theladyjess

When I was in North Dakota they referred to lunch as dinner and dinner as supper. It was very confusing to me, I was 10 at the time.

4khansen

As a Iowa teen I worked in a campground ... one of my first customers in the camp store came in and asked if we had any soda.....

Well being an Iowan, I went and retrieved the baking soda for them. I noticed a quizzical look on their faces and they said a drink, you know Pepsi etc. .... ohhh well I quickly learned that "POP" wasn't the norm! As a midwesterner, rarely does anyone call a soda pop a SODA its all POP here....

cozz

Moved from Canada to Massachusetts...
In Boston a liquor store is called a "package store" or "packie",
a purse is called a pocketbook, many people often say "So didn't I, so wasn't I" etc.; very strange.
They say "wicked" instead of really ex. "wicked good".

Syv

Back to the "iced tea" comments earlier.

We have problems asking for "tea" and forgetting to say that we mean "HOT tea". To us northerners (Canada) - "tea" always means hot, and "iced tea" only if specifically said means the cold drink.

Lots of fun reading the comments/slang/phrases though that jog our memories to experiences in different parts of the country.

Dick

While growing up in Mass it was always license plates on a car.

I get to Maryland and now it's tags.

TommyH4242

I've lived in Wisconsin my whole life, and I've always heard the term "bubbler" used for a water fountain--I don't think that term is native to New England. We also drink "soda" instead of soda pop or cola, and stop lights are sometimes referred to as "stop and go lights".

toddruggy

This is a great topic. I live in Boston, but I went to college in Myrtle Beach. Here are some examples of words they couldn't belive that I said..

Bubbler - Water Fountain
Wiffle - Short hair cut, military style
Carriage - grocery store. They call it a cart and some people call it a BUGGY!
Also, people could not believe that in Boston we have candlepin bowling. Thats definetly a new england thing. Other states have big ball bowling. I brought a video tape down of candlepin bowling and people thought i was from another world. Also,I thought Bubbler was a native new england word. Guess not.

toddruggy

Also in the south if you're in an elevator they'll say, "can you please mash the 3 button for me?"

toddruggy

I just thought of another one. In Boston we call the liquor store, "The Packy"

beachdreams

I am from the south and and have a friend from Australia who went to college with me. One night we went out to eat and she all of the sudden started waving her hands asking for a serviette (sp? pronounced servy-ette). I had no idea what that was. I kept asking her what she was talking about. Turns out she wanted a napkin. To this day we laugh about how confused I was. I wanted to help her but I had no idea what a serviette was.

jasper

toddruggy...where does the "packy" come from for liquor store?
-from new york

bennie

toddruggy - We use to say something was "nipper" if it was good, "wicked nipper" if it was very good and "wicked nipper pisser" if it was excellent. Any of the three words could be used interchangably - pisser wicked, wicked nipper,etc. No one in college understood me either and I was only in RI.

Jasper - A liquor store is called a package store because all beer, wine or liquor had to be put in a brown paper bag when sold or a "package". Package store is shortened to "packy".

I'm going to the packy to get some wicked pissa beeha now.

toddruggy

Hi. Yeah package store is what "packy" is short for. Also we obviously use the word "wicked" all the time. I looked at my 8th grade yearbook the other day and everyone who signed it wrote either, "Todd have a wicked pissa summer" or have a "wicked Nizza summer".. Nizza was another one.

jasper

right, but i don't get the connection b'tween package and liquor...oh well, just curious! i love learning this stuff. here on l.i it's just "liquor" or "wine and spirits"

jasper

just read bennie's response...thanks! whatever works! if i think of any more fun phrases...i'll post a.s.a.p

toddruggy

Oh i gotcha now! I don't know why but we also call liquor stores here package stores. I don't really know why we call it that. I just assumed it was called a package store everywhere. So we just condense it to "packy". I'm trying to think of some more. THis is a good topic.

travellyn

Here's my napkin/serviette story. I was travelling in England and went to a pub with two girls from Australia. I had been told not to call them napkins in England because that meant feminine hygeine products. I was curious about what they called them in Australia, so I picked up my napkin and asked "what do you call this?" One girl looked at me oddly and said "napkin, serviette" and the other girl said "why are Americans always asking that?"

bennie

Toddruggy - forgot about nizza. That's a good one. We used to say that too. You must have grown up on the South Shore too. I live on the North Shore now and nobody from the North Shore recalls these expressions. Did you call kids who indulged in illicit activities "burn outs"??

Marilyn

My friends from west Texas call their evening meal "supper" rather than "dinner", too. They are visiting us (SF area) right now, so I?ve been noticing expressions like "put it up" meaning "put it away", and "come out of" instead of "take off" e.g. "I?ve got to come out of this sweater."

One of my favorites, from a friend near Atlanta, "I might could do that."

I love this stuff!

jasper

bennie/toddruggy...sounds like we are from the same generation. "burn outs"/"sped ed's"/"scrubs"...just joshin' ya.
: )