das@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/11/84)
Dialect games are fun:
Scene: an office where I was teaching for a week
Me: Any messages for me?
Receptionist: Please?
Me (a little louder): Are there any messages for me?
Receptionist: Let's see...no.
Me: OK, thanks. So how long since you left Cincinnati?
Receptionist (dumbfounded): How did you know I was from Cincinnati?
[The use of "Please?" when you didn't catch the question someone asked
is local to the Cincinnati area.]
Another one:
Scene: I just handed someone a small stack of fresh IBM cards.
She: Thanks. Could I get a gum band for these?
Me: Sure. (I gave her a rubber band.) So, how are things in
Pittsburgh?
She (dumbfounded): How do you know I'm from Pittsburgh?
Anybody else have any good ones? These worked because the localisms are not
known by the speakers to be localisms -- I don't think a Bostonian who ordered
a frappe, for example, would be so surprised if someone placed him/her, because
that regionalism is fairly well known (I think).
-- David Smallberg, das@ucla-cs.ARPA, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!dasalan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) (12/11/84)
< He mudslung at me, so I mudslung at him! > In the Chicago area, the past participle of 'to buy' is 'boughten.' I didn't realize that this was a mistake until I was 38 years old.
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (12/13/84)
My sister and I spent our early childhood in Fort Worth, Texas, then moved a
relatively short distance away to a town in Oklahoma. Our mother and father
are from Dallas, Texas, and from northern Louisiana, respectively. Shortly
after our arrival in Stillwater, my sister and I discovered that we were the
only people in our acquaintance who pronounced certain words -- forest,
orange, porridge, and even forehead -- with an "ar" sound as in "far" rather
than an "or" sound as in "for". Neither our parents nor any of our classmates
pronounced these words like we did. Years later, we both moved back to Texas
-- Dallas and Austin, specifically -- and expected to find that everyone else
pronounced these words like us. No dice. I've since been told that this
pronunciation is peculiar to natives of Fort Worth. Given the fluidity of the
population in this part of the country and how near Fort Worth is to Dallas, I
find this surprising. Can anyone else corroborate it or offer an explanation?
By the way, it appears that you can tell a Houstonite from a real Texan [:-)]
because Houstonites call their home town "YOO-stun," while everyone else says
"HYOO-stun."
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddleark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (12/13/84)
New Yorkers stand on line. Almost everyone else stands in line.
devine@asgb.UUCP (12/14/84)
This a repetition of the regionalism discussion of a few months ago. What will, most likely, become THE reference volume in this area is in the finishing stages at the Univ. of Wisconsin. It traces the historical development of word uses for certain items. That is, when is what I call a frying pan called a skillet or a spider or a ... A usage peculiar to Wisconsin-ites is 'bubbler'. Its more common name is water fountain (or drinking fountain or...). Apparently, the origin of 'bubbler' came from the product name for a drinking fountain manufactured by the Kohler Company. BTW, isn't the use of 'America' for the United States of A. a regionalism (big region, to be sure). Bob Devine Burroughs-ASG
polard@fortune.UUCP (Henry Polard) (12/14/84)
In article <598@asgb.UUCP> devine@asgb.UUCP (Bob Devine) writes: > > > BTW, isn't the use of 'America' for the United States of A. a >regionalism (big region, to be sure). > Yeah - just about the whole world. BTW, do you know about the Dialect Atlas of the U.S., edited by Hans Kurath? You may find other books by him interesting; he is the dean of American dialectologists. -- Henry Polard (You bring the flames - I'll bring the marshmallows.) {ihnp4,cbosgd,amd}!fortune!polard N.B: The words in this posting do not necessarily express the opinions of me, my employer, or any AI project.
alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) (12/15/84)
> BTW, isn't the use of 'America' for the United States of A. a >regionalism (big region, to be sure). > >Bob Devine Burroughs-ASG Using 'America' for the USA probably isn't universal, but it's popular throughout Western and Eastern Europe. sdcrdcf!alan
das@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/15/84)
Rik Smoody has reminded me that "bubbler" is Wisconsin for "drinking fountain".
I was mistaken in believing that "frappe" was known by Bostonians to be a
localism (BTW, Andy Behrens pointed out that it is used in more of New England
than just the Boston area). I remember a conversation I overheard during the
Olympics:
Scene: the Baskin Robbins at the UCLA campus coffeehouse.
Dramatis personae: Customer, a ~25-year-old Boston area woman;
BR Employee, a ~20-year-old California woman.
Cust.: I'd like a frappe.
BR E.: A what?
Cust.: A frappe.
BR E.: We don't make those.
Cust.: You don't make frappes?
BR E.: I've never even heard of one.
Cust. (to friend): Eh, let's go get a Coke, then.
I was too amused to intercede. There was a sign that indicated the prices for
the different sizes of shakes, and the milkshake stirring machine was visible
behind the counter. So there exist at least two (counting her friend) New
Englanders who don't know that not everyone calls them frappes.
-- David Smallberg, das@ucla-cs.ARPA, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!daswerner@aecom.UUCP (12/15/84)
> Dialect games are fun:
I'm from Philadelphia, where we call it a
Hoagie
Then I went to school near Boston, where it was called a
Grinder
Now I'm in New York, where everybody has
Heros
Of course along the way, I thought the generic was
Submarines (or Subs)
And recently I met someone from California who likes a
Wedge.
I don't care. I still think a 'Hoagie' tastes better.
