Regional Differences

[DeaverTex]

I wasn't even going to MENTION language differences. I'm a native Texan (Houston), my wife grew up in Michigan (and her parents are from the Upper Peninsula, and if you didn't know already Yoopers sound like Minnesota wannabes, at least to me) and her family is still mostly around Ann Arbor. We see them fairly often as those things go, and it sounds SO strange! For example, for them it's "pop", while I grew up with "soda" or just calling it by its brand name.

I still have most of my Houston accent, and she still has some of her Michigander accent, but she has adopted "y'all". She even uses it correctly!

The only other unusual regional accent I've encountered here is northern Kentucky, or at least the people I met. Sort of twangy, and for some bizarre reason, most statements were accompanied with a facial expression that made the person look like they were trying to look into the wind during a sandstorm. (Not to say, now, that some of the young ladies weren't absolutely adorable when they did it! Ah... I was SO much younger then!)

 

[4greatboys]

I wasn't even going to MENTION language differences. I'm a native Texan (Houston), my wife grew up in Michigan (and her parents are from the Upper Peninsula, and if you didn't know already Yoopers sound like Minnesota wannabes, at least to me) and her family is still mostly around Ann Arbor. We see them fairly often as those things go, and it sounds SO strange! For example, for them it's "pop", while I grew up with "soda" or just calling it by its brand name.

I still have most of my Houston accent, and she still has some of her Michigander accent, but she has adopted "y'all". She even uses it correctly!

The only other unusual regional accent I've encountered here is northern Kentucky, or at least the people I met. Sort of twangy, and for some bizarre reason, most statements were accompanied with a facial expression that made the person look like they were trying to look into the wind during a sandstorm. (Not to say, now, that some of the young ladies weren't absolutely adorable when they did it! Ah... I was SO much younger then!)

Does she also say fixin' (fixing) now too? A must for any good Texan

 

[DeaverTex]

Does she also say fixin' (fixing) now too? A must for any good Texan

On occasion, she does indeed! She still thinks that BBQ can mean pork or chicken, though, not just beef like God said in the 19th commandment. I guess you just can't get the Michigan our of 'em entirely, even with 35 years of effort.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Does she also say fixin' (fixing) now too? A must for any good Texan

Ugh. Every day my old officemate would announce "I'm finna go ta lunch." Lots of things about her drove me crazy, though, especially when she ate friend chicken at her desk and smacked her lips constantly.

 

[golfgal]

LOL. If she's that spooked by a regular parking garage, how would she deal with the "forklift" commuter parking that is common in the CBD of New Orleans?

It's an old city designed before cars were common, so parking is at a premium, but not a lot of businesses have the money to build garages. Instead, lot owners make extra room by installing one- and two-level car lifts at the outer edges of the lots. The earlier arrivals are lifted up and the spaces underneath are used for visitor parking.

http://www.neworleansparking.net/

(I know these systems are used in other cities, too; I'm just more familiar with their use in New Orleans.)

Yeah, I would freak if I had to drive off something like that

 

[Momvic5]

Those would be 'garages' or 'parking garages' for the redundant friendly among us.

And yes, cabs outnumber cars something like 7 to 1. How do you think we get around?!

Also in NYC, which you see ppl from elsewhere try to do and look on in horror - NO right on red. At all. Stop trying that, people!

Parking garages? They are tiny parking cubicles. Parking garages are common everywhere I think, but these things seemed to be tiny stacked cubicles that only fit one car per cubicle. Our Ford Expedition would have never fit in one. We could not even drive into our hotel parking garage - our vehicle was too tall for the entrance. We had to park in a special area. Everyone was very kind though and tried to accommodate us as best as they could. We loved NYC - even the insane taxi and bus drivers( my kids most vivid memory was a very colorful dispute between a taxi driver and a bus driver)!

 

[Momvic5]

LOL. If she's that spooked by a regular parking garage, how would she deal with the "forklift" commuter parking that is common in the CBD of New Orleans?

It's an old city designed before cars were common, so parking is at a premium, but not a lot of businesses have the money to build garages. Instead, lot owners make extra room by installing one- and two-level car lifts at the outer edges of the lots. The earlier arrivals are lifted up and the spaces underneath are used for visitor parking.

http://www.neworleansparking.net/

(I know these systems are used in other cities, too; I'm just more familiar with their use in New Orleans.)

Not spooked....just new to us....they reminded us of tiny matchbox cars in a display case! And yes ....from your link...it looks like they were "forklift" commuter parking areas.

