Unique words or expressions?

buffettgirl

buffettgirl

Cathlete
One thing I've learned from these forums is that we are from all over this country, and even more excitingly, all over the world. Are there any expressions or words you believe are unique to your part of the world or even family?

For example, I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country, where we would "redd up" a room (tidy up) if company was coming, and when we left the room, we would "outen the lights." If something was gone, it was "all."(Shelley can't have anymore molasses cookies - they are all). If we did something, it was for "awhile."(I'm going to watch TV awhile.)

My DH grew up near Pittsburgh where they use "gum bands" instead of rubber bands, and they drink pop. In the winter, their roads may get slippy.

In my own family, if someone didn't feel good, my mom would say they were "poohsly." I thought this was a real word until I used it at work one day, and everyone looked at me like I was from another planet.

How about you? Any expressions you think are only heard in your neck of the woods?
 
Obviously southerners tend to use "ya'll" but South Philly folks use "yous guys." My family (distant cousins) are from the hills of Tennessee about an hour outside of Knoxville & they use "yins" for "you all."
 
Robin-

I am from eastern PA and there are a few things that all the folks moving in from new Jersey laugh at me about:

I call it a crick, not a creek;
I call it ROUTE 22 instead of ROOT 22 (the highway);
I say "yous" instead of you (plural);
A 'cobbler' fixes your shoe (they all crack up at that one);

Gayle
 
I'm from NY so here are a few things...

You know those big trucks, rigs...I don't know what you guys call it but here we call them Tractor Trailers

Water- Wata
Oil- Earl
Online- In line
You guys- Youse

That's all I can think of on the top of my head....I'm sick with a head cold so I can't think of more.

Lisa
 
>Robin-
>
>I am from eastern PA and there are a few things that all the
>folks moving in from new Jersey laugh at me about:
>
>I call it a crick, not a creek;
>I call it ROUTE 22 instead of ROOT 22 (the highway);
>I say "yous" instead of you (plural);
>A 'cobbler' fixes your shoe (they all crack up at that one);
>
>Gayle
Of course a cobbler fixes your shoes! What do they call a shoe fixer?
 
Oh Robin, I do so wish the molasses cookies were "all". But the darn things are still here and still as chewy and delicious as ever.x(
 
My mom's side says "aina" which is like saying "isn't it" or "don't you agree", etc.

Example: "It's hot out today, aina?"

~Wendy~

I smoked my last cigarette on March 17, 2004 at 10:00 pm!

http://lilypie.com/days/050519/1/0/1/-5/.png[/img]
EDD: 05/19/05
 
The majority of Jersey people say "I'm going down the shore" instead of ""down to the shore" or "to the shore." I've also noticed this with other places like "down the basement" lol.
 
Some in the Buffalo area say "yous", but not the majority. I hate it.

I can't think of any expressions we use, but it's the only area of the state that I know says "pop" instead of "soda".

And being so close to Canada, I say "eh" alot. I think it sounds better than "huh?" "That's cool, eh?" just sounds better to me than "that's cool, huh?" But that's not typical of Buffalonians. But then again, I didn't grow up here. I'm actually from central New York.
 
Well here in Oklahoma, I am transplanted of course was born and raised in calif.... lived in Arkansas for 12 yrs, been here in Oklahoma 13 yrs.... if you ever listened to Larry the Cable Guy or Jeff Foxworthy, you got an idea of our slang lol......

Rhonda:7
 
Okay, I don't know it this is an IN thing or if it is just a my crazy husband thing, but after a long day at work, he always says "his dogs are barking" I have never heard this before, but then he is obsessed with barking in general, so I don't know if he made it up.

I do want to konw what something means, though
"put the dog on" (or something like that)
I have heard it before, but have no idea what it means! Does anyone else know? Thanks!
Missy
 
I cracked up when my DH called sprinkles 'jimmys' -
but then again he laughed at ME for calling them 'sprinkles'!

You say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to...
 
In the Milwaukee area (I grew up in the Chicago area) the first time someone asked me where the bubbler was I had no idea what they were talking about. Always called it a drinking fountain. They also call it soda, I call it pop. I now live in Minnesota. Can't think of anything unique around here at the moment but they call it a drinking fountain too.

Joanne
 
Oh, yeah I am sorry!
my dogs are barking = my feet hurt!

but do you konw what "put the dog on" means? I heard on Sweet Home Alabama, and could figure if she meant make a pot of coffee or something else.
 
Missy, this is for you:


December 14, 1999

put on (the) dog

Mr./Mrs. Skeinstein wrote:

I'd like to know where the expression put on the dog came from.

Put on (the) dog is an expression that means ‘to make a display of wealth or importance, especially by dressing stylishly and flashily’. It’s similar in meaning to the later expression put on the ritz.

Put on (the) dog dates back to American college slang of the 1860’s and is recorded in Lyman H. Bagg’s Four Years at Yale (1871): “Dog, style, splurge. To put on dog is to make a flashy display, to cut a swell.” At about the same time, the related adjective doggy was a popular slang term meaning ‘attractively stylish; costly; fancy’. One of the more implausible suggestions for the origin of hotdog is that imported German franks were called “doggy hots”--they were fancier than regular sausages.

Put on (the) dog is possibly connected to the fact that noble or wealthy ladies had lapdogs as pets; these dogs were small enough to put on the lap. The silky-haired Maltese dog was a pampered pet of the noble ladies of ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. Archaeologists have found remains of the Pekingese in tombs from 2000 years ago. This dog was thought to be an incarnation of the Chinese Door Guardian god; the dog represented wealth and became the favored pet of the upper classes. In the 1860’s, Queen Victoria was given lapdogs as gifts, and they became very popular in England. Possibly the expression put on (the) dog was not only connected to pampered lapdogs--newly rich ladies may have wanted to show off any fancy dog by putting it on a leash or wearing it in a sleeve.

Ted Shapiro, who worked as Sophie Tucker’s piano accompanist in vaudeville, wrote a popular rag called “Putting on the Dog.” Surprisingly, this expression is still used occasionally, as in describing a fancy wedding reception or a costly purchase. And it is alive and well in humorous (literal) contexts, which shows that most people know what the figurative expression means. For example, at a recent dog show, the owners were described as putting on the dog or “putting on heirs (airs).” I also found a Web site called Putting on the Dog--it sells fancy and costly canine apparel.


Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver
 
>My DH grew up near Pittsburgh where they use "gum bands"
>instead of rubber bands, and they drink pop. In the winter,
>their roads may get slippy.
>

"pop" is also used in Minnesota, where I grew up.

In Wisconsin, people say "bubbler" for "water fountain."
A friend of mine from Georgia says "cut out the light" for "turn off," a "buggy" instead of shopping cart, and "the eye of the stove' for the burner.
 
I haven't noticed any interesting colloqialisms in DC yet but in my small group of friends....which includes me and my SO....we use 'up ons' to describe being into something or enjoying something.

"Honey, do you want to go out for dinner?"
"I'm all up ons."

Kind of stupid, but that's what we get for liking Homestarrunner.com.

I also use:

wonky = weird
Coke = soda/pop (they're all Coke to me)

There are probably more such things, but I don't notice them too much.

:D
 
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