# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/121 "2018-02-09T16:46:16Z")
Welcome **PapaJoe**! Nice first thread, Conga-rats! My Dad was a frontiersman, in the last frontier- Alaska. A Sled Dog Driver (incidentally, in his area, “Mush” was what you fed your sled dogs, when it was time to go, you simply said “let’s go boys”.) He used Nope, Yep, & Howdy. Thus, I will often do so also. I totally confused a little girl walking with her Dad on the trail, when I greeted them with a Howdy, she had to ask Dad what it meant! A parka is a parki, another Dadism. Living all my life in CA, I dont have that many regionalism. I can say “The 101” or leave off the “the” depending on audience and context. (altho that is not longer such a firm dividing line as Norcalers would have you believe). ---
**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:** [February 9, 2018, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/122 "2018-02-09T18:15:34Z")
> [@PapaJoe](#): > > I’ve picked up on the “y’all” as well. Many friends from the South. Plus, as you said, it’s useful. Totally get the Canadian, “eh?”. The Range accent is so close to the Canadian, only Canadians seem to be able to distinguish the difference. > . . . > ‘You must be from the Range.’ On the Range it’s, 'You must be Jill’s kid." I’ve never heard this before. Where is “The Range?” > [@Aspidistra](#): > > My dentist has an odd one which I’ve never heard anywhere else - a tendency to say “Happy Days!” in place of “that’s great”. Which he does about every two minutes on average > . . . > He’s an ethnically-Indian Home Counties Englishman living in Australia, > . . . And I was reading along thinking “Oh, yeah, from Missouri!” until I hit the second paragraph. I’ve only known two families from Missouri, but they both used that phrase in just that way, and neither was ethnically Indian. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I _think_ he’s being facetious and poking fun at that thread. (Yeah, I’ve never heard anyone call them anything but “garbage trucks.”) Nope, “Trash truck” is perfectly cromulent thing to say here in Northern Virginia. “Garbage truck” has a slightly more cultured, or maybe grown-up ring to it, but trash truck isn’t odd at all. > [@Doug\_K](#): > > I see “Ice cream soda” . . . > > A float is similar, but is just pop and a scoop of ice cream and maybe some whipped cream or a cherry. Anything more and it ceases to be a float, but becomes a soda. I’m confused. To me a “soda” is sparkling water with flavored syrup in it (your “pop”). An “ice cream float” adds iced cream and maybe whipped cream/cherry on top (Your “float”). What else could you possibly add to this to make it qualify as your “soda?” * * * Here’s one for all of you with German idioms, have you ever heard **“Lick your hand backwards”**? This is a decades-old family mystery, resulting from a telephone argument between my German Stepmother and her ex-husband. The overall argument was him not paying enough toward their daughter’s wedding, and she said “Well, you should lick your hand backwards!!” We were all afraid to bring it up as she was spittin’ mad. And now they’re divorced so I never see her. Anybody know what on Earth was meant by that? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/123 "2018-02-09T18:23:36Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Nope, “Trash truck” is perfectly cromulent thing to say here in Northern Virginia. “Garbage truck” has a slightly more cultured, or maybe grown-up ring to it, but trash truck isn’t odd at all. Hmm interesting: > **[Cromulent](https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/what-does-cromulent-mean)** > > 'Cromulent' is a perfectly...well, cromulent word. c\*romulent Though ‘cromulent’ originated as a joke on The Simpsons, it’s a perfectly cromulent candidate for future entry in the dictionary. The word cromulent ended up in the script courtesy of a showrunner’s challenge to the writers. According to the DVD commentary for The Simpsons, the showrunners asked the writers to come up with two nonce words that sounded like words that could be in actual use. Writer David X. Cohen came up with cromulent as one of those words. It means “acceptable” or “fine.”\* > **[Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cromulent)** > > The world's leading online dictionary: English definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more. A trusted authority for 25+ years! \*cromulent adjective Appearing legitimate but actually being spurious\* These disagree on what the word means, which is either ironic or suitable… ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/124 "2018-02-09T18:42:06Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I’m confused. To me a “soda” is sparkling water with flavored syrup in it (your “pop”). An “ice cream float” adds iced cream and maybe whipped cream/cherry on top (Your “float”). What else could you possibly add to this to make it qualify as your “soda?” A soda adds some kind of syrup. Not like what you’d mix with carbonated water to make pop, but a heavy syrup like you’d pour over ice cream - chocolate is commonly used. The liquid in a soda doesn’t even necessarily have to be pop. It could be plain seltzer. Traditionally it would be chocolate syrup on the bottom, followed by 2-3 scoops of ice cream then unflavored carbonated water poured over it to make it foam, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. With a float the pop goes in first and the ice cream is added which floats in the pop (hence the name) then optionally whipped cream and cherry. ---
