What is Your regional Slang?
 

Okay, so there's a show on the History channel about slang and the origins. I love learning about slang and the origin of words... and it was fun to learn what things New Englanders say differently from other parts of the country. Some of the stuff I say I never really thought was all that exotic... *shrug*

The guy on the video is Joel. Joel is one of the locals with a strong New England accent. The store he talking about is not far from here..



I was chatting with a friend from Ohio and we started comparing some of the colloquial terms that we use. I was surprised how some were similar, and others were so completely different..

Here's some examples from down here...

• Jeezum crow" is often used instead of "holy cow" or "oh my goodness.
  
• Instead of using the miles traveled to a destination, New Englanders tend to use time to measure the distance. If someone asks how far Boston is from here, we'd say "About 45 minutes."
  
• We use 'Wicked' for 'Very' or 'extremely'.
  
• We'll transfer R's from words and plant them onto other ones, like, "Do you have an ideaR what is for suppah?"
  
• If we have to make a U-turns, we'll "Bang a uey".
  
• We drink frappes and tonic instead of milkshakes and soda.
  
• Fluffernutters are pretty popular sandwiches - peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.
  
• if you say what is 3:45, we'll say 'quarter of four', instead of 'quarter til four'.
  
• We put our dungarees (not jeans) into a bureau instead of a dresser.
  
• I will huck stuff at you when you're not expecting it. Like snowballs or crabapples....
  
• Oh, and if you asked us how far something is, and we say it's "Down the road", it could be MILES away...
  
• "I'm All Set" means "No thank you". I use this constantly...
  
• And look out for Frost heaves when you drive in winter. The ground freezes up so bad it causes the road to buckle, creating huge bumps and potholes in the road.
  
• We change tv channels with the 'clickah'.

So what is your unusual slang in your region? And Anyone is invited to join in. I've loved learning overseas slang... it's amazing what I've learned just from watching Top Gear on BBC.. :P

Well, here in Texas, we use terms like "fixin to", "ain't gonna", and "nun-ya bizness", at least in rural areas. Mostly these are used by older folks, while younger generations use terms from FB and TV, like "lol", "cray-cray" and the like. Some people use the phrase "what-not", and "y'know" is another one that gets used a lot here. And of course, there's the ubiquitous "y'all".

I think the weirdest slang we have here in the ohio valley is the word "pop"
we don't say soda or soda pop we just say "pop"

Pennsylvanian slang grates on my nerves. Lots of "You's" and "Them's".

Australian slang is truly insane... we basically abbreviate everything and then slap "ie" on the end of it. :lol: BBQ becomes barbie etc. Or we slap a vowel on the end of things instead. The slang here does tend to vary based on your socio-economic background (hope that doesn't sound snobby to any other Aussies; just my opinion) and regionally also, certainly depending on whether you're a townie or if you're more from the country.

And then we've just got weird stuff like calling bathing suits "togs", which I have no idea how we ever came up with. :lol:

or "yinz" in Pittsburgh.. I once had someone ask me what I'd say if I didn't say "yinz".. I suppose there is no real word in English for addressing multiple people at once. The only thing I could think of was "you guys" or "y'all". Apparently "yinz" is short for "you ones".

Ah yes, we have around here what we refer to as a “Coal Cracker Accent”. I’d say Coach Z of Homestar Runner fame is a good example of our way of talking, especially if we’re talking about my grandma.

EDIT: Heh, there's a dictionary online for our slang words.

I've used those first three my whole life, never even knowing "fixing to" was even southern slang at all until I was about 17 or 18. And I spent all those years of my life living in Las Vegas! It was strange that nobody really called me out on talking like that. But then again, I don't really have a southern accent at all. I've heard people down here in Texas tell me I sound like a Californian surfer. I don't hear it, but I do acknowledge that I use a lot of their words. I guess I'll post an audio if somebody wants to be the judge of that! :lol:

Also, is "whatnot" and "y'know" really southern slang? I've heard Europeans use the former, and I've heard New Englanders use the latter.

[AND ALLOW ME TO STATE THAT I DESPISE "Y'ALL"]

Fixin' to. Use it all the time h ere in Alabama.

Tote and carry too. Check this out:

I'm fixin to carry my boyfriend to the store with me cause I need him to help tote the bags back out to the car.

Southerners know exactly what I'm saying. Non-southerners stop at "carry my boyfriend". :lol:

That one drives my cousins from California crazy.

Lets not forget Woop Woop when someone lives out of town lol.:lol:
I love being an Aussie.

Mix of Southern and New English. Lots of "Ain't"S And Hard A's and O's.

I'm from louisiana. We adapted a good bit of Texas slang from listening to Rexas rappers. Stuff like using already to mean bye or okay. We'll run know what I'm talking about into one word.

Then there's Cajuns that say all kind of crazy stuff

And people from New Orleans (Naw' Lins) speak differently than almost the rest of the state.

I can't even understand what some Cajuns are trying to say. That is one strong accent.

I say yo and n*gga a lot.

