Stupid Regional Sayings

You're from LA too? Yeah, I frequently take the Pasadena Fwy (the 110) or the Harbor Fwy (the 110) or the Hollywood Fwy (the 101). Yet, when people ask me if I know where a freeway is by addressing it with one of these names I always scratch my head and have to stop to think about it (Yeah, I'm not originally from here).

I'm originally from Texas, where latinos strap (instead of scrap) and flick the bird (instead of flip it). Ah, engrish.

Hahahaha! Who the hell is that girl that keeps getting posted?

Also in Texas (among older people), if something is really messed up it is "cattywompus."

"I got my fishin' line all cattywompus."

Oh, and if something is really cool then it is "tight."

"That car is tight."

Bzzt! Not regional to Texas, and not even generational in my experience. I've known several of widely varying ages and from as far away as Florida who use the term, besides me and my not-quite-your-average-Minnesotan family.

Oh, another silly regional saying: "Just wait, the Vikings will win next year!"

One saying that really, really ticks me off is how Robert Patrick says "Dollars to donuts" on The X-Files (aka "The Ex-X-Files". I really enjoyed his role as the T-1000 in Terminator 2, but I really don't jive with him saying that. It's not crunk, nor is it tight, and it's most definitely not fly. Fo real.

I have a friend who lives in California. For some odd reason, she refers to the East Coast as "back east". As far as I know, she's never lived on the East Coast, has no relatives here or even has been on the East Coast. How can you refer to anyplace as back anywhere if you have never been there?

LOL, I do that too and I grew up here.

Although it might just be an oddity that I share with her; I'm used to my parents saying "back east" 'cause they're both from there. I guess I just picked it up

I say that, but I used to live in Maryland... and everyone else in my family does as well. It must be a western thing

Up here we just say "405," but we do do that time thing... I go to college about two hours from home and 20 minutes from my aunt's house

Here in New York State, anywhere north of NYC = upstate. The reverse from anywhere else in the state = downstate.

When I was 6 I can remember talking with my aunt after moving and living in AZ for about a month. I got off the phone with her and she said to my mom, "What the hell are you doing to those kids?!?" meaning my sister and I, and our speech patterns : )

Sooo many differences east vs west coast:

Sneakers/Tennis shoes
Pop/soda
Hellman's/Best Foods (mayonaise)

It could be a midwestern thing, regionally. On the linguistics PBS show "Do you speak American?", they showed cattywhompus as being regional to Texas.

However, in the novel Hyperion, I recall the word "caddywompus" (I remember because I had to show it to my friend from North Carolina who didn't believe my mom really said it) and Dan Simmons was born in Illinois and lives in Colorado. Perhaps it is left over from Appalachian dialects that spread west of them in a fan pattern?

Maybe Californians are thinking about the patterned spread of American imperialism? Damn hippies.

I'm going to guess Long Beach... The east side. In the morning, when traffic flows toward LA (thus enabling you to get to anaheim in 20).

Does it EVER stop raining in Long Beach? Every time I've been there it rained.

Oh also, whichever part of the country says "ban" instead of "suspension" and "permanent ban" instead of "ban"

djewwa? (I don't even know how you would spell that dang sound.)
=
Do you know what?

Jocky box=Glove compartment

Ditch=ummm....Ditch on the side of the road

Out Below=Idaho Falls and Pocatello, ID area.

Over the Hill=Jackson Hole

I was going to edit my post to note that I think up here it's spelled "caddywhompus" or "caddywhampus," but English orthography is about as malleable as gold Interesting theory, difficult to prove without written record. Yet the fact that my paternal grandparents hailed from Indiana seems to jibe with the theory.

Incidentally, is "cockamamie" (= ridiculous, absurd, crazy; applied to schemes and notions, primarily) found in other areas/dialects?

Interestingly enough, I've not heard "back east" used other than by former or visiting residents thereof. From a Minnesotan perspective, there's "out east," "out west," "up north" (which pretty much just refers to anything between approx. Duluth and the Canadian border), and "down south."

I'm in VA, so I 'make groceries'. lol
In Tn, I stumbled across such wonderful phrases as 'I ain't stuttin ya'. Translation, 'I'm not thinking about you'. I figure 'stuttin' is a version of 'study'...lol
During basic training, my best friend was always 'fittin ta' do something. She was from Louisiana. I have also noticed the folks from Louisiana like to make every statement sound like a question or with the word 'no?'
Another friend in Tn always says, 'Gotdamn a bearrrrrrr!' I love that line and use it myself. lol

Alright, seriously, Tuttle is the weakest-ass surname possible for these guys who are supposedly building tough-ass shit like motorcycles.

Dude A is lying on side of road in fetal position, moaning in pain.
Dude B: "What the hell happened to you?"
A: "These motorcycle guys just beat me up because I laughed when they said their last name was Tuttle."
B: "Hahahahahhah!! ... Ahahahahhahhahah!!!"
A: "You asshole! Stop laughing at me!"
B: "Sorry!" *tearing, shaking head* "HAHAHAHHAHHA!!... Tuttle. HAHHAHAAHAHA!!"

Anyway...

"You wanna come/go with?" (leaving out the object)
Generally, "wicked" == a step above "cool"
"No way" actually signified agreement with indifference, rather than amazement... kinda more like "go on".
"weak" == bad, crappy, poor (eg. "How was the concert, man?" / "It was weak as hell."
"Aw, man!" was used often in video games when your character dies.
"Oh my lick!" == substitute for "OMG" in the presence of the religious/easily offended
"wasted", "busted", "toast" == broken/ruined (eg. "I left my bike outside last winter. The chain is wasted."
"going into town" == going to an urban area (commercial or high-density residential)
"yeah right", "as if" == "bullshit"
"retarded", "gay" == stupid
"slice!" == "pwned"
"what flavour of crack are you smoking, and can i get some?" == "what the hell are you talking about?"

Interesting. I occasionally encounter "fixin' to..." which appears directly related to "fittin ta'."

The sentence-final "no?" makes me think of another phenomenon which I shall have to observe more closely. I believe in the book The Story of English it's called "The Irish Question," in which statements are paired with a solicitation of affirmation -- e.g. "It's out out, isn't it!" It's functionally equivalent of the allegedly Louisianan "no?" or the Japanese "desu ne." I say allegedly because I myself use it

And come to think of it, the "Irish Question" isn't really all that Irish -- the French have their "n'est-ce pas?" Along with their "non?" Even the common method of asking yes/no questions in Mandarin shares something of this element, since the listener is literally presented both choices and may affirm either. E.g.

He kafei xiang bu xiang?
"Drink coffee want not want?" = "Would you like to drink some coffee?"

I'm sure other, more practiced linguists have gone into great detail regarding these phenomena already...

A word that really weirds me out in Australia is 'bench'. It means counter. It gets me every time. People say, 'Put it on the bench' and I make like a one-eyed dog in a sausage factory and look for a low seat. Why can't I just avoid the confusion and put it straight into the press? <grin>

And my favourite Oz expression is unco (UNko), short for uncoordinated, which is a perfect way to describe the feeling you get when you're two minutes late for a meeting with management two levels higher than yourself, you get in the door, notice everyone else in the meeting has an identical beard, you drop fifteen folders on the floor, all the rings snap open, and paper cascades everywhere. Unco.

I've heard cockamamy all my life, but I don't think it's quite so general as anachronistic. It is also listed in webster.

Hrm... I say fixin' to myself and my family is from East Texas, not that far from Louisiana.

"I'm fixing to go outside."