--
Craig Werner
!philabs!aecom!werner
What do you expect? Watermelons are out of season!cromwell@pur-ee.UUCP (Cromwell) (12/15/84)
Being from the southern part of Indiana (between Bloomington and the river) I had always gone to church pitch-ins on one sunday night a month. I thought nothing of it until I read an article (Smithsonian magazine, I think) that said that "pitch-in" is only used in southern Indiana. So, does anyone else out there recognize this term?? It means what some people call a "put-luck dinner", I think. A pitch-in is where everyone gets together and brings one dish of food, and it gets put all together on one table, which everyone then takes from, smorgasboard style. Occaisionally I will ask someone to "reach me the x" instead of "hand me the x" and get some strange looks, too. But, that one is probably more widespread. Bob Cromwell
liz@tove.UUCP (Liz Allen) (12/16/84)
In article <1556@sdcrdcf.UUCP> alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) writes: >> BTW, isn't the use of 'America' for the United States of A. a >>regionalism (big region, to be sure). >> >>Bob Devine Burroughs-ASG > >Using 'America' for the USA probably isn't universal, but it's popular >throughout Western and Eastern Europe. When I was in England, it was always "the states" -- never "America" or "the US". Sometimes, I hear "the states" at home, but mostly from people who have gone overseas (I find myself using the term sometimes). Usually, I hear "the US" -- especially on the news. I tend to think of "America" as what immigrants say -- my roommate uses it and my dad does, too, at least when he is talking about when he moved to this country from England. -- -Liz Allen Univ of Maryland, College Park MD Usenet: ...!seismo!umcp-cs!liz Arpanet: liz@tove (or liz@maryland) "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" -- 1 John 1:5
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (12/18/84)
> > BTW, isn't the use of 'America' for the United States of A. a > >regionalism (big region, to be sure). > > > >Bob Devine Burroughs-ASG > > Using 'America' for the USA probably isn't universal, but it's popular > throughout Western and Eastern Europe. > > sdcrdcf!alan From personal experience, `America' is a meaningless term here in Canada; one ALWAYS says `US' or `USA' or `The States' if that is meant, or `North America' or `the Americas' as appropriate. Paul Theroux writes in The Old Patagonian Express that when he was conversing with an inhabitant of a South American country, he eventually realized that to THAT person `America' meant SOUTH America...which makes just as much sense, after all. I think that when some Europeans say "America" they may mean either the USA or North America, and they don't really care to make any distinction anyway (sigh). Mark Brader, Toronto, Canada, North America
rcd@opus.UUCP (12/19/84)
> Occaisionally I will ask someone to "reach me the x" instead of "hand me > the x" and get some strange looks, too. But, that one is probably more > widespread. True, and it has cousins of various sorts. It's a sort of jumbling that gives the wrong verb with respect to the subject, object, and indirect object of the sentence. Another common example is "borrow me some money". -- Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303)444-5710 x3086 ...Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile.
msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (12/20/84)
In commenting that "America" is not used here in Canada, I should have added that the adjective "American" IS used; as you might expect, it is the only adjectival form of "USA" except in formal contexts. Mark Brader
mcdonald@smu.UUCP (12/20/84)
What about Po' Boys (Texas, last generation)?
alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) (12/20/84)
>...`America' is a meaningless term here in Canada; > >...to THAT person `America' meant SOUTH America... > Now i'm curious; i guess that in S.America the common term for a citizen of the USA is 'Yanqui.' But what is the 'dictionary' term? Also, what do Canadians call citizens of the USA? [no jokes, please (unless they're good)]. The only term i've heard in English speaking countries is 'American', and the only term i've heard in French speaking countries is 'americain(e).' When i studied French (in Switz) i was taught that 'americain(e)' is the only proper term. sdcrdcf!alan
das@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/22/84)
This isn't exactly a small-region regionalism, but it makes a good story.
It was told to me by a fellow I knew as an undergrad, an American (Oops!
I mean U.S. citizen -- apologies to Canadians, Mexicans, Guatemalans, ...,
Chileans, and Argentines) who spent one of his high school years in England.
Scene: British classroom during an in-class composition.
English student (whispering): Excuse me, do you have a rubber?
American student: A WHAT?!
E.S.: A rubber.
A.S.: ...Oh! I understand, sure. (hands him an eraser)
[After class]
A.S.: You know, in the U.S. a "rubber" is a condom.
E.S.: Oh, we call those "rubber jollies"!
-- David Smallberg, das@ucla-cs.ARPA, {ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!dastom@uwai.UUCP (12/24/84)
> In article <598@asgb.UUCP> devine@asgb.UUCP (Bob Devine) writes: > > > > > > BTW, isn't the use of 'America' for the United States of A. a > >regionalism (big region, to be sure). > > > Yeah - just about the whole world. > Au contrair! I can give two counter-examples: 1] In Spain, while the *correct* way to refer to US citizens is 'estadounidenses', the more common way is 'norteamericanos'; they do *not* use 'americano' which is applied to residents of both continents. 'usano' is occasionally heard in the streets. 2] South Americans, in particular Chileans and Argentines, can grow quite irate to hear a USer call himself an 'American'; they consider themselves 'americanos' as much as we do. -- Tom Christiansen University of Wisconsin Computer Science Systems Lab ...!{allegra,heurikon,ihnp4,seismo,uwm-evax}!uwvax!tom tom@wisc-ai.arpa