Rallygirl's Dumb Questions About Regional Differences Thread

[stuart]

I'm a Georgia boy and my wife's family is from Cleveland. My accent is always a source of amusement when we go visit. As for differences? The food is a big deal. My Cleveland family took us to "a great place to eat". As it turns out, they were just enjoying southern cooking. To them it was wonderful "Amish" food, but to me it was just food. I absolutely love some of the northern ethnic foods. Perogies, stuffed cabbage, and potato pancakes! My wife's uncle hates southern chicken and dumplings, and his opinion of boiled peanuts can't be shared because this is a family-friendly forum.

[cjefferys]

W I also know a few things from you Canadians as well. Ski hats are called touques (did I spell that right?), sneakers or tennis shoes are called runners, a couch is a davenport, Canadian bacon is called back bacon there. They celebrate Boxing Day the day after Christmas, and I think it has something to do w/ sales. And they have money called Looneys, right?

I've heard people use the term "runners" but I've always called them sneakers myself. I don't think that anyone younger than my grandma's generation calls couches "davenports" (she always called napkins "serviettes" too). We have Boxing Day, but actually we stole it from England. These days it's basically our Black Friday. Our dollar coin has a loon on it, so it is affectionately nicknamed the "loonie".

In Canada it's popular to buy milk in bags. You use this to slice a corner off the bag so you can pour it.

American's always seem to be tickled by our whole milk in bags thing. The bad thing is that our milk costs like three times more than it does in the US, so I always buy the gallon jugs when I'm over there shopping. God bless you Americans and your government subsidized milk.

[Brazoo]

Davenport?!! Maybe it's regional, but for me a couch has always been a couch or maybe a sofa.

"Runners" was something I think one of my teachers use to say. Maybe my grandmother? Running shoes, or sneakers is what I've always used.

Like cjefferys said, our dollar coins have Loons on them so they're called "loonies" (which has always sounded dumb to me), and to match that our two dollar coins are called "twonies". Loony and Toonie. About as hilarious to me as a poisoned dart in the eye.

--

According to this article from the Edmonton Journal my facebook friends keep passing around - these are some more...

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Canadian+everyday+words+only+understand/9333422/story.html

I actually don't know a lot of these terms I'm suppose to know. Parkade?! Donair?! Hooped?!

I've only heard "Pablum" used to mock people's ideas - I kind of knew it was baby food, but have never seen the actual product. I Didn't know it was a Canadian thing until I read this.

"Mickey" (a 375 ml of liquor) and "Tuque" (a knitted hat) I've used and hear used regularly.

Robertson screws are fantastic designs - and should be more widely used. The square shape gives equal pressure for maximum torque, and they seem much less susceptible to stripping than phillips screws:




Freezies are a popular frozen artificially flavored treat. Kind of like a tube of plastic with popsicle water. It's as bad as any cheap popsicle, but with the added bonus of being guarded by sharp plastic edge that is sure to cut the corners of your mouth. If they can solve that problem it's actually kind of a good design, because the ice melts in the bag instead of all over everything else:

[palitoy]

My wife says things like "runners", "hair blower" and May 24 is "May Run" to anyone outside of the GTA.

A close of friend of mine says "Coin" to describe money on a regular basis.

I hate "Twooney" with a passion, almost as much as when people say "I need some Timmies!".

[thunderbolt]

I never ever saw sweet tea until we went on vacation to FLA and encountered it along the way in Tennessee and Georgia.

[HardyGirl]

American's always seem to be tickled by our whole milk in bags thing. The bad thing is that our milk costs like three times more than it does in the US, so I always buy the gallon jugs when I'm over there shopping. God bless you Americans and your government subsidized milk.

Three times as much??!! Holy cow! (literally!) I drink about a gallon a week (by myself!), so I guess I'd go broke living in Canada!

Someone I used to know who's Canadian told me that parents have to pay for EVERYTHING in school for their kids. This includes textbooks, pencils, paper, art supplies and lunch. Is this true? Here in the states, parents pay for their kids notebooks, pencils, and lunch if they choose to bring it and not buy it. But art supplies and textbooks are supplied by the school.

