southernese

[bwoods]

Since I have moved to Tennessee, I have found Craigslistings here to classify appliances, etc. ina way a little different than up North. Here area some examples:

"Roll Dry Washer" (= wringer washer)

"Wooden Stereo" (= console stereo)

"BIG Stereo" (= console stereo)

"Dishwasher with Countertop" (= portable dishwasher)

"Over and Under Washer and Dryer" (= unitized washer/dryer)

"Front End Dryer" (= front loading)

"Newly Used Washer" (????)

I was also a little taken aback when I was in Krogers and one of the employees asked if I wanted a "buggy". (buggy = shopping cart, apparently, in the south.)

 

[whirlcool]

Here are a few others:



Men's Wallet = Billfold
Haven't = Hadn't (in some cases)
Solderless Connectors = Wire Nuts

 

[norgeway]

Wire Nuts!!!

I have never heard them called anything else, same for the grocery buggy!and Ive ALWAYS carried a billfold, if you really want to learn Southern, buy an original Foxfire book, that will LEARN ye all ye need ta know!

 

[danemodsandy]

My Favorite:

"Momminem," meaning "Mama and them."

As in, "Don't forget to say 'Hi' to your momminem for me."

Not that other parts of the country are blameless - my Noo Yawk fave is "A nominal egg," meaning "An arm and a leg," as in, "It cost me a nominal egg."

Oh- and to all you New York folks in places like Great Neck, Roslyn and Five Towns - I know what a lawn is, but what the Hell is a gyland?

 

[ptcruiser51]

@danemodsandy

It's the place where everyone's grass is cut by a service. Lawn Guy Land.

 

[danemodsandy]

ptcruiser51:

I think you got me, LOL!

 

[frigilux]

A college friend from the south (that she ended up in Moorhead, MN always amazed me) would order a Co-Cola (known to us as a Coca-Cola) in restaurants.

 

[dynaflow]

my favorite

when u want something out of the refrigerator u say Im going to get (say mayonaise)
out of the Frigidaire

 

[circlew]

My relatives in the south always call a shopping cart a "buggy".

They also call the top range burner elements "eyes".

 

[angus]

The term "frigidaire" for refrigerator was pretty common and is more generational than regional. My mother and aunts - all Newark and Brooklyn born and raised constantly referred to the "frigidaire" even though none of them owned a Frigidaire branded appliance.

They also might say on laundry day that they had to "make a wash" - less common, but still noticeable and Aunt Jennie might say that she had to run upstairs and "take the wash out of the Norge". Finally hanging clothes was sometimes "putting out the wash" and my mother would stop whatever she was doing to "blue the water" for rinsing clothes.

 

[whirlcool]

The term "frigidaire" for refrigerator was pretty common and is more generational than regional. My mother and aunts - all Newark and Brooklyn born and raised constantly referred to the "frigidaire" even though none of them owned a Frigidaire branded appliance.

Same when I was growing up here with the refrigerator. Sometimes they'd just call it a "Fridge". I have heard it called the same thing down here too.

In Louisiana I have heard people call Mayonnaise "Mon-Azz"

 

[bwoods]

I guess I can't say too much about southern talking. When I was growing up I, and almost every everyone I knew said, "warsh" instead of "wash." This must be a southern Ohio thing.

I think I was in high school before I realized there is no "r" in wash. I finally broke myself, my mom, dad and sister from saying, "warsh." (and even worse, "warsher")

 

[jeb]

My grandmother always called her washer a Laundromat. "I have to run and take the clothes out of the Laundromat and put them in the dryer".

 

[foxchapel]

@bwoods - Ack! Ack! Please do not confuse illiteracy with Southernese. Those Craigslist ads are just sad. Most of us do not talk like that. Really. The wording would clue me in ahead of time, though, on the demographics of the authors.

What I love about The South is that one can order a "Co~Cola" and the server will ask "what kind?" The answer could be Pepsi or Mountain Dew, or whatever. Co~Cola is often used as a generic term here for carbonated beverages. We called it "soda" in my youth, when living up North.

@bwoods - you will also find that we drink iced tea year-round here.

 

[tomoldcars]

I offered a newly arrived Southern friend an avocado from my tree several years ago. He looked rather quizzical until he saw it and exclaimed “Oh, alligator pears”

 

[perc-o-prince]

warsh and extra r's

People from here (Boston area) are known for this as well as adding r's to many other words that don't have/need/require them. Now, if you want to see something a bit more amusing, check auction listings for a '4 draw bureau' or something similar. Of course they mean 'drawer' but it's a common misspelling/mis-pronounciation here.

Then again, you could try getting a fribble or frappe here. Everywhere else it's known as a milkshake (milk, ice cream and flavoring). If you order a chocolate milkshake, you're likely to get chocolate milk (milk and chocolate syrup) depending on where you are.

I do know that shopping carts were also called buggys in some stores when I grew up outside Buffalo, and billfold/wallet were used interchangeably.

The one that drives me right up the wall here is the use of a negative for a positive. For example:

Me: I had the worst week at work last week.
Other Person: So didn't I.

No. It's so DID I, not didn't! You DID have a bad week, moron!

Chuck

 

[bwoods]

@foxchapel Yes,those ads are sad.

However the descriptions people use are nothing compared to the horrendous spellings. We had a discussion sometime back on AW about Craigslist spellings. For example: "water softner," "refridgerator," "ringer washer," "Whorlpool," etc.

Illiteracy seems to be national, hehe.

We drink ice tea year 'round in Ohio, too. However, sweet tea seems to have a bigger following down here in the south. I mean REAL sweet tea.

 

[danemodsandy]

Ahem!

