OT: Parlance

[whitefang]

If that's the right word(pun intended).

 

Some years back there was a thread of this nature. But since then, several forum members have left, and several new members arrived, so it would be sort of new.

 

Whether by region, or generation, I've noticed several of the same things are known by different names or words. One example is in the realm of soft drinks.

 

These carbonated beverages that come bottled or canned go by different designations in different parts of the country. On the East Coast, I understand they are called "sodas". "Do you want a soda?" someone would ask, and then hand you a can or bottle of some soft drink. Where I come from, if you ask for a soda, you'll get a tall glass of "pop" with a scoop of ice cream in it! Soft drinks, in the mid-west are referred to as "pop". Years ago when down south, I asked a waitress what kind of "pop" the diner had, and she looked at me funny. I forget what she said they called it there.

 

My wife, who is older than me, calls what I call "fruit flies" by the name "pin flies". From her Alabama born ex-husband, she got into the habit of saying, "Take her a bath" when suggesting our pooch needs bathing, instead of "GIVE" her a bath! And asking me to "carry" her to the store, instead of "drive" her to the store.

 

What have any of YOU noticed in this regard?

Whitefang

[The Geoff]

In the Glasgow area (at least) ALL aerated flavoured drinks are termed 'ginger'!!

 

Don't ask. No idea. Just where I was brought up.

 

Of course, when I was in Florida (Brooksville Airfield) with my wife when she was clocking up flying hours, I got VERY peculiar looks when I announced I was 'going outside for a quick fag!' (Cigarette in most parts of the UK)

 

G.

[desertbluesman]

I come from the Northeast so carbonated flavored sugar drinks were called "sodas" there, then one of my best buddies moved in from Kentucky, and he called them "pop". These days I call them "poison" because sugar in large doses is bad for the cognitive function in older folks. The scoop of ice cream in "sodas" was called "Ice Cream Sodas" where I grew up.

[Winston Psmith]

In NYC, soda was soda, Coke, ginger ale, what-have-you, and an Ice Cream Soda was usually Root Beer soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That was also called an Ice Cream Float, in some places.

 

The thing I heard most was the word 'slice', for a slice of pizza. "Hey, I'm going to get a slice, you want one?" Outside of NYC, people look at you real funny, if you say that.

[skipclone 1]

I still get weirded out at someone-I think this is also an East coast thing-someone using `anymore` in the positive-`something is totally out of control anymore`. I have to resist the temptation to say don`t say that-something ISN`T totally out of control anymore.

[Scott Fraser]

That was also called an Ice Cream Float, in some places.

 

Growing up in Oregon & California, ice cream float was the term we used for any soda pop with a scoop of ice cream, well, floating in it.

 

The thing I heard most was the word 'slice', for a slice of pizza. "Hey, I'm going to get a slice, you want one?" Outside of NYC, people look at you real funny, if you say that.

 

My introduction to NYC was with native New Yorkers, so that's the term I use all the time. I kinda didn't think of it as a New York thing since those were the guys I toured with & hung out with at the time.

[Dannyalcatraz]

As an Army Brat, I have heard all of these and more...

 

Like how "coke" in some places is used as a catch-all term for any kind of carbonated drink. Order a Coke, and they'll ask, "What kind?"

[Larryz]

+1 DannyA, we always called them a coke no matter what brand it was..."Hey man you wanna go get a Coke?" A Float was a Float unless it was made at A&W, then it was a Root Beer Float. When you mixed it up like a milk shake, it became a Freeze...I still love an Orange Freeze made with vanilla ice cream, orange soda pop and orange juice! You can't find those old Orange Julius roadside stands shaped like oranges anymore (i.e. like they had alongside highways like Hwy 99 and Route 66 in Southern Cal)...

[Dannyalcatraz]

A Float was a Float unless it was made at A&W, then it was a Root Beer Float.

+1 back at you- that's what I grew up with.

[Scott Fraser]

You can't find those old Orange Julius roadside stands shaped like oranges anymore (i.e. like they had alongside highways like Hwy 99 and Route 66 in Southern Cal)...

 

I remember those. There are still a couple of the abandoned hulks of those orange-shaped stands left standing, neglected, alongside 99 between Bakersfield & Sacramento.

[skipclone 1]

...I mean. it`s like someone telling me the store was out of down jackets, so they got an up jacket...

[p90jr]

I still get weirded out at someone-I think this is also an East coast thing-someone using `anymore` in the positive-`something is totally out of control anymore`. I have to resist the temptation to say don`t say that-something ISN`T totally out of control anymore.

 

I've heard that from Central Pennsylvania people.

[p90jr]

As an Army Brat, I have heard all of these and more...

 

Like how "coke" in some places is used as a catch-all term for any kind of carbonated drink. Order a Coke, and they'll ask, "What kind?"

 

yep.

[p90jr]

I live in a strange and varied area...

