# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/61 "2010-06-02T13:11:36Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > There’s the problem. Nobody here would ever buy chowder from the canned soup aisle. . . They sell chowdah in cans? Ahh you shittin me? ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/62 "2010-06-02T13:18:59Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > 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. Q: “What do they ask for at a packie?” A: “I.D.” I suppose elsewhere, ‘Paki’ can mean ‘Pakistani’, but I have no idea if it’s a bad thing to say or not. Hereabouts, a ‘Packie’ is just a place you can buy beer (bee-ah), wine and liquor (likkah). ---
**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, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/63 "2010-06-02T15:11:30Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > but they’re talking so damn fast 🙂 Oh yeah. That’s another thing. We talk very fast here. I had no trouble following what they were saying. According to [urbanddictionary.com](http://urbanddictionary.com), packie is a package store. Paki is the racial slur. Unfortunately, they sound the same. The only time I have ever heard paki used was while watching Bend it Like Beckham. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/64 "2010-06-02T15:19:06Z")
> [@bikergeek](#): > > Boston-area transplant since 1999 here… > > “Tonic” for what most of the rest of the USA calls “soda” or “pop” (“sweet non-alcoholic carbonated beverage”). Actually, this may be on its way out among the younger generations. I know only one person under 40 who uses it and she grew up in Dorchester. > > “Packie”, short for “package store”, both of which I’ve not heard outside New England and mean “liquor store”. “Ah’m goan’ onna packie run, anybody want some beeahz?” > > “Breakdown lane”–what most places call the “shoulder” or “hard shoulder”. > > “Chowderhead”–stupid or foolish person. > > “Carriage”: what you put your groceries in at the supermarket. Referred to as a “cart” or “buggy” elsewhere. > > “Rotary”: what New Jerseyans would call a “traffic circle” and the rest of the world would call a “roundabout”. Actually, there are subtle differences among the three, but that’s something that’s probably only of interest to roadgeeks (like me) and traffic engineers. Huh. I’ve lived in New England all of my life (grew up and live in CT, went to college in RI) and I never knew any of these were regionalisms except for package store. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/65 "2010-06-02T19:20:57Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > 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). That’s not chowder; that’s spaghetti sauce. ---
**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, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/66 "2010-06-02T19:22:16Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > That’s not chowder; that’s spaghetti sauce. Your spoon stand straight up in spaghetti sauce? I wanna eat at your house. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/67 "2010-06-02T20:10:32Z")
I grew up in eastern Massachusetts and moved away in 1987 when I went off to college. This thread is making me nostalgic. I remember hearing/using: bubbler, tonic, sneakers, wicked, “so don’t I”, grinders, frappes, and pretty much everything else in this thread. Also Friendly’s restaurants, which have spread beyond New England now but were very regional at the time. ---
**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 2, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/68 "2010-06-02T20:18:53Z")
> [@](#): > > I remember hearing/using: bubbler, tonic, sneakers, wicked, “so don’t I”, grinders, frappes, and pretty much everything else in this thread. Also Friendly’s restaurants, which have spread beyond New England now but were very regional at the time. we called them “sneakers” in New Jersey, too, where I grew up. Friendleys had an interesting approach to the nomenclature – their confection made with milk, ice cream, and syrup was neither the general “milkshake” nor “shake” nor the regional “frappe”. Perhaps with an eye to spreading beyond New England, they christened theirs the _Fribble_. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/69 "2010-06-02T21:52:22Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Also Friendly’s restaurants, which have spread beyond New England now but were very regional at the time. I remember them from when they were just called “Friendly”, not “Friendly’s”. (The thing was, everybody referred to them as “Friendly’s”, so I guess they finally decided to just go along with it.) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/70 "2010-06-02T22:42:45Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > 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.” “Nice, McDonalds” “Ah ah… Blizard of?” “78” “New Yorkachusetts” “Connecticut.” (making fun of Conn for “barely being New England”) “Drinking fountain?” “Bubbler” “What do they ask for at a packie?” “ID” “Sprinkles or jimmies?” “Oh, jimmies.” “five inches of snow?” “Dusting.” “Manhatten Chowdah?” “Never heard of it.” They’re actually talking slower than normal, though. I think it’s the clipped syllables throwing you. ---
**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 3, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/71 "2010-06-03T17:16:23Z")
IME “Coffee, regular” is coffee with milk and sugar. “Regular coffee” is “Not that frou-frou shite. The stuff they sell at the grocery stoah.” ---
**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 3, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/72 "2010-06-03T19:09:49Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > IME “Coffee, regular” is coffee with milk and sugar. > > “Regular coffee” is “Not that frou-frou shite. The stuff they sell at the grocery stoah.” In my experience here in New England, I get cream and sugar in both cases. (And they usually they fill the bottom quarter of the cup with cream, and shovel 4 teaspoons of sugar into the cup.) I have no idea how to indicate that I don’t want flavored or decaf up here. I usually just say, “regular coffee, with half the cream and sugar” and that gets me what I want. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/73 "2010-06-03T19:41:05Z")
I don’t know if it’s a strictly Rhode Island thing, but we tend to say “side by each” instead of “side by side.” Also, we have “garage sales” here, but the moment you cross the Connecticut border, they’ve all mysteriously turned into “tag sales.” ---
