Odd regional expressions

[Manedwolf]

I have NEVER heard anybody say that.  What does that mean? 

Go to Maine, to small towns, and ask directions from old guys sitting on a porch. Usually, they'll tell you that, and then the town they'd never heard of is right down the road. They'd just never gone there.

[Grandpa Shooter]

I went to Lexington Ky one time and a clerk at a unique antique and gift shop asked if I was from around there.  I answered that we were visiting in a neighboring town.  The town was roughly 20 miles away.  Her answer was that she grew up there and left after high school and she had never been back.  The woman had to be close to fifty years old.  When I asked how far she had ever been she replied, from there to here.  Huh?

[MillCreek]

Ya sure, ya betcha!  A favorite expression in Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood characterized by a heavy Scandinavian population and maritime influence.  

[RaspberrySurprise]

One thing everyone around here says as far as getting coffee is just "I'm stopping at dunk's, you want anything?"

There is literally a dunkin' donuts on every corner. I am not kidding. I used their locator, and there are 47 of them within a ten mile radius. And every morning, every single one of them has a line out the driveway.

I firmly believe there is something they're putting in the coffee and it sure as heck isn't cream and sugar.

[Eleven Mike]

Some popular expressions around here: "Nutty as an internet forum," and "Mod-tard," a slang term for any forum moderator. 

And for some reason, people always say "Banned like Eleven Mike."  Why would they say that?   

[Vodka7]

When I was in New York, everyone said they were "standing on line" instead of "standing in line."  Haven't lived there for almost four years now and I still can't shake that one.  Also, at fast food, "to stay or go?" instead of "for here or to go?"

I haven't really been in PA long enough to pick up any of the Dutch slang, but there are a few Philly words that shouldn't ever be exported:

Jawn - Literally, any noun.  "Did you see that red jawn they sell at the jawn?"
Drawlin' - Kind of like "tripping," used to describe someone who's bugging out.
Earf - Weed or murder, depending.  Ones comes out of the Earth, the other involves putting someone in it.
Bull - Any male.
Chinese store - Any corner store run by any type of Asian.
Papi's - Any corner store run by anyone of Latin decent.

Those are the big ones.  I have run into the "MAC machine" question frequently.

Ever since I moved out of Ohio people look at me like I'm a hillbilly when I forget and say "ain't" or "dang."

When I lived in Lexington, KY, people used to make a point and say "you all" for the plural of you.  Like they were afraid absolutely no one would understand them if they just said "you," but wanted to make sure people knew they weren't the type of Southerner who said "y'all."  Also, this one is super regional, but it used to drive me INSANE--there was a fairly major street called Versailles, but instead of pronouncing it like the French, they said every single letter.  Ver-sales.  Ugh.

Also, Louisville cannot be correctly pronounced by anyone who has not lived in the South their entire life.  Properly done it has somewhere between ten and eleven vowels.

[Chuck Dye]

Not what I think of as odd, but I have always enjoy the "Oh, for ____" formula.

"Oh, for dumb!"

"Oh, for 'Didn't see that coming!' "

Midwestern, I think.

[Chuck Dye]

Also, Louisville cannot be correctly pronounced by anyone who has not lived in the South their entire life.  Properly done it has somewhere between ten and eleven vowels.

A longtime favorite bar bet, one which has won me many a beer, is on the proper pronunciation of the capital of Kentucky:

a)  loo ee vil
b)  loo iss vil
c)  loo'vl

The sucker/victim usually loses the bet upon accepting it because, of course, however much they may be  wrapped up in the pronunciation of Louisville, the capital is Frankfort!

[Vodka7]

A longtime favorite bar bet, one which has won me many a beer, is on the proper pronunciation of the capital of Kentucky:

a)  loo ee vil
b)  loo iss vil
c)  loo'vl

The sucker/victim usually loses the bet upon accepting it because, of course, however much they may be  wrapped up in the pronunciation of Louisville, the capital is Frankfort!

C's closest to the one I always heard, but I swear it had at least two more o's, a couple u's, and maybe an r in there somewhere.  And I definitely would have had to buy you a beer had we ever met :)

[280plus]

I have NEVER heard anybody say that.  What does that mean? 

It's more of a joke we make about them old guys on the porch but generally it means there's some obstacle in the way like a mountain or a river and you can't drive directly there you have to go down river to a bridge or down the valley to a road that takes you to a pass around the mountain.

[Declaration Day]

In Michigan:

People say "actually" a lot.

Store names almost always have " 's " added to them, as in "I'm going to Target's, or Wal-Mart's"

Carbonated beverages are called "pop", though I've switched to calling them  the more universally understood "soda" after getting too many funny looks in various places throughout the country.

Dollars are almost always referred to as "bucks".

[lupinus]

Down here in SC a shopping cart is a buggy, took me awhile to get used to that one.

Then there are just the odd things people say that leave you speechless.

"Well wrap me in cake and call me a twinkie"  I *expletive deleted*it you not, someone said that the other day when I proved them wrong.

[280plus]

Similar to, "Well put me in an aluminum tube and shoot me across the sky!" but that's one I made up myself for when I flew down to San Antone for my kid's boot camp graduation.

The wife finally got tired of hearing it. 