**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, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/125 "2018-02-09T18:47:17Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Nope, “Trash truck” is perfectly cromulent thing to say here in Northern Virginia. “Garbage truck” has a slightly more cultured, or maybe grown-up ring to it, but trash truck isn’t odd at all. We say trash truck in Georgia, too. That’s just normal. Trash truck, trash can, or outside trash, which is your big container that goes to the curb on, guess what, trash day. ---
**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, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/126 "2018-02-09T18:51:00Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > A soda adds some kind of syrup. Not like what you’d mix with carbonated water to make pop, but a heavy syrup like you’d pour over ice cream - chocolate is commonly used. The liquid in a soda doesn’t even necessarily have to be pop. It could be plain seltzer. Traditionally it would be chocolate syrup on the bottom, followed by 2-3 scoops of ice cream then unflavored carbonated water poured over it to make it foam, and topped with whipped cream and a cherry. > > With a float the pop goes in first and the ice cream is added which floats in the pop (hence the name) then optionally whipped cream and cherry. I know this has been said multiple dozens of times before by lots of other people, but “soda” is a Northern thing. In the South, soda and pop might as well be foreign words. Everything is either a “Coke” or we just call it by the name. “I want a Nehi, RC, Cheerwine or Mountain Dew”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/127 "2018-02-09T22:44:21Z")
> [@PaperBlob](#): > > In the Philadelphia area, you don’t “go to the beach” or “go TO the shore.” You “go DOWN the shore.” When referring to going to the Jersey Shore. In my hometown (NY State), the IBM plant was “the IBM” and it wouldn’t be weird to say “He works up to the IBM”. We weren’t natives, so “He works at IBM” worked for us. I’ve only encountered the negative for a positive construction up here, like “I took a day off yesterday.” “So didn’t I.” “I was pissed off in the meeting and so wasn’t Joe.” ---
**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 10, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/128 "2018-02-10T18:25:06Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I’ve only encountered the negative for a positive construction up here, like > > “I took a day off yesterday.” > “So didn’t I.” > > “I was pissed off in the meeting and so wasn’t Joe.” Wow, an idiom _where you’re saying the exact opposite of what you really mean?_ Anyone else run into this, or have any other examples? I’ve collected regional idioms for decades, but this? This is new territory for me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/129 "2018-02-10T18:50:10Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Wow, an idiom _where you’re saying the exact opposite of what you really mean?_ > > Anyone else run into this, or have any other examples? I’ve collected regional idioms for decades, but this? This is new territory for me. That one is pretty wild. Note, though, that the “positive” statements actually have negative connotations. I’m sure they don’t do it for truly positive statements. Basically, they’re kind of doing what a lot of languages do in their standard forms: have different words for “yes, I agree with the positive thing you said” vs. “yes, I agree with the negative thing you said” vs. “no, I don’t agree with what you said.” In French, this is “oui,” “si,” and “non.” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/130 "2018-02-10T18:54:27Z")
(Correcting myself: French “si” means “I disagree with you — you said something ISN’T true, but I think it IS true.” Overall point still stands.) ---
**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 10, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/131 "2018-02-10T20:19:09Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Wow, an idiom _where you’re saying the exact opposite of what you really mean?_ Well, there’s always the fun “I could care less” and possibly “literally” (depending on your interpretation of those idioms.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/132 "2018-02-10T22:53:19Z")
I dunno what you would call this: In the South, when your Mama calls you in for lunch and you step up onto the porch in your muddy work boots, she’ll tell you to “Take them right on off.” ---
