Word/words you say that distinguish where you're from

24

Replies

  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I grew up in Alabama but I don't have an accent, and I don't use many of the typical phrases. But I refuse to give up "used to could". My husband laughs but he can't give me a better phrase to replace it. What am I going to say? "I once was able to do that"?
  • copswife4148
    copswife4148 Posts: 59
    I catch myself saying "yah sure" a lot...I'm from North Dakota. Other words associated with this state (but not always used...like in the movies):

    you betcha
    oofta
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    I say y'all all the time. I also say "put that up" instead of "put that away". I also say, "Lorda mercy" all the time as a euphamism for "wow."

    You guessed it. Southern girl here.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I catch myself saying "yah sure" a lot...I'm from North Dakota. Other words associated with this state (but not always used...like in the movies):

    you betcha
    oofta
    What does "oofta" mean?
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    haha, this is great. I also say you guys as someone mentioned about. I am from the philly suburbs and a ton of people here pronounce water "wooder" which I have never done...thank God.
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    haha, this is great. I also say you guys as someone mentioned about. I am from the philly suburbs and a ton of people here pronounce water "wooder" which I have never done...thank God.

    My grandparents are from Virginia, and they both say "wooder" for water.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    haha, this is great. I also say you guys as someone mentioned about. I am from the philly suburbs and a ton of people here pronounce water "wooder" which I have never done...thank God.

    My grandparents are from Virginia, and they both say "wooder" for water.

    Really!? I so thought this was just a PA thing :) It cracks me up, both of my parents do it!
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
    Oh My Heck!!

    I spent 11 years in Utah and I can't seem to get rid of this phrase, I'll even text OMH instead of OMG..

    I lived there 1990-1998 and It took a good 10 years for all the Utahoo phrases to wear off.
  • KaleidoscopeEyes1056
    KaleidoscopeEyes1056 Posts: 2,996 Member
    I pronounce silent "L" s which is apparently an Indiana thing
  • Dreamer1311
    Dreamer1311 Posts: 203 Member
    Well since I have an accent people can always tell that I am not American, however they always put me in the wrong countries....sooooooooo annoying
  • daybyday
    daybyday Posts: 537 Member
    I'm from the Midwest so we say POP instead of COKE or SODA!

    You took mine LOL. Born & raised in Iowa and still live here. I lived in California for awhile and people told me I had an accent.
  • davessweets
    davessweets Posts: 44
    I live in maine...everything is WICKED lol
  • drog2323
    drog2323 Posts: 1,343 Member
    Canada eh!
  • kunibob
    kunibob Posts: 608 Member
    Aboot/aboat for "about." I say eh a lot, too. I have also been known to sit on chesterfields, drink mickies (never a two-six on my own, though :P) and eat at Timmy Ho's.

    I do say a couple phrases I picked up from living in other areas, though, which throws people off, such as "good as" from New Zealand, and "wa lao" (kind of a crude, exasperated "OMG" or "WTF") from Singapore. Wa lao probably seems funny coming out of a white girl, but I haven't found an English equivalent that can be dragged out in the exasperated way that it can: waaaah laooooooooooooo. It just fits so perfectly in the mouth for that emotion. :P
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I pronounce silent "L" s which is apparently an Indiana thing
    I couldn't think of many words with silent L's so I looked it up. I can understand the silent L in words like talk and half, but it also lists almond and calm... Do people really pronounce those words without the L?
  • karenjoy
    karenjoy Posts: 1,840 Member
    I am English, from the south coast meaning that I pronounce bath - barth
    Path - Parth
    I also say scone to rhyme with phone and not scone to rhyme with con

    Plus where I come from a gorge is called a chine, all men are called 'nipper' and lunch is nammet, a caterpillar is a mallyshag.......

    there are lots of words that are very local.
  • Troll
    Troll Posts: 922 Member
    ya'll, over yonder (over that way), s'gwin (let's go in), s'gweet(let's go eat), y'awnt to(do you want to), aaughite (alright), chootedatgaitah (shoot that alligator). Southeast texas, family from louisiana.
  • AylaBean
    AylaBean Posts: 140 Member
    Canada eh!

    lol I don't think I do this.. but go Canada
  • jeepyj93
    jeepyj93 Posts: 392 Member
    Eh! I don't think I need today anything else.
  • NiciS72
    NiciS72 Posts: 1,043 Member
    oofta

    It's actually Uff Da and it's Norwegian for Darn It! My mother is 50% Norwegian and she says this ALL THE TIME!!!!!
  • OnMyWeigh464
    OnMyWeigh464 Posts: 447 Member
    Canada eh!

    lol I don't think I do this.. but go Canada


    I totally do this! Not hard to tell that I'm Canadian lol. I even type it sometimes because sometimes I just type as the thought is running in my head. Lol
  • calibri
    calibri Posts: 439 Member
    Aw man, you already got the 'hella'. :laugh:
  • christine24t
    christine24t Posts: 6,063 Member
    I catch myself saying "yah sure" a lot...I'm from North Dakota. Other words associated with this state (but not always used...like in the movies):

    you betcha
    oofta

    Haha I'm from Minnesota and I say all those!
  • skinnnyxoxo
    skinnnyxoxo Posts: 210 Member
    I say man alot.
  • lwhitman4
    lwhitman4 Posts: 144 Member
    fixin' to

    bring me a coke (usually a Dr Pepper)

    Texas

    Exactly this.

    Especially the "fixin to" part. Don't know how many times people asked what was broken that we were fixin.

    Also, the way you pronounce street names in Houston will tell if you're a native or not.
  • Roni_M
    Roni_M Posts: 717 Member
    I'm Canadian but really never say eh! When traveling in the states most people are surprised when I say I'm from Canada. It also drives me nuts when people say "you speak English really well for a Canadian". There is only one province that predominately speaks French and I'm not from there!!!

    Locally we do the dinner is lunch, supper is dinner thing. We also say "pop" for soda. "Chesterfield" is interchangeable with couch or sofa. "Skivers" are men's underwear. A "touque" is a style of hat (not all hats are touques). A "sled" is a snowmobile. Outside the "big city" people use the term "dooryards" in reference to distance (ie. Four dooryards past the Esso station). I'm sure we have tons of other ones but no one has pointed them out to me! LOL
  • boomboom011
    boomboom011 Posts: 1,459
    i say momma, yall & dont be ugly (dont be mean). Im from Texas.
  • Setienne
    Setienne Posts: 5
    Howdy Hello from Texas
  • VinVenture
    VinVenture Posts: 290
    I'm most often assumed to be from London or somewhere indistinct in the US. English being my second language, I try to keep the british in it, 'cause people treat me like I'm smarter and I don't have to explain to them in detail why they're wrong and I'm right. (when they in fact are dead wrong and I know for a fact I'm right.) :P
  • Crystal_Pistol
    Crystal_Pistol Posts: 750 Member
    I say y'all all the time. I also say "put that up" instead of "put that away". I also say, "Lorda mercy" all the time as a euphamism for "wow."

    You guessed it. Southern girl here.

    North Carolina here confirming this!!!

    Also, because I come from a long line of foul mouths- to express how extreme something is, we say "than a mutha****er," with a drop of the "er" if you are REALLY doing it

    Ex: hot than a mutha****er/hotter than a mutha****er
    fat than a mutha****er/fatter than a mutha****er
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