[Hawkmoon]

In Canada carts are called buggies and rubber bands are called elastics. Oh the joys of living on the border. Also Canadian and UP accents are different, and calling a Yooper Canadian can be considered fight'n words in some parts.

What's odd about "elastics"? I grew up in southern New England, and that's what we called 'em. I still call them that and nobody ever seems to wonder what I'm talking about.

When I was in the Army, southerners called them "gum bands," and to get the full flavor of that you have to imagine it as spoken by Gomer Pyle, USMC -- sort of "gummm buyonds."

[Hutch]

Southernisms:

Fixin' to.  The time is at hand.  "It's fixin' to rain."  "I'm fixin' to slap you silly, if you don't stop that"

Coke.  Any carbonated beverage.  Sometimes applied to ANY non-alcoholic bottled or canned beverage. "I'm fixin' to go to the store.  What sort of Cokes do we need?  I know we're out of Mountain Dew..."

Directly.  Soon, but not now.  "He'll be along directly."

Y'all.  <Hutch's note:  Get the spelling right.  Note where the apostrophe goes>  Second person noun, usually singular.  Plural is All y'all.

Reckon.  An interogative introduction.  "Reckon if it will rain?"  "Reckon what mama is fixin' to fix for dinner?"

[Tallpine]

Around here, your car/pickup/whatever is your "outfit"

As in "what kind of outfit are you/they driving?"  (I hear this on the scanner a lot from the sheriffs)

A usually dry and steep sided draw or ravine is called a "coulee".

Small streams, dry or otherwise, are "cricks".  (I think there is a state law about this somewhere )

You can recognize native Montanans by their flat deadpan drawl.

[Hawkmoon]

Also, Louisville cannot be correctly pronounced by anyone who has not lived in the South their entire life.  Properly done it has somewhere between ten and eleven vowels.

And can be closely approximated by non-natives only before the effects of oral Novocaine wear off.

Sort of like "Lou'-uh-vuhll" with a VERY short 'u' in the "vul" syllable.

[Manedwolf]

Southernisms:

Fixin' to.  The time is at hand.  "It's fixin' to rain."  "I'm fixin' to slap you silly, if you don't stop that"

Coke.  Any carbonated beverage.  Sometimes applied to ANY non-alcoholic bottled or canned beverage. "I'm fixin' to go to the store.  What sort of Cokes do we need?  I know we're out of Mountain Dew..."

Directly.  Soon, but not now.  "He'll be along directly."

Y'all.  <Hutch's note:  Get the spelling right.  Note where the apostrophe goes>  Second person noun, usually singular.  Plural is All y'all.

Reckon.  An interogative introduction.  "Reckon if it will rain?"  "Reckon what mama is fixin' to fix for dinner?"

Don't forget "war", which is either used to make electrical connections, or wrapped to bind things.

Another one around here is "hamburg", as seen in meat departments and pizza place menus. Where did the er go?

[grislyatoms]

I've never heard anyone use the expression "poke" here in KY.

Depending on how fer back in a holler ya'll live, you might use the expression "it's untelling" meaning "who knows" or "it anyone's guess"

May have been WV, then, Charleston area.

Another one around here is "hamburg", as seen in meat departments and pizza place menus. Where did the er go?

Reminds me of a couple "down south" terms that used to drive me nuts...

"hosepipe" for hose, "hamburger meat" for hamburger/ground beef

[Wildalaska]

NYC is full of stuff or originated soem common slang:

a set of front steps to a house, or a small porch is a "stoop" ...from the Dutch stoep (verandah)

a stream is a "kill" (Dutch) and is used officially like my fav down by Staten Island, Kill van Kull

20 years ago (but probably dying out), you asked for a coffee and bagel with a schmear (a light smear of butter from the Yiddish German schmir or schmieren)

And idiot is called a yutz, and everyone knows what a schmuck is and a glitch is.

Fugly

Pizza Parlor (for a pizza resteraunt)

Pie (Pizza)

The Bronx (the only county in the USA that gets a "the")

Candy Store (a small newspaper, candy, soda place sometimes with video games, dope dealing and criminals)...in Spanish areas its a Bodega

[Manedwolf]

Hosepipe is the common use term in the UK, too.

[Uncle Bubba]

I went to Lexington Ky one time and a clerk at a unique antique and gift shop asked if I was from around there.  I answered that we were visiting in a neighboring town.  The town was roughly 20 miles away.  Her answer was that she grew up there and left after high school and she had never been back.  The woman had to be close to fifty years old.  When I asked how far she had ever been she replied, from there to here.  Huh?

Not unusual, Grandpa. Somewhere around 60% (IIRC) of Americans live within 50 miles of where they were born. A great many of them haven't traveled much further than that.

[Fjolnirsson]

When I moved to Oregon, "pop" took me a while to get used to , but the one that still wierds me out, even though I use it now too, is that everyone here calls their car, truck or van a "rig".
"Where'd you park your rig?"
"My what? I came in a car."

[grislyatoms]

Hosepipe is the common use term in the UK, too.

The term just conjures up weird images of flexible pipes and rigid hoses, for some reason...

[grislyatoms]

Pie (Pizza)

My ex-step-dad from Brooklyn would always order a couple "pies"...

"Yahhh, gimme two o' yehs pies, drag 'em tru da kitchen, put legs on 'em, my stepson 'll be around afta to get 'em"