 

The New Orleans accent is probably closest to the old Brooklyn accent but less intelligible... it was a port city with the same mishmash of communities made up of immigrants. Contrary to depictions in TV/movies there is nothing Cajun in or about New Orleans. The Uptown New Orleans (where transplants historically settled) accent is neutral. There's a lot of a traditional working class accent locally called "'Yat" after the prominent expression "Where Y'at?" (where are you at?) which is a greeting that sums up "hello," "what are you doing?" "how are you feeling/doing?" and "anybody home?" Someone with that accent is called a "Yat," which just pegs them as someone native to the city and certain areas.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yat_dialect

 

let's see...

 

when people there go shopping for groceries they "make groceries."

"I gotta go make groceries at Schwegman's."

 

The median in the middle of an avenue is called the "neutral ground" for some reason...

 

When you exit a car locals say "get down." "Let me get down at that corner up there." "I'm driving home but I have to get down at the store and make groceries at Schwegman's." "I need to go in here for a minute, you gettin' down?" Left over from horses and carriages?

 

And locals sound like they've been paid to add product placements into their conversations... they mention local brand names for every food item or whatever, and local businesses serve as location markers. When Tremé started airing on HBO critics complained that this sounded fake and forced, but that's realistic.

 

So if most people there wanted a soft drink they'd name the exact brand (probably something local, which they take pride in consuming), and same with beer or whatever else. Dr. Nut (which was almond-flavored) was the locally bottled soft drink in the past, bring it up and older people go crazy.

 

http://www.old-new-orleans.com/neworleans_drnut3.jpghttp://sushibandit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/dr.nut_.jpg

ire.com/tn/traderz/images/DrNut-ad2.jpg

 

Barq's root beer or creme soda is another. I think RC Cola had a lock on the city back in the day more than Coca Cola or Pepsi for some reason, based on the amount of items and faded advertising that's around.

 

A bit of street slang that started popping up everywhere is referring to restaurants that serve soul food as "mom food," for home-cooked type stuff... so I'd overhear tourists asking hotel clerks "where can I try some of this 'mom food' I've been reading about?" and the clerks being confused.

 

New Orleans is an insular place... it loves things that are local and mark the speaker as a native (or properly assimilated transplant) member of the city tribe.

 

I live up the road in Baton Rouge, State Capital/College Town/Industrial hub that draws in a lot of transplants from everywhere. There's some typical American Southern and American rural accents and some Cajun, but it's mostly neutral due to the hodge podge population in the city itself. Even then, you can tell a local because "OO" sounds become "UDGE." "Baton Rouge" gets pronounced "Baton Rudge," "roof" becomes "ruff," "room" is "rum." And then there's "axe" for "ask" and "kitchen zink" for "kitchen sink," and "sink" itself for "drain" might be a local thing...

 

My dad is from New Orleans but went to a boarding school and then college in Ohio. He had a neutral accent and tried to stop the local influence on us...

 

which leads a lot of people to say to me : "Let me axe you something? Are you originally from Baton Rudge?"

[whitefang]

One place in my hometown here in Mich. used to sell a drink called a "Boston Cooler" which was ginger ale poured over vanilla ice cream. Why a "Boston" cooler I have no idea. But the difference seemed to be that if you put the ice cream in the glass first, THEN poured the pop over it, it was a "soda", but if you put the ice cream in AFTER filling the glass with pop, it was a "float". Didn't really taste any different.

 

In the movie "Young Thomas Edison" (Mickey Rooney), young Tom returns to Ohio from a trip to Detroit and mentions paying "One Fifty" for something or other( not even sure of the amount myself, but for sake of discussion). His Father looked shocked and asked, "You paid one hundred and fifty dollars for that?" Young Tom explains he only paid one dollar and fifty cents. "That's just the way they talk up there." he explained. I don't know if THAT difference still exists.

 

My Mother, who hailed from the Pittsburgh area, used to pepper her speech with "'uns" at the end of some sentences, like in, "We-uns" and "you-uns". Indeed, when we visited Pennsilvania when I was little, I heard that a lot.

Whitefang

[whitefang]

p90, there's another instance you brought up. "Sink" for "drain".

 

Let's just start with the kitchen...

 

Some call it a "fridge", and some still call it an "icebox"...

 

Some call the "cupboards", and some call them "clapboards"...

 

Some call it the "counter", and some still call it part of the "sink"...

 

Some call it a "stove", while other might call it a "range"...

 

Some call it a "garbage can", others, a "trash bin" while still SOME call it a "waste can"...

 

But EVERYBODY, it seems, calls it "The junk drawer"!

Whitefang

[Scott Fraser]

When you exit a car locals say "get down." "Let me get down at that corner up there." "I'm driving home but I have to get down at the store and make groceries at Schwegman's." "I need to go in here for a minute, you gettin' down?" Left over from horses and carriages?

 

A literal translation from the Spanish "bajar"; to get out (of a vehicle,) or get down, go down.

 

"roof" becomes "ruff," "room" is "rum."

 

That's pretty much how one of the violinists I travel with pronounces those 2 words, & he's from Milwaukee.

[p90jr]

p90, there's another instance you brought up. "Sink" for "drain".

 

Let's just start with the kitchen...

 

Some call it a "fridge", and some still call it an "icebox"...

