: couch, if three or more sitting places. With two sitting places, it’s a ‘loveseat’. I grew up calling this a ‘chesterfield’, though. ‘Couch’ has supplanted ‘chesterfield’, perhaps due to the insidious linguistic influence of the expression ‘couch potato’. The cushiony thing you put your feet on: footrest. Most common greeting in a bar: “Hey, how’s it goin’?” The fixture that shoots water in an arc: water fountain. Addressing a group of people informally: you guys. Meals: lunch and supper or dinner. For me, supper and dinner are synonyms, with dinner being more common. At restaurants, we wait in line for food that’s either “for here or to go”. When it’s raining while the sun’s out: sunshower. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/43 "2009-01-06T04:39:01Z")
A few Montana-isms, some inherited from my father and some picked up when I lived there:[ul] [li]“Ditch” is the same as the Texan’s “branch water,” as in “I’ll have a bourbon ditch.”[/li][li]A “borrow pit” is the depression alongside the road from which dirt was taken to build the roadbed. I never got a definitive answer as to whether the term was a corruption\* of “barrow” or whether it referred to “borrowing” the dirt.[/li][li]Chewing tobacco is “snoose.”[/li][li]Something overly expensive is “spendy.”[/li][/ul]And last (but most certainly not least),[ul]Soy sauce is “bug juice.”[/ul]\*And Montanans cede very little to anyone when it comes to corrupting the language. What they did to my French-Canadian grandmother’s family name would be a capital offense in most civilized countries. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/44 "2009-01-06T04:54:40Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > From Texas, i spent a few months on a contract in New York state. > > At a fast food joint, while deciding what to get, I was asked, “Are you on line?” In Texas he would’ve asked, “Are you _in_ line?” > > When I finally gave my order to the server, she asked, “Is this to stay?” I replied, “No, that’s for here.” I thought she asked, “Is this to go?” like they would in Texas. > > In Texas, we go out for pizza. In New York, they get a pie. That reminds me… I have a friend from NJ who calls marinara sauce “gravy.” Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/45 "2009-01-06T04:58:04Z")
Oh I just thought of one… do you have a [phonetic spelling] bedroom ‘sweet’ or a bedroom ‘suit’? [/phonetic spelling] ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/46 "2009-01-06T05:14:54Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Oh I just thought of one… do you have a [phonetic spelling] bedroom ‘sweet’ or a bedroom ‘suit’? [/phonetic spelling] Suite = sweet. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/47 "2009-01-06T05:23:05Z")
Hey, Sundance! Shouldn’t that be, “How’s it goin, eh?” ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/48 "2009-01-06T05:30:02Z")
I’m from Cleveland, where everything about our speech is absolutely perfect. Who knows what a tree lawn is? ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/49 "2009-01-06T06:10:58Z")
When I was young the living room was always called the front room (Los Angeles; forties and fifties). I haven’t heard that term in years. ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/50 "2009-01-06T06:50:02Z")
I was “raised” mostly in Texas. People who grew up elsewhere were probably “reared”. Our noonday meal was usually lunch, but on occasion could be dinner (Sundays, mostly). The evening meal was generally supper, but dinner was used interchangeably. The long cushioned piece of furniture in the living room was a sofa or couch, but you’d hear divan, davenport or chesterfield once in a while. The thing you rested your feet on was a footstool or an ottoman. When thirsty, you drank soda, soda pop, or coke, which was any flavor of carbonated soft drink, often with redskin peanuts in it. You stored your folded clothes in a dresser or chest of drawers or sometimes a chiffarobe (sp?). A short distance away would be “down the road a piece”, while an indeterminate length of time was “for a spell”. When milk accidentally went bad, it was “curdled” or soured. If you let it go bad on purpose to drink it, it was “clabbered”. After a hard day’s work, you would be “tuckered out”, but if you were especially tired, you were “plumb tuckered out”. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/51 "2009-01-06T07:22:10Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > That reminds me… I have a friend from NJ who calls marinara sauce “gravy.” Weird. I grew up doing that. And I called turkey gravy “sauce.” I think it’s some kind of Italian/East Boston dialect. Not many people do it. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/52 "2009-01-06T07:25:55Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > A few Montana-isms, some inherited from my father and some picked up when I lived there:[…] > Chewing tobacco is “snoose.” Snoose is actually _snus_, a Swedish word for a type of chaw that was flavored with salt. > [@](#): > > Soy sauce is “bug juice.” I learned “bug juice” in Michigan, where it meant any kind of non-alcoholic fruit punch. Are drinking establishments commonly called “taverns” anywhere but Wisconsin? I don’t mean on signs, but in everyday speech - instead of “bars,” which is Upper Midwest shorthand for any kind of dessert squares. (They might be peanut butter, lemon, Rice Krispie, chocolate chip cookie, but you’d just say “we’re having bars for dessert.”) ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/53 "2009-01-06T08:17:33Z")