 

[jen0610]

FTR, traditional "sweet tea" is not sweetened with sugar. It is sweetened with simple syrup, which requires first dissolving the sugar in boiling water, cooling the syrup, and THEN adding the mixture to the tea. The flavor is very different when made this way. I know some folks who prefer their tea only slightly sweetened who actually carry a small bottle of sugar syrup just to put in a restaurant's un-sweet tea.

This is exactly how my dad's side of the family does tea. I grew up going to grandma's house and there being a big pitcher of tea and a pitcher of "sweet water" - I didn't know it as simple syrup. Depending on how sweet you wanted your tea, was how you knew to pour some of each into your glass. The sweeter you wanted it, you added more sweet water than tea. That way everybody got iced tea exactly they way they like it.

Even at family renuions, there will be the huge drink dispensers filled with sweet water and tea.

 

[cornflake]

Parking garages? They are tiny parking cubicles. Parking garages are common everywhere I think, but these things seemed to be tiny stacked cubicles that only fit one car per cubicle. Our Ford Expedition would have never fit in one. We could not even drive into our hotel parking garage - our vehicle was too tall for the entrance. We had to park in a special area. Everyone was very kind though and tried to accommodate us as best as they could. We loved NYC - even the insane taxi and bus drivers( my kids most vivid memory was a very colorful dispute between a taxi driver and a bus driver)!

Okie, now I'm confused, heh.

Do you mean something like this? Those are located in open parking lots. Those usually hold the SUVs.

Parking garages here aren't like other places, for the most part. A lot are just in old buildings, like this one and use an elevator to move the cars to different floors, which is what I thought you meant.

Driving into here, especially in one of those giant things, is just not a good idea! Glad you had a good time tho.

Fun fact - before it was just recently changed, it wasn't possible to register a pickup truck as a personal vehicle here. We just wouldn't have it.

 

[Momvic5]

Okie, now I'm confused, heh.

Do you mean something like this? Those are located in open parking lots. Those usually hold the SUVs.

Parking garages here aren't like other places, for the most part. A lot are just in old buildings, like this one and use an elevator to move the cars to different floors, which is what I thought you meant.

Driving into here, especially in one of those giant things, is just not a good idea! Glad you had a good time tho.

Fun fact - before it was just recently changed, it wasn't possible to register a pickup truck as a personal vehicle here. We just wouldn't have it.

Yes, the picture is very close to what we saw...only they were not in such an open area. They were hidden behind and in between buildings. We were driving when we saw them and only had enough time for quick glances at them.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

I am not seeing how the conclusion is being drawn that full time work is actually part time or that there is somehow a bad work ethic involved! People have said that in most places their lunch breaks are required by law, that usually they're unpaid, and that those who have them, if they only work 8 hrs/day, are only paid for 35 hrs/week or salaried. Others work a 9 hr day.

I'm not saying there is a bad work ethic involved at all, but it is a very different perception. To me, lunch time is not included in work time. In your post, you say people are working 8 hours a day, but getting paid for 35. Unless they are working through lunch but not getting paid for it (not OK if you're hourly, irrelevent if you're salaried), then I perceive that to be working 7 hours a day. I don't count the time spent at lunch unless I am working through lunch. If the expectation is that people take an hour for lunch, 8-5 is an 8 hour day, not a 9 hour day. To us, it seems very strange that someone would call 9-5 with a lunch break an 8-hour day.

And I can only speak for my own experience, but I worked in an industry where every minute of your day had to be accounted for (billed to clients or otherwise charged to education, admin, etc.) The people in our NY offices put 5 hours into a special code that no one else is allowed to use, which is basically the difference between their normal office hours being 9-5, and 8-5 everywhere else. We were all salaried and worked tons of overtime during busy seasons, but during slow times, they worked 7 hour days while we worked 8.

time zone differences tend to make it harder for those of us further west to reach them; our workday rhythms are just out of sync. IME when it comes to professionals there is also much more of a "meeting" culture in East coast workplaces, which is why I'm often not able to get them on the phone. They are at work, but not at their desks. I'm always playing phone tag with folks on the East Coast because they almost always call me at times when I am also not at my desk. Long story why, but I don't go right to the office in the am most days; I have to make a work-related stop first that takes about an hour. By the time I get in it is 11 am on the East Coast, when the staggered lunch breaks start. By the time I've settled into my day they are halfway through theirs.

I've noticed the meeting culture, too. If I really needed to talk to someone and they weren't at their desk, I'd try several other people in the department until I found the office they were all congregating in! Time zones play a big part too, IME. We'd get to the office, call NY and if we didnt' catch the person right then, pretty soon he's out at lunch. Then by the time he gets back, we start going to lunch. Then by the time we get back from lunch, there's a couple of hours until they go home. And when they'd try to call us when they got in at 8 or 9am, we wouldn't be there yet. On our side, it always seemed like they were never there, and on their side it always seemed like we were never there!

That one has never made sense to me. "Do you have an ink pen I can borrow?" Um, no, sorry, but I have one filled with blood. Will a blood pen work? That and "tuna fish." As opposed to "tuna cow" or "tuna chicken?" Do the people who eat "tuna fish" ever eat "salmon fish?"

 

[cornflake]

Yes, the picture is very close to what we saw...only they were not in such an open area. They were hidden behind and in between buildings. We were driving when we saw them and only had enough time for quick glances at them.

Ah, gotcha, yeah those are just parking lots or sometimes called parking garages too, believe it or not, heh.

And yes, they're mostly in smaller lots on side streets, I just thought that pic showed what it was clearly - and the big open ones exist, usually by the river. On the side streets, if there was a building and the building is gone, a parking thingy will sometimes take the lot (mostly in midtown) and make it parking.

I'd have thought they'd actually be more likely to fit your thing, as they're fairly new and the buildings with elevators are old and the elevators often don't fit the giant things.

Next time you come - don't drive, heh. I can't imagine what parking cost you - the garages near me are like $60 or so a day but an SUV is $20 or so more.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Ah, gotcha, yeah those are just parking lots or sometimes called parking garages too, believe it or not, heh.

And yes, they're mostly in smaller lots on side streets, I just thought that pic showed what it was clearly - and the big open ones exist, usually by the river. On the side streets, if there was a building and the building is gone, a parking thingy will sometimes take the lot (mostly in midtown) and make it parking.

I'd have thought they'd actually be more likely to fit your thing, as they're fairly new and the buildings with elevators are old and the elevators often don't fit the giant things.

Next time you come - don't drive, heh. I can't imagine what parking cost you - the garages near me are like $60 or so a day but an SUV is $20 or so more.

Cornflake, just curious. Is that the lot outside the Holland Tunnel on West Broadway?

 

[Momvic5]

Ah, gotcha, yeah those are just parking lots or sometimes called parking garages too, believe it or not, heh.

And yes, they're mostly in smaller lots on side streets, I just thought that pic showed what it was clearly - and the big open ones exist, usually by the river. On the side streets, if there was a building and the building is gone, a parking thingy will sometimes take the lot (mostly in midtown) and make it parking.

I'd have thought they'd actually be more likely to fit your thing, as they're fairly new and the buildings with elevators are old and the elevators often don't fit the giant things.

Next time you come - don't drive, heh. I can't imagine what parking cost you - the garages near me are like $60 or so a day but an SUV is $20 or so more.

Yes, it was expensive, but my dh was willing to pay any amount of money just to get out of the traffic. My kids still tease him about his NYC road rage! He sounded a lot like the disputing taxi and bus drivers we witnessed!

We have already decided we would never drive to NYC again. It was an experience, and we survived, but next time, we will fly in and take a taxi along with everyone else.

 

[indimom]

Okie, now I'm confused, heh.

Do you mean something like this? Those are located in open parking lots. Those usually hold the SUVs.

Parking garages here aren't like other places, for the most part. A lot are just in old buildings, like this one and use an elevator to move the cars to different floors, which is what I thought you meant.

Driving into here, especially in one of those giant things, is just not a good idea! Glad you had a good time tho.

Fun fact - before it was just recently changed, it wasn't possible to register a pickup truck as a personal vehicle here. We just wouldn't have it.

Huh, you can count me in, I have never seen anything like that before!

 

[cornflake]

Cornflake, just curious. Is that the lot outside the Holland Tunnel on West Broadway?

I'm not positive, just got it off an image search and now can't find how I got it, heh. I *think* it's in Chelsea though. I think the one you're thinking of has different bldgs in back of it (I think the red one to the side is throwing you, that does look like one down there).

Someone once said to me when we were discussing a Kubrick movie that'd been filmed in London trying to pass as NY that we knew the stupid little unidentifiable sidestreet in question wasn't in NY because, though you obviously don't know every single side street in NYC, you kind of do somehow know every single side street in NYC. Know what I mean?

 

[PrincessKsMom]

I'm not positive, just got it off an image search and now can't find how I got it, heh. I *think* it's in Chelsea though. I think the one you're thinking of has different bldgs in back of it (I think the red one to the side is throwing you, that does look like one down there).

Someone once said to me when we were discussing a Kubrick movie that'd been filmed in London trying to pass as NY that we knew the stupid little unidentifiable sidestreet in question wasn't in NY because, though you obviously don't know every single side street in NYC, you kind of do somehow know every single side street in NYC. Know what I mean?

