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

[BetteDavisEyes]

Okay, how do y'all define these words?

Stool
Stand



And what do you call that thing that sits in the bathroom that holds the thing where water comes out and you brush your teeth?

Stool: Stuff that comes out of your :butthead: In reference to something to sit on in the kitchen or in a bar, I'd call it a barstool.

Stand: As a noun, a piece of furniture that holds something - a plant stand, a bedspread stand. As a verb, what you do on your two feet (or hands, if you're Jodi Arias).

Faucet or spigot. I say faucet for indoors, spigot for outdoors.

 

[Confusion]

Okay, how do y'all define these words?

Stool
Stand

And what do you call that thing that sits in the bathroom that holds the thing where water comes out and you brush your teeth?

A stool is the thing you fall off in a bar/tavern to let you know when you've reached your limit.

A stand is where you sit waiting for deer to come by when you're hunting.

 

[tlcya]

Ahnvelope

 

[Justiceforever]

My gramma, when confronted with an ugly baby would say "land sakes alive is't (s)he SOMETHIN?"

lol

My gramma just called slow people slow. Not retarded, not special, not challenged. Just plain old slow.

:floorlaugh:

 

[Justiceforever]

Ahnvelope

N velope!

 

[tlcya]

we have creeks not brookes and they are pronounced Crick.

 

[my_tee_mouse]

I definitely spell it "ya'll." Ya'll is a southern term I use regularly.

To storeclerks: "When do ya'll close?" "Do ya'll have boysenberry jelly?" I mean, you don't want to ask the storeclerk when she, personally, closes -- or what she's got in her refrigerator.

When referring to groups of relatives: "Are ya'll coming to visit this summer?" Without ya'll, your sister-in-law might think you want her to come visit by herself.

Etc.

I don't have a southern accent at all, but do have a lot of "Southernisms" in my dialect.

Well Heck Far, if "ya'll" is good enough for Steadfast, then I am going back to it and saving myself thousands of seconds over the course of what's left of my lifetime.




By the way....If someone is being mean, rude, or generally overall uppity, they are being the north-bound end of a south-bound horse. And to not "use a bad word" but to get the point across, we say "bass-ackwards."

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Well Heck Far, if "ya'll" is good enough for Steadfast, then I am going back to it and saving myself thousands of seconds over the course of what's left of my lifetime.

By the way....If someone is being mean, rude, or generally overall uppity, they are being the north-bound end of a south-bound horse. And to not "use a bad word" but to get the point across, we say "bass-ackwards."

:lol: My parents, G-d rest their souls, used that expression. Another one was "he!!s bells" - whatever that meant.

 

[tlcya]

we sit in our living rooms on couches, not sofas or settees.

we wear swimsuits not bathing suits.

we use buckets not pails.

We buy our food at the grocery store not the supermarket

at home we use the bathroom but out and about in public places we use the restroom

long underwear is just that, not thermals

My groceries come home in a bag, not a sack.

the bank gives out suckers not lolipops to my kids

My husband carries a wallet, not a billfold

I carry a purse not a pocketbook or handbag

iced tea is just that, if you want it syrupy sweet you gotta ask for it as sweet tea.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

we have creeks not brookes and they are pronounced Crick.

I sometimes get a crick in my neck when I sit at the computer too long. :lol:

 

[Justiceforever]

What chall know bout corner stores? That's where we buy errything in da hood!

 

[tlcya]

I sometimes get a crick in my neck when I sit at the computer too long. :lol:

me too

 

[my_tee_mouse]

"Well hell's bells" precedes some very important statement, to be ended with, "by jingy!"

Rolling over some of the stand/stool definitions. :floorlaugh:

I stand up from the table; I crawl up when I have to sit on a stool; I brush my teeth at the "lava-tory."

When I have to refer to that room with the toilet, I have to use the little girl's room; unless I'm asking my grandson if he needs to use the "little boy's room."

