# Words (or syllables) that give an indication of where you're from **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2019, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789 "2019-05-30T20:28:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [June 2, 2019, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/101 "2019-06-02T03:33:24Z")
> [@txtumbleweed](#): > > That road that runs along the freeway? If someone calls it a “feeder street”, that person is almost certainly from the Houston area. Everywhere else in the world it is either a frontage or service road. I didn’t live in Houston long enough to complete a treatise on the subject, but if it’s true (and I’m not sayin’ it ain’t), there’s something wrong, as all the signs say “Frontage Road.” ---
**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:** [June 2, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/102 "2019-06-02T03:43:47Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > …I sometimes hear myself say “da” instead of “the” and I feel a little ashamed. Thanks, SNL Superfans, now I have a complex. Well, I’m not from Chicago, but any time I hear the word _bears,_ I have to say _“Dahh Bearsss…”,_ intoning George Wendt’s sing-song cadence from SNL. I did it so much I was banned from doing it. And had to learn to play that out silently in my head… when my daughter was on a soccer team called The Bea… I mean, _“Da Bears”_. ETA: I’m a lifelong Packers fan, but even I have to answer “Who could beat the best Packers team ever, led by Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre and Bart Starr?” with “Ditka.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/103 "2019-06-02T03:56:33Z")
> [@txtumbleweed](#): > > That road that runs along the freeway? If someone calls it a “feeder street”, that person is almost certainly from the Houston area. Everywhere else in the world it is either a frontage or service road. A large fraction of the country does not have the freeway feeder street layout. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2019, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/104 "2019-06-02T04:03:36Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > We had a crick on our farm. Any thing that met the definition of a creek was called a crick. > > Except the suburb of Milwaukee was called Oak Creek, because that was a name… Milwaukee also has Honey Creek, pronounced “Honey Crick”, but the street that parallels it is “Honey Cr **ee** k Parkway”. By the way, one always goes “down by” the crick. Come to think of it, based on my mom from there, Milwaukeeans go “down by” almost anywhere. Many of her idioms are from German roots; there were sections of M’waukee (natives do NOT use the “L”) that didn’t speak English. All churches and shops in those 'hoods used German. Hmmm, explains “First English Church”. And they add the possessive to stores: Aldi’s, Nordstrom’s. Mom defends it by pointing out, when she was a kid, the big stores DID have apostrophes: Kohl’s, Gimbel’s, Macy’s, Marshall Field’s. But if a friend of hers is _really_ sick… uh oh, they have to go to “Mayo’s”. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/105 "2019-06-02T04:04:22Z")
“Gaumy”, meaning awkward and clumsy. “Dooryard” instead of driveway. “Numb” used as a synonym for dumb. “Cunning” used as a synonym for “cute.” “Stove up” meaning smashed in, as in what happens to your car when you crash it. “Down cellar” instead of “in the basement” Those are some right off the top of my head that pretty much guarantee the person you’re speaking with comes from Maine. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/106 "2019-06-02T05:38:32Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > If you say “warsh” instead of “wash”, you’re in the swath of territory that runs from MO, through southern IL, s. IN, s. OH and s. PA. > When I moved from Ohio to NYC, I had to learn to say “soda” rather than “pop”. Then when I moved back here, I had to re-learn “pop”, as well as the Mary-marry-merry thing. Make that sw PA; you won’t hear anyone from Philly saying that. I don’t know if these are still current since I haven’t lived there since 1962, but when I was growing up in Philly in the 40s and 50s, we said pavement for sidewalk (Stay on the pavement; don’t go into the street", my mother would say). We said square for block (“it is 4 squares south from here”). Hoagie was strictly local then, although the usage has spread. The first time we went to Atlantic City, my father warned they called hoagies subs there (“because they sink you”). Recent NY Times crossword clue: Hero in Philly. Think of Franklin, Betsy Ross, no, not 6 letters. Answer: hoagie. Sad and bad so not rhyme in Philly. Nor ran and man. The plural of house in Philly is regular, while it is irregular in most of the US. Housez, not houzez. I’m sure there are plenty more. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/107 "2019-06-02T06:04:01Z")
‘You ok?’ I bet you’re from the north of England if that is how you say hello. Most likely Liverpool/Manchester. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/108 "2019-06-02T06:09:30Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > “Stove up” meaning smashed in, as in what happens to your car when you crash it. I remember reading a book by an old west ranch guy who kept describing people as old and stove up. I was not familiar with the term, but “stove” is the past-tense/auxiliary form of the verb “stave” as in to stave off. I presume, since a stave is a long slender stick, being stove up means every morning you wake up feeling like last night you were done to by a bunch of staves. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/109 "2019-06-02T06:20:39Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > In Shpoygin, Scansin, we have: > “ **stop and go lights** ” instead of stoplights > “ **En so**?” as a regular interjection in conversation. > “ **C’mere once** ” instead of “Come over here” > “ **Ainna** ” instead of “isn’t it” or even “ain’t it”. > “ **Start wit me last** ” meaning you’re telling the waitress to take everyone else’s orders first. > " **schmeltin’** means going fishing for smelt. And bite they tiny heads off. > “ **doze** ” for “those”. > > You can hear Sheboygander-speak in all its glory here: [Soundboard | Visit Sheboygan](https://visitsheboygan.com/soundboard/) Very Fargo-ish! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/110 "2019-06-02T06:23:51Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > A large fraction of the country does not have the freeway feeder street layout. We call them collector lanes. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/111 "2019-06-02T06:43:49Z")
