If somebody says “I might could go with you”, what does that mean? Does the person intend to go, or not?
@wellspring we say that here in MI too. Or at least I do. Now I have to listen for it.
My mom has a few leftover British-isms from growing up in England so now I’m not sure.
“needs fixed” is indeed Pittsburgh – pronounced “Picksburg”, y’unz.
That’s a New Jersey locution. We also call the night before Halloween “Mischief Night.” Or at least we did when I was growing up.
College-related terminology differences:
“Credits”, “hours”, “units”: different terms for the same thing.
“Course”, “subject”: at MIT, the meanings are reversed from the common meanings.
“SAT II”: still sometimes seen on these forums, it is an obsolete term for SAT subject tests which has not been used officially since today’s high school seniors were in kindergarten.
“Scholarship”: at a few colleges, refers to need-based financial aid.
My car has tags - front and back. Most of you probably have plates.
It might mean they’ll go, it could mean they’ll go, it might mean they might go, it might mean they could go, it could mean they might go, or it could mean they could go. It’s a tad ambiguous. Ultimately I think it means “maybe”.
My understanding is that a legally registered car has both: the plate is the metal thing and the tag is the sticker with the expiration date.
Not in my usage. I grew up with Tennessee tags. The sticker is called the sticker.
“A package store is a liquor store. Also known as a picky”
When I was in college I had a friend from out of town and ask where the nearest packs was, I had no idea what he was talking about.
Him: Well where do you get alcohol
Me: At the grocery.
Him: What!?? The grocery stores here selll alcohol?
What is called a “pickup truck” in some places is called a “pick 'em up truck” in other places.
@romanigypsyeyes, this one’s for you. It includes the pronunciation that embarrassed me so much when I moved from MI to CA - people busted out laughing when I said ‘muskeeda’. I never knew mosquito was pronounced any other way.
@“Cardinal Fang” yeah, “you guys” is very Jersey.
And it’s still Mischief Night in Jersey. I think it’s the only part of the country, at least according to the dialect maps I have seen.
Like the Californians here, carbonated drinks are soda, not Coke (unless it IS Coke) or pop.
Until I moved to North Jersey, I don’t recall hearing “Not for nothing but…” But here it is standard usage.
I’m dying.
The “bolth” for “both” is so true too. I can’t figure out how to say it without an “l” sound.
“you guys” is VERY common in Missouri/Kansas
I also always heard “muskeeda” which reminded me of:
“crick” for creek
“crawdad” for crayfish
“roly-poly” for ? I don’t know the right word–my husband calls them potato bugs
“lightnin’ bugs” for fireflies
and then there is
“worsh the clothes”
“thems” for they are or those are
Mosquito is definitely the state bird of New Jersey. Have you heard of wetlands???
I’ve lived in both Michigan and NJ–no comparison. Sadly.
Map of “pop” versus “soda” in the US: http://www.popvssoda.com/
In the other thread, I noted that my mother called wash cloths “warsh rags.” And yes, we lived in a rural south-ish place and she came from a poor background, but she called our couch a “divan.” I never could figure that one out - I never heard anyone else in my home town call a sofa or couch a “divan” except for her.
We also called barbed wire “bob wire”.
Drainage ditches along the road were “bar ditches.”
Culverts were “tin horns.”
Misbehaving was “acting ugly.”
Gas stations were “filling stations.”
Capri pants were “pedal pushers.”
There was no other type of garden other than a vegetable garden.
What I called a creek in my youth, is called a run, draw, or an arroyo in other places I’ve lived.
A young man that I worked with who was from Maine thought that a “cattle guard” was a person who watched over the cattle.
@mathmom #25 : “go fasts” is Marine Corps speak; the floor is the deck, etc., etc. Much of it is naval related, since that is the history of the Corps; some of it is just plain silly, but is meant to break the recruit of thinking in civilian terms and buy into the core values of the Corps.
@MaineLonghorn #16 and @“Cardinal Fang” #43 : I once had a recent law school grad come in for an interview with me, our clerk of court, and three justices – two male and one female. The applicant [female] used “you guys” in a sentence, and the female justice was … not pleased. Close to ballistic would be a more accurate description.
Wicked and packy are staples of my vocabulary