You say Potato, I say Potahto...

[toploader55]

After reading ads on CL and just over the years...

What word do you use for the phrase to go to that building with coin operated Washers and Dryers ?

Some I've heard over the years are LaundroMat, CoinOp,Coin Laundry, Wash O Mat, etc.

One that drives me nuts on CL is "LaundryMat". I Don't know why, and "Washer Machine". is another.

What Title do you give to that building with the Machines ?

 

[supersuds]

We always said laundromat. I remember driving through a small town on a family vacation in the early 70s seeing the Laundrymat spelling for the first time. We all thought that was hilarious. Guess the joke was on us.

 

Some other spellings/pronunciations that make me laugh are "perculator" for percolator and "esculator" for escalator.

 

[yogitunes]

I think sometimes it comes from launguage slang, of an area your from, wether North or far South.....the way its pronounced is unique by individuals....I like hearing people talk with an accent.....

my Dad always referred the washer as a "wooshing machine".....you can take the man out of the hills!...but you can't take the hills out of the man!...

 

[perc-o-prince]

Laundromat here, too.

Supersuds: let's not forget 'nuculer' for nuclear (just because some idiot from Texas said it repeatedly doesn't make it right), 'for all intensive purposes' instead of for all intents and purposes, and 'collectables' for collectibles. For the last one, why is it spelled incorrectly on professionally-made signs? Don't these businesses have spell check?

Chuck

 

[washerboy]

several

I've heard it called a number of things:

1) the "washer"
2) washateria (sp?)
3) the "wishey wash"
4) Laundry Matt

 

[mickeyd]

'roun heah

we say laundramat, the "oh" softened to an " uh."

We we were kids, my Aunt Margaret's friend would say "warsh" for wash and we thought that was hilarious. Then we heard it again from a few other people. And I think it's heard in other place across the land.

LIke Martin, I love hearing all of our diverse and musical accents; and like Chuck, I'm afraid that some of the Bushisms like nucular and internets might stick. OH NO.

 

[ozzie908]

Here they are mostly known as ....

Launderette....!

Washeteria...!

Wash n dry coin op.

Austin

 

[lordkenmore]

Laundromat is what I hear the most, and is what I sometimes use. I also say "coin operated laundry." My quirk is that I tend to use a capital "L" for "Laundromat" since it was originally a trade name. Plus, since I tend to be several decades out of date most of the time, it makes sense to use language the way it was supposed to be used back then.

Although in today's world, Merriam-Webster's online dictionary also capitalizes Laundromat:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laundromat

 

[chestermikeuk]

Known As

Launderette or "The BagWash"

 

[circlew]

Washateria

I usually refer to it as the "washateria" since that's what my mom called it. She was from southern Mississippi, and that's what they call a coin laundry there.

 

[joeekaitis]

 

 

Laundromat.  Ain't been there in ages because our front-loader handles our king-size bed linens.

 

[foraloysius]

Dutch

Overhere we say "wasserette" or "wassalon".

 

[macboy91si]

Here

It's a warsher and a laundrymat. I do not however pronounce them as such, but thought it interesting that people "up north" say "warsher" as well. The coin-op We went to as a kid (see profile pic) was called a the Coin-Laundry, we never had any Westinghouse coin-op shops here so I'm not sure about why people call it a laundromat, which I thought was a Westy coined phrase. Growing up, all of the original coin-op shops were still in service, now there's only one. Speed Queen, Frigidaire and GE. The 1st 2 went the way-side and GE is the dominator in this town. Some newer, small coin-ops have sprouted up and they seem to be primarily Huebsch/SQ. I never remember there being any Maytag laundries in my home town. In fact, the profile pic I have was taken in the 1st commercial coin-op laundry in town, the rest followed in the mid 60's and early 70's then stopped until about 10 years ago when some newer small facilities opened up here and there.

 

People here also have a tendency to pluralize words (ex. Krogers) which I don't fully understand, mostly with older, rural people.

 

 

-Tim

 

[yogitunes]

a quirky one yet.....Norge Village..........a slang that everyone knew as a Laundromat.....the strip mall was brown brick, with the roof overhang in dark wood shingles....and the whole place was colored cream, and shades of light and dark brown....from the machines, walls, fixtures, and floors...

and funny yet, the one we had here, only the dryers were Norge.....the washers were Maytags or GE FF

 

[toggleswitch]

AH DO LOVE MAH DIXIE *BOIS*

potato versus po-tah-to

LAUNDR-O-MAT

Probably a shortening of LAUNDRY AND AUTOMATED.



ENGLISH IS NOT A PHONETIC LANGUAGE
is the first thing foreigners are taught when learning English as a second language.

I got myself in trouble on this board for teasing a southerner for spelling FRIGIDAIRE as FRI-JA-DIRE, probably phonetically writing out what he spoke to follow his accent/drawl/twang and mispronunciation.

....he says in his LAWN-GUY-LAND NEW-YAWK ACCENT.

(ducks and runs)

 

[washerboy]

Re: Toggles

Ahhh...Toggleswitch...what southerner could you offend? If you passed through town I promise someone would insist you come home for dinner. BTW..you can't help that you talk funny...god love ya...you're a yankee...LOL!!!! ps..actually I love to hear you guys talk..I have a friend that grew up on Long Island...sometimes I'm not quite sure what the heck he's saying. Happy Thanksgiving/mark

 

[circlew]

Tim, when people say "Kroger's", I don't think they're thinking plural (as in more than one store), but as a place that belongs to the Kroger Co. Just like when one of your friends is going to visit you at your home, they say they're going to Tim's.

