Southern vs. Northern Speak

[ChickBond 007]

Iowa is stuck in the middle of the country and is the melting grounds for all of your lingo mixed together.
We say:
Pop (soda is used to clean a stain or bake biscuits)
Grocery Carts (wheely ones in any store)
Skipping school (thus, "Senior Skip Day")

We have a mix of "war-sh" and "wash" depending whether you're in the north of Iowa or south of Iowa. We say "Bag" never 'sack" as in "give me plastic bags" at the grocery store. And loose-meat sandwiches are Maid-Rites here, no matter where you buy them. And yes, we have "grinders" but they call them guinea grinders here and have hot-hot sausage on them.
We know the difference between all of our corn here, and sweet corn is corn on the cob, and corn is something we grow for money or feed animals.
Sometimes you'll hear a "pur-ti-neer" in southern Iowa and my mother always said,
"I've told you forty-leven times not to do that" which I think meant 51 times.

Oh, we know when you're visiting from someplace else when you call our capital city "Dezzzz Moin-ezzzz"
It's "Duh-Moin" Des Moines, Iowa

 

[Bluemoon420]

Quote:
The wicked cool/awesome was one I heard from DH - he's from Jersey. And the Jersey walls (or barriers) I've heard of too.

Yep, they say it in Boston too. I've even heard it in Vermont.
I don't know exactly where Jersey barrier came from, I just know that's what we always called it. When I said it in front of my DH one day (he's from MI) he looked at me like I had three heads

 

[conny63malies]

i noticed one thing in the south.Everything is near a Walgreens. Even the Louisville zoo in KY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Louisville_pronunciationguide.jpg

 

[warmfuzzies]

Purt-near. I keep reading these, and thinking, Oh yeah, we say that. I forget maybe not everyone does! :lol;

 

[mzrea]

I say purt near.
I also turn a statement into a questions by saying eh?

Nice day, eh?
Wicked nice!

Gram always added a "r" to any word that ended in "a" like idea(r)
soder (soda)

We go upstreet and in the front of house is the dooryard.

We put our soda in shopping carts and we skip school.

 

[Lunachick]

I love to visit the southern states. I always carry my "Southern Bible" and read it out loud in the car and DH & I have a hoot and a holler over it.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Speak-Southern-Steve-Mitchell/dp/0553275194

 

[speckledhen]

You'll find differences among Southerners. My MIL would say "warsh" for wash. I said to a friend in high school who was originally from CT that I put something in the "foot" of the car; he had no idea I meant "floorboard". Mainly, you'll hear a difference among educated Southerners and uneducated or "lightly" educated Southerners.
Seems to me many southerners add a "r" onto words that end in a vowel, but Northerners leave out almost ever "r" that is in a word. Me, I never did either of those. And I can really get into the accent when I try, but at times, I have a hard time understanding the ones with the worst Southern or the worst Northern or Midwest accents.

All that said, as long as we understand what the other means, who cares?

BUT all colas are Coke, sorry, LOL.

No sodas or pop down here.

 

[jupitergirl]

I am from Iowa originally and when I moved away I noticed how Iowans say "clear" like "clear across the field" as opposed to "way across the field". Also my friend Karla and I worked in Maine for a summer and she was called "Kah-ler" by the locals. That cracked me up.

 

[Bluemoon420]

Quote:
I've spent a few summers in Maine growing up. They also say ahh-yup when they agree with you

Bluemoon

 

[ChickBond 007]

Quote:
Uh.... I say "clear over there" and "clear across the field" and "clear up in the front pew". LOL