Patricia Abbott (pattinase): What is Peculiar About Your State?

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

What is Peculiar About Your State?

People in Michigan always use their hands to show you where something is located in the state. What is something peculiar to your state?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...: Patti - I've known people in PA who use their hands, too, but turned in the opposite direction (horizontal).; 8:02 AM
Anonymous said...: It's hard to think of something peculiar to the state rather than the city.

I know New Yorkers wait "on" line while everyone else waits "in" line.

Everyone here - not only in the suburbs but in the outer boroughs - refers to Manhattan as "The City." We wouldn't say "I'm going to Manhattan to see" a show, movie, concert, whatever. It's always "We're going to the city today."

And yes, Brooklyn is most definitely part of the city and has been since the merger (or is that "The Merger"?) in 1898.

Jeff M.; 8:16 AM
Charles Gramlich said...: Where I live there seems to be a festival at least once a week. That seems excessive to me.; 9:10 AM
Al Tucher said...: In New Jersey we don't go to the beach. We go "downashore." A true Jersey guy or girl can make it a one-syllable utterance.; 9:34 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: That festival thing goes on here too. No kidding, there is never a week without one in some suburb.
I lived in New Jersey and Philly and we said, "going to the shore." People out here always say to the beach.
In Philly, we said going downtown to mean going to Center City.
Here since people rarely enter Detroit, there is no real term for it.
There is a lot of separate language, of course. Pop instead of soda. Subs instead of hoagies.; 9:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Al, that's funny.

My friend in Maryland said they don't go to the beach, they go "downybeach."

Aslo, it really is true that waitresses in Baltimore call everyone "Hon."

Jeff M.; 10:00 AM
Anonymous said...: In fact there is a restaurant called Cafe Hon where they took us.

Patti, I've always found the oddest thing that people in parts of the South use "Coca Cola" (however it is pronounced there) as "soda."

Jeff M.; 10:04 AM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Waiters here say "no problem" no matter what you ask them for. It makes no sense to me.; 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...: I'm in Louisiana, so where do I start?? My two favorite linguistic elements down here are the use of "bring" instead of "take" (as in, "I have to bring my mama to the doctor") and the use of "for" for "at" (as in, "Her appointment is for three o'clock"). Also, I love how people born and raised in the New Orleans area (especially people of Irish and Italian ancestry from the 7th ward area) have accents that sound pure Noooo Yowrk.

Deb; 11:26 AM
Anonymous said...: Deb, I've noticed that "Noo Yawk" sound many times in New Orleans. At first I thought they were transplants or visitors but no...as you said they are natives.

Well, what about Britishisms that are alien to us, like "half three" for "half past three"?

Jeff M.; 12:04 PM
Erik Donald France said...: What is peculiar about the state I'm in at this moment is the number of twits pretending to be cowboys from an age that never was. Texas. A big ole state. Texas tea.

The good stuff: Molly Ivins, Waylon Jennings, Ligntin' Hopkins, etc.; 2:50 PM
Prashant C. Trikannad said...: Patti, your question doesn't apply to me but I am going to answer it anyway! As Jeff said, people living in the northern suburbs of Mumbai often refer to downtown or CBD or South Mumbai as "Mumbai." It's odd to hear someone say that as he or she is, in fact, living in Mumbai. The older generation refers to downtown area as "the court" because our law courts are located there. Now it is more fashionable to mention each specific area like Churchgate, Marine Lines or Flora Fountain. Mumbai is India's financial capital and the political capital of the western state of Maharashtra, one of the largest, the size of at least two European countries.; 3:17 PM
Ed Gorman said...: We have GOP (of course) Rep. Steve King, who along with TX. Louie Gohmert and Mn. Michelle Bachmann reach a new low in stupid, slimy, hateful- sub-human behavior.

Don't believe me? Watch this. You've never seen anything like it. I guarantee. Stephen Colbert.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/417498/august-07-2012/steve-king-s-dogfighting-defense; 4:40 PM
Charlieopera said...: The God Damned "jug handle" U-turns ... oy vey; 5:53 PM
Kelly Robinson said...: I'm in East Tennessee, so there are a lot of neat Southernisms, but I don't know how particular they are to just this state. My city, on the other hand, was rated The Itchiest City in America, based on sales of itch cream. Go figure.; 5:54 PM
Kent Morgan said...: Here in Manitoba we talk about "going to the lake" but if you are going to Lake Winnipeg or Lake Manitoba you call your place "the cottage." However, people who have a place at the Lake of the Woods that touches Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota call it "the cabin." By the way, our licence plates once read 100,000 lakes while Minnesota's said 10,000. As for fish, around here a walleye is always called a pickerel and a northern pike a jackfish.; 7:40 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Here it's going "up north"--and that means anywhere over one hundred miles from Detroit--which can be on hour away or twelve.
We have Mighicah left turns, which means you have to circle around the center aisle.
I wonder if we have generational differences.
And Ed, Michigan is the new Mississippi.
Peoole everywhere pretend to be cowboys.
Mosquitoes?; 9:31 PM