**Author:** ![moldybread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@moldybread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldybread)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/74 "2010-06-03T19:50:48Z")
In Albany, New York all words ending in D suddenly start ending with a T. Like for instance, " Oh she’s stupit." or, “He kilt that deer.” There was a saying there that I havent the slightest idea where it comes from. When something gets in your eyes like smoke or dust, we would say “I hate dead rabbits.” Anyone have a clue what it refers to? And lastly, up near Plattsbugh N.Y. you will hear alot of “EH” and “Aint it” after a sentence. For instance, “You better put on your tuk, you know its cold out here Eh.” and, “That girl is crazy, aint it?” What the hell is a tuk? Must be a hat or something. This is very close to Canada so maybe thats where they “EH” comes from ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/75 "2010-06-03T19:59:58Z")
**Robby:** You don’t tell them you don’t want decaf or flavored. They only give it to you if you ask for it. If you don’t specify what you want added to your coffee, regular will get you cream and sugar in unflavored caffeinated coffee. If you start being specific, regular will just let them know what kind of coffee you want them to start with (unflavored caffeinated). In my case, it’s medium regular milk and sugar. If I wanted cream, I’d just say medium regular but I want milk so I have to be specific. I’m not sure how it is at Starbucks or Tim Horton’s (if you’re in RI or ME). In MA, we call them yard sales, garage sales, tag sales - order of popularity depends on where in the state you are. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/76 "2010-06-03T20:03:16Z")
> [@moldybread](#): > > And lastly, up near Plattsbugh N.Y. you will hear alot of “EH” and “Aint it” after a sentence. For instance, “You better put on your tuk, you know its cold out here Eh.” and, “That girl is crazy, aint it?” What the hell is a tuk? Must be a hat or something. This is very close to Canada so maybe thats where they “EH” comes from I didn’t hear much of either of those when I lived in Plattsburgh but they call scratch tickets scratch-offs and idea sounds like ideal. I thought the idea thing was just my sister’s boyfriend but I started hearing it more and more. Also related to Plattsburgh, my sister is coming to visit me this weekend and she’s bringing me 2 jars of Michigan sauce from McSweeny’s! I’m so excited! ---
**Author:** ![moldybread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@moldybread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldybread)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/77 "2010-06-03T20:11:15Z")
> [@congodwarf](#): > > I didn’t hear much of either of those when I lived in Plattsburgh but they call scratch tickets scratch-offs and idea sounds like ideal. I thought the idea thing was just my sister’s boyfriend but I started hearing it more and more. Also related to Plattsburgh, my sister is coming to visit me this weekend and she’s bringing me 2 jars of Michigan sauce from McSweeny’s! I’m so excited! You wont hear it in Platt. but in the small farm communities around it. It’s bizarre that it isnt used in Platt. itself. I’ve always wondered why. OOOH YUM Mcsweeny’s! Hey thats another one, they call hotdogs Michigans! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/78 "2010-06-03T21:35:00Z")
> [@moldybread](#): > > In Albany, New York all words ending in D suddenly start ending with a T. Like for instance, " Oh she’s stupit." or, “He kilt that deer.” > > There was a saying there that I havent the slightest idea where it comes from. When something gets in your eyes like smoke or dust, we would say “I hate dead rabbits.” > Anyone have a clue what it refers to? > > And lastly, up near Plattsbugh N.Y. you will hear alot of “EH” and “Aint it” after a sentence. For instance, “You better put on your tuk, you know its cold out here Eh.” and, “That girl is crazy, aint it?” What the hell is a tuk? Must be a hat or something. This is very close to Canada so maybe thats where they “EH” comes from Interesting. Maybe someone could do a thread about other regions of the country, too. (Everyone reading this thread knows that NY isn’t part of New England, right?) ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/79 "2010-06-03T21:52:22Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > (Everyone reading this thread knows that NY isn’t part of New England, right?) When I lived in Plattsburgh, I was told many times that Upstate NY would rather be part of NE than NY. They say that the whole state north of Albany is forgotten about when decisions are made. Even the Upstate description generally refers to Albany. It’s kind of its own little world up there. I used to tell people I lived upstate of Upstate. When you say you live near the NY/Canada border, people assume you mean Buffalo. When I say, no the other Canada, they assume I mean VT. I even had someone once argue with me about whether or not Plattsburgh was even in NY. So, I’d say that upstate of Upstate qualifies as NE. In my experience, they have more Boston fans than NY fans so that alone should qualify them for honorary New Englander status. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358/80 "2010-06-03T22:47:42Z")
> [@robby](#): > > 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. Um, didn’t we just say the same thing? Born and raised in eastern CT and lived in RI [North Kingstown] for several years. Clear broth is the water left from the steamers or clams…red is from new york…I think we’re saying the same thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/visitors-and-transplants-what-have-you-only-heard-said-in-new-england/541358.md?page=5)