# What are your regional "vocal tics"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956 "2018-02-01T16:34:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/101 "2018-02-05T02:59:55Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Pizza is pizza - not “pie” You are correct. REAL pies have pastry in them. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/102 "2018-02-05T03:28:29Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > 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…” “By” and “to” aren’t exact synonyms in my usage. “To” indicates a final destination or at least long term stop. “By” means a short stop on your way to somewhere else. We’re going by Mike’s to drop off the chainsaw, on the way to grandma’s house. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2018, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/103 "2018-02-05T05:40:48Z")
> [@Clarisse\_McClellan](#): > > All of my family are from Kentucky. They dont go to or by the store… They go\* down\*to the store. “I’m going down to Wynn Dixie” or “I was down to Wynn Dixie earlier today”. And “I went down to Mary’s house”. When I visited as a kid I thought everyone and all the stores were at the bottom of a hill. We have neighbors (from Chicago, though that may not be relevant) that say “We’ll come down to your house later.” Our house is UP a steep hill from them, and north of them, too (so “up” on a map…). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/104 "2018-02-05T07:59:59Z")
Is there anywhere besides Jersey where “gravy” can also mean “tomato sauce?” > [@Jennshark](#): > > Alas, as a Mountain West/ West Coast immigrant to the East Coast I don’t have noticeable accent tics > \ > I go to the beach - not “down the shore.” “Down the shore” isn’t an East Coast thing. It’s a Jersey thing. As far as I know, you go down the shore ONLY if you’re going to a New Jersey beach. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > , oh yeah, we don’t wait for anything. We wait on everything. We do? I have heard “wait on” instead of “wait for” used occasionally, but in my experience, we wait for stuff, not on stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/105 "2018-02-05T12:35:55Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Is there anywhere besides Jersey where “gravy” can also mean “tomato sauce?” Some of the more Italian-American parts of the Chicago area. ---
**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:** [February 6, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/106 "2018-02-06T16:48:42Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t know if this is a Michigan thing or more widespread- the use of the ‘j’ sound to replace “did you”. > > As is: “Jeat yet?” “No, Jew?” The proper answer is “K, squeet.” (OK, let’s go eat.) > [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > Hey, Massachusetts people go ‘down’ to Maine. (Came from sailing and how the winds generally blew, I think.) Yeah, from sailing. That’s why the northern coast of Maine is “Down East.” ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/107 "2018-02-06T17:29:04Z")
I’ve been all over, settling in Delaware. Haven’t really heard anything that distinct other than kid slang which I’ve confirmed on urbandictionary. The natives have a distinct pronunciation of “Yeah” though. For me it ryhmes with bath. For them, the Y is very understated, almost having an H sound, with the “eah” part sounding like “eh”. Not quite “heh” but close. I also live near Maryland, and have lived on the panhandle as well, and hear “youse” as the plural form of You quite often. I’ve never lived in the south, but I kind of like saying “y’all” for that. “You” in plural just sounds weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/108 "2018-02-06T17:30:00Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Is there anywhere besides Jersey where “gravy” can also mean “tomato sauce?” My girlfriend, a first generation Italian-American, has lived in Brooklyn her entire life and seems to be aware of the lingo, but she wasn’t aware of sauce being called gravy until I told her it was. The only place in NYC I’ve heard it called that is Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. She also never heard of ricotta being called pot cheese. > [@](#): > > I have heard “wait on” instead of “wait for” used occasionally, but in my experience, we wait for stuff, not on stuff. Same here. “Yo, whataya waitin’ fer over dare?” ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/109 "2018-02-06T18:28:05Z")
Everyone around here waits _in_ line. For some reason, a few New Yorkers I know wait _on_ line, which sounds weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/110 "2018-02-06T19:20:39Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > The proper answer is “K, squeet.” (OK, let’s go eat.) Also acceptable: “Jeet yet?” “Naw, Jew?” “Yaunt to?” “Aight.” And after a meal, your mother might say, “Jav nuf deet? Jaunt smore? Ear yar!” That is, if your mom isn’t out with her peer group, collectively known as “momynyms”. “Momynyms down at the store, I gotta pick 'em up. While I’m gone, you better get your chores done, NODAMENE?” I end with: “Dad, I’m going to hang out with my friends.” " No yarnt!! Smatter chew?!" ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/111 "2018-02-06T20:03:04Z")
