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

I can't think of anything. I am from London, and I don't think we have any particular phrases or words that distinguish us.

I would say my 2 biggest ones would be "touque" and "EH!" LOL

I'm from NW PA where the creek is pronounced "crick"

and there's a hidden "r" in the washing machine

In the summer, the Pittsburghers come up and we can detect them when they say "yinz" = yous guys

I grew up in NJ (and no, I don't have that bad accent you hear from some people - people are always amazed to hear I'm from NJ because I don't have it), but I went to college in Philly, then lived in Michigan for 5 years, then Atlanta for 2, then here in Charleston, SC for 3 years. I also am a bit of a chameleon when it comes to accents and often code-switch (I tend to mirror the person to whom I'm talking), so people have a hard time determining where I'm from.

In NJ, we say "sneakers." In MI and SC, they say "tennis shoes." It's odd to me, because unless you are playing tennis, they should not be called tennis shoes.

In NJ, we say "soda" or the specific brand (Coke, Sprite, etc). In MI they said "pop." I always thought that was funny. Atlanta and SC vary between "soda" and "Coke," depending on who you're talking to and whether or not you're actually drinking a Coke product, Atlanta's being the Coke HQ and all

Here in SC (and I very occasionally heard this around Atlanta) people say "cut on" to mean "turn on." It's derived from the opposite of using "cut off" to mean "turn off." For example, they would say "cut off the lights" to mean turn them off, but then they say "cut on the lights" to mean that you should turn them on. Same with the TV, air conditioning, car, etc., which doesn't make any sense but is funny.

Also in SC (and I've *never* heard this elsewhere), people say "Do what now?" when they didn't understand what you said. I will say, "What?" (if I'm in a very casual situation) or "Excuse me?" or or "I'm sorry?" if I don't understand someone... but here they will say "Do what now?" I always want to reply, "I didn't ask you to do anything, I simply said [fill in the blank]." It is the strangest thing they say here.

"Y'all" of course is big here and in Atlanta. I remember when we lived in Michigan, I overheard my husband on the phone to a law firm in Georgia, and he used "y'all." When he got off the phone I told him that I thought that saying "y'all" might be a little unprofessional when talking to someone you want to hire you. He assured me it was fine, and after having lived in the south for five years now, I agree that it can be, depending on the situation. I do say it quite a bit myself, but usually when I'm talking to someone who would appreciate it. If I'm talking to family or other northerners, then I pretty much never use "y'all."

I'm Canadian too eh!

In colorado a coke or whatever was a "pop"
Here in florida its soda

"Aye, right". The one occasion in the English language where two positives DO make a negative. It means "certainly not". I'm in the West coast of Scotland.

Rural Midwesterner:

I say holler (referring to yelling or a valley) and ornery.
Also, coke means any form of soda.

"gimme your wallet"


i'm from new york city

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Sue x

Since I'm from Sweden you wouldn't get it at all if I tried to explain my accent :-)
But my ENGLISH accent is sort of Londonish.
"vodkar n orange"
"ajther or" (i e not "eeether")
knackered (completely exhausted, mostly not from exercising )
mental (about someone) "he went absolutely mental"

I also tend to mix some scottish accent in there (had a lot of scottish friends in london)

Oh I forgot, I DO call soda, soda, not pop lol

We moved to the UK from the US so yeah I have a very distinct accent, though no one ever guess where we were from. I grew up in Texas so still stuck with Ya'll. Lived in Colorado for many years but not sure what I took from there. Living here has been interesting because of the things that are so differently named. Plasters for band-aids, serviettes (still stuggle with this one) for a napkin. Towels for pantyliners and maxi-pads. Garden for yard and tea for dinner, reception room for living room, hob for stove, I could go on and on. We are learning, I find that when I talk to my sister who lives in Texas I use a lot of the Brit terms I've learned and she thinks it's 'cute.'

Oh and wonga for cash, I just can't use that word casually, it's too weird!

Where are you in the UK for 'wonga'? No-one I know uses that, but I'm in Scotland and we have loads of words, many of which are local to certain parts of Scotland, rather than just Scottish in general. An ideal example is "furryboots?" meaning "whereabouts" - that's their pronunciation up north-east. We say "juice" or "ginger" they way the Americans say "soda" or "pop" and dinner can be lunch and tea can be dinner. Trainers are sneakers.

Love all these!

I say:
"bubbler" instead of "water fountain"
"grinder" instead of "submarine sandwich/hoagie"
"wicked" for "very"
"down cellar" instead of "in the basement"
"rotary" instead of "roundabout".

I also drop "R"s and put them other places.

Massachusetts!

I have no geographical claim. My father was military. I say "hella" quite often but never lived in CA. I may have picked it up from my cousin, who's from San Diego. I say "y'all" a lot, which I picked up living in the south. I think I picked up "wicked" from living in CT for a number of years. I call carbonated beverages "soda."

We are similar linguistically.

I'm from Pa and I have used Pennsylvania dutch terms such as "brutz" or "grex" on occasion. In fact, I did on here once and someone asked what it meant