<p>It was always “submarine sandwich” or “sub” - long, long before subway ever came along. I never understood “subway” considering we don’t have any subways here. I had the hardest time with that restaurant when they first started showing up.</p>
<p>“You guys” is used a lot - or “you” for plural, never y’all. Never, ever, ever.</p>
<p>And tennis shoes - not sneakers. I’ve heard the term occasionally and never understood it anyway. And really, why do we call running shoes “tennis shoes” anyway???</p>
<p>I grew up in the Phila area, say “hoagie” and “soda”. Sneakers became “running shoes” for me! In the South, plural of you is “all y’all”. I do the 3 Mary/merry/marry pronunciations.</p>
<p>PhotoOp-we sometimes use y’all, and I’m a born and raised CA girl. My peers as well. I understand it in my family since my dad’s family is from the south (Grandpa from OK, grandma from AR)…not sure about my peers that say it.</p>
<p>I have a classmate from Pennsylvania who gets a lot of guff for saying “yinz”…or “yinz guys” for plural.</p>
<p>I say “baygull” but there are some people I’ve met in IN who say “bAHgull” (a as in apple)</p>
<p>you’uns or y’inz is found in the Ozarks (S. AR, N. MO) Many of the people who settled there came from the Appalachians.</p>
<p>H’s family is from Memphis. His brother recently married a Chicago native–at their wedding reception, the bride and groom sang a personalized version of “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off”–really clever. Wish I could remember all the words they used–“sausage” was one of them. . .</p>
<p>Amen! (And by the way, that’s a long vowel “A” and not a short.)</p>
<p>My daughter’s name is Mary and we sat here for several minutes trying to figure out any other way of pronouncing merry and marry. They’re all Mary!</p>
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<p>Yes and they are called pony-kegs. Why didn’t anyone on the map know that??</p>
<p>THere is a speech thing in the middle of the country that drives me insane. Katie Couric does it. It’s making “ing” into een. I can’t watch her shows because it bothers me so much.</p>
<p>What about “bowlth” instead of “both?” Gets under my skin for some reason. Not sure if it’s regional or not, but bleeeech.</p>
<p>VillageMom–here, a “pony keg” is a smaller keg.</p>
<p>When I first moved to Virginia (I’m just here for my summer internship), I had no idea people here had slight Southern accents! I guess I never considered VA “the South.”</p>
<p>Someone, within a few days of my moving here, told me one day “I love your accent!” Apparently I don’t pronounce my vowels in certain words, according to her. I never knew Californians had an accent (no, the “surfer dude” accent DOES NOT COUNT. I’ve never heard anyone talk that way in my life.) I DO know that I speak very quickly. Not sure if that’s a CA thing or a my-family thing; we all do it. Didn’t realize it until I did theatre in high school and the director would constantly say, “you need to slowwwwwww down!”.</p>
<p>When I used to visit in Connecticut, it seemed like many people used a sort of gutteral stop in lieu of the T sound in words like water, battle and bottle. It was wah-gulp-uhr, bah-gulp-uhl, and baa-gulp-uhl. I can pronounce Mary-merry-marry three different ways but don’t always do so.</p>
<p>I lived in Colorado until I was six then Michigan until adulthood so don’t think I have a regional accent. But I can pick one up quickly! A couple of days in New England or Texas and I’m close to a native. But I’m sure I wouldn’t use the correct colloquialisms.</p>
<p>I and the rest of Tennessee (I have lived in Middle and East) would have to vote “none of the above” one one. A road where you drive real fast is an Interstate not Highway. Highway has traffic lights, cross roads and a 55 mile/hr speed limit. Interstate has no traffic lights, on ramps and 70 miles an hour. I would call it a freeway before I would call it a highway.</p>
<p>I too especially liked the map regarding how to address a group of two or more people. I’m from Kentucky. As indicated on the map, we do not say y’all, as in the south; it’s two distinct words for us - you + all. I was a bit surprised to see that no other region uses the expression. I must admit it’s always bugged me a bit to see KY characters in literature, tv, or movies using y’all. We don’t say that!</p>
<p>VillageMom, I will have to stand with GalaxyFigment as a fellow Tennessean. We use Interstate because all the “freeways” are interstates.
I grew up on Long Island many years ago, and would never use highway generically. It was expressway, parkway or thruway, (and yes it is spelled thruway). When talking about interstates we just used the number, such as take 95 and 81 or I-95 and I-81.</p>
<p>VillageMom,
I live just south of Cinci, in Northern KY, so I’m familiar with the term pony keg. I didn’t realize that they were drive-through stores. I just thought the term meant a small, locally owned shop - kind of like an Ameristop that just happens to sell alcohol.</p>
<p>Do you say pop? I hear that term from many on both sides of the river, but my husband and I have always said soft drink. I grew up in Louisville and H is from Ludlow with parents from Alabama. His Alabama relatives do use the term Coke for all soft drinks. To us it sounds a little nutty. Coke is the stuff made by Coca-Cola only. Pepsi, Seven-up, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, etc. are not Coke to us!</p>
<p>One regional expression I see mentioned often in stories about quirky regional usages is the use of “please” to mean, “could you repeat what you just said? I didn’t understand you.” It comes from the German usage of bitte (please in English) for that function. Greater Cincinnati has a huge number of citizens of German ancestry. The funny thing is that Louisville also has a very large Germanic population, but people there don’t use please to mean “excuse me?”</p>
<p>That’s interesting because Katie Couric was born and raised in Arlington, VA and attended UVA–hardly the “middle of the country.” I’ve always associated that speech pattern with the South, though you do hear it in southeast Michigan and in parts of Ohio that have a lot of Appalachian migrants.</p>
(no, the “surfer dude” accent DOES NOT COUNT. I’ve never heard anyone talk that way in my life.) I DO know that I speak very quickly. Not sure if that’s a CA thing or a my-family thing; we all do it. Didn’t realize it until I did theatre in high school and the director would constantly say, “you need to slowwwwwww down!”.</p>