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Avy, your post in AnnaStophic thread "English as a global language"
http://wordsmith.org/board/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=miscellany&Number=7527&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=all&vc=1
prevoked many comments, (and threads! wow!) and set me off on a different tangent. English as a Local Language. The thread is veering that way, now with your introductions of some favorite local words and idioms that haven't yet, (and might not ever) reach mainstream English.
Here in NY, we use the word "stoop" to describe the front stair (outside of the building) of a residence. The stairs in front of Metropolitan Museum of Art would never be called a stoop, but if the Mayor tripped at his residence, no one would think twice about calling the steps to Gracie Mansion a stoop (Mayor Trips on Front Stoop!).
It is a pretty local word, and traces back to the Dutch influence in NY, stoop being the Dutch word for steps. And by local, I mean to say NY Metropolitan area. Houses have front steps in Philadelphia (PA) and Baltimore (MD) to the south, and New Haven( CT) and Boston(MA) to the north.
I was wondering about other local words. I know there are some regional words in use in rural New England–I have heard words there that had meaning only in NE–(but can I think of any? NO!) Partly because they were words I heard, but never got in the habit of using. They never really entered my vocabulary.
Less well known in NY, but still used, is the word Kills for a (here is a party!) Fen, Marsh, Bog, Swamp, Salt-water Meadow, wetland, slough... Since most of the Kills have been drained, and paved over it has lost meaning. It too is from the Dutch, and still used as a place names in NY. (I tend to think of Fens, Bogs and Meadows, as being treeless, but Swamp's as being more forested.)
As we have traveled, either in time and space, or like Emily Dickenson, with a book as our frigate, what words have you found to be purely local?
(I would not consider Boot/trunk, Flat/apartment, lorry/truck to be local words, since they work over rather large geographic areas.)
An other example might be a hero (NY) which is a sub (NJ) or a hoggie (Phil.), or poor boy (New Orleans).
What do you call oversized sandwiches?
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well, this post dredged up all sorts of thoughts -- I'll start with some general ones. there is a large reference work in progress, mentioned here before, called the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) -- we could fill up the present size of this board many-many-orders-of-magnitude times with local english.  so far there are three huge volumes which cover only through the letter O. http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.htmlin regards to the hero (not to be confused with the Greek gyro 8), we seem to be conflicted in the midwest -- it depends on whose cafe you frequent: bomber, grinder, hero, hoagy, Italian sandwich, poor boy, sub, submarine sandwich... I'll just throw out one word that I believe to be regional since it came up in an email last week. when we see a vehicle with one headlight (or headlamp) burned out we learned to cry out: padiddle! and therefore a vehicle so afflicted is so called. p.s. - here's another that just came to me. a friend who grew up in Duluth, when he wants me to tighten something down, tells me to "reef it on" -- I'm thinking it is probably a sailor's term and might be familiar to those who live near the sea.
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When I was growing up, and still to some extent, all
carbonated soft drinks were Cokes, never mind the brand name or the flavor. I was very surprised when my friend from Canada, who lived here for a time, offered to bring me
a soda from the drink counter. I was expecting seltzer water with vanilla ice cream in it, and she brought me a
Coke!(BTW, Coke w/ vanilla ice cream in it is a Coke float.)
My college roommate, from Pittsburgh, used to tell me to
open the light.
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[quote]what words have you found to be purely local? [quote]
When I first read this post, dozens of examples came to mind, but I discounted almost all of them as they were Maori words that have become part of standard NZ English, and I'm not sure that you had that sort of regionalism in mind. One that may fit is "clayton's" meaning "ersatz," or "sham." In the late 70s there was a drink marketed here called Clayton's, the slogan for which was "The drink you have, when you're not having a drink." It was inended as a substitute for alcoholic cocktails, but never caught on, and faded away quickly. The name however stuck, and one of the most common uses of it today woiuld be in the phrase "A clayton's solution" - often used to describe political policies. The phrase seems to be fairly specific to Australia and NZ, as a quick search at Google reveals several uses of the word "clayton's" in this manner, and all sites that do are from the .au domain.
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Pooh-Bah
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I have always been interested in very local words and find that bread tends to have quite local names. It didn't, traditonally, have to travel very far, it was made locally so it was fresh every day and the local baker could give it any name they liked as long as the locals understood it. Here's a link to an earlier thread: http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=wordplay&Number=1630
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American soldiers stands AT attention while British soldiers stand TO attention.
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stranger
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Stoop is known and used by residents for the front steps (always just a few) in Philadelphia and Baltimore, at least as early as my parents generation, which grew up there in the 20's and 30's.
The most identifiable 'Kill' in the Philadelphia region is the Schuylkill Expressway. Schuylkill means 'hidden river'. The road is also known locally as the SureKill.
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isn't that the river that burns at times?
oh, and stoop is quite common in the midwest for a platform at the top of some steps.
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stranger
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To: In Troy
Fascinating!