 

Some call the "cupboards", and some call them "clapboards"...

 

Some call it the "counter", and some still call it part of the "sink"...

 

Some call it a "stove", while other might call it a "range"...

 

Some call it a "garbage can", others, a "trash bin" while still SOME call it a "waste can"...

 

But EVERYBODY, it seems, calls it "The junk drawer"!

Whitefang

 

ha

[p90jr]

When you exit a car locals say "get down." "Let me get down at that corner up there." "I'm driving home but I have to get down at the store and make groceries at Schwegman's." "I need to go in here for a minute, you gettin' down?" Left over from horses and carriages?

 

A literal translation from the Spanish "bajar"; to get out (of a vehicle,) or get down, go down.

 

New Orleans and the surrounding areas were ruled and settled as much by the Spanish as the French, in different periods going back and forth, so that makes sense.

[Larryz]

You can't find those old Orange Julius roadside stands shaped like oranges anymore (i.e. like they had alongside highways like Hwy 99 and Route 66 in Southern Cal)...

 

I remember those. There are still a couple of the abandoned hulks of those orange-shaped stands left standing, neglected, alongside 99 between Bakersfield & Sacramento.

 

Yep, back in the day, you could see those stands for at least a mile before you got to them. My dad would just fly by in a hurry to get where we were going, so it was a long time before I got to try an Orange Julius. I've heard they are back in the big city malls, but I haven't found a stand yet...

[Larryz]

I know we've got a few Canadians in the house...I mean hoose...

 

serviette = napkin

davenport = couch

eh = you know what I mean

mum = mom

a-boot = about

 

etc....

[p90jr]

"roof" becomes "ruff," "room" is "rum."

 

That's pretty much how one of the violinists I travel with pronounces those 2 words, & he's from Milwaukee.

 

Yeah... that's the weird thing... more than geographical location, accents seem to be influenced more by the contributing ethnic communities in middle-sized and bigger cities. You can probably align them more by what kind of economy they had in the boom periods and which people were attracted from wherever.

[p90jr]

Which American Dialect are You?

 

http://www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

 

my result from taking this a while back was Neutral American or something.

[skipclone 1]

I didn`t think I had any kind of accent at all, until my bandmate/recording engineer pointed out my `midwest twang` while recording one of my songs. I gradually got the idea-image of Richie Cunningham from`Happy Days` on a Public Enemy song. I`ve been working on it...

 

p90jr, out of curiosity and as a member of Tokyo beer group-how is the craft beer scene around New Orleans? any recommended labels or places?

[picker]

In the midwest, a couch can be called a davenport or divan, as well as couch, and they can come with an ottoman/settee/footstool.

In Northeast Missouri, carbonated soft drinks are called "pop", but 100 miles to the south, they are called soda.

 

But everywhere I go, when I find them, they are always called "grits". Go figure...

[02R96]

I've heard that from Central Pennsylvania people.

 

Ahh Central PA; lived there for a couple of years. Here's a few I remember...

 

Gum Band = Rubber Band

Rule = Tape Measure (as in "can you hold the end of this rule?)

Whilst = While

Twice't = Twice

Rid Up = Clean up (as in "I really need to rid up this room")

So I did - as in "I went to the store so I did".

 

Many more but I can't remember all of them. Someone told me a lot of the strange "isms" come from the large Amish community in the area.

[The Geoff]

I've heard that from Central Pennsylvania people.

 

Rule = Tape Measure (as in "can you hold the end of this rule?)

 

Twice't = Twice

 

Rid Up = Clean up (as in "I really need to rid up this room")

So I did - as in "I went to the store so I did".

 

When I was a *very* young child in the 50's near Glasgow, "twice't" was the standard way of saying that.

 

To tidy up would be to 'red up' and an inchtape or builder's rule is still called a rule.

[whitefang]

I once worked with a black guy who hailed from Miss. And I swear, if you closed your eyes when he talked, you'd think you were listening to ELVIS PRESLEY, who also hailed from that state.

 

I think that the last 30 or so years have diluted the idea of the "American accent". With the large economic fluctuations and jjob situations, people have moved around so much as to make nearly EVERY region of this country sound similar.

Whitefang

[picker]

Fang, I agree with you, but I think another contributing factor is the advent of electronic mass media in the 20's. It's been going on for a that long, but we're seeing more of it as the public's involvement with electronic media increases in duration and intensity.

 

 

[duff beer]

I know we've got a few Canadians in the house...I mean hoose...

 

serviette = napkin

davenport = couch

eh = you know what I mean

mum = mom

a-boot = about

 

etc....

 

Serviette is rarely used anymore, it's just "napkin".

 

I've never heard davenport used once in my 51 years...it's either couch or sofa.

 

No one in Canada says "a-boot"...I don't know why that perception still exists.

 

Most people call tissues "Kleenex".

 

Snow machines used to be called "Skidoos" (brand name), but now almost everyone calls them "sleds".

 

Carbonated beverages are called "pop". If you ask for a coke, you'll get an actual Coke...or they'll say "Is Pepsi okay?" if the establishment has a licencing deal with Pepsi.