Regional Differences

[mjkacmom]

Because it makes no linguistic sense.

Would you say you lived 'on' Pennsylvania or whatever?

That said, idioms are idiomatic.

So, would you say "I'm on the plane," or "I'm in the plane?" If someone said they got on the plane, would you picture them sitting on top of it?

 

[Missy1961]

The standing in/on line thing really annoys me. I'm from Maine, we say we stand in line. I don't know why anyone would call it standing on line.... I don't see one drawn there on the ground, so what exactly should I be standing on?

Actually, it seems to come from the fact that many immigrants had to stand on a line at Ellis Island. No-one's exactly sure why it seems to have stuck with NY/NJ folk.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

LOL! When my best friend moved to Georgia from North Jersey she called a pizza place and ordered a "large pie". The girl was very sweet and said "I'm sorry ma'am, we don't serve pie." It took my friend a minute to realize that yes, she HAD called the right place, just used the wrong word!

I had this happen in Montreal. I grew up calling a taxi and "cab". No wonder no one in Montreal knew what I was talking about when I asked where I could find a cab. Once I realized and said "taxi" the gentleman understood immediately.

 

[Missy1961]

Because it makes no linguistic sense.

Would you say you lived 'on' Pennsylvania or whatever?

That said, idioms are idiomatic.

Actually, I also say that I live "on" Long Island. Go figure.

 

[design_mom]

Because it makes no linguistic sense.

Would you say you lived 'on' Pennsylvania or whatever?

That said, idioms are idiomatic.

Only if Pennsylvania was the name of my street! However, I have noticed that even that is regional. Some people in Europe seem to say "I live in Pennsylvania Street."

Or another one that I've noticed. "My father had a heart attack and now he's in hospital." (I'd say 'in the hospital').

PS. I say "in line" but I know some people around here (Ohio) who stand "on line" too.

 

[Missy1961]

Most people I know call it sauce if it has no meat, gravy if there is meat, and no one uses the term "spagetti sauce." And I know many people here who do the 7 fishes on Christmas Eve., although I think a lot of people just have many varieties of seafood now, not exactly 7.

That's what I learned in home ec in a NY high school.

 

[clarabelle]

Me either!



I don't think I have ever been to a plated dinner reception...wait...there was one when I was a young teen. Had to pick my food months in advance. Wasn't a huge fan of it.

The covering your plate thing gets me everytime. Just seems so....selfish?

And presents are still definitely bought for weddings around here! What do you think registries are for?? And if you go to the shower....you still give at the wedding, too.

We eat dinner between 6 and 7...any earlier and it seems weird, and any later and it just gets to be too long of a night.

It's lunch and dinner here...supper just sounds....backwards? I don't know. My BFF's have "dinner" and "supper" and they small town folk...so it sounds a little country/hick to me to call it that.

I have learned a lot on the DIS about regional differences....a lot makes me scratch my head!

Oooooh....the biggie - that people actually leave their shoes on in their/other people's houses. that is a big no no here.

Different just means different
Not wrong or bad

 

[LuLuO]

When I moved out of St. Louis, Missouri I realized that the word 'hoosier' is not a derogatory term in other parts of the country. It's a St. Louis thing.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

The standing in/on line thing really annoys me. I'm from Maine, we say we stand in line. I don't know why anyone would call it standing on line.... I don't see one drawn there on the ground, so what exactly should I be standing on?

We have a similar issue in Jersey. You go "Down the Shore" not "To the Shore".

 

[jen0610]

Whaaaa??? What time do you eat dinner?

Here's another one. . .someplaces they call lunch "dinner" and dinner "supper."

For us, lunch is the noon hour meal and dinner/supper is the evening meal. Sometimes we call it supper, sometimes it's dinner.

Most everybody we know around here, does the same thing. DH's friend who was born and raised around here, but for the last 4 yers has lived down in Arkansas, was just home for a visit and he now calls lunch dinner and the evening meal supper. I had to verify with him what his schedule was for saturday, when at 9 a.m. he said he was going to take a shower, head over to his dad, have dinner and load up the car. I looked at him and said dinner, as in the noon time lunch meal. He just started laughing. He wouldn't have been laughing come dinner/supper time and he didn't have a steak on the grill. If I hadn't clearly heard what he said, questioned his word usage in my head and double checked with him, I would have thought he was going to be at his dad all day and eating with them and wouldn't have pulled one outta the freezer for him.

 

[joyjoy]

Regarding the dinner/lunch/supper thing.

My understanding (I'm from the south, if that matters) is that dinner refers to the main hot meal of the day. In many rural areas in the south, that meal was eaten at noon. It gave the men working in the fields a good, hearty meal midday to keep them fueled to finish the manual labor. In the evening, they had "supper", which was often cold sandwiches made from the "dinner" leftovers. The only people eating "lunch" were fancy ladies in Dallas or New Orleans. If one is accustomed to the evening meal being the main, hot meal of the day, then it makes sense that they would call it "dinner". That said, it still throws me off a little when my dad says things like "I have an appt. with a client after dinner." , and he means at 2 p.m.