In Atlanta, "Hoagies" are called Gyros, pronounced "Euro's". Say "Euro" in Tampa, you're told it's "Ji-roh (Gyro)". I think "hero" also derives from "Gyro"? In the Southeast,a large sandwich is called a "sub" short for submarine.
Pronunciation for "Florida" has just recently changed to "Floriduh" sad to say....
whizzper
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stranger
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After moving from Michigan & living in the South for a while, my 4yr. old daughter requested apair of stairs
for her birthday. With help from the locals, I learned that she wanted pierced ears!
whizzper
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addict
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Hi Louish and welcome to the board.
The first time I came across 'stoop' was in Laurel & Hardy's film 'The music box' where they make several unsuccessful attempts to deliver a piano to a house at the top of a very long set of steps (100 or so?) which is referred to as a 'stoop'.
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Welcome from here, also, louish. (I first read your name as Louise, probably because that was my mother's name!)
Like you, and unlike in paulb's movie, I always thought a stoop was at the top of just a few steps. Also that it was pretty small: just about big enough for two or so people to stand on. Much bigger than that, and it becomes a porch.
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Oh no, a Gyro is a greek sandwich, served in a Pita bread. Most sidewalk venders don't have gyro's, since gyro's have sliced strips of roast lamb, or sometimes lamb and beef. a gyro is served with "white sause" (Humas) and vegetables. (lettuse and tomato) most Gyro shops also serve Falafal, a "meat ball" made from ground chick peas and other vegetales (parsley, onion, garlic) that has been deep fried. Falafal is commonly available from "The falafal guy", who for the most part has replaced the "Dirty water hotdog" guy. the falafal guy usually also serves Halal chicken from his rolling steel cart, but Gyro's are usually only available in a shop.
I think Gyro is a from the greek, and depending on the local make up of your sandwich shops, this could be the source of the word gyro to mean oversized sandwich.
the pronounciation is like gyro-scope. (maybe even the root? the bread is wrapped AROUND the meat/filling?)
In NY, all dinner are owned by greeks (local truism), small motels out side of manhattan are owned by indians, (sorry shank, but i am not sure if they are indian or pakastanies--Indian subcontinent immegrees) gas stations are have a large percentage of turish and central africa ownship. Immigrants fill niches, and when one is successful, many others follow.
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stranger
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Is "how's come?" (pronounced "howz cum") a midwest phrase? Living in Flori-duh now, I only hear this from
Ohioans & Michiganders. Anybody know?
whizzper
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"how's come?"
whizzper, I have never used and seldom heard that expression. I thought it was a Yankee thang (hi, Anna!).
But--I don't think I've ever heard Florida be anything but
FLOR-ih-duh. How else is it said, please?
I am DELIGHTED that you have returned to posting!
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stranger
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Hi Jackie: thanks for the gracious welcome (and Father
too--thank you).
The "Flori-duh" was only an embarassed reference to our
State of confusion. And, what about "toodle pip" as an old Brit "ta ta"--does anybody use those localisms anymore?
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Pooh-Bah
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>"ta ta"--does anybody use those localisms anymore?
"Ta ta" is used by small children, in the main, to mean bye bye. I assume it's mainly a Northern expression. Lots of words are repeated in traditional nursery talk "din din" means lunch or dinner, "woof woof" for dog, "chuff chuff" for train. These days we've all read the psychology books and tend to use "real" words instead, for better or worse. I love local family words, my daughter always said "moats" for milk. A little boy visiting recently was asked to remove his finger from an orifice and said "mummy, I can't, I have nostril ache!"
The other local variation on words is timing of meals. I was aways brought up (in a Northern working class-ish are) to eat dinner at dinner time (midday-ish) and tea at teatime (5pm ish). It was rare to find anyone eating lunch and dinner. We didn't get confused about when to have a dinner party as we didn't have dinner parties!
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As a Southerner, I can assure you ta-ta is used down there (or up there as you prefer) as well. We children had dinner and tea, and maybe supper. Dinner was the mid-day meal -- after all it was served by dinner ladies at school. But then again we had Sunday lunch. I think I'm still totally inconsistent over this. Whichever feels like the main meal of the day is dinner and the other one is lunch or tea as the case may be.
Bingley
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I assume it's mainly a Northern expression
No, also widely used in Wales - although it also has the variant "Ta-rah".
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old hand
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it also has the variant "Ta-rah".And I thought Cilla Black had invented that to mark her out from the assorted ex-popsters doing TV...  And I have never done dinner at lunchtime. (Arriviste parents. It had to be lunch. Dinner was when tea was late, and large...)
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About Dinner and lunch and supper in US
Dinner is the main meal of the day. In the not to distant past, it was usually served mid-day.
Supper or lunch was an other meal. (Breakfast, of course was the first meal of the day)
Now days, most urban dwellers, in US at any rate, eat there dinner in the evening, at supper time. For many, dinner and supper have become synonyms.
Country folk in US, still often have there dinner as the midday meal. But even when they change there eating habits, the language lags, and the still often refer to their midday meal as dinner.
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