**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 10, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/133 "2018-02-10T23:56:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Well, there’s always the fun “I could care less” and possibly “literally” (depending on your interpretation of those idioms.) UGH! This is such a pet peeve of mine! Many of the people I hear who say “I could care less” in situations where they mean to indicate they don’t give a damn, don’t realize they are saying it wrong. I can’t even give them credit for saying the opposite of what they mean and being aware of that as in these other examples. There are times I just have to be a bitch and correct them. “Oh, you mean you COULDN’T care less?” ---
**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 11, 2018, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/134 "2018-02-11T00:00:29Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I dunno what you would call this: > > In the South, when your Mama calls you in for lunch and you step up onto the porch in your muddy work boots, she’ll tell you to “Take them right on off.” It’s just that wordiness that you find in Southern speech. People will often throw in extra words, as in “Turn that all the way off”, “Pull it all out from under the bed” or “Bring it right on up here”. Why use 1 word when 10 will do? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2018, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/135 "2018-02-11T18:36:38Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > UGH! This is such a pet peeve of mine! Many of the people I hear who say “I could care less” in situations where they mean to indicate they don’t give a damn, don’t realize they are saying it wrong. I can’t even give them credit for saying the opposite of what they mean and being aware of that as in these other examples. > > There are times I just have to be a bitch and correct them. “Oh, you mean you COULDN’T care less?” No, they are not, that phrase means they dont give a damn. The language changes, you have to get over it. ---
**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 11, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/136 "2018-02-11T23:10:50Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, they are not, that phrase means they dont give a damn. The language changes, you have to get over it. Whatever. But I’ll never accept “irregardless”. And get off my lawn. ---
**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 12, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/137 "2018-02-12T03:51:28Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > It’s just that wordiness that you find in Southern speech. People will often throw in extra words, as in “Turn that all the way off”, “Pull it all out from under the bed” or “Bring it right on up here”. > > Why use 1 word when 10 will do? 😉 Oh, man, I want to make that rolling “hurry up” motion with my hand just so my mom’ll get to the end of her sentence before dinnertime. And she’s as Yankee as you can get. I can’t imagine if she were born \*dahn sahth \*… ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/138 "2018-02-12T08:02:33Z")
\*a sing-songy repeat of the NH “a”: anh, anh, AYaa-uhhhh! _I’m pretty sure this is from those classic Saturday morning cartoons, maybe Looney Tunes_. \* ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/139 "2018-02-13T20:37:56Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > That one is pretty wild. Note, though, that the “positive” statements actually have negative connotations. I’m sure they don’t do it for truly positive statements. It’s done for positive statements too. I won the lottery! OMG! So didn’t my aunt\*! \*pronounced “arnt” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956/140 "2018-02-13T21:00:04Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > It’s just that wordiness that you find in Southern speech. People will often throw in extra words, as in “Turn that all the way off”, “Pull it all out from under the bed” or “Bring it right on up here”. > > Why use 1 word when 10 will do? 😉 Latin Americans laugh at Spaniards because Spanish has verbs that mean come-up, or come-down, or go-there… and those of us from the Old World will add redundant complements. They say _sube_ (go up), we say _sube allá arriba_ (go up up there); they say _ven_ (come), we say _ven aquí_ (come right here). We put on the straightest face we have and claim it’s for emphasis. Ending a proposal or question with _pues_ (then) is very typical of Pamplona. It can get chained after _o qué_ (or what). _¿Nos vamos o qué, pues?_ Are we leaving or what, then? My sister in law is Aragonese. It took my brother several years to get her to stop calling him _maño_, “_no honey, you are the one who’s maña, I’m not_ :D”. _Maño_ (or _maña_) is both a nickname for people from Aragon and what they call everybody. Way back when my hometown started getting exchange high school students from the US we had to learn to explain that yes, it’s normal for a waiter or retail worker to call you “love”, “pretty one”, “sweetheart” - nowadays I would explain it as being “like Southerners calling everybody ‘honey’, but in Spanish.” It’s just a substitution filler for a place where your name would go if the speaker happened to know it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-regional-vocal-tics/807956.md?page=8)