Regional Dialects/Odd Sayings

[canadian_bunny]

As a Tennessee Hillbilly living in Canada.. I get teased all the time over my southern accent.. here are a few terms I have learned here and hear often in Ontario...

Eh.. (pronuonced "a"... as in the first letter in the alphabet) is always used at the end of a sentence.

Pop (for soft drinks or soda)

Pissed up; pissed (drunk).. this term took me forever to get used to, I used to think... gosh these people are pissed all the time.. thinking they were upset or mad, when if you hear them say they are pissed up or pissed, they are buzzing or drunk.

Now Southern terms..

I noticed people in the north say.. warter.. for water.. where is the r in water?? Probably same place that it is warsh for wash.. I say wash, btw.

i say oil.. very short and sweet, some say ooiill (making a one syllable word.. two).

Living in Indiana, I heard this said some.. and cracked me up how different they were from my hillbilly upbringing.

"hour".. (pronounced r)... now maybe thats where the r in water came from... lol

I say I am fixin to make supper..and I need to pick up this house... my Canadian fiance loves that one!! He wants to know how a little lady like me is going to pick up our house :rolleyes

And let's not forget the term "holler".. I will holler at you later, I am fixing to pick up this house and get supper started.

So as a personal joke with my friends here and my fiance.. if they ask me a question, I always say.. "You reckon, eh?"

[Google]

 

[Muduh]

Originally Posted by Harmoj

Oh, I thought of another one. My parents are from the Chicago area. Growing up we always called these flowers (see attachment) peonies (pee-o-nees). Everyone at my office calls them pionies (pie-o-nees).

My Grandmother used to say the funniest things. Some of the ones I remember are: Catty-corner (for across the street), dumb as a box of rocks, silly as a jay bird, naked as a mole rat, greasy as a preacher on Saturday night...

We call those flowers Pee ON ies. Oh, has anyone ever heard that someone is "nervous as a who** in church with a ten dollar date outside?" I've heard that all my life.

[queenb]

Originally Posted by AUAunt6

I hear alot of people say they are "going to the house" instead of going home. Also, when we are teaching a child, dog, cat not to do something we say "ank" (not sure on the spelling)!

I don't know how to spell that "noise" either but we do that in GA too.

Originally Posted by Mudah

We call those flowers Pee ON ies.

In this state I have pee-o-nees , that's weird that its different one state over.

[Lucy]

QueenB, you just reminded me of one of my grandfather's sayings. If he's at your house, he always takes his leave by saying, "Well, come on back to the house with us." It's not an actual invitation, it's just his way of saying he's leaving. Other variations are "Well, we'd better get on to the house, I reckon."

CanadianBunny, your holler reference reminded me of a story -- I may have told it here already. A co-worker once asked me if she could use "holler" in something she was writing. All self-righteous, I told her she couldn't say "holler" unless she grew up in one. She said, "You hick. I meant as in, 'to yell'."

[AmandaFabulous]

I can just hear Billy Bob Thornton as Karl in the movie Slingblade every time I read an "I reckon"

[Belfastgirl]

Originally Posted by phat32

1. I tend to pick up accents where I live, too. (And why shouldn't people do that? Otherwise, you'll have a kid with an English accent living with his Oklahoma-accented parents.)

It's getting confusing, though. Some mornings, I wake up, and I say, "Where am I? And what's the word for 'hungry and want some food?'"

2. The g/f's friends actually had to school me on a few key phrases so that I could survive. "Coke" for everything was one of them.

Interesting that you say kids pick up accents where they live. I taught a kid from Scotland and he largely held onto his accent for the 5 years he was at our school. I also have a relative in Canada who can switch accents depending on who she's talking to.

[phat32]

Originally Posted by PittGrrl04

If anyone is from Pittsburgh or has spent any amount of time there with the locals, you will recognize that lovely language called "Pittsburghese" that makes people sound oh so intelligent...

I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) recently, and their journalists filed a story about finding enough translators for the EU Parliament. (Wait. There's a point to this.) Where were they going to find, for example, a Slovakian who spoke fluent Finnish? And where was Finland going to find someone who spoke Slovakian?

Not too long after I moved from California to Alabama, I went on a business trip to Pittsburgh. You guessed it: my colleagues were from 'Bama, and we met consultants in Pittsburgh. Dear god in heaven, I thought I was going to have to play translator since I was the only "neutral" party, and sure enough, by the end of the trip, I had both Alabamians and Pennsylvanians come up to me and ask, "What did [so-and-so] say?"

Originally Posted by PittGrrl04

The two most notable: yinz (a variation on "you", "you guys", "y'all") and n'at (a contraction of "and that"... For example: Yinz want to go to Primanti's n'at?

"Yinz" was definitely the most interesting and the most unique. The Alabamians and I, when we were alone, would discuss this one at great length and much gravity. By the end, I assumed that "yinz" was the phonetic of "you'uns," a term I had seen (rarely) used in books, but never heard pronounced. Of course, I could be totally wrong.

