Coast to coast differences

[snoopy]

Here are my answers, having grown up in Baltimore and having spent most of my adult life in Washington D.C.

Dinner is after 7
Grocery cart
Soda
Shoes can be worn in my house, I have hardwood floors. I have never been asked to take my shoes off in anyone's house but would have no problems doing so if asked.
I bring a dish to pot lucks
All showers I have attended or have been thrown for me have been with the intention of surprising the guest of honor. Whether or not she really knows about it is anyone's guess. Point being we all yell surprise.

 

[Big V]

Soda or pop
Pot luck
What can I bring?
Basement
Shopping cart
Never been to a shower.
Supper between 5 and 6
Take shoes off in winter especially!
A few years ago, I had to go out East near Boston for work and a couple of things I noticed different out there were that they call sub sandwiches "Grinders" and they have a fish called "Scrod". It was very tasty by the way!

 

[coliebird]

Ok, background first: born and raised in NY, lived in Queens until I was 7, moved to Rockland County (30 miles NW of NYC), still live here at 33:

Dinner in my house was always 5:30 (my mom was a SAHM). I am a working mom so dinner is now 6:30 - 7:00.

Growing up, shoes stayed on when people came over. Now, my husband is a neat freak, he likes people to take their shoes off when they come in, I don't enforce it, I don't care lol.

We had a cellar growing up - the stairs were outside to get in it. In Rockland, we had a high ranch so technically there was no basement, but the downstairs was a bit underground so I guess it would be considered a basement. Now I have neither in my home due to high water tables.

We go food shopping here with shopping carts and use shopping bags (I prefer paper in plastic, makes it easier to carry - unfortunately Stop and Shop doesn't see it my way and they only have plastic, have to go to ShopRite for paper in plastic)

I drink soda. (Actually I don't, but that's what we call it)

Showers are supposed to be a surprise, usually the person finds out when they are though. I knew about both my bridal shower and my baby shower, no big deal. People yelled surprise anyway.

I always offer to bring something when invited somewhere. Even when told no, I bring something whether it be a dessert or a bottle of wine. I don't like to show up empty handed. People always ask me if I need anything when I have a party, I always say no. I am throwing the party, I supply everything. I enjoy entertaining.

Sorry so long

 

[gina2000]

I'm always surprised when people say that children are always invited to weddings. It's the exception here, not the rule.

Dry weddings. I've never been to one. I've never really heard of one. But by the same token, I've never been to a wedding where anyone has gotten so pickled that they've embarassed themselves or anyone else.

To me, a cellar is unfinished, dark and stores things in it. A basement is usually finished and furnished.

Pot luck.

I always offer to bring something. If the hostess doesn't want anything, I bring flowers as a token of my appreciation.

Soda.

Grocery bags not sacks.

Our showers are surprises. I think knowing and planning it is the exception rather than the rule around here.

Shoes come off if I'm visiting a close friend or family. Formal occasions and holidays, shoes stay on. We just do it because it gets wet, snowy and muddy around here. I would hate to have to see a hostess work for hours to clean up footprints after entertaining me.


Dinner is whenever we can fit it in. These days...it's close to 9 but it's been as early as 5 on a regular basis. My DH calls it supper. I think that's a throwback to when dinner was at noon and supper was the smaller meal.

Oh, and we do try to "cover a plate" at a wedding. No real reason. And it's not a hard and fast rule at all. Some people only give what they've received (even if it's 25 years ago), some people give what they can afford or want to give, and others step it up if they can when they know the wedding is fancy.

Oh....and here's another one. I'm Italian and we don't eat salad til the end of the meal. Anyone else do that?

 

[mikeymars]

Originally posted by caitycaity
your point is?

I only offered that nattering detail to point out that the terms don't really have to do with region, and that people all over the country confuse the words.

In fact, I didn't know the difference until we applied for a building permit to finish our "basement." When the building inspector visited to review our application, he pointed out that we don't have a basement, we have a cellar, a critical point given the state codes for finished space in a cellar are stricter than those for a basement.

 

[snoopy]

Originally posted by gina2000
Oh....and here's another one. I'm Italian and we don't eat salad til the end of the meal. Anyone else do that?

You knew you could count on me to say yes to that one, right Gina?

It took DH years of being married to me to get used to it, now he would never eat a salad at the beginning of the meal.

 

[gina2000]

You knew you could count on me to say yes to that one, right Gina?

But, of course! I knew I had at least ONE bud who does it!


It just kills me that when I'm in an Italian restaurant, they serve the salad before the main course. It's obviously a bow to convention, but I hate it!