Um, it's "iced" tea, not "ice" tea.

"Iced" tea is tea that has been iced to make it cold. "Ice" tea would be tea made of ice, which sounds like it would be a very weak brew indeed.

Don't even get me started about "wax" paper. The process that would be needed to make paper out of wax boggles the mind. "Waxed" paper is a perfect descriptor of the product - it is paper that has been waxed.

 

[hydralique]

Hmmm . . .

I was using some of that paper product yesterday, and the box that I have is labeled "Wax Paper"; whether or not that's adequately descriptive is another question.

 

I had no idea "billfold was considered Southern, to me it's always just been a synonym of "wallet".

 

[arbilab]

OMG! I thought I was the only one who knew where Lawn Guyland was.

Though I live here, I hate the sloth of Southern speech.

Jeet? Yawntu?

= Did you eat? Do you want to?

 

[frigilux]

If I had to live in the non-stop heat and humidity of the deep south, my rate of speech would slow and my attention to diction would slack.

The first time I was in Louisiana I realized how quickly we upper-midwesterners tend to speak. I probably sounded like the classic cartoon caricature of a northerner to them. I wasn't used to women behind the counter calling me darlin', sweetie, and hon, LOL. You just don't hear that up here.

 

[angus]

Well, local accents and pronunciation are different than word usage. In Oklahoma at a hotel pool, I heard a mother tell her kid that they had to go "rench out" their swimsuits. I assumed that meant rinse out...

I also recall when traveling in Texas that the laundromat was called the "washeteria" (spelling?). I hadn't heard that one up north before.

Also in Brooklyn, it was common to refer to fabric softener as "water softener" and if one used Calgon water softener, it was just called "Calgon". And for Italians, bleach was referred to generically in one of a few ways:

- Javelle (reference is Javelle Water) which for some reason was delivered to homes in clear glass gallons
- Aqua Lina (a local brand of bleach as in "go up the corner and get me a quart of Aqua Lina)
- Clorox ( regardless of the brand actually used: as in "I have to run to the store - I am out of Clorox")

Interestingly, although Purex bleach was a national brand and available in our markets, no one ever referred to bleach as "Purex"...

 

[polkanut]

In my area of Central WI it is very common to hear people say that they need to "unthaw" something for dinner.  NO, it's either "thaw out" or "defrost".  It took me quite awhile to break my wife of that little quirk.  Another local colloquialism is to "make out the light, tv, radio etc".  Also, where are "you'se" guys going?  I especially miss hearing my grandparents speak.  They would mix in Low German with their English.  Most of my grandparents generation didn't start learning English until they were 6-8yrs old.  In fact, my Grandma Baumann and her siblings were forbidden to speak English at home until after they were adults.

 

[kenmore58]

As someone who started his 24th year as a court reporter last Friday, I remember when I was a beginning court reporter and was taking the deposition of an elderly Black woman. I was having some difficulty understanding her, but working through it. She kept referring to something that I was hearing as "boogie," so I kept writing it that way on the steno machine.

Finally, I had to stop the proceedings and ask the attorney what she was referring to. I was informed it was "buggy," meaning the shopping cart. Never heard it referred to as that before that deposition and never heard it referred to as that again. But it was comical.

Ron
Kenmore58

 

[lovestowash]

When I lived in New Orleans...

We would go to Schwegmann's or Canal Villere and "make groceries"...

George

 

[franksdad]

We're always "fixin' to"  such as I'm fixin' to go to lunch.

 

And that thing some of ya'll call a garden hose we call a hose-pipe. 

 

And "it's a pourin' down-a rainin.' "  

 

[supersuds]

Don't forget that ladies would get their hair "fixed" at the beauty shop.

Does anybody even say "beauty shop" any more?

 

[polkanut]

We still say beauty shop or beauty parlor.

 

[danemodsandy]

hydraulique:

"....the box that I have is labeled 'Wax Paper'...."

Just because something is in print doesn't mean it's correct - there are misspellings, misusages and misprints everywhere these days.

And I do mean everywhere - even The New York Times has become a trap for the unwary of late.

I really miss the former standards of the best print outlets, because I learned correct spelling and usage from them. It resulted in a career as a writer and editor. I don't see that happening today.

P.S.: You should see some of the things I've cleaned up in my time!

 

[bwoods]

@danemodsandy

I am guilty as charged for often saying "ice tea" versus 'Iced tea"

@franksdad

I just heard "fixin" today. I was volunteering at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The janitor said I would have to leave because "I'm fixin to mop the floor."

It southern Ohio, "reckin" is sometimes used in the rural areas. As in, "I reckin' I'll walk home instead of taking the bus."

One of the worst things in Ohio that makes me cringe is many people don't know the difference between "suite" and "suit." A set of furniture is a suite (pronounced 'sweet') just like a set of connecting rooms in a hotel is a suite.

A "suit" is clothing worn on the body. It's very embarrassing when I hear local furniture stores use the wrong word in TV ads. For example: "Come to Big Bob's Furniture Store where you can buy a bedroom 'suit' for only $699!"

I think Ohio is the only place in the country that doesn't know the difference between a suit and a suite.

In southern Ohio you are not "tired" but "tared". (Good thing there are no feathers around.) We can't even pronounce the name of our own state. Many say Ohiah.. instead of Ohio.

We don't put our clothes in a chest-of-drawers, but in "chester drawers".

Well I better go. I'm fixin to put some clothes in the warsher. After they get renched out I reckin' I'll put them out on the line. Hope it don't rain so I can get them folded and in my new chester drawers, part of that bedroom suit I just got. I'll be so tared after that I reckin I'll make me some of that there sweet ice tea.