Culture Shock

[bunnibird55]

Here in NW Ohio - I live near Mont'-pelier - people from outside call it Mount-pe'-lier. We drink pop. We clear the crick to get the water runnin'. Some of the people say "you-ins" although I have never fallen that far! We have breakfast, lunch and supper. Some of the favorite foods include beef and noodles - must be egg noodles cooked slowly with a big arm roast, ham and beans cooked in a big pot and served over hot, sweet cornbread with lots of butter melted in. We have creamed chicken sandwiches at our local Dairy Queen that we can't find anywhere else. People make fun of us doing the "warsh" and putting the clothes on the clothes-line. We can tell when a "furiner" comes in, they aren't related to so and so and they don't know whose uncle is married to whose sister! I love it here and really look like a sightseer whenever I venture out of my safe little place!

 

[chickendude]

Quote:
I just happened upon this post. don't know how I missed it while it was still active. Any way great post. NYboy, I agree with the down the road line and maybe the sometime today thing. But the "Are you from the city= Are you gay" is way off. You aren't even from the city, The city as any NY'er knows is Manhattan. As for the macaroni and beef dish w/sauce. My family called it " Pay Day Supper " I believe it goes back to the depression. They called it so because they would get meat on pay day only. Meat in those times was a luxury.

 

[Kaitie09]

hikerchick wrote:

When I first moved to PA from CT, my daughter and I went to a pizza place. We ordered, and then the girl behind the counter said "Do you want to pay awhile?" and I honestly had no idea what she was talking about. She meant to ask if we wanted to pay while we were waiting but she said it in PAish and I only spoke CTish.

Also, they have this way of saying that something "needs fixed" or "needs washed" instead of needs to be fixed or washed.

Another thing I found odd is that instead of saying something is "all gone", they simply say it's "all". Like, "my drink is all" to mean my cup is empty.

The other thing we noticed is that they mix up the words "leave" and "let". They "let a message" instead of leaving one; and they will say "leave him go" when they mean "let him go"

I am constantly worried that I am going to start talking like that

I live in Southern York County and tend to always use the "awhile" saying, along with the "needs washed".

My stepfather was born an raised by Lake Redman, and never went past the MD line until he needed to for his job 8 yrs ago (he is almost 40) His mother and father are born and raised here too, and they say all the things you said.

My mom is originally from Baltimore and moved here, but I have lived here my whole life. I got a bit of both worlds. I grew up in a polish family from Baltimore, but I still enjoy venison, I slip sometimes and say "ya'll" and tend to be a little more Pennsylvanian than other people I know. I go to college in MD and when I say I'm from PA, Its like I came from a different planet.

I guess just living here the talk seems like it is normal, Iv;e never lived anywhere else, so I really don't know much about how others talk, other than an accent and the whole soda/pop thing.​

 

[itsy]

I'm originally from Connecticut and my BF is from Queens (NY). Firstly, when you're from where I'm from - you refer to "The City" as Manhattan. Everything else is just NY. He's in the horse business and long story short - we moved to the middle of NJ about 12 years ago. As you go farther south here - people start developing a southern accent. It's surprising!

Also... something I discovered in NJ. Pork Roll. In my years living in CT - I had never heard of such a thing. Here, it's on every menu and you can get it in every supermarket. As soon as I discovered it, I called my family and friends up north and asked them if they had ever heard of it. Nope!

My business took me to Long Island for a year. I have to admit - I was definitely out of my element. Everyone had an accent but me. I have such a lack of an accent, I could do National Weather Broadcasting. I had never seen so much hair gel or hi-lights. As Italian as I am (both parents and their relatives all the way back), everyone thought I was Indian or Pakistani. People would come up to me and ask me if I spoke English. I even had women approach me speaking in a different language, assuming I understood. One very lovely lady (son and husband in tow) even offered me some of her gold jewelry in exchange for going out on a date with her son. I politely declined. lol. When clients would come into my job, they would ask my coworkers if "the Indian girl" was working today. While I love to experience other cultures - it was becoming frustrating that people didn't think I spoke English! SO - I got hilights, some nail gels and I threw in some stereotypical "fuhgetabot" its'. When I moved out of the Island - I let my natural hair come back. No more problems.

Hehehehe.

 

[Spookwriter]

I've said enough times that I'm Kentucky born.

But I might'a been to the city one or twice. Thing that
alwasy puzzled me was city buses. How do you know
which one to get on? Looks to me like you could get lost
mighty easy. All those buses look alike.

And if you get to where you're going...how do you get
home?

I've never rode a city bus, no subways.

I did ride me a Grayhound once...they made me ride it when
I was heading for the Air Force. Didn't like that ride either.

So I don't get to the city much. Does it show?

 

[itsy]

My job also took me to Brooklyn for a year and I worked in Manhattan for another year. It's really intimidating at first, but you get used to the different subway routes and entrances. I really had to force myself to do it. At first, I was paying taxis to take me everywhere, but it got SO expensive. Once I did it - I got the hang of it!

There's also a culture to taking the subway.... How close to stand to people, what to do when the door opens...standing/sitting inside the cars. There aren't enough people in the world who stand for someone who is elderly/pregnant/disabled. I always stood and gave my seat up for anyone who appeared that they needed it. I often did this before other people - including men. As sexist as that may sound, I was always bothered by it - like...didn't your mother ever teach you anything!?!!

 

[saddina]

I'm an oddball for the rest of the US. If you ask where "home" is, it's dead center of chinatown in SF (san fransisco), in a restruant (mum's an awful cook), on my birthday, which comes with new years parades. However I'm not asian (sicilian, but rent in chinatown was lower and still convient for my parents jobs). I have an accient of vauge british colonial (to people in the US it sounds british, poeple from the UK know it's not), due to a speech therapist from hong kong teaching me english vowels. Any word that I can not reliabl pronounce, I swap for a synonium, I can not say "specific" so i say "exact". I talk california-fast (faster than a new yorker, easily).

The thing I notice the most is in pronunciations, any word I don't recognize in english, I swap out for a spanish pronunciation, when i talk to Boyd cities towns and such have a french or polish sound to thier name. Des moines, I get Deez moi-nuez, he gets dai mone. I have come to the conclusion i'll need a gps, as i'll never recognize street names. Apperanlty I should order a "pop" or else expect baking soda (actually i order a diet coke, and expect people to read). I rather suspect fashion may be the biggest shock, I will freeze to death before using a snuggie, have no idea who carhearts is, and the only boots i've owned were a crushed velvet and sworski pair that never saw actual dirt.

 

[mangled]

We moved from a small town in western PA to Phoenix, AZ when we were first married. Talk about culture shock.

We're back in PA now (thank goodness!!), north of Pittsburgh, and we speak Pittsburgh-ese.

Yinz = you, plural
pop not soda
Chipped ham, not shaved
Jumbo is bologna
Gumband is rubberband
Grinnies are chipmunks.


Pigs in a blanket is cabbage stuffed with ground meat and usually a little white rice mixed in. You cover that in tomato sauce and bake them. They're one of my specialties. So, so good. I also call it Halupki. Hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls are call wiener twists according to my school days.

House = Hause
Downtown = Dahntahn
Slippy = Slippery

Yeah, I was WAY out of place in Phoenix. LOL

Blessings-
Em

 

[SillyChicken]

Quote:
Wonder if your neighbor was a transplant, cause roots are roots, roofs are roofs and creeks are creeks where I'm from in MI! LOL! But then again, we do have a whole different language the farther north you go to da u p aye!