Hi all! This is officially my first thread on the SDMB. I hope it goes well.
Recently, I’ve been noticing certain “vocal tics” in myself. By this I mean certain reflexive turns of phrase or sounds made in certain social situations. Being a Minnesotan, I’ve seen numerous posts on social media recently about the Minnesota “ope” that we use in place of “excuse me” or “pardon me” when we nearly collide with someone. This has had me monitoring myself, and I’ve noticed others that I suspect are regional. F’rinstance: I find myself ending conversations on the phone with the phrase “Bye now”. I realized I’ve heard my mother, grandmother, father, and many other Rangers end phone conversations this way. Does anyone else around the country use this particular phrase?
What regional “vocal tics” do my fellow Dopers have?
I’m sure Chicago has many of them, but I think of the extraneous possessive “s” added to business names. It doesn’t happen with all business names, but, for example, Jewel is the main local grocery chain. People will say they’re going over “to da Jewel’s” instead of “to Jewel.” This construction was also used with historical places like Venture and Zayre department stores. It doesn’t seem to be in use as much with newer chains (I’ve never heard “Target’s” for instance. That said, I have heard “I’m going over to Costco’s.” Doesn’t work with “Walmart.” Not sure what the rules are for when it is used or not.)
My dad and I (and apparently his dad before him) use the word “once” in odd situations. I didn’t notice I did this until at a job in my early 20s and someone said “Not twice? How about three times?”
Examples of how we use it: “Can you hand me that hammer once?” or “Come here once.”
For geographic reference: My Dutch grandfather was born in Michigan, spent most of his life in South Dakota, my dad grew up in South Dakota and much of adulthood in Michigan. I don’t know if it’s a Michigan thing, South Dakota thing, Dutch thing, or just a Lendervedder thing.
Around these parts, we don’t go to Target. We shop at “Tar-zhee” (think bad French accent). We like to feel fancy while picking up fifty pound bags of dog food and paper towels.
Minnesotan, too. I never noticed “ope” until it was pointed out to me. And now I cannot NOT hear it. I try not to say it, but I do.
But the “Bye now” thing just came up at work. We hired a new worker who is from down Rochester way. She terminated every call with “Bye now” and it drives all us Minneapolitans nuts. It must be a country thing.
My aunt is from Texas and cannot get over the fact that I guess us Ohioans say we are going “by” someone’s house instead of “to” someone’s house. She’s been in our family for 30 years and will still stop you dead in a conversation to mock you about driving by and waving if you say “Yeah we went by uncle Fred’s for a bit…”
I’ve noticed, and sort of collected, a similar thing about parental reflexive vocalizations. When very young children are about to do something wrong or dangerous, parents have these regional noises they make to signal their disapprobation. These are the noises that generally will stop children in their tracks long before a word or phrase can do it.
My Georgia Mother made a very gentle, drawn out, back of the throat noise: Uhn-ahh, Unh-ahhh!
My New Hampshire relatives (including Dad) all used a very loud, harsh sound like the “a” in “yam”: Anh, anh, anh, anh!
A Father I knew from Texas used: Whup, whup, whup!
A Brooklyn Mom use a sing-songy repeat of the NH “a”: anh, anh, AYaa-uhhhh! anh, anh, AYaa-uhhhh!
A Mother from India (don’t know what region) used a five sound repeat: NAH! nah-nah-nah, naaaahhh NAH! nah-nah-nah, naaaahhh
I find these noises absolutely fascinating for some reason. I think they were probably the true beginnings of language.
[quote=“PapaJoe, post:4, topic:807956”]
Around these parts, we don’t go to Target. We shop at “Tar-zhee” (think bad French accent). We like to feel fancy while picking up fifty pound bags of dog food and paper towels.[/QUOTE-
There used to be a similar thing around here about JC Penny’s. Folks would jokingly refer to their blue jeans or ski pants as “Jacque Pen-AYs”
Yep. Another one, which I understand is Germanic influence and also heard up in Wisconsin and possibly Minnesota, is the “come with” construction. As in, “Hey, Jimmy, I’m gonna run over to da Jewel’s to pick up some Old Styles, ya wanna come wit’?”
It only took me a few months living in CA to stop saying “wicked” as in “it’s wicked cold outside”. But then, it’s rarely “wicked cold” here anyway.
But I have not picked up the local expression “right on”, as a way of saying “good for you” or “that’s cool”:
My son just graduated from Cal. (Cal = University of California at Berkeley)
Right on!
I imagine that started out in surf culture, but you hear it from all types of people here in NorCal. I can’t attest as to whether it’s a SoCal thing as well, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it started there, either.
I’m in Milwaukee, I just heard about the Ope thing as well, but in an article that people in Milwaukee do. I had no idea what they were talking about, then I heard other people do it, then I noticed myself doing it, then I’m pretty sure I heard people on TV doing it. So I don’t know it’s regional or a bit more common than that.
That same article also mentioned the possessive S. That’s hardly a Milwaukee/Wisconsin/Midwest thing. It’s bad grammar and nothing more. It seems to me that’s like saying ‘you know your in [our city] when people write your instead of you’re’. No, it’s just a common mistake. In fact the possessive S is common enough to have it’s own name, The greengrocers apostrophe.
I grew up in New Mexico, which means lots of Spanish words and phrases sprinkled into my English. Cussing was in Spanish. Lots of, “¡A la ve!” and, “¡A la maquina!”, not to mention, “¡Orale!”
I live in Texas now, and a lot of that New Mexican-ness has passed out of my everyday language. I suppose the most obvious is that I do in fact greet people with a relaxed “howdy” that sounds more like “hahdeh”. I’ve also picked up “might could” instead of “I will try.”
Western Pennsylvania here. I grew up surrounded by people saying “yinz” and being told to go red up my room. My dad would bring home a big block of “jumbo” (that’s bologna) and slice it up and fry it for sandwiches.
