# Visitors and Transplants: what have you only heard said in New England? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358 "2010-05-31T06:14:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/41 "2010-06-01T15:47:48Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Call it what you want. It’s an abomination. That would be like calling cioppino or boulliabaisse abominations. It’s just a variation of fish stew, which is common worldwide. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/42 "2010-06-01T15:50:29Z")
NH childhood visits, Concord (Cahncud), Portsmouth (Po-ah-tsmith), and Laconia. “Serviettes” for napkins. I’ve never heard it outside of Concord or Portsmouth. (Not even in France! LOL!) “Two-foah” for small sandwich (not on sub roll, on slices) no idea what the derivation is. I’ve heard “He’s a pissah” and “It’s a pissah” and “wicked” in a hundred connotations, but never “wicked pissah” together. “Wicked good” and “wicked smart” are the most common IME. “I’m going _ **up the** _ store” you might hear it with “up to the . . .” elsewhere, but not shortened like that. “Down the pike” as a generic phrase for anything about 10-20 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/43 "2010-06-01T16:46:17Z")
> [@Winston\_Smith](#): > > Evidently (and I’ve just learned this in the last few years) “Chowder” can be “Red”. Not in New England, it can’t. I’ve lived in the Boston area most of my life since high school, and most of the sayings listed are just not familiar to me, sorry. Ones that used to be are fading, under the pressure of mass internal migration and omnipresent television. We’re homogenizing even regional slang. But I do have the quintessential New England saying to add to the list: “Yankees suck!” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/44 "2010-06-01T16:59:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Not in New England, it can’t." As I said before, the tomato-based clam chowder originates in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is part of New England. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/45 "2010-06-01T17:00:41Z")
Relevant McDonald’s Coffee ad: > **[Lax368](https://www.youtube.com/user/Lax368#p/a/f/1/uFbxpWFs2jA)** > > Share your videos with friends, family, and the world There’s another, with a couple of students in a library, but I can’t find a link. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/46 "2010-06-01T17:01:01Z")
Can we expand it beyond words, to things like hot dog buns? In most of the world, they’re separate rolls with crust on all sides, like an elongated hamburger bun. But in New England, hot dog buns are made stuck together side-by-side, so the sides are vertical and crustless. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2010, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/47 "2010-06-01T18:46:29Z")
“Red Sox Nation”. Try saying “Yankees Nation” in New York. People will stare at you, if you’re lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/48 "2010-06-01T19:21:51Z")
Outside of Grinder as a Sub-sandwich and Wicked Awesome…most have covered the biggies. As for pronunciations: in Maine as someone how much a lobster is and you are likely to hear, " well, depends where you go for lawbstah, could be a couple of dawlahs…" 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/49 "2010-06-01T19:26:20Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > As I said before, the tomato-based clam chowder originates in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is part of New England. Well you are close…Rhode Island Clam Chowder uses a [Clear](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/118817680_186b663b26.jpg)broth, Manhatten Clam Chowder used the [Red](http://www.eastcoastgourmet.com/images/P/MHCH-01.jpg). When it comes to clam chowdah, we’re all pretty protective. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/50 "2010-06-01T19:28:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > That Boston accent can be very thick for those not from there. I walked into a mini-mart one day in the fall in a short-sleeved shirt. The woman behind the counter shouted at me: “Ya hahdee!” Confused, I said “Buh?” or something equally intelligent. “Ya hahdee!” she says again, smiling. I must have looked completely blank, as she then says “Too cold faw that shirt!” I walked away, still puzzling; then it came to me around aisle three: “You’re hardy”. Either that or else she thought you were a hottie. 😛 How about “down cellar”? When I was a kid in RI, you would announce that you were about to go to the basement by saying “I’m goin’ down cellar.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/51 "2010-06-01T19:31:52Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Well you are close…Rhode Island Clam Chowder uses a [Clear](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/118817680_186b663b26.jpg)broth, Manhatten Clam Chowder used the [Red](http://www.eastcoastgourmet.com/images/P/MHCH-01.jpg). That doesn’t contradict what I said. ---