 

[JVL1018]

I learned that some people call any soda a Coke.. so they order a Coke and then the waiter says what kind and then they say Sprite or whatever.
I don't get why they say Coke when it juts leads to another question. Why not say Sprite to begin with?
Like I don't order "soda". I order what i want, specifically.

Also,I'm pretty sure this is not regional, but I was shocked to learn that people dish up food for dinner from pots onto the plates.
I had no idea that everyone didn't put the meat, veg, potatoes, whatever, into serving bowls and put them on the table.

Also, gravy vs sauce.
My Italian grandma(born in northern Italy raised in Brooklyn) never called it gravy. It was always sauce.
My FIL's parents(born in Sicily raised in NY/NJ) always called it sauce.
I do know tons of people who call it gravy, but it's never been that way in my husband or my family with people who were straight off the boat and who lived in NY and NJ, so I'm not sure why some Italian Americans call it that and some don't.

 

[joyjoy]

We have a similar issue in Jersey. You go "Down the Shore" not "To the Shore".

And in Texas, inlanders say they're going "to the coast". Where I'm from, Corpus Christi, we just say we're going "to the beach." "The shore" sounds so fancy!

 

[PeterPan09]

We have a similar issue in Jersey. You go "Down the Shore" not "To the Shore".

Yep..and never "to the beach"

The odd one to me since I've moved here is that Florida is not considered part of "the South". Honestly-how much further south can you get?

 

[purplegirl247]

The odd one to me since I've moved here is that Florida is not considered part of "the South". Honestly-how much further south can you get?

Ah, but most people that live here weren't born/raised here (I'm a rarity: an actual living, breathing Florida native, lol). Since we have a lot of northerners here, a lot of the customs are more northern than Southern, I think.

As for regional differences, I didn't know until I went to college for a year in SC that some theme parks aren't open year-round! When I found out Carowinds has an "open season", I was all confused. Disney and Universal are ALWAYS open, so I assumed all amusements parks were the same way.

 

[design_mom]

When I moved out of St. Louis, Missouri I realized that the word 'hoosier' is not a derogatory term in other parts of the country. It's a St. Louis thing.

LOL! My husband's family is from St. Louis and they're always calling someone or another a "hoosier!" I've never heard it used that way anywhere else either.

 

[Harley Quinn]

I learned that some people call any soda a Coke.. so they order a Coke and then the waiter says what kind and then they say Sprite or whatever.
I don't get why they say Coke when it juts leads to another question. Why not say Sprite to begin with?
Like I don't order "soda". I order what i want, specifically.

Also,I'm pretty sure this is not regional, but I was shocked to learn that people dish up food for dinner from pots onto the plates.
I had no idea that everyone didn't put the meat, veg, potatoes, whatever, into serving bowls and put them on the table.

Also, gravy vs sauce.
My Italian grandma(born in northern Italy raised in Brooklyn) never called it gravy. It was always sauce.
My FIL's parents(born in Sicily raised in NY/NJ) always called it sauce.
I do know tons of people who call it gravy, but it's never been that way in my husband or my family with people who were straight off the boat and who lived in NY and NJ, so I'm not sure why some Italian Americans call it that and some don't.

I'm English and that one fascinates me. We plate up all our meals. The meal that is served "family style" is generally Christmas dinner.

Gravy is brown and is poured over Roast dinners.

Registering for gifts is a relatively new thing over here and not everyone does it.

We don't as a rule have showers for brides or babies.

I love Candy Buffets and want one for my wedding as no one will have seen one before.

 

[undertheradar]

That "please" in SouthWest Ohio means anything from "excuse me" to "could you repeat that?"

That all soda in TN is "coke" and soda is "pop" in FL

In NJ we went to the shore, here in CA you go to the beach

We didn't have school fees growing up in NJ but we pay a lot of school fees here in CA

That bad drivers exist everywhere

 

[KimR]

I learned that some people call any soda a Coke.. so they order a Coke and then the waiter says what kind and then they say Sprite or whatever.
I don't get why they say Coke when it juts leads to another question. Why not say Sprite to begin with?
Like I don't order "soda". I order what i want, specifically.

I don't know where idea comes from because I live near Atlanta where, from what I hear, all sodas are called Coke. However, I have NEVER heard anyone actually do this. I'll use the term soda occasionally because I'm from the north, but most of the time, like you, I'll just mention the specific type... 'coke', 'sprite', 'ginger ale', etc. I don't know how I could have lived here all my life and missed this. Sometimes I think I live in a different 'South' than everyone else, LOL!

 

[Plannin'Shannon]

That "please" in SouthWest Ohio means anything from "excuse me" to "could you repeat that?"

That all soda in TN is "coke" and soda is "pop" in FLIn NJ we went to the shore, here in CA you go to the beach

We didn't have school fees growing up in NJ but we pay a lot of school fees here in CA

That bad drivers exist everywhere

I'm a native Floridian and I've never heard soda called "pop" here. I was under the impression that was more of a midwestern thing.

ETA: Yep, here's a map. No "pop" down here. http://popvssoda.com:2998/