My wife is Midwestern (well, western Kentucky) and I grew up in New York City. Lots of differences between our speech. The gooey stuff inside chocolates? I say it’s car-a-mel, she say’s it’s car-mel. Putting stuff into the trash? I’m throwing it out, she’s pitching it. There’s lots more but I’ll have to think them through. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/54 "2009-01-06T10:27:00Z")
I am a senior Southerner. We drank co-colas and either co-dranks or col-dranks. The default co-cola was Coke. Pepsi and RC Cola were the other two. If you had a Moon Pie, you were supposed to eat it with an RC Cola just out of tradition. Col-dranks were things like Orange Crush and Nehi Grape or Root Beer. Dr. Pepper was borderline between a Co-cola and a col-drank. Sometimes we put salted peanuts in our bottled drinks. They were good too! Co-colas came in a kind of small bottle that costs 5 cents. A davenport is a small desk – usually with drawers on the side. In West Tennessee we sat on a couch. In Middle Tennessee we sit on a sofa. When I was little we went to the movie The- **ATER** on Saturday nights. Sometimes we would wait _on_ people to finish eating or finish getting dressed before we would go. There was a saying, “If you’re waiting on me, you’re losing time.” My sister’s name is Mary. My mother calls her “May-ree.” I call her “Merry.” And she calls herself “Marry.” She had a boyfriend that called her “Murry.” I wish Maine would lend us “wicked good.” That is the **best** expression! ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/55 "2009-01-06T13:27:25Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > I wish Maine would lend us “wicked good.” That is the **best** expression! When I moved away from Northern NY, it took several years to erase “wicked good/cool” from my vocabulary. It sometimes comes out after I’ve gone back home for a visit, where I still hear it. > [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > I’m from Cleveland, where everything about our speech is absolutely perfect. Who knows what a tree lawn is? My brother has lived in Cleveland for a couple of years now and he told me that you guys drop your Ls, as in “It’s code outside” instead of “It’s cold outside”. But, I don’t know what a tree lawn is. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/56 "2009-01-06T13:47:50Z")
In New Orleans, when they go to the store, they say they’re “going to make groceries.” I say “get groceries.” ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/57 "2009-01-06T14:05:31Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Addressing a group of people informally: you guys. I say that too and it’s not gender-specific. I get so tired of women joking “but what about me?” when I say it. Is that as common outside of NY? Jeans/Dungarees - I remember someone laughing at me in college for calling them jeans, but she was the only person that I’ve ever heard refer to them as dungarees. I’m not sure where she picked that up. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/58 "2009-01-06T14:11:26Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > Twice in recent weeks I’ve heard or read this word usage: “I have to make.” Seems to have been in reference to taking a crap. Is this a regional thing? If so, in which region is this common? I’ve certainly never heard it before. I had a friend (Chicago area) who used that expression when we were kids. My husband’s Mexican co-worker took it a step further. Rather than saying he had to take a shit, he’d say he had to MAKE a shit. I always wondered if there were tool belts and measuring implements involved with that. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/59 "2009-01-06T14:35:35Z")
> [@Karyn](#): > > I say that too and it’s not gender-specific. I get so tired of women joking “but what about me?” when I say it. Is that as common outside of NY? I use “you guys” fairly often and I have no recollection of a woman calling me on it. I think they just breed ornery folk up in NY. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/67e7ee/32.png) [@Finally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finally)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2009, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006/60 "2009-01-06T14:36:15Z")
I grew up in Wisconsin and wore a swim-suit. Now in Chicago I wear a bathing suit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-regional-vocabulary-differences/480006.md?page=4)