Colloquialisms

[Boudie]

Down here the grassy area between two parallel roads is called a neutral ground

We make groceries and if we take family with us we're "going to make groceries with mom and em"

If it's dark and carbonated it's probably called a Coke and if it's Monday you're probably having red beans for dinner.

Trolleys are called Street Cars and Snow Cones are called Snow Balls

Any local colloquialisms that uniquely identify your community?

and
Oysters are ersters and oil is normally pronounced earl

 

[highsierrasmokin']

In California they're called Pine Needles, in Georgia they're called Pine Straw.
CA - License Plates / GA - Tags
CA - Forest / GA - Woods
CA - Wild Boar / GA - Hogs
CA - Fireflies / GA - Lightnin' bugs
CA - Liquor Stores / GA - Bottle Shops
CA - Pickle Chips / GA - Fried Pickles (and if you say you want pickle chips you'll get regular sliced pickles)

 

[Alwayslit]

In California they're called Pine Needles, in Georgia they're called Pine Straw.
CA - License Plates / GA - Tags
CA - Forest / GA - Woods
CA - Wild Boar / GA - Hogs
CA - Fireflies / GA - Lightnin' bugs
CA - Liquor Stores / GA - Bottle Shops
CA - Pickle Chips / GA - Fried Pickles (and if you say you want pickle chips you'll get regular sliced pickles)

This pretty much sums up all the east coast states below the Mason Dixon line.

 

[highsierrasmokin']

This pretty much sums up all the east coast states below the Mason Dixon line.

I figured that was the case. Damn rednecks!!!
On a lighter note...I still haven't had anybody call me a Yankee yet, so that's a bonus.

 

[Boudie]

When your rural GA neighbors are sitting under the porch light swatting mosquitos, drinking Dr, Pepper and spitting tobacco juice at the dog they'll probably just call you a west coast commie. You'll have to work your way up to Yankee.

 

[MikeNice]

Everything less than 30 minutes away is 'round the corner. Over thirty minutes is, " a haul."

I'm goin' to run round the corner to Jimmy's.

I was thinking of going to the concert in Raleigh, but that's a haul.

Have a sit means somebody wants to talk or is inviting you to stay a while.

Staying a while can be thirty minutes or two weeks. It is context dependent.

Hauling a person somewhere usually means taking a person some where you don't really want to go. Unless you are talking about vacation.

I'm going to haul the family down to Wilmington is very different than, I got to haul Dwight down to his momma's.

Depending on where you are people will say Food Lion or Piggly Wiggly instead of grocery store.

Pack of nabs is any pack of cracker sandwiches. Think of those packets of cheese crackers or peanut butter crackers.

People still say they have to get a new inspection sticker even though stickers phased out like twenty years ago.

 

[highsierrasmokin']

swatting mosquitos

This is the strange part....I was worried about the mosquitos, but I've only seen like 5 of them since I've been here and had one mosquito bite. No joke!
In Tahoe this time of year through August, you can't be outside after the sun drops behind the mountain or you'll be devoured in minutes.

 

[Alwayslit]

This is the strange part....I was worried about the mosquitos, but I've only seen like 5 of them since I've been here and had one mosquito bite. No joke!
In Tahoe this time of year through August, you can't be outside after the sun drops behind the mountain or you'll be devoured in minutes.

Hmmmm, do you live close to a nuclear plant? Just asking for a friend.

 

[Texican]

This really has me racking my brain. Hmmm.

Fixin(g) to = Going to/about to do something

Cooler = Ice chest


And this one is really more of a pronunciation than a particular phrase, but, as my grandpa used to say it:

Like 'at = Like That

 

[highsierrasmokin']

Hmmmm, do you live close to a nuclear plant? Just asking for a friend.

Yes and no...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_Scherer

This plant is about 20 minutes south of us.

 

[icehog3]

First one that comes to mind, in Chicago we can soft drinks "pop" and not "soda".

 

[Boudie]

Yes and no...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_Scherer

View attachment 191419
This plant is about 20 minutes south of us.

Those aren't fireflys, lightning bugs flying around your yard at night. They are those huge, glow in the dark mosquitos from the plant.

 

[CAJoe]

First one that comes to mind, in Chicago we can soft drinks "pop" and not "soda".

Here it is Soda

 

[Texican]

I think @Boudie covered it for my area too...

Coke = any kind of carbonated soft drink.

"You want me to buy you a Coke?"
"Yeah"
"What kind?"
"Mountain Dew please"

 

[Boudie]

Does anybody buy tissue or is it Kleenex

 

[Texican]

Does anybody buy tissue or is it Kleenex

Kleenex!

And all adhesive bandages are Band-Aids.

 

[highsierrasmokin']

Do you say wash or warsh???
My mother in law and my buddies mom always say warsh.
"Can you put those dirty clothes in the warsh please?"
Saying warsh is BS imho.

 

[Boudie]

I don't know but in the old days they did the wash in the zink

 

[highsierrasmokin']

Tahoe area terms:
Raining or snowing really feckin' hard = Dumping, macking, or nuking
"It is freakin NUKING out there!!!"
Or sometimes you'll here someone say, "It's Daddy GNARbuckles out there right now!"

Tourists/Valley or Bay Area folks = Cods or Codfish (your rarely hear people say codfish anymore..that was more mid to late 90's)
Their children are called Guppies

When your going snowboarding/skiing/mountain biking/skateboarding = Shredding or Shred Sesh
"Fred and I are gonna go SHRED Squaw this afternoon!"
(Squaw Valley aka Squawllywood)

I don't know if these are proper colloquialisms but...

 

[Rupe]

Just a few of the Minnesota ones that come to mind....

Casseroles are called Hotdish
The kids game Duck-Duck Goose is called Duck-Duck, Grey Duck
We say "Pop" (not soda)
like most Midwesterners it is pronounced "car-mel" (carmle) not "care a mel"
Oof-da! or "cripes" are ways of expressing surprise (think Oy-vey!)
Geez-Louise and ope! are pretty common expressions too.