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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?
 
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.
 
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"...
 
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.
 
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
 
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!
 
@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.
 
The Worst Southernism of All:

It's the inability - or unwillingness - to pronounce the letter "L" unless it begins a word, or sometimes when it begins a syllable.

"All y'all" becomes "Aw yaw." My own mother says "miwk" (say "mee-yuk" fast) for "milk." You "faw down." You "get a thriw." You tell your enemies to "goda Hey-yuh."

There are times when an "L" is pronounced, as in "Atlanta." But Southern speech being what it is, the rest of the word has to be messed with even if the "L" is respected. "Uh-lanna" is the usual handling here.
 
I also recall when traveling in Texas that the laundromat was called the "washeteria" (spelling?). I hadn't heard that one up north before.

I did some research and found that the term is generally used in Texas and Louisiana, particularly north Louisiana. It may also be used in areas bordering these locations too.

Also, where are "you'se" guys going?

I was ridiculed to death by this when I was in college. All the southern people would joke about it. But I find "you'se guys" more particular to NJ than the midwest.Around the Chicago area we'd say "You guys".

When I first went to school in Louisiana whenever I'd say anything, people would just stare, sometimes with their jaws hanging open. Then they'd say "man, you talk fast". I'd just tell them to listen faster. I did eventually have to slow down, but later on fast speech helped me in my job. When speaking to ATC you have to talk fast, especially around large cities. The airwaves would be buzzing with all the aircraft in the area receiving their clearances for landing and you'd have to talk fast.

Most of my grandparents generation didn't start learning English until they were 6-8yrs old.

My grandparents on my mother's side never learned to speak more than a few words of English. When you went to visit, it was conversational German time. For a few years my Grandmother would baby sit me when I was a little kid. That's how I learned my German.

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

I picked this up in college and have used it ever since! People up north say I sound like a southerner, people down south say I sound like a northerner and the people in Texas say I have no accent at all. They can't tell where I'm from.

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

We used that in Chicago too. I was a teen before I realized what it was supposed to be. I have also heard "tared" many times in both La. & Texas.

It seems the smaller the town the person is from the more pronounced their accents will be.
 
@bwoods - Have you learned the correct southern pronunciation for Maryville (TN)? LOL Even I can't quite pull it off although daughter-in-law has tried to tutor me.

Maryville = Sounds something like Mar-vul.

Shelbyville = Sheb'vul
Murfressboro = Murf'sb'ruh
 
In our area of Pittsburgh wash is often said one of two ways: warsh or wosh, Warsher, wosher, Warshington, Woshington.
Soda is called pop here, it is a buggy not a shopping cart.
There are also sammiches and chimleys, and ice tea.
We also call people a jag-off.
Aluminum foil is tin foil or tinna foil, there is wax paper, and gum bands, and you go dawn tawn, and a creek is often referred to as a crick.
Its sweeper here and not vacuum, and you store food in the deep freeze, then you un-thaw it before cooking it. A faucet can be called a spigot, and bologna the luncheon meat is called jumbo

Oh and one of the biggest Pittsburgh things is the use of yinz or younz
 
A turn to the dark side..

We also call people a jag-off.

Heard this lots in the Chicago area. Shortened you could also say "He's a real jag, man." I knew a guy from Cleveland OH that used to say it.

But I never heard it anywhere else. I said it once at college and all I got were blank looks. Since nobody here (Texas)knows what it means, I don't use it. It has totally fallen out of my vocabulary.

I wonder what the area of it's use is? Which regions. I think it's a midwest thing, but I could be wrong.
 
If you are really country..

Around here you HET water, not heat it, and you get water from a TAP, "Turn off that tap, your wastin water!"and any saucepan or dutch oven is known as a kettle.
 
Hans:

Do you say "fall of the year" when you mean Fall, and do you say "car shed" when you mean a garage?

My late partner was from Hendersonville, and those were two locutions I will never forget.
 

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