Originally Posted by PittGrrl04

Other great words I've never heard anywhere else: gumband (rubber band), slippy (slippery), spicket (faucet), nebby (nosy), and jagoff (someone you do not like)

Alabama has its share: Gem clip for "paper clip," for example. "Gem" is a brand name for paper clips, and there you go.

Originally Posted by PittGrrl04

Oh and by the way, the football team is the Pittsburgh Stillers.

And the Giant Eagle supermarket (strange name, by the way) is pronounced "Jaunt Iggle." Stephen King covered the Pittsburgh accent (and covered it well) in From A Buick 8.

[Blue_cool]

Originally Posted by raindance

Here in Singapore we don't say 'Malls', we say 'shopping centres'.

Not 'cell phone' or 'mobile' (although I always use 'cell phone'), we say 'handphone'

If someone is slow on the uptake, we say that person is 'blur'

Of course, in Singapore, we have own own very unique form of Singlish

Singlish
Singaporeans also speak a peculiar brand of English called "Singlish". This local concoction mixes English with common phrases in the Chinese dialects (mostly Hokkien) and some Malay. The use of Singlish continues to be a popular topic of public debate. Purists and Anglophiles bemoan the loss of Queen's English as they know it. Proponents of local culture say Singlish is one of the elements that gives Singaporeans their distinctive identity.
You be the judge. Try these phrases now and then, and see how they roll off your tongue:

Aiyah: Term used to signify exasperation.
eg Aiyah, I'm fed up with waiting.
Angmo: Hokkien for "red-haired". Used to refer to Caucasians.
eg The angmo ordered beer at the coffeeshop.
Bo cheng hu: Hokkien for "no government". Used to describe a state of lawlessness where anything goes.
eg That place, really bo cheng hu, how to do business there?
Cheem: Difficult to understand or fathom.
eg This French movie is too cheem for me.
Cheena: Term used to refer to off-beat taste.
eg That suit he's wearing is so cheena.
Chiak chua: Hokkien for "eat snake". Loafing on the job.
eg That fella, whole day only know how to chiak chua.
Chope: To reserve something.
eg Quick, go and chope those seats before they are taken.
Choy: Cantonese phrase to ward off bad luck.
eg Choy! Touch wood; don't curse me.
Hah: Used as short form for "I beg your pardon".
eg Hah? What did you say? Can repeat or not?
Hiau: Hokkien for "vain".
eg That old man, no hair left, but still hiau like anything.
Jia lat: Hokkien for "very troublesome".
eg Moving house--so jia lat.
Kiasu: Hokkien for "afraid to lose".
eg Kiasu Singaporeans will camp overnight for free concert tickets.
Koyak: Malay for "spoilt", "broken down".
eg That machine koyak already, don't use.
Koyok: Malay for "quack medicine". Used to describe lousy goods.
eg Don't listen to that salesman--he only sell koyok.
Lah, lor, meh: For punctuating sentences.
eg Don't be like that lah. -- I'm like that lor. Cannot meh?
Makan: Malay for "meal".
eg Let's go makan. -- Have you had your makan?
Mm chai si: Hokkien for "not scared of death".
eg You drive so fast, mm chai si hah?
Sala: Malay for "wrong".
eg You sala, you should take the other road.
Shiok: Something that gives a kick.
eg Inside steam room very shiok.
Tau tia: Hokkien for "headache". Used to describe great difficulty.
eg Aiyah, this project damn tau tia.

Also... the word "Lah" or "Leh" is added at the end of sentences...why? I have no idea

[phat32]

Originally Posted by Belfastgirl

When I'm speaking to someone who doesn't live here I tend to soften my accent a lot. In N.I. we tend to speak very quickly and slur words into each other. We also tnd not to finish words. It's fine if you know the lingo but you can even buy books in Belfast for tourists with a "language" guide.
Anyway here are some examples of our local lingo

(snipped)

Fantastic list, and I was endlessly fascinated. I've always wondered why some modern Queen's English expressions made it into the Northern Irish vernacular, and some didn't.

I visited Belfast and Dublin many moons ago. Nice people; couldn't understand a word they were saying. (And I'd been living in England for a few months by this point.)

I was staying at a B&B in Dublin, and all the guests showed up at breakfast. The proprietess told me to sit at the head of the table because, as the sole American, I was a "guest of honor." I thought: "Well, isn't that nice." I didn't think so when the Irish guy to my left tried to start a conversation with me. I think I caught the words "New York" and "Mike Tyson" but to this day, I'm not sure.

I tried to do the ol' nod-and-smile, but he caught me after about ten minutes when he stopped talking and I--along with everyone at the table--realized he had just asked me a question that demanded more than a "yes" or "no" and I had just stupidly tried to nod along.

[phat32]

Originally Posted by ravs

Woo Hoo! - Finally another aussie around here.

I know there's a whole big cultural thing between England and Australia that I don't understand and shouldn't try, but just like the Irish, I'm interested why some Queen's English expressions made it and some didn't. It's very interesting to me.