Does anyone ever use “plaza plop”? Anyone here know what it means? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/112 "2019-06-02T19:19:37Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > I have been told that the way I say ‘fish’ lets people know that I’m from Durban, South Africa. But I cannot for the life of me hear what I’m pronouncing differently, at all, ever. > > Curiously the next closest accent to my own from outside South Africa is a New Zealand one, and they are also accused of saying fish incorrectly. Thus I can only conclude that we are saying fish correctly and the rest of you are wrong :p. Heah in R-kansas we say fish: ‘Catfish’ ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/113 "2019-06-02T20:04:40Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > We call them collector lanes. We seem to have a lot of CDs (collector/distributors) where the entrance to the freeway is the same lane as the exit from the freeway and the entering traffic merges across the exiting traffic. One that I use frequently is an entrance that merges across an exit that feeds onto a different freeway, so there is traffic going onto the freeway you are exiting in combination with street traffic that is going onto the other freeway. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/114 "2019-06-02T20:25:34Z")
Couple of pidgin Hawaiian terms that mark you are from Hawaii: Howzit (How are you? Hello.) - I subconsciously use this when I met anyone in Hawaii or in the mainland who looks local (no, I can’t describe what being local looks like, it’s just instinct). If they reply _Howzit_! back or Good., they’re from Hawaii. Da kine (Whatchamacallit as well as a state of mind (mad, sad, scared, etc) or a thing. “I want one of those _da kine._” Shave ice or Ice shave - Snow cone with much more finely ground (actually shaved) ice crystals. If you say _Ice shave_, you’re from Hilo, Hawaii (Island). ---
**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:** [June 3, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/115 "2019-06-03T01:09:41Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > Shave ice or Ice shave - Snow cone with much more finely ground (actually shaved) ice crystals. Oh, you mean [Water Ice](https://www.ritasice.com/) (central PA), with \*water \*pronounced (as it always is there) _wuhdder_ ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/116 "2019-06-03T01:42:18Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I didn’t live in Houston long enough to complete a treatise on the subject, but if it’s true (and I’m not sayin’ it ain’t), there’s something wrong, as all the signs say “Frontage Road.” I don’t remember them being signed when I was growing up and with so many folks having moved to Houston I wouldn’t be surprised if the dialect has shifted. However, I never heard the term frontage or access or service road regularly used until I moved to Fort Worth. I would not be surprised if state or federal regulations guide the signage and that frontage is the favored language. As for the term feeder being almost exclusive to Houstonians, I offer this dialect map from the [2003 Harvard dialect survey](https://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_99.html) for reference. And if anyone is interested, [here’s the full list of dialect maps from the survey](https://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html). ---
**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:** [June 3, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/117 "2019-06-03T13:31:52Z")
^ That is some impressive info/charts; thanks for passing it on. Fascinating. I guess I know where I’m going to be for the next couple weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/118 "2019-06-03T13:45:26Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > If someone says their waiting “on line” (vs in line) you know they’re from NY Or NJ. Also if they “wait on” people. Not in an eatery, but instead of “waiting for” them. I’m waiting on the next person on line to come to the register. And if they pronounce the name of Boston’s hockey team with one syllable, they are proper Bostonians. It’s “Broons.” ---
**Author:** ![Casparlatete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/casparlatete/32/3377_2.png) [@Casparlatete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casparlatete)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/119 "2019-06-03T13:49:37Z")
Don’t know how to spell it quite, but when I hear “abowut” for about - they’re Canadian, and to tell the difference between an Australian and and a New Zealander; the latter says “yis” for yes. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2019, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789/120 "2019-06-03T14:50:20Z")
> [@txtumbleweed](#): > > I don’t remember them being signed when I was growing up and with so many folks having moved to Houston I wouldn’t be surprised if the dialect has shifted. However, I never heard the term frontage or access or service road regularly used until I moved to Fort Worth. I would not be surprised if state or federal regulations guide the signage and that frontage is the favored language. > > As for the term feeder being almost exclusive to Houstonians, I offer this dialect map from the [2003 Harvard dialect survey](https://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_99.html) for reference. > > And if anyone is interested, [here’s the full list of dialect maps from the survey](https://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html). I’m born and raised in Houston, and I don’t remember signage for “frontage rd” when I was young either. I never realized that other parts of the country don’t call them feeder streets! Using those dialect charts makes me forget how to talk! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-syllables-that-give-an-indication-of-where-youre-from/834789.md?page=7)