Regionalism's

[Tuckervill]

Having grown up in Chicago, but finished off in Arkansas, the only thing I ever wanted to be called as a grandmother was Gramma. You have to say it like you're from Chicago, though. Emphasis on the first syllable and a short A clipped off at the end.

NOT gram-maw, with equal emphasis on both syllables!

It's what I called my Chicago grandmother until we were teens, and then we called her Gram. My mother became Gram right away, because my Gram was gone by that time. So that left Gramma for me.

My poor Arkansas born-n-bred DIL could not understand it at all. Having never heard anyone but me say it like that, she didn't quite get it. But my son, I can tell, worked hard to get it right for their son to emulate.

Except it came out of grandson's mouth as AMA. Short A on both sides. It's really close to Oma. As I've said, it just melts me.

Karen

[Mr. Bloom]

[I]When I lived in North Carolina, people would always say "might could,"

I "might could" get used to that IF I DIDN'T HATE IT SO MUCH

Silver used to be able to "might could" do anything.

I got her past that...she trained me to put the toilet seat down

[colby]

When I lived in North Carolina, people would always say "might could," as in "Would you fix the sink?" "I might could do that."

Yes! Utah folk do that "might could" (double modal construction, if you want to sound like a linguist) too!

Idahoans (we call them 'hoans) do that, too. They also say "beg" instead of "bag" and "mey-sure" instead of "me-sure". (I don't exclusively work with people from Idaho, but they do seem to stand out more, since I am a Seattle girl myself)

We don't get the "oh my heck" up here in Northern Idaho, but we do have some Utah and Northern Utah (Southern Idaho) transplants that are trying their darndest to spread it

I have learned that my frequent use of "totally" is apparently a Seattle thing. I didn't realize it until someone else from Seattle came to our office and we were (apparently) speaking a language entirely different from the people I work with (who are mostly from Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington), which involved a lot of "totally" and "sweet" and "awesome" among other things that I can't really remember. I felt right at home, but a coworker commented that we were in another zone entirely. It's amazing what a difference 300 miles across the state makes, especially when you start mixing in the 'hoans.

[Ciao]

another Pittsburgher here

And the world doesn't know what it's missing... Primanti's in the strip!

So, really, how many of us are originally from Pittsburgh?? It's uncanny.

[callmecrazy]

So, really, how many of us are originally from Pittsburgh?? It's uncanny.

I knew I hadn't seen any Pittsburghers in all my lurking, but there is an uncanny number of "at one time" 'burghers! I'm just the opposite, not a native but have been here half my short life.

The only striking Pittsburgh regionalism I haven't seen mentioned is the use of "slippy" instead of "slippery".

[VeloVT]

I just got back from a week in Xenia, Ohio visiting my bf's family. It was my first trip to Ohio save the Cincinnati airport (which is actually in Kentucky). A few things I noticed:

1) "fire plug". This is used to refer to a fire hydrant. I was puzzled the first time or two I heard this.

2) Dropping the infinitive. As in, "the house needs painted" or "the dog needs fed" rather than "the house needs to be painted" or "the dog needs to be fed."

3) "warsh, warsh, warsh."

and of course, everyone calls soda "pop."

I had fun . Xenia is "the bicycle capital of the midwest", at least according to a water tower on the outskirts of town. We couldn't quite figure out why -- maybe some of you Ohio gals can help -- but there are hundreds of miles of paved bike trails in Ohio (pretty cool!) and there is a hub (a beautiful old train station with restrooms, maps, etc) for the trails in Xenia.

[beccaB]

Now in Michigan for the last 20 years, origionally from the south- took some getting used to people calling a carbonated beverage "pop"- I always called it "soda."
People in Michigan talk weird, even my own children who were born here! They do something funny to the vowels, making them all nasally.
Try listening to a local choir that hasn't worked on diction!