 

[binny]

Originally posted by Meriweather
soda
pot luck
what can I bring?
cellar and basement, 2 different things
shopping cart
sometimes a surprise shower, but usually not
wedding gifts not based on how much the wedding costs

yep we live in the same area LOL

also shoes OFF please! especially kids. and we eat around 5:30 depending on the family schedule.



nice rhyme Meri

 

[DVC Daisy]

These are so interesting

Grew up in CA and moved to NY for a few years and I think the biggest differences seemed to be:

Shoes off in NY, on in CA when entering a home. I found that weird. Here, you ONLY take shoes off if it is someone you feel very, very comfortable around. For instance, you would only take shoes off at someones house where you would feel comfortable looking in their cupboards or helping yourself to a drink!

Dinner seemed much earlier in NY. Here we eat much later. It is not unusual to eat at 8:00 or even 9:00 in the summer.

People are less likely to talk to "strangers" in NY. For instance, if you are waiting in a long line here, it is perfectly acceptable to chat with the people in line with you. The looks on people's faces when I tried that in NY

The biggest one for me was the no white shoes between Labor Day and Easter! That one really got me! WHY? Never heard of it before. We wear white here anytime we want. Actually, in general I think we have less fashion rules here. But really, who cares what color your shoes are?

 

[binny]

Originally posted by DVC Daisy
These are so interesting

People are less likely to talk to "strangers" in NY. For instance, if you are waiting in a long line here, it is perfectly acceptable to chat with the people in line with you. The looks on people's faces when I tried that in NY

This is a big deal to me too! I always chat with other people in line or wherever, its just the polite thing to do. I think most of the people on West Coast ae like this. When I went to NY to live ( didnt work out) I was amazed at how no one even looked at a stranger! I dont know if thats the norm or just what I experienced, and im not saying all Ny'ers are rude. Im just saying I was surprised at that part of it. Ill stick to my Western Life

 

[Rozzie]

Down here we...

NEVER take our shoes off when entering a home, some of my family gets offended at my new SiL who is from different area, of course, I take mine off to be polite, but it just seems so weird!!

We eat supper...

Drink a coke...

one thing I didn't see mention that my SiL and I were discussing, is wedding receptions. All of the receptions I have ever been to (excluding SiL's) are NOT sit down affairs, they are mosey around buffet style with a live band, no DJs....

and I have never heard or been to a shower that was a surprise! but it does sound fun....

I was raised in Alabama, and I am the only member of my family that does not have a accent, B/c I lived in orlando for a few years as a little tot. My family refers to me still as "that yankee sounding" ......dh's family wanted proof that i was a southerner before they would give their blessing, j/k of course......

oh and SWEET TEA! when I worked out west I was the laughing stock of our group of friends for always ordering this in a restaurant....

 

[SnoWhite]

There are differences in the same region as well. I have noticed other WA posters and they have different answers than me. I was born and raised in WA state:

Pop
Grocery Bag
Cellar and Basement are two different things
Dinner for us has always been early, around 4:30-5:30
Shoes never came off....or rarely ever did
Shopping cart
Never been to a surprise shower
What can I bring?

And I just had what I guess everyone is considering a "dry" wedding, although it was at 11AM, and people could go around the corner to the bar at the country club and buy a drink if they really needed one....but we did have an espresso cart there! (a very Seattle type of thing I think)

Speaking of....how many Starbucks, seattles Best Coffee, Tullys, etc. are within a 5 minute radius of your home? Mine: at least 6

 

[TimeforMe]

Originally posted by gina2000
Oh....and here's another one. I'm Italian and we don't eat salad til the end of the meal. Anyone else do that?

Yep, same here. And the dressing was ALWAYS oil and vinegar--none of this bottled stuff. Although I do use it now, my mother would NEVER.

It's funny.....I watch my kids when we eat at someone's house and if salad is part of the buffet (or whatever) they too eat it last. It makes me smile because it brings back a little of my mom and dad to me.

 

[mikeymars]

Below is a rather academic sounding but insightful treatise on regional variation in American speech. I travel regularly all over the place, and find the below to be 100% on the money:

Regional dialects in North America

These are most strongly differentiated along the eastern seaboard. The distinctive speech of important cultural centers like Boston, Massachusetts (see Boston accent phonology), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana imposed their marks on the surrounding areas.

The Connecticut River is usually regarded as the southern/western extent of New England speech, while the Potomac River generally divides a group of Northern coastal dialects from the beginning of the Coastal Southern dialect area (distinguished from the Highland Southern or South Midland dialect treated below, although outsiders often mistakenly believe that the speech in these two areas is the same); in between these two rivers several local variations exist, chief among them the one that prevails in and around New York City and northern New Jersey.

A distinctive speech pattern was also generated by the separation of Canada from the United States, centered on the Great Lakes region. This is the Inland North dialect - the "standard Midwestern" speech that is generally considered free from regional marking in the United States of America (those not from this area frequently confuse it with the North Midland dialect dealt with in the following paragraph, referring to both collectively as "Midwestern").

