"The devil is beating his wife": Dialect maps document U.S.'s many linguistic divides

My DW who is originally from St. Louis says "camp" is something you do, I say it can also be that cabin you go camping at. IE: We went camping out at the family camp last wekend.
 
I guess some people I know really are as weird as I suspected. A couple fake swearing I hear are "Got dandruff, some of it itches!" & "Cheese and crackers, got all muddy." My mother always said "Son of a bit my finger."

N.S. version of that is Cod Ham Cheese and Rice :blushing:
 
Do you say 'about' or 'aboot', 'house' or 'hoose'?

I've never heard of a water fountain called a bubbler. I use 'soda' once in a while it's mostly 'pop'.

And it's nice out here also, or it can be nice outside too.

Our crayons are cray-yawns.

I say about and house.

I think we in WI are lazy speakers (why use three syllables when you can use two or one?)

As far as gym shoes, I say tenna shoes.

Is it a porch or a stoop that you set/sit on? I sit on my porch, even if it's just a stoop.
 
I say about and house.

I think we in WI are lazy speakers (why use three syllables when you can use two or one?)

As far as gym shoes, I say tenna shoes.

Is it a porch or a stoop that you set/sit on? I sit on my porch, even if it's just a stoop.

BBM: A stoop doesn't have a roof over it, where as a veranda does, if it's closed in, it's a porch. You can sit on a stoop, or sit in a chair on the veranda or in the porch. You can even pull up a table to set your pop on.

ETA: The body part you sit in the chair is "the end that goes through the fence last" ;)
 
"Convenience marts," we call them up here. In TX they were "ice houses." Much prefer the second.
 
I have a livin' room. We sit there after eatin' breakfuss/dinnah/or suppah.

Breakfast/dinner/supper.....or breakfast/lunch/dinner?


When I first moved up here to go to school and I would be doing a presentation in front of the class, folks would giggle. I finally asked a friend why, and she said it was my accent. I thought, "I don't have an ak-ce-ent....y'all have an ak-ce-ent." I assumed that since I had lived all over the place, I was pretty much ak-ce-ent-free. Then we had to do some videos for one of my counseling classes and review them in class. Upon hearing myself speak, I exclaimed, "Oh my Gawd, I do have an ak-ce-ent!" The class collectively roared.


ETA: In the interest of honesty, we eat "brekfuss."

(My son calls NWA...Northwest Ar-kan-saw..."the fake south." He says everyone "up he-ah" speaks with a "Yank-eee" ak-ce-ent.)

:floorlaugh: When I go "down souf" I think everyones ak cents are adorable and I feel like when I open my mouth I stand out like a sore thumb, even though I'm NOT the one with the ak cent ;)

In WI we have Brekfest, lunch and dinner. In MI. my Grandma had Breakfast, dinner and supper! Talk about confusing!

For "dinner" she served a big meal...for "supper" she served sand witches ( pronounced by me , "Sam itches")
 
My DW who is originally from St. Louis says "camp" is something you do, I say it can also be that cabin you go camping at. IE: We went camping out at the family camp last wekend.

My husband is from St. Louis, and he pronounces volume as "valium,"
volleyball as "valleyball," and valley as "vulley."

He calls the TV remote the "Volume," so he's always going, "Where's the valium?" I wish I knew.
 
For about $750.00 you can buy the 6-volume (so far) Dictionary of American Regional English. This book is the Holy Grail to me and many others. It has been in production at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison since 1962.
snip.
(Reuters) Dialect map thread-starter wfgodot announced today that he would "graciously accept" the six-volume ARE set were it proffered to him by a collection of thankful posters. He added that this would make a fine present for his birthday in April or Fourth of July Summer solstice on Friday, 21 June.
 
My husband is from St. Louis, and he pronounces volume as "valium,"
volleyball as "valleyball," and valley as "vulley."

He calls the TV remote the "Volume," so he's always going, "Where's the valium?" I wish I knew.

Now that right there is funny. :floorlaugh: I can picture you popping little blue pills in his mouth everytime he wants to change a channel. :floorlaugh: :floorlaugh: :floorlaugh:
 
"Convenience marts," we call them up here. In TX they were "ice houses." Much prefer the second.

When I lived in Tulsa, we called them all QuickTrips, no matter what brand they were -- I still sometimes do that without thinking.

I grew up calling all soft drinks "coke."
 
lol. Convenience stores are usually called "Hucks" whether they are that chain or not. 20 years ago they were called "White Hen Pantry"s whether they were that chain or not.

when you fill your sink with water do you use the faucet or the spigot? What about when you turn on your garden hose? We use the faucet in the sink and the spigot for the hose.

Do you use a fryin pan or a skillet? I use an iron skillet

Does your child enjoy the seesaw or the teeter totter at the park? Mine love the teeter totter

Do they chase fireflies or lightning bugs? Mine chase lightnin bugs

My family has a basement not a cellar

We have a living room

We eat breakfast lunch and dinner
 
Do I detect subliminal messages?

ETA: How the heck did I just paste every post here in a quote?
 
My wife grew up outside Peoria Il. Any black topped street was called 'the hard road'.
 
Do I detect subliminal messages?

ETA: How the heck did I just paste every post here in a quote?

Oh, thank goodness I can stop trying to figure out where the subliminal messages were supposed to be in all that text! Cruel joke to play on sleuthers!:floorlaugh:
 
I've seen those captions too, lol.

My Memfus-born and Miss-sip-ee-influenced son and his Ohio-born wife have been living south of Dallus for five years; they are in the process of moving to NWA. I've noticed we 🤬🤬🤬🤬 our heads and say, "wuh?" and "wah?" to each other a lot!!!

And...thank yew! Having lived in "Lul-vul" KY at one time, it should be "Faytvul" or something similar. When I hear someone pronounce it Fay-et-veele or some such, I always wanna say, "Yew ain't from around he-ah, r yew?" (And yes, I guess I say "r" instead of "are" a lot).

My personal pet peeve: People who say "close" instead of "clothes." You close a dang door; you put on clothes, for goodness sakes! (Try it and see where your tongue "lands" in your mouth when you say each one....there is a decided difference! urgh!)

I have a friend who is sweet, meek, and mild until she hears someone say "fixin", as in "I'm fixin to go to the stoh." She then gets red glowing eyes, and steam comes out of her ears. "Fixin'! What the heck are you fixin'? Are you fixin' your truck?! Are you fixin' dinner!?" Drives her frickin bonkers.

Going to= goin to = fixin to which then morphed into fin to, which morphed into finna...as in "I'm going to/ finna/fin to/ fixin to take out the garbage."

That, from the North side of Milwaukee WI. I think, bcuz alot of people from down souf moved up norf and influenced the dialect.
 
Oh, thank goodness I can stop trying to figure out where the subliminal messages were supposed to be in all that text! Cruel joke to play on sleuthers!:floorlaugh:

I guess I should have followed up with a loud siren (sigh ren not sigh reen) and a subtitle saying THIS IS JUSTA TEST! :floorlaugh:
 
who mid

sketty

taters

zink

alumeum

black eye did peas
 
My grandma (from the Ozarks) called cayenne pepper "canine pepper." I don't think that was a dialect thing, though, come to think of it.

She said "warsh" for wash, and put "little ol'" before the majority of nouns, as in, "See that little ol' house down yonder. A little ol' girl lives there's got the purtiest little ol' carrrrr. I swannie!"
 

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