The company is based in this area, and I hear most people around here say Kroger's.

 

[xraytech]

Martin,

 

When you said your father calls it the wooshing machine, he must come from somewhere in SW Pennsylvania as that is how it is said in these parts, or some call it a warshing machine. Essentialy any word containing wash is said woosh or warsh.

 

Oh yeah we call them laundromats here.

 

Other words that are misprounounced around here are:

samich = sandwich

chimley = chimney

crick = creek

jumbo = bologna

warshington or washington = washington

oh and best of all we have yinz which is the equivalent of ya'll, and then there is the jagoff(jack off)

 

[yogitunes]

Yes Sam....my parents are originally from your parts of Western Pennsylvania........Uniontown, McClendontown, Smock, HooverWorks(Coal Mine), Masontown....a great place to visit, I always visit the big Cross on the hill, and the Caverns, love the scenary along Route 40.....

another one from your area is "POP"....referring to soda pop.....

scary to think Sam........if my parents never moved to Jersey.......the mischief you and I would get into....

 

[perc-o-prince]

Martin- we called it pop in Cheektowaga (suburb of Buffalo) NY too! In MA it's soda.

Sam- 'yinz'... my step-mother says it more like 'yunz.' She's from that whole Irwin/Jeannette/Versailles ('ver-sails') area. Of course she also says, "six of one, half of another" instead of 'six of one, half-dozen of the other.'

Tim- Adding r's or ending words in them is definitely something you hear here. People here also say 'draw' when they mean drawer. Like in an auction ad... 'two over three draw mahogany dresser.' And, as you described, Rich's father refers to Walmart as 'Walmarts.' Always wanna ask him how many he went to!

Chuck

 

[polkanut]

Here in my neck of the woods our Germanic ancestry still influences the language to some degree.  I was brought up saying "make the light off, make the tv off" etc..  Also, it is quite common to hear "youse" for "you guys".  I had one great-aunt actually write it as "you'se" when she would write a letter.

 

[ptcruiser51]

JerseySpeak

Sandwich=Sangwidge
Place to do wash=Laundrymat/Laundermat
Yins, Youall, You-unz, plural of you=Youse
We are "up the" or "down the"=Up the lake, up the Poconos, up the street; down the shore, down the block, down the Turnpike.

My Ohio and Texas friends make uproarious fun of my accent. It's somewhere between LaVerne Defazio and Tony Danza.

I've always noticed people in SW Pennsylvania (never say "Pennsy"!) tend to leave out the infinitive "to be"=The cat wants petted, the car needs washed. Friends and I visited Pittsburgh for a weekend and wondered what "Jumbo" was!

 

[henry200]

In Minnesota it's a laundromat and carbonated beverages are "pop."  "Soda" is selzer water.  I always got a kick out of hearing a vacuum cleaner called a "sweeper" and then there are my friends in the UK who "hoover" the house with their Henry.

[this post was last edited: 11/22/2011-18:57]

 

[petek]

Laundromat but pronounced either laundramat or laundrymat here

Some folks mostly older and rural say warsh

 

[DADoES]

 
Washateria.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

What I hear around Minnesota

Is typically laundromat or laundermat although I have heard laundry shop. Not uncommon to hear wash pronounced worsh either.

 

[toploader55]

I believe in England...

A Stove or a Range is called a Cooker.

Where I was brought up in NJ... You'ze guys was also popular, And "Jue eat jet ?" was followed by "No Ju ?" followed by "Ju wanna" ? " Let's go to da Dinah".

Then when I moved to New England (Massachusetts) I was bashed by saying "Cawfee" for Coffee, "Scaallops" instead of (N.E version) Scawllops". and "Bottle" instead of "Bawdle".

You can only imagine the torture I went through mixing a New Jersey and Brooklyn acent with New England. When I visit New Jersey people "aksk" me "Where in the hell are you from" ? Especially when I tell them I'm from "Bahnstabil", Proper spelling Barnstable. And yes, I drive a "Cah" and "Pahk it" instead of Car and Park.

Should have named this the "Accent List " LOL But it's fun.

I also have heard of the Famous Penn. Woorsh.

 

[xraytech]

Ah yes in these parts a vacuum is always a sweeper, not a vacuum.

As stated before North Versailles is pronounced Versails, just as the town of Dubois is pronounced Do-Boys,

It is also common to call aluminum foil tin foil or tinnafoil, just as rubber bands are gum bands

 

Ah yes Martin, things could have been interesting had your parents stayed put. It must have been culture shock for them moving to New Jersey, since they came out of some of the most rural areas of SW Pa ya know with homes lacking running water and out houses being the norm. Speaking of it reminds me of the day my aunt recieved a flower delivery from her Wholesaler in Columbus and the driver being from a big city was in awe that the fire department had a road partially blocked for an outhouse fire, he couldnt believe hat it was like 2006 and people still used outhouses

 

[appnut]

Around here was pretty much all the usuals mentioned above.  In college, I came across my first real farm/ranch boy.  He called the laundry room in the dorm the warsh haus (spelled as it was pronounceed).  i thought I was gonna choke on my spit when that first came out of my mouth.  I thought, how country  can ya get. 

 

[jetcone]

Thats what we say in Schenectady

Same as Mikeyd! Laundra(uh)mat. Very NY don'tchaknow!