 

[EMom]

None of the southerners I know (and there are a lot of them) make their tea with simple syrup. You can skip a step by simply boiling the water to make your tea, adding the sugar to the boiling water first, and then adding the tea bags. Yes, the flavor is different, because the sugar melts and becomes fully incorporated, and it's so much better this way! I can't stand stirring sugar into a cold glass of unsweetened tea. If I want sweet tea at a restaurant, I'll use artificial sweetener, since it dissolves in cold liquid. But it's still not nearly as good as tea made the way my husband's grandmother taught me.

Everyone I ever knew who made sweet tea used this method. Family, friends, ladies at church.....everyone. Boil the water, put in a whole bunch of sugar, stir that in and then add the tea bags. If you thought it was too sweet, I guess you could just add water, but more likely you'd let some ice melt. But seriously, growing up, we never knew sweet tea could be too sweet.

 

[Michelle67]

On the great tuna debate...I sometimes say tunafish, but mostly I say tuna. However, I have a friend from Hawaii, and she objects to that gunk in a can being referred to as "tuna" at all.

I just don't do a whole lot of casserole or baked meals, and didn't realize that stovetop cooking was considered atypical by anybody.

Me either. I cook stovetop most of the time.

Those would be 'garages' or 'parking garages' for the redundant friendly among us.

And yes, cabs outnumber cars something like 7 to 1. How do you think we get around?!

Also in NYC, which you see ppl from elsewhere try to do and look on in horror - NO right on red. At all. Stop trying that, people!

Your post made me smile. Two things: first the cab issue. At one place I worked years ago we had an NYC transplant who came in and was disgruntled as all get-out that we couldn't provide her with courier service to get a letter to Seattle the same day. When I explained that we didn't offer that service, she rolled her eyes at me and said "Then just call a cab, and have them do it. It's done. All the time." (unspoken "you stupid girl, you.") Maybe so, in NY...but then again the city I live in doesn't even have any cabs! I could call one from the next city over, but boy is it gonna cost ya!

Then there's the "right on red" thing. My husband is from NY (Long Island, not NYC) and he is constantly sitting at red lights with his right turn signal on while the people behind him burst a blood vessel because he won't GO! I always have to say something to him, and then he'll say "Oh, can I take a right on red here?" and look all around the intersection for a sign. I don't know how many times I've told him that it is legal to turn right on red in the entire state of Washington unless a sign says you can't. Those are usually located at five-lane intersections or intersections with limited visibility. He's been here 16 years...I'm thinking he's never going to "get it."

And another I just thought of: school zones. A friend of mine freaked out on me once in OKC because I drove through a school zone without slowing down to 20 mph. At like 10 at night. Apparently---at least at the time---their school zone speed limits are in effect 24/7/365. Around here they are not. They are either marked with specific times, say "while children are present" (which is generally translated to during school hours), or often these days have a sign that says "when flashing" and are equipped with lights that flash during school hours, or during transitional times when kids are leaving/arriving. A lot of them are also equipped with speed sensors and cameras, so if you blow it you're going to get a nice surprise in the mail.

 

[Andtototoo]

The regional difference between the midwest and living back east (I've lived in NYC area, upstate NY, MA, RI and DE, as well as doing lots of travel involving vistis to client homes in the southeast) has to do with food and hospitality. Back east, it was the norm when you visited someone to be offered a drink (not a cocktail, just a beverage) and often, food. And certainly, if there was any visiting over a meal time, you would be fed. Never a question.

Out here, "food is for family." Period. There have been numerous occasions when we have been INVITED over during a meal time and they will not only not even offer a glass of tap water, but they will actually pull out food for themselves and eat in front of us.

I learned that I had to send snacks with my dd if she was going over to a friend's house after school because the mother would provide snacks for her own child, but not guests. Same with being invited over for dinner -- it did not actually include FOOD.

One time early on before we know the rules, my dd was invited to a sleep-over beginning after school on Friday and continuing until 4pm on Saturday. When I went to pick her up, the mother complained to me that dd had been grumpy for the last couple of hours. I asked dd what was wrong and she said she was starving and hadn't eaten since lunchtime at school the day before. I was perplexed and made a comment about her not being picky and refusing to eat what Mrs. X had offered. Mrs. X laughed and said, "Oh, we didn't feed her. Food is for family only."

Before people jump on me, I'm not saying my experience is universal. But has certainly been nearly 100% universal FOR US when we are dealing with people native to this state to the point where when someone offers me food/bev, I ask where they are from and they are NEVER from here.