Vocabulary unique to your region

[The Burgomaster]

I'm from Massachusetts - - born here - - lived here all my life.  And we definitely use some words here that people don't readily understand when we travel outside the state (or to other countries for that matter).

Here are some examples:

* Those sweet things you put on ice cream that most people refer to as SPRINKLES are called JIMMIES here.  Try asking for Jimmies on your ice cream in other states and see what you get.

* What many people know as SODA or POP or SODA POP is widely referred to as TONIC in these parts.  Most other states will give you medicine or hair oil if you ask for tonic.

* We have SUBMARINE SANDWICHES or SUBS, which in many other states are called HOAGIES or GRINDERS or even HERO SANDWICHES.

* We also have SPUKIES here.  SPUKIE could be used in place of SUB (see above) when referring to a sandwich.  "I'll have a roast beef and cheese SPUKIE."  It could also be used to refer to the type of roll the sandwich is made with.  "I'll have roast beef and cheese on a SPUKIE."

* We say WICKED to mean intensely good or bad.  "We had a WICKED blast." (We had a very good time).  "I had a WICKED sore throat."  (I had a very painful sore throat).  Or WICKED can be used as a stand-alone word.  "How do you like my new car?"  "WICKED!!!!!!"

What can you add?  Maybe we could build an entire dictionary and come up with our own mixed vocabulary that no one but us could understand.  (Hey, it might come in handy when we are wandering barren wastelands after the apocalypse . . . we'd be able to communicate secretly with one another and the hordes of renegade mutants wouldn't understand us).

 

[jimmybob]

It's hard to know what's weird that we (Canada) say because I've never really been to many other countries.

But in the states someone recognized where I'm from from my voice which is weird.

-Jimmybob

[The Burgomaster]

It's hard to know what's weird that we (Canada) say because I've never really been to many other countries.

But in the states someone recognized where I'm from from my voice which is weird.

-Jimmybob

I can usually recognize Canadians when they speak.  There's a girl in my office who grew up in Canada and her accent (although mild) is clearly Canadian.  People can usually pick up my Boston accent when I travel (although, I try to disguise it whenever I can by pronouncing the letter "R" at the end of words, such as "car" instead of "cah.")

[Leah]

I'

* We have SUBMARINE SANDWICHES or SUBS, which in many other states are called HOAGIES or GRINDERS or even HERO SANDWICHES.

* We also have SPUKIES here.  SPUKIE could be used in place of SUB (see above) when referring to a sandwich.  "I'll have a roast beef and cheese SPUKIE."  It could also be used to refer to the type of roll the sandwich is made with.  "I'll have roast beef and cheese on a SPUKIE."

 

we call em po boys.

anyways, we have crayfish which in Louisiana we call crawfish. we also use y'all instead of you guys.

[indianasmith]

Y'all is pretty universal usage in the South.  here in East Texas, we also say that we are "fixin' to do something" or "fixin' to go somewhere."  It means we will do  it in the near future, but outsiders have a hard time with it.  While in college, my wife told a classmate from Thailand "I'm fixin' to go to the library."

He looked at her rather strangely and asked "Is library BROKEN??"

[LilCerberus]

A few years ago, exhausted from factory work, i let out a yawn.
A coworker asked, "What you yawnin' for? You hangin' out?"
I wasn't sure I heard him right over the din of the machinery, so he repeated, "You hangin' out?... Are - you - hangin' - out?"
Still unsure of what he meant, I looked down to see if he was implying my zipper was open. It wasn't.
When I looked back up, I found that he'd left the line, apparently because he was laughing too hard.
That's when another amused coworker explained that he was asking if I was "hanging out at the bar, late at night."

After well over a decade of seeing people with one pant leg rolled up, & the other one rolled down, I only recently learned that it means they're either looking to buy or sell marijuana, though I forget which leg means what.

[Trevor]

Y'all is pretty universal usage in the South.  here in East Texas, we also say that we are "fixin' to do something" or "fixin' to go somewhere."  It means we will do  it in the near future, but outsiders have a hard time with it.  While in college, my wife told a classmate from Thailand "I'm fixin' to go to the library."

He looked at her rather strangely and asked "Is library BROKEN??"

[Trevor]

In South Africa, the word 'robot' is used for a traffic light.

We say "Howzit" ~ meaning "Hello, how are you?" in one.
If the answer to the above is "Kak" ~ that means that things are bad. 

The word "Lekker" means great, it can also mean sweet.

The phrase "Jou ma se ouma-grootjie se tottie se punt" is NOT a term of endearment. It means your mom's great grandmother was actually a man, with specific reference to the tip of the male organ. 

As the World Cup approaches, it scares me that there are two soccer players coming here, one called Francisco Totti (Italy) and the other Ricardo "Kaka" Leite from Brazil. 

[The Burgomaster]

we call em po boys.

anyways, we have crayfish which in Louisiana we call crawfish. we also use y'all instead of you guys.

I love shrimp po boys, but I can only get them in the south.  Love crawfish too, but that's another thing that's pretty rare in Boston (although you can definitely get it here if you search enough).

[CheezeFlixz]

Here in my part of the South all soda's, cola's, fizzy drinks are called "COKE'S" regardless of the brand or type ... if you ask for a Coke, you'll get "What kind?" in reply. About the only exception is Root Beer which is called oddly enough Root Beer.

[Mr. DS]

I live one state over from Burgo in RI so we have similar talk out here.  I use the term "wicked" as an adjective all the time.  It doesn't seem as popular out here as it is out in the Bean Town area.  Along with the term "grinder" which I use at Subway to receive odd stares from the younger folks working there.  

I grew up in Western MA so I'm I will always be a "MASS-hole" according to everyone around here.    Not really a vocab thing but when I first came out here I heard the term "coffe-milk" and had no clue what it was.  Its pretty much the way it sounds though a drink consisting of half coffee and the other half milk.  

[The Burgomaster]

I've also noticed in the South is you ask for tea you generally get iced tea.  All the waitress will ask you is if you want it sweet (aka with sugar) or not.  They never seem to assume you want a cup of hot tea.

[macabre]

HI
I live in the north west of england and the diffrent choices i would choose to what perhaps dogget would choose is ,always a source of amusement

eg: me=what da doin?
dogget=what are you doing?
me=art aw rite?
dogget=are you alright?
me=wert gooin
dogget=where are you going?
me=is that thi maud?
dogget=is that your wife?
many many more to mention but i shall allow dogget to choose what he thinks are the best ones.
macabre

[3mnkids]

Like others have said.. y'all and fixin..I reckon is another one.  Its a southern thing. I also catch myself saying nair instead of there.. like "go on over nair" not sure why it just comes out like that.

[Raffine]

"Bless his/her heart!" when injected into a conversation about a third party gives you permission to say the most terrible things about that person.

EXAMPLE: Trevor, bless his heart, had got the stinkiest underpants in creation.

"Bless your heart", on the other hand, is a phrase meaning deep sympathy and understanding.

TREVOR: I've got the stinkiest underpants in creation.
ME: Why, bless your heart, you poor thing!


NOTE: The examples used in this post are in no way meant to realistically reflect the actual aroma of Trevor's underpants, which I'm  sure is quite refreshing . . . bless his heart.