**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:** [June 1, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/52 "2010-06-01T19:33:21Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Either that or else she thought you were a hottie. 😛 > > How about “down cellar”? When I was a kid in RI, you would announce that you were about to go to the basement by saying “I’m goin’ down cellar.” Ah yes. I actually heard that in my GrandFather’s voice when I read it. ::sniff:: And the first crisp day of autumn he’d always declare “Good sleepin’ Weathah!” ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/53 "2010-06-01T20:01:11Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > You can find both New England and Manhattan style clam chowders right next to each other in most supermarket canned soup aisles. There’s the problem. Nobody here would ever buy chowder from the canned soup aisle. . . ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/54 "2010-06-01T23:13:14Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > But in New England, hot dog buns are made stuck together side-by-side, so the sides are vertical and crustless. Of course they are. You can’t toast the sides of the other kind. **Surly Chick** , I like the mention of “seriously” being over-used. We had a terrible training today, and the first thing one of my friends said about it when we finished for the day was “Come on, seriously?” 😃 So people for real don’t say cellar in other places? This, in fact, is part of the story already. > [@](#): > > The whole experience seemed to traumatize the kitten some, because his fur was puffed out in all directions, and his tail bristled like a bottle brush. He only began to calm down as I scaled the cellar steps. 'course, the word “basement” is also in there, and it’s the same place because we use the words interchangably… ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/55 "2010-06-02T02:30:57Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Well you are close…Rhode Island Clam Chowder uses a [Clear](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/118817680_186b663b26.jpg)broth, Manhatten Clam Chowder used the [Red](http://www.eastcoastgourmet.com/images/P/MHCH-01.jpg). > > When it comes to clam chowdah, we’re all pretty protective. Clear broth, my ass. How is “clear broth” any different from leftover steamer water (i.e. the water they used to boil the raw clams)? I lived in Rhode Island for seven years, and always made sure to ask if the chowder was “New England style” (cream broth) or “Rhode Island style” (clear broth). I’ve never heard of a tomato broth outside of New York. Back to New England regionalisms. A “regular coffee” means you want cream and sugar. This took me a while to get used to. Before moving here, I used to say I wanted “regular coffee” as opposed to decaf or flavored coffee. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/56 "2010-06-02T02:49:38Z")
All this talk about clam chowder reminded me of something I’m pissed about. First off, I have to say that I HATE clam chowder. There are (or were) only two places where I’d eat clam chowder. The first is some restaurant on Maine Street in Hyannis MA. The other was the Whale’s Tale in Hampton Beach NH. For some godawful reason, the Whale’s Tale went through an overhaul. The first time we went back after this happened, my boyfriend ordered a bowl of clam chowder (used to be so thick the spoon would stand up straight). They brought him that nasty ass red shit. What kind of self-respecting New England, ocean-view restaurant serves tomato soup with clams in it? blech. Between that and the Happy Hampton burning down, and the ownership of the Regal Inn changing, what’s the point of going to Hampton Beach anymore? I can get a tattoo in MA now. According to the boyfriend, there’s some pub near UCONN that has amazing clam chowder. He said we’ll have to go there soon so I can try it. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/57 "2010-06-02T03:00:07Z")
Oh, and just to add some general information to the thread, these New England phrases and general lexicon do not extend to all of New England. I went to Boston College, which is 25 minutes south of downtown Boston by subway (on a good day), and due to the cosmopolitan nature of the campus, the stereotypical NE words were rarely heard. Even for Boston proper, there are only a few areas that have a thick dialect. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/58 "2010-06-02T07:23:18Z")
> [@](#): > > When I was a kid in RI, you would announce that you were about to go to the basement by saying “I’m goin’ down cellar.” That’s a New Englandism? What about cellar way? Some more for food… coffee milk and clam cakes ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/59 "2010-06-02T09:23:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Relevant McDonald’s Coffee ad: > > [http://www.youtube.com/user/Lax368#p/a/f/1/uFbxpWFs2jA](http://www.youtube.com/user/Lax368#p/a/f/1/uFbxpWFs2jA) > There’s another, with a couple of students in a library, but I can’t find a link. For the record, I was born in New Mexico, and now live in West Texas. Did anyone else have a hard time following what those guys are saying? I know it’s English, but they’re talking so damn fast 🙂 Specifically, I don’t know what was said before and after “packies.” And isn’t that word a racist term in England for people of middle eastern descent? A former student of mine from England used that word once, and I’m pretty sure she was talking about people. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/60 "2010-06-02T11:01:18Z")
Here’s another regionalism: **door yard**. It’s the small yard right outside your front door, elsewhere called a “front yard”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358.md?page=4)