Local colloquialisms or idioms?
Is there a local or regional phrase that ties you to your roots, that when you hear it/see it, you have instant affinity with the speaker? Example: people giving directions to somewhere using landmarks that haven’t been there for 30 years is pretty common in Louisville, KY. One of the first things newcomers learn is the location of “where the old Sears used to be.”
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When people still call “Redrum Burger” by it’s correct and proper name – Murder Burger. I’ve lived in Davis my whole life. There is no way that that burger place will be anything other than Murder Burger. Ever.
1 Save the dishes = put away the dishes.
2 Coulée = ditch
3 Who’s ya mamma
4 I bet you a dollar I know where you got ya shoes?
Answer is on ya feet
When something needs to be made beautiful it has to “shine like a diamond in a goat’s ass”.
In my area we have the most awesome convenience stores ever, Wawa about a year ago they shut a lot of them down and only kept open the larger ones. The rest were sold , still remaining convenience stores, just different companies. One is now run by chinese people(the store is awesome now its like little china town :) ) no matter who you talk to, that store is referred to as Chawa.
seriously i got pulled over one night and the cop asked me if i was coming from the chawa lol
Natives of Frederick, Maryland universally say ‘down the road’ to mean the Washington, DC metropolitan area (about 45 minutes to an hour away). Many, many people who live in Frederick work ‘down the road’.
People in my area call Target, Tar-zya or Tar-ghetto. Wal-Mart is Wally World. Krogers is K.Rogers. JcPenney is Jock Pa-nay. Go figure.
sadly, git R done
also, the letters S and T are added on indescriminantly
examples: Walmarts, Best Buys, acrosst the street, etc.
@augustlan and @essieness ~ yeah, I cringe on a regular basis
good thing gailcalled doesn’t live near here :)
or actually, wait—she could be a shoulder to cry on!
When I give directions to anyone actually from where I live (to my parents house) they are, “Across from the old school house along the S-curve” This confuses many who don’t know the area because the old school house is now apartments and apparently no one knows what an S-curve is anymore?? I’ve had so many people be like, “whaaat?”.
We still call one of the local gas stations the “Bigfoot” even though it has been a Circle K for about 10 years now.
There are also a lot of little sayings, such as everyone calling boys “Bub” and girls “Sissy”, dropping the g off of anything and everything – “Muddin”, “Comin”, “Goin”, etc. – “Ain’t” is fairly popular as well as “Ya know it?” as the most popular tag question after any comment.
@dlm812, to use another familiar local expression, where you at?
If you lived in the Bronx you took the subway “Downtown”
If you lived in Brooklyn or Queens you took the subway to “The City”.
I have no explanation for this except that that is what the signs in the subway stations said.
SRM
dim812
my husband always gives directions with landmarks too. (turn right when you see the big oak tree)
Drives me nuts…....but, the topper was when I was supposed to make a left turn when I smelled chocolate. Sure enough, as I was driving down the road, I smelled chocolate at the place I needed to turn left. (not far from the chocolate factory)
@AP: Directions come the same way near my Grandma’s house. Only it’s sneaky because they use road names for roads that are still there, but the names actually changed 30 years ago. So it sounds like you got some real directions, but once you start driving…
Sometimes we go to the Home Despot when we need paint or tools or light bulbs and things like that.
Every day we pass the Teletubby Tower when we drive to work.
(The new Comcast building looks like it has a TV set in it’s stomach).
@mcbealer I’m familiar with all of those as well. I have also heard people call the color YELLOW, YELLER. Gotta love the south :)
@jettaray87 Haha, I’m from the south too. A lot of old people say yeller (yellow), winder (window), tarred (tired), srimp (shrimp). I don’t mind when they do it, it’s actually pretty cute.
@essieness I agree.. My grandmother does that… I think it’s cute too :)
Killed ‘im dead.
As in, “Old Jimbo got hit by a truck comin’ out the fillin’ station. Poor sumbitch, killed ‘im dead.”
I always liked fillin’ station instead of gas station
Milwaukeese:
Turn the corner round: Take the next turn.
Ain’a? : As in Nice day, Ain’a?
Ya Hey: Acknowledging that something is true: Brewers Suck Ya hey
over by der: Where’s the fucking shovel? Over by der! Oh, ya hey, der it is
Fer da cripes sake: Where’s the fucking shovel? Oh fer da cripes sakes! it’s over by der!
Ya Hey, der!: Greetings my fellow Milwaukeeian. How are things?
Fish Fry: What every Milwaukee restaurant has on their menu every Friday night. If you don’t have a fish fry on Friday you might as well shutter your doors. All of the Chinese, German, Japanese, Mexican, Spanish, Thai restaurants have a fish fry on Friday.
My head is smoking from looking at all these interesting Fluther questions (“I have smoke coming out of my ears”).
I’ve got to tend to my rat killin’—southern Mississippi- meaning I’ve got a bunch of stuff to get done today
Or ” If you don’t do that its gonna be too wet to plough” – Old farm expression meaning that things will be bad
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