In the interior, the situation is very different. West of the Appalachian Mountains begins the broad zone of what is generally called "Midland" speech. This is divided into two discrete subdivisions, the North Midland that begins north of the Ohio River valley area, and the South Midland speech; sometimes the former is designated simply Midland and the latter is reckoned as Highland Southern. The North Midland speech continues to expand westward until it becomes the closely related speech of California, although in the immediate San Francisco area the speech more closely resembles that of the mid-Atlantic region.

The South Midland or "Highland Southern" dialect follows the Ohio River in a generally southwesterly direction, moves across Arkansas and Oklahoma west of the Mississippi, and peters out in West Texas. This is the dialect associated with truck drivers on CB radio and 95% of country music. It is a version of the Midland speech that has assimilated some coastal Southern forms, most noticeably the loss of the diphthong /aj/, which becomes /A:/, and the second person plural pronoun "you-all" or "y'all". Unlike Coastal Southern, however, South Midland is a rhotic dialect, pronouncing /r/ wherever it has historically occurred.

The northern cities, which corresponds to a broad swath of the United States, beginning near Syracuse, New York and extending west through Cleveland, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, and north to Minneapolis, Minnesota, have undergone a shift called the northern cities vowel shift, where the vowels in the words stuck, stalk, stock, and stack have shifted. This type of shift, where a group of sounds all shift at once, some taking the place of others, is called a chain shift.

The sounds of American speech can be identified with a number of public figures. President John F. Kennedy spoke in the accent associated with the Boston Irish, while President Jimmy Carter speaks with a Southern coastal dialect. The North Midlands speech is familiar to those who have heard Neil Armstrong and John Glenn, while the South Midland speech was the speech of President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

 

[Nala217]

I was born and raised( and still live) in Wisconsin near Madison. I went to college in Minnesota and there were some major difference just between our states.

Pop- MN Soda- depending on where you are from in WI sometimes Pop. I say Soda

Rambler-MN Ranch-WI ( home styles)

Water Fountain- MN Bubbler or Drinking Fountain- WI

Duck, Duck,Gray Duck- MN Duck, Duck , Goose- WI

I also say:

Shopping cart
Grocery Bag
Potluck
Shoes off ( definately during winter)
No suprise showers
Dinner around 5:30 7:00 is really late.
What can I bring?
Wedding gift of cash or something from registry not based on cost of wedding. Can be based on how well you know the couple.
and finally
basement.

 

[rascalmom]

Coke (but its really Dr. Pepper)

Iced tea (sugar is optional and is added later) Cracks me up when I go somewhere and they tell me they don't have Iced Tea. Do you have hot tea? Do you have ice? Problem solved.

Dinner- usually around 6:30. People work until 5:00 around here.

Storm Cellar. Basements are fairly rare, but they are a different thing.

Showers - never been to a surprise shower. People will frequently have multiple showers, with differents groups of guests; work friends, church friends, friends of parents, etc.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Shoes On.

What can I bring?

Pot Luck

Lots of Starbucks, but we have Sonic too.

Weddings - usually buffet with a DJ, church receptions are dry and are not unusual. Gifts are from the registry or are well thought out to be something the couple needs or wants. Close family will do a larger gift or a cash gift.

Buggy (when I lived in CA I was informed that babies are pushed in buggies, groceries in carts)

I put away my groceries. When my mom "puts up" vegetables it means she is canning fresh things from the garden.

 

[Judy from Boise]

I would be semi-insulted if someone brought food to an occasion I was hosting ! Unless, of course it was a pot-luck.

 

[delilah]

I've lived several places over the years. I was born in the Chicago area, went to university in Gainesville, Florida, Grad/Med school in Columbus Ohio, and now live just south of Indianapolis.

When I was growing up, we had dinner right when Dad got home, at about 5-5:30. We used shopping carts, our groceries came in bags, and had soda pop as a special treat. My aunt had a cellar at her house, which was totally underground and entered from the outside, like the old-fashioned storm cellars in Wizard of Oz. We had a basement, which was technically a cellar, from what I read in this post.

The first week or so that I was in Gainesville, I had a run in with a lady who thought I took her buggy. There was nothing in it, so I let her use the one I had, and fetched another one.

When we lived in Columbus, there was not much difference between Chicago and Columbus, as I recall, in terms of usage. People in Columbus are very friendly compared to those in Indianapolis. If you look the least bit puzzled or lost, somebody is almost certain to stop and try to help you out.

Now, I prepare dinner when I get home from work, anywhere from 5:30-6:30 pm, and we eat whenever everybody arrives home, usually about 6:30-7 pm. My son is in first grade, so we try to get homework and a little kid fun in before 8pm. I think they call them sacks at the store, but, I use sack and bag interchangeably. We have a true basement in our house, actually a "walk-out" basement, which opens onto our driveway on one side, and is totally underground on the opposite end, since we live on a sloping lot.