[HardyGirl]

"Freezies" are what Americans call "Otter Pops". There are different brands, but that's the most popular.

Davenport?!! Maybe it's regional, but for me a couch has always been a couch or maybe a sofa.

"Runners" was something I think one of my teachers use to say. Maybe my grandmother? Running shoes, or sneakers is what I've always used.

Like cjefferys said, our dollar coins have Loons on them so they're called "loonies" (which has always sounded dumb to me), and to match that our two dollar coins are called "twonies". Loony and Toonie. About as hilarious to me as a poisoned dart in the eye.

--

According to this article from the Edmonton Journal my facebook friends keep passing around - these are some more...

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Canadian+everyday+words+only+understand/9333422/story.html

I actually don't know a lot of these terms I'm suppose to know. Parkade?! Donair?! Hooped?!

I've only heard "Pablum" used to mock people's ideas - I kind of knew it was baby food, but have never seen the actual product. I Didn't know it was a Canadian thing until I read this.

"Mickey" (a 375 ml of liquor) and "Tuque" (a knitted hat) I've used and hear used regularly.

Robertson screws are fantastic designs - and should be more widely used. The square shape gives equal pressure for maximum torque, and they seem much less susceptible to stripping than phillips screws:




Freezies are a popular frozen artificially flavored treat. Kind of like a tube of plastic with popsicle water. It's as bad as any cheap popsicle, but with the added bonus of being guarded by sharp plastic edge that is sure to cut the corners of your mouth. If they can solve that problem it's actually kind of a good design, because the ice melts in the bag instead of all over everything else:

[cjefferys]

Oops I got confused, my grandma called a sofa a "chesterfield" not "davenport". I have heard of davenport though, I think it may be more of an out east thing.

I didn't know that "freezies" were a Canadian thing, my kids love them though.

Someone I used to know who's Canadian told me that parents have to pay for EVERYTHING in school for their kids. This includes textbooks, pencils, paper, art supplies and lunch. Is this true? Here in the states, parents pay for their kids notebooks, pencils, and lunch if they choose to bring it and not buy it. But art supplies and textbooks are supplied by the school.

We have to pay for pencils, notebooks, etc. but not art supplies or textbooks. The only time I had to buy textbooks was in Grade 13, because it was kind of considered like the first year of university or some such nonsense. They ended up doing away with that grade though.

[Fitski]

What the heck is a May Run? We call it May Two-Four or when I was younger fire works day

[Brazoo]

"Chesterfield" I've heard before for sure! That is a grandma thing for me too I think!

--

Sounds like HardyGirl's Canadian friend is maybe in a different province? Or maybe different school boards do things differently? Most of that stuff sounds the same as what I got.

I did have to buy some of my own art supplies in high school, but I never bought a text book until I got to college.

[palitoy]

What the heck is a May Run? We call it May Two-Four or when I was younger fire works day

It's a Timmins thing, they ALL say it.

[Confessional]

Shouting out to a childhood in northeastern Ohio, I can attest that "freezies/squeezies" are not exclusive to greater northern frozen tundra. However, I've never heard the phrase "otter pops" in my life living and working in the east, midwest, and bay area. But now you have me craving a giant blue raspberry and grape snowcone!

Whiplash colloquialism flashbacks!

… aren't Chesterfields cigarettes?

[Wee67]

Otter pops were huge when I was a kid in Philly. I think the characters helped

[TomStrong]

I never ever saw sweet tea until we went on vacation to FLA and encountered it along the way in Tennessee and Georgia.

Tea here means sweet tea, the idea of hot tea is only something done when folks are sick and add lemon and whisky. I told my students about hot tea and they were incensed and completely incredulous that anybody would drink tea without sugar and ice. It was really funny.

[Rallygirl]

Otter Pops! Darn you all; it's -20 and now because of you, I am headed off to the freezer for a blue raspberry Otter Pop. Thanks a lot!