To some of the kids I grew up with, “pen” sounded just like “pin,” or even “pi-yun.” If they meant something to write with, that was an “ink pin.” ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/112 "2018-02-06T20:04:45Z")
Someone above talked about ricotta, which reminded me that my parents called cottage cheese (not cream cheese) schmierkase (pronounced un-Germanically as smearcase or shmearcase). But cream cheese was just cream cheese. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/113 "2018-02-08T16:37:10Z")
South-central Wisconsin: “an’ that.” We’re having hamburgers for our cookout, an’ that. I’m going to the store, an’ that. I don’t hear it as much as I used to when I moved here 30 years ago but the woman who sits across from me at work still says it now and then. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/114 "2018-02-08T16:47:22Z")
> [@digs](#): > > My folks were native Milwaukeeans, and remember when there were areas of town that only spoke German (including churches – there’s even a “First English Church” for those NOT of the Master race…). > > But it meant that my parents and grandparents gave us a never-ending supply of idioms for us to make fun of them with. > > _Mom: “Hey, you going by Schuster’s?”_ > > Me: “I AM going by Schuster’s…” > > _Mom: “OH, good, can you get me…”_ > > Me: “…on my way to Goldblatt’s!” > > _Mom: (sigh)“I meant, are you going down by Schuster’s?”_ > And they did the possessive store names (Nordstrom’s, Gimbel’s), and still _canNOT_ stop saying that someone had a medical problem so big that “…they went to Mayo’s”. > > But even they made fun of German transliterations like “I’m coming the back door out!” Or, “Where the bus bends the corner 'round?” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/115 "2018-02-08T21:28:54Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > “By” and “to” aren’t exact synonyms in my usage. “To” indicates a final destination or at least long term stop. “By” means a short stop on your way to somewhere else. > > We’re going by Mike’s to drop off the chainsaw, on the way to grandma’s house. Oh. In that case, it’s like when we say “stop by.” For instance, “We’ll stop by McDonald’s on the way home.” ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/116 "2018-02-08T23:21:19Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I see “Ice cream soda” as kind of akin to calling a pen an “ink pen” or referring to diabetes as “sugar diabetes”. “Sugar diabetes” actually isn’t redundant; the full name of the condition most commonly referred to simply as _diabetes_ is _diabetes mellitus_, the latter word meaning “sweet.” There is another medical condition called _diabetes insipidus_. They are unrelated pathophysiologically, but to the ancient Greeks and Romans, the defining symptom was excessive urination (“diabetes” meaning “siphon,”) with the urine being sweet in one case but bland in the other. My own contribution to this thread is that in southeastern Pennsylvania where I grew up, we said “sick _to_ my stomach” to mean “nauseated,” so I was surprised when I moved south and encountered people saying “sick _on_ my stomach.” ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/117 "2018-02-09T04:33:43Z")
My former mother in law, who is deeply Georgia rural and was raised a sharecropper’s daughter, has many unusual vocal tics. When sampling food that is unfamiliar or to see if the seasoning is right, she will say, “Lemme taste of it” instead of “Let me taste it”. She also says winders and pillers for windows and pillows, and warsh instead of wash. Warter is water. Pillow cases are pillow slips. You tote things instead of carrying them, but she might ask you to “carry me to the store”. There’s a bunch more, but they don’t come to mind right now. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/118 "2018-02-09T04:35:28Z")
Also, you don’t throw things, you chunk it. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/119 "2018-02-09T15:33:48Z")
Appalachian speak is a little different from Southern speak. Whereas a southerner might say “Y’all goin’ to the store?” a mountain person would say “Ere yew-uns goin’ to the store?” My western NC side of the family would say “They lawd” when hearing bad news, which is the Appalachian sound for “The Lord,” short for “The Lord have mercy.” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/120 "2018-02-09T16:23:25Z")
I grew up in Virginia and live in D.C. The use of y’all is perfectly acceptable in both, but right now I’m up in Burlington, VT for business and as soon as I say y’all I instantly hear how jarring it is for the locals. Last night, I stopped by a Chinese restaurant on the way to the hotel where I asked “do y’all do carryout?” a perfectly cromulent question back home, but from their reaction I think they thought a hill person had wandered up the Appalachian Trail and into their place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956.md?page=7)