<p>In Texas, EVERY carbonated drink is a Coke, except Dr. Pepper. The word pinch comes out peench (though a stint in Denver broke me of that habit quickly); and if a storm is on the horizon, we always say ‘looks like we’re going to get some weather’. That last one drove my husband nuts…said ‘weather’ doesn’t come and go, it just changes. :-)</p>
<p>Momof2inca, that’s why I never, ever correct him; he has flawless diction; these things come out of his mouth when one leasts expects them and they’re very cute. </p>
<p>The security guard in my Miami office building totally mixes up language though - he speaks little english, and when I return from travel, he’ll always ask “is (NYC, Philly, D.C.) mucho cold”? Or when I’m leaving at night “you go casa”? </p>
<p>The little open air cafe downstairs where I try to order food is totally hopeless, though. I’ve given up trying to tell them what kind of coffee I want from all of the varieties they serve, so, we’ve found a method that works - if I lean heavily on the counter and make facial and physical expressions of exhaustion, they bring me a very, very strong cup of espresso. If I act all bubbly, energetic and happy, they bring me something that tastes very good, contains extra cream, but isn’t nearly as strong. I don’t have to say a word.</p>
<p>Ordering food is harder though - they have an extensive menu and usually I can say words and get something close to what I actually want to eat. Sometimes though something completely unexpected shows up. I just pay, and eat it anyway. </p>
<p>The funniest experience D and I had - there’s a Cuban restaurant in a very poor section of Miami that we just love - the food is excellent and the prices are incredible - but it’s the sort of place where you tell the person behind the counter what you want, and they dish it out for you. Buffet style I guess. Typically we just point and say “that” and hold up two fingers, etc., although we do now finally know some of the words that relate to the stuff we eat all the time. </p>
<p>One day though we saw something new and interesting, but we couldn’t tell if it was turkey, or pork, or chicken. D tried asking “is that chicken? turkey? pork?” but the young woman behind the counter didn’t understand. We thought it was pork but neither of us could think of the word is spanish. Finally, D said “is it” and then began snorting like a pig very loudly - the young woman behind the counter, and everyone else within hearing range burst out laughing. It was indeed pork, so we got it, and it was excellent.</p>
<p>I don’t know how to spell it but has anybody here ever heard of a “geelarker” (or “Jeelarker”)? My aunt just rattled off an email and asked why "none of you geelarkers have written. We always say that but not sure what it even means. Couldn’t find it anywhere on google!</p>
<p>Latetoschool: At least the pig sound was intelligible! Roosters crow “cocorico” in French. I don’t know if the guy behind the counter in your restaurant would have understood it.</p>
<p>On the coasts it’s “soda.” In the middle of the country it’s “pop.”</p>
<p>What we would in SoCal would call a casserole, in the Minnesota they call “hot dish.”</p>
<p>West Texas quirks:</p>
<p>Oil is pronounced “o-e-all” (3 syllables, at least).</p>
<p>Aunt is pronounced “ant”.</p>
<p>Any two or more people is “ya’ll” but it’s also okay to say ya’ll to one person.</p>
<p>A grocery store or market is “the store”.</p>
<p>“Fixin’ to” is an acceptable preface for any verb, as in “I’m fixin’ to go to the store, do ya’ll want something?” Most people use “fixin’ to” when they are thinking about doing something. If you are actually leaving and not just fixin’ to leave, then you are “goin’ to” as in “I’m goin’ to the store”.</p>
<p>As IDMom said, every soft drink/soda is a Coke. If you order a Coke in a restaurant, the server will ask “what kind?” and if you respond “Dr. Pepper” or “Pepsi” no one will blink an eye. Lots of people drink Dr. Pepper here compared to other places. It’s popular, but by far the most popular non-alcoholic drink is tea - which is always iced, so you don’t even have to ask for ice. If you want hot tea, be prepared to wait a while.</p>
<p>As IDMom also said, we get weather. Hot 100 degree weather and cold 10-degree weather, tornados, lightening (sometimes without rain), 70-mph winds, and dead calm. That’s in just one day and sometimes in the space of a couple of hours. It will be different tomorrow when we get more weather.</p>
<p>I won’t even start with nuclear.</p>
<p>This drives me crazy-
How do you pronounce Hawaii? My folks say “ha- why- yah”.
Also my dad picks up the phone and says “YELLow!”</p>
<p>In Philly, a submarine sandwich is a “hoagie”.</p>
<p>Hick, cracker, red-neck, good old boy…</p>
<p>Doohickey, thingamabob.
Jamockie (?)
Catty Whompus!</p>
<p>and we eat ‘grinders’ in connecticut</p>
<p>Sofa, couch, divan. Grew up on Oklahoma, husband in Texas - it’s a couch.</p>
<p>soda, pop and coke.</p>
<p>(its soda btw)</p>
<p>Here’s some more Texas-isms:</p>
<p>there is no difference in the pronunciation of “pen” and “pin” – they both sound like “pin”</p>
<p>I’m waiting on him to arrive (instead of waiting for him to arrive)</p>
<p>IN-surance instead of in-SUR-ance</p>
<p>In Maryland – water is pronounced woo-ter</p>
<p>In the south – please mash 4 for me (in the elevator); me: what?</p>
<p>In New Orleans – would you like that “dressed?” (meaning with mayonnaise and lettuce)</p>
<p>In Pittsburgh – y’ins (instead of y’all)</p>
<p>Local kids here (California) often say “on accident” rather than “by accident” (that one drives me crazy)</p>
<p>In living in different parts of the country, I have found buying food is done by going to the market, grocery, store, superette, or pigglywiggly or a&p (even if it was not that brand…)</p>
<p>There is also pharmancy, drugstore or rexall (even if that was not the brand…)</p>
<p>My Indiana “nana” “warshed and rinched” dishes–and clothes.</p>
<p>And the most surprising euphemism I’ve encountered for women’s “monthlies” was in Virginia where it was “falling off the roof”!!</p>
<p>and add to sofa, couch, divan. In my family it was a “davenport” !?</p>
<p>Post 18, re: standing in/on line. I’ve only stood in line in the 5 states I’ve lived in (DE, PA, VA, WV, upstate NY) but perhaps they say that further up or down the coast? or maybe “the east coast” is too broad an area.</p>
<p>Around here there’s a Pennsylvania Dutch influence. One of the funny phrases is “beings how”. As in…“beings how we’re all here we might as well have lunch.”</p>
<p>I don’t know if this is a regional variance or if we’re just stuck in a rut, but, in my shop, we cannot have a meeting without everyone concluding their remarks, multiple times, with the phrase “at the end of the day”. It starts with one person, then it’s contagious, next thing, everyone around the table has said it at least five times, and sometimes it goes in round robin.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, one gets tired of hearing it, but never tired of saying it lol. </p>
<p>Kathiep, where I orbit the phrase is “seeings how” as in “seeings how we’re all here this morning, at the end of the day, we have to get this done” etc. </p>
<p>Standing “in line” is “in queue” or “in the slide deck” or “I have the ball”. No clue why…</p>
<p>BES,</p>
<p>When I went to CMU back in the day, the most disconcerting expression I heard out of Pittsburghers’ mouths was the term “yins”. This is the Western PA version of “y’all”. </p>
<p>Example: Yins want another Arn City Beer?</p>
<p>Hey, motherdear – I went to CMU back in the day too! That was the first time I head the word y’ins, as well as the phrase “my car needs washed”. Your “arn city beer” remark brought back memories!</p>