Rallygirl's Dumb Questions About Regional Differences Thread

[Rallygirl]

Barbecue in the South is the result of cooking pork, beef or other meats low and slow (hours) usually with a mixture of wood and charcoal. It's not just grilling outside as it is to some folks from other regions. A cookout is when we grill hamburgers, hotdogs, steaks, chicken etc. outside.

In my corner of the world, meat on the grill is just that - grilling. Now, if you head to the fair and see a big sign for Barbecue or Barbecue Sandwich, what they actually mean is Sloppy Joes. If you are looking for a southern style barbecue, you want a slow-roasted sandwich.

[madmarva]

Great thread.

I was raised in eastern Arkansas near Tennessee and Mississippi which is southern as it can be, but now live in northwest Arkansas near the Missouri and Oklahoma borders, so there is a bit more of a Midwest influence, particularly with folks moving to the area to work in Wal-Mart and Tyson's corporate offices.

Coke was a generic term for all carbonated drinks for me when I was growing up, which seems to be a southern thing, but I now say soda pop or soft drink or use the brand to avoid confusion.

I use sack and bag interchangeably as well as tennis shoes or sneakers. Sneakers is more fun to say.


I eat pancakes. From reading Spider-man, I always wondered if there was any difference in pancakes and wheat cakes?

Rubberbands but aren't they becoming obsolete?

Sandwich rather than heroes, hoagies or subs, but those are much more fun names.

Yard and garage sale are used interchangeably.

convenience store was once interchangeable for gas station, but since there are very few places where an attendant still pumps gas, I go with convenience store.

purse but many ladies have a pocketbook in their purses.

restroom is regularly used in the south for washroom, but so is bathroom. The three are fairly synonymous.

Tea had always been iced tea to me until the last decade or so when some hot teas became more popular. My parents use lemon in iced tea, but not sugar, although sweet tea is common. Someone may have mentioned this but the sugar in sweet tea is best when brewed withe the tea, rather than added after the fact. A friend of mine always brought a big ol' jug of sweet tea to school for after football practice. After a scorching August afternoon practice, that tea was nector from the gods. So much better than a coke, or Gatorade or water. He always got the first couple of swigs, but was good enough to pass the jug around the locker room.

Barbecue in the South is the result of cooking pork, beef or other meats low and slow (hours) usually with a mixture of wood and charcoal. It's not just grilling outside as it is to some folks from other regions. A cookout is when we grill hamburgers, hotdogs, steaks, chicken etc. outside.

When older folks in the South say shorts, they probably are referring to men's underwear rather than short pants.

[cjefferys]

Whoa, never even heard of "blondies".

We don't have a dog, so I have no idea about that, but it reminds me that when my great-grandmother had to excuse herself to use the bathroom, she would often say that she had to go "see a man about a dog". It must have been an old British colloquialism, because she always seemed to act like such a classic British lady. She passed away back when I was a teenager, but boy I do miss her.

[TomStrong]

Oh yeah, I grew up in Alabama and blondies are pretty common, it's just a white brownie. Didn't know it was a regional thing. My wife makes toll house squares that are kind of in between the two.

[Rallygirl]

Next question,...
This morning at Church while discussing possible desserts for an upcoming dinner, a member who recently moved up here from Alabama suggested blondies. She was met with the stares of twenty confused women because not a single one of us knew what she was talking about. She just kept saying, "You know,....blondies", and we all just sat there with blank looks on our faces. After much disbelief, she finally described them as kind of like brownies without chocolate. Do you have blondies where you live?

[torgospizza]

There's no such thing as dumb questions.Just don't ask what Scrapple is made of(you don't wanna know.)

Here in central Missouri, there are counties that are largely of German ancestry and it's called panhas.

[Rallygirl]

One an offshoot of asking for the toilet, what do you take your dog outside to do? I have a cousin who thinks it is hysterical when we ask our dog if he has to go potty. Bart simply either has to potty or big potty. Mind you this same cousin asks their dogs if they have to peepoo. Does your dog just go "out" or do you have a another word for it?

[4NDR01D]

I think a good indication of geography is how folks refer to going to or finding a "bathroom". In other parts of the world that really confuses restaurant staff.

I had a friend from England in grade 7 who always got reprimanded for asking to go to the toilet.

[samurainoir]

I think a good indication of geography is how folks refer to going to or finding a "bathroom". In other parts of the world that really confuses restaurant staff.

[palitoy]

We put babies in strollers.

My grandparents said "pram", only one other kid I knew growing up knew what that word meant.

[Brazoo]

According to Wikipedia clique is only pronounced "klick" in the USA: "CanE, AusE, NzE, UK /ˈkliːk/ or US /ˈklɪk/"

And cheque is only spelled "check" in the USA too.

If we get into spelling there are all kinds of variants with US/Canada/England: color/colour, theater/theatre...

[cjefferys]

We put babies in strollers.

Oof, brain fart, we call those strollers now too. For a moment I was flashing back to my parents' generation when they were called buggies.

[ScottA]

We put babies in strollers. It's interesting how one thing can have 10 different names depending on where you are from.

[cjefferys]

We call them carts, but most places have the hand held baskets too. So if carts were also called baskets, things could get confusing. I've never heard them called "trolleys". And buggies are what we put babies in.

Maybe it's because I'm kind of a language nerd, but I love topics like this!

[ScottA]

This came up between my husband and I last night while shopping - I call the big thing on wheels a cart. He grew up five miles away from me and calls them baskets. I think they are called trolleys elsewhere.

We call them buggies, although the sign says "return shopping carts here". Baskets are the smaller versions you carry in your hand that hold a smaller amount of items.