I sit on a couch, but not in my swimsuit; it rains buckets (along with cats n' dogs); I have friends who wear long-hannels.

I shop at the grocery store, where my food is put in sacks; I pay for the groceries with money/plastic out of my wallet, which is stored in my purse.

Is there anything other than "sweet" tea? Is there really?

The closest my very-Southern-Baptist "Ga'Ma" came to cussin' was to say, "Oh...my...stahs!" She never left our house that she didn't whisper to my mother, "Do you need any t.p.?" AND

She referred to a "lady's private parts" as their neighborhood, as in, "Mytee...if you are in a crowded car and MUST sit on a gentleman's lap, put a phone book between you so he can't feel your "neighborhood." (When the show "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood first came on, my sister and I rolled, wondering just how confused THAT would make "Ga'Ma.") Oh...and unless you were married, the only proper gift for a young lady to give to a gentleman was an a)umbrella or a b) hankerchief!

 

[STEADFAST]

we have creeks not brookes and they are pronounced Crick.

When we moved here to Wisconsin, we were amazed to find that the nearby town of Johnson Creek is pronounced "Johnson Crick." All this time we thought "crick" was a southern thing!

Also, they've got something here called "cheese curds," which there is no word for anywhere else because they don't have them anywhere else, that I've ever come across. (They aren't like the curds in cottage cheese; they're like if the curds in cottage cheese and a block of cheddar cheese had a baby.)

Also, a fairly obscure town near Milwaukee, Wauwautosa. is pronounced "Tosa," not like it's a nickname; that is really how everyone from the governor, through newscasters, neighbors -- everyone calls it Tosa. But they fully pronounce Oconomowoc and Menomonie, When we first moved here, I was afraid to say Oconomowoc. I'd be, "Um, you know, that town with the Target by the highway; it's got a big lake. Omoco . Ocoma . . . Comoca . . ." Finally I taught myself to say it by practicing saying, "economy-wok."

 

[tlcya]

:floorlaugh:

Yes they really do make iced tea without sugar. lol. I prefer it that away

 

[my_tee_mouse]

:floorlaugh:

Yes they really do make iced tea without sugar. lol. I prefer it that away

Oh. My. Stahs. Will wonders nevah cease?!

 

[wfgodot]

Sugared iced tea! Oh, the horror. An abomination. In San Antone a BBQ place with multiple outlets called Bill Miller's had great tea and a trip through the drive-thru for tea alone was highly advisable every time one was out and about. But, being in the south, one had to make it clear - make it perfectly clear; repeat oneself half a dozen times, nearly shouting in encouragement with the last couple - that one wanted UNSWEETENED ICED TEA. That led to about a 60% success rate with the order, as they just don't understand unsweetened iced tea in the American south.

 

[STEADFAST]

we sit in our living rooms on couches, not sofas or settees.

we wear swimsuits not bathing suits.

we use buckets not pails.

We buy our food at the grocery store not the supermarket

at home we use the bathroom but out and about in public places we use the restroom

long underwear is just that, not thermals

My groceries come home in a bag, not a sack.

the bank gives out suckers not lolipops to my kids

My husband carries a wallet, not a billfold

I carry a purse not a pocketbook or handbag

iced tea is just that, if you want it syrupy sweet you gotta ask for it as sweet tea.

I sit in the living room on a sofa or couch (interchangeable to me.)
I buy food at the grocery store, or just "the store."
I always say bathroom, no matter where it is or whether it's got a bath in it.
I say billfold and wallet interchangeably for men's money-holder things.
I say purse, but I used to call it a pocketbook.
I say iced tea.
I say bag.
Words I NEVER say but that would be my choice: long underwear, sucker, bucket, bathing suit.

 

[my2sense]

the writer's RI research is definitely incomplete. There are several mistakes, but the most glaring one is leaving out "grinder" for a sub sandwich

 

[Justiceforever]

I just told my SO @ this thread and he said, "yeah, it's funny how people talk every which way." :floorlaugh: