Coast to coast differences

[tkd lisa]

Disclaimer: I grew up in central Indiana, and now live in Southern Maryland.

When I was little, my baby sitter was from rural Kentucky and she called bags/sacks "pokes".

Brand names are a big deal when you move. DH's favorite beans were Van Camps' and we can't get them in MD.

Also, if I'm invited to someone's house for a meal or a party, I usually ask what I can bring (food or drink, etc). I talked to someone who grew up in New York City, and he just couldn't understand this. He felt like if he was hosting an event, then he was providing everything. He said that if he couldn't afford to do this, then he shouldn't have the party.

What do you call a social gathering where each person/family who comes is responsible for bringing a food dish to share? I grew up calling it either a pot luck or a pitch in. I've heard it referred to as a covered dish supper. Anything else?

A lot of regional differences are disappearing though since people are becoming much more mobile.

 

[snoopy]

One saying I think might be regional to my hometown of Baltimore, MD is cellar instead of basement. Or is this used in other parts of the country too?

 

[NMAmy]

Originally posted by aprilgail2
On here I learned that there are places where people come into your house and actually take their shoes off like they live there LOL..that blows me away!.....that NEVER happens around here.

DD grew up in New Mexico where you don't take your shoes off when you enter someone's house. When we moved to Michigan (where I grew up), she was freaked out when her friends would come over and everyone kicks off their shoes and leaves 'em in a pile by the front door! I had a heck of a time training her and DH to take them off in the winter time.

It's pop in Michigan, but in New Mexico everything is a Coke. As in "Do you want a Coke? What kind?"

People are also friendlier in New Mexico. The first time a total stranger passed me on the street and said hello, I was trying to figure out who the heck it was! Now I do it in Michigan and people look at me like I'm a stalker.

 

[KelNottAt]

Please keep your shoes on when you come to dinner at my house. No, you don't have to bring anything; you're my guest. At 6:00 we'll have Utz with the subs (not hogies!) and sodas we get at Blimpies. You can play in the basement after you fold and put away the grocery bags. Farmers store their winter root veggies in the cellar.


Kelley

 

[Disney_1derland]

I grew up in Southern CA but now live in Middle Tennessee. It took me a long time to get used to the regional differences...

Going to the store:
CA: Mom is going to take me to the store
TN: Mom is going to carry me to the store

Bringing groceries home:
CA: I'm going to put the groceries away
TN: I'm going to put the groceries "UP"
(This CA native always wonders, why would you put the groceries "UP" where you can't get to them??? )

Food items:
In CA its Dreyers Ice Cream, Best foods mayonaise
In TN, they are the same company but are called Edy's Ice Cream and Hellman's Mayonaise (the commercials and music are the exact same with the product names changed)

I can't think of any others right now, but there are a bunch!

Edited to add...there are two types of drinks in TN, "drink" and "tea" as in...Would you like a drink or some tea? Drink being anything else and tea being tea so sweet it makes your teeth itch! People think I'm nuts because I drink unsweetend ice tea and in the summer I make Sun Tea.

 

[tkyes]

Here -

Pop

grocery bag

dinner is anytime between 5:00 - 7:00

basement

shoes come OFF

we don't give wedding gifts based on how much we think the bride and groom spent on the party

pot luck

and yes, i usually offer to bring something to a party, but usually my family is the only one to take me up on it

and I've NEVER been to a surprise shower of any kind - birthday's yes, showers no


tamie

 

[mikeymars]

Originally posted by snoopy
One saying I think might be regional to my hometown of Baltimore, MD is cellar instead of basement. Or is this used in other parts of the country too?

Actually, there is a technical, not regional difference between the two.

Both are the lowest floor in a home, but are labeled differently depending upon how far underground they are. A room that sits somewhat below ground (but where a majority of the vertical walls are "above grade," e.g. above the surface of the outside ground) is a basement.

That same room could only be accurately described as a cellar if all or most of it sat below grade. In other words, what you have in your home is solely a function of whether most of the walls in that area sit above or below the surface of the outside ground.

 

[coliebird]

Originally posted by mikeymars
Actually, there is a technical, not regional difference between the two.

Both are the lowest floor in a home, but are labeled differently depending upon how far underground they are. A room that sits somewhat below ground (but where a majority of the vertical walls are "above grade," e.g. above the surface of the outside ground) is a basement.

That same room could only be accurately described as a cellar if all or most of it sat below grade. In other words, what you have in your home is solely a function of whether most of the walls in that area sit above or below the surface of the outside ground.

In Queens, we called ours a cellar b/c it had the stairs outside to enter it.

 

[snoopy]

coliebird, ours did too. I had forgotten about that, but yes, that must be the difference.

 

[Teejay32]

We have supper around 6-ish, buy tonic at the grocery store, keep potatoes down cellar. Front doors are just a formality, but shoes stay on, and when invited somewhere you ask "what can I bring?"

 

[caitycaity]

i don't think many of the things on here are coastal differences. i grew up in upstate ny and people always took off their shoes when coming into other's houses.

i live in the dc area now and people do this here too.

also, i don't know anyone who eats dinner before 7.

my shower wasn't a surprise - again we're talking east coast here.

 

[philaround]

Originally posted by snoopy
One saying I think might be regional to my hometown of Baltimore, MD is cellar instead of basement. Or is this used in other parts of the country too?

I grew up using both cellar and basement.

If it was used for any kind of living space it was always "The Basement". If it was used only for storage and utilities it was "The Cellar".

 

[mikeymars]

Originally posted by philaround
I grew up using both cellar and basement.

If it was used for any kind of living space it was always "The Basement". If it was used only for storage and utilities it was "The Cellar".

A cute colloquialism, but not fact, per my prior post (which pointed out the terms have to do with whether the space is primarily above or below grade, not whether it is finished or how it is employed). We happen to have a fully finished cellar which is used as living space, as do plenty of others in my area of the northeast.

 

[caitycaity]

Originally posted by philaround
I grew up using both cellar and basement.

If it was used for any kind of living space it was always "The Basement". If it was used only for storage and utilities it was "The Cellar".

that's how it was where we lived too.

 

[mikeymars]

Originally posted by caitycaity
that's how it was where we lived too.

Directly from the American Association of Architects:

"A basement is a full story below grade, which has one-half its height or less above grade level.

A cellar is different. It is a below-grade area that has more than half its height below grade."

 

[mountaineer]

When you are at the grocery store do you use a shopping cart or a buggy? We say buggy but when my cousin moved to Alaska for a year they thought she was crazy for saying buggy, not cart.

Same cousin now lives in SC and doesn't have a "hose" to water flowers, neighbors have convinced her it's a "hose pipe". She's lived there 8 years now so she's converted.

 

[caitycaity]

Originally posted by mikeymars
Directly from the American Association of Architects:

"A basement is a full story below grade, which has one-half its height or less above grade level.

A cellar is different. It is a below-grade area that has more than half its height below grade."

your point is?

i was just explaining what people called it where i grew up, which is in fact the point of this thread: regional differences.

 

[jrydberg]

Originally posted by mikeymars
Directly from the American Association of Architects:

"A basement is a full story below grade, which has one-half its height or less above grade level.

A cellar is different. It is a below-grade area that has more than half its height below grade."

Be that as it may, everyone in the area I grew up in had "basements" that had well over half their height below grade.

 

[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

 

[Crankyshank]

-Soda
-rocery bag
-dinner is anytime After 7:30 unless we're eating with my grandparents and then it's 5
-Cellar. If it's finished, it's a rec room
- I don't wear shoes in the house but guests can keep them on
- I always bring something to eat and usually a bottle of wine
- I have been both to surprise and not surprise showers