For the most part, this page does a fine job of listing southern slang and pronunciations.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/artic...uthernese.html

I'm from east NC and have either heard or spoken many of them myself. Over the years I've tried to better my grammar and enunciation. Yet, I can slide right into sounding like a fellow you rather not meet from a canoe trip gone wrong.

Visit Maryland, you will be referred to as "hun" at least a few times by people you don't even know.

Also Bawlmer=Baltimore and warsh=wash.

One of the most popular beers (that isn't even brewed here anymore) National Bohemian is referred to as Natty Boh.

Don't get me started on how any word with an O sound is pronounced.

On a related subject...

When I moved from Ohio to Alabama one of the most notable regional slang differences that I noted was the fact that everyone called pop Coke. It was just the generic term for pop so whenever we ordered Coke it was a crapshoot on what kind of drink we would be getting.

For some reason, when this music popped up in the Latest post section, I thought it was another CyberCubed thread about Slang. Looks like I'm wrong.

As for the question, I'm not so sure. I don't any slang, except maybe 'Yo' sometimes.

I thought this was a cubed thread at first too. :lol:

I try not to use slang at all as it seems very low brow and signifies a lack of intelligence. There's a reason why at job interviews they tell you to never use slang. You want to impress the interviewer not tell him you're "from the hood" or "down south" or "a country folk."

The only slang I can stomach using is "that's cold" which is meant to be a reaction to an insult.

Not everyone who uses slang is stupid enough to speak like that during an interview or at their job.

Do you even curse?

Hahaha! I dated a guy from Ohio and this irritated him. Consequently, when I travel out of the south I need to consciously remember not to say "coke" when I want a soda.


Also.....Cyber, you're such a baiter and you know it. Be gone.

I grew out of using the latter, although I didn't use it very often in the beginning anyway.

It's not local to where I grew up, but I tend to say "wicked" at times, as in "wicked cool" or "I'm wicked tired".

umm.....we say "dude" alot over here XD.....

I....can't think of anything unique......

I say dude a lot, but that's only becuase of turtles. :tlol:

This is all bringing back memories of this thread: http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/showthread.php?t=44631

I'm surprised you like TMNT so much....they are all about slang XD

In previous incarnations it's not real slang. But in Nick they're having Michelangelo say things like, "Yeah boyee!" and "Like a Turtle do, son!"

I don't know why they suddenly added the word "son" to Mikey's vocabulary. He certainly didn't say that in Season 1.

How are dude or cowabunga not real slang?

Yeah thats where I stopped and had to pause for a second. I am assuming "Carry my boyfriend"=Driving him somewhere
I hope :lol:

Aw man, fixin to. Ya know, I've been in TX for around 4 years now and I don't hear that one around here. You'd think people would be using that one in TX. I hear allot of older Hispanic women calling little girls mama when I'm doing Internship stuff at schools though. Guess that one cropped up after I moved out of here in 92. They seem to do the mama thing when they're mad at the kiddos. Like,"Oh no you don't, mama. You put that candy back." Stuff like that. Regional slang. I'll have to meditate on this further. That'll give me something to do next time I'm at the store. Thanks Machi! haha

http://livelyathena.files.wordpress....cra2o1_500.gif

Also, I'd like to clarify that not everybody in Australia calls each other "mate". And I have never in my life said "fair dinkum". :lol:

Actually we do tend to use a fair few British slang terms and expressions as well, which I guess is understandable given our colonization!

Hey Eiko, what about this one? :D

http://caiteile.files.wordpress.com/...lang.jpg?w=584

XD....in past incarnations they used real slang...just old slang.

Mikey is using present slang. :3

Around here, instead of "fixing to" they say "finna".

Man I forgot all about that thread.

I never understood why the responses in that thread were so volatile. All I did was say that certain people use slang more than others. I mean where did people think stuff like, "homie" and "shizzle my nizzle" originated from? I wasn't trying to be insensitive although I realize the internet is a hard place to gauge tone of voice.

Well don't worry, everyone... this is Not that thread.

Cubed, just because people use slang doesn't mean that there's some sort of intelligence deficiency. Slang and language in general is a product of history...

Cajun French originates from the French settlers that were exiled from Acadia (Maine, Nova Scotia and Quebec) after the Seven Year's War in 1756. They moved south to Louisiana and developed their own distinct dialect.

There are countless versions of 'Creole', depending on what European colonies (French/Spanish/Portuguese) came into which regions (Caribbean/Indian Ocean/East or West Africa/Eastern Asia).

I'm from NJ, so... no, not aware of any.

It's a common myth that NJ people have accents, but as I've observed it, it's rather the opposite that's true: NJ people speak normally, and everyone else just has some kind of speech impediment.

I remember Jeff Foxworthy saying something along the lines of, " it depends on where you're at in the nation and what you're saying that determines how smart you sound to those around you."

And, sure, some regional dialects and accents have particular connotations related to intellect. But sounding dumb doesn't make one so. Yet, I admit it's understandable why some come off as less intelligent than others. Basically, try to get past the cover if you can, you may be pleasantly surprised.