Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

OK, fair is fair....Favorite Northern Expresions

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread		 This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU
 
dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:30 PM
Original message
OK, fair is fair....Favorite Northern Expresions
When I lived in NYC, I never could get the hang of this one:

"Yeah, we went to his house, we STOOD there about an hour but he never showed up."

Stood, as past tense of "stay". :wtf:


Also, "yeah right" when agreeing with someone, only it's smushed together so it comes out "y'right"...


I'm sure there are loads I'm not aware of, I seem to remember books written about New England having a lot of colorful phrases. Anybody have any faves?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
Jeff in Cincinnati Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:34 PM
Response to Original message
1. Wind Chill
A common northern expression. One that I could do without, frankly.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. Don't forget about the heat index
To make our summers more insuferable.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Leftist78 Donating Member (609 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:02 PM
Response to Reply #5
50. insuferable summer in MI!!!!???
give me a break. :eyes: you should head down to my neck of the woods :)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
demnan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:34 PM
Response to Original message
2. I'm just thinking of Fargo
Edited on Tue Dec-02-03 12:35 PM by demnan
Ya, sure you betcha
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
grannylib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:56 PM
Response to Reply #2
24. This was used on a VH1 behind the music with Megadeth...I used to
live in the town where the bass player (Dave Elefsen) grew up, and went to the same church as his family. When they interviewed Fran, his mom, about her son in this band and she had just found out the name of the band, and she said: "I thought, 'Oh ya, sure, you betcha, here we go now!' "
I nearly died laughing; it was so stereotypical and sounded just like something out of Fargo!
(I hope I don't sound like that when I talk!)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
AlienGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:35 PM
Response to Original message
3. Unthaw!
When you take something out of the freezer, you're unthawing it for dinner.

Tucker
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:35 PM
Response to Original message
4. Cold as the balls on a brass monkey.
Edited on Tue Dec-02-03 12:37 PM by bif
Not sure if that's specifically northern though. Some Michigan ones I hate are: "Where is it at?" and "I was over by my parents house."(So why didn't you stop in?)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:38 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. Oh, that reminds me
An old boss of mine who was originally from MA and is very religious said once "It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table"...I nearly fainted at first till he got to the "pool table" part. :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Jackpine Radical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 08:25 PM
Response to Reply #4
84. So let's go by da Schultzes.
That's a pure German construction that I always associated with Milwaukee.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Fovea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:36 PM
Response to Original message
6. Nope past tense of To Stand.
I stand, I stood, I will stand. They were standing at the door for an hour. At least that is the sense of it in the Midwest.

One from my Missouri childhood I don't hear anymore is 'of a ' As in-- 'I like to walk down to the riverbank of an evening with the dog.'
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:39 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. Well, you'd think so
But I heard it a million times while I lived there, and trust me, it was being used as the past tense of "stay"...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Jerseycoa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
28. "of an evening"
That is very old-fashioned, but was once in general use everywhere. I remember my great-aunts saying it in NY and I know older people in the South who still say it.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bamademo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:38 PM
Response to Original message
8. I lived in Jersey for 2 years
Every one asked me if I wanted a "pop" instead of a Coke. Southerners
describe all sodas as Cokes.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
HEyHEY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:41 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. Canadian's call it Pop too
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #8
19. Ever see the Pop vs soda Map?
http://www.popvssoda.com/
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Jerseycoa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:59 PM
Response to Reply #8
25. I live in Jersey
I don't hear anybody call it pop. I come from NYC, though, where it is definitely soda. New Jersey has subs and New York has heroes.

The one I wanted to post has to do with Western Pennsylvania where instead of saying "the house needs cleaning," they say, "the house needs cleaned." The lawn needs mowed. The car needs washed. And so forth.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Cheswick2.0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:03 PM
Response to Reply #25
72. yes, thank you! Did they forget the words "to be"?
"it needs mended"..... YIKES
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
madddog Donating Member (302 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:50 PM
Response to Reply #8
45. you need to go further north...
then soda becomes "tonic".

My favorite, though, is "grinder" instead of hoagie or sub...that and "frappe" for milkshake.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
name not needed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 07:01 PM
Response to Reply #8
80. you say pop in jersey and youll get your ass kicked
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:39 PM
Response to Original message
10. "wicked"
Like something is wicked good.

Because I've always lived in New England it's hard to know what are "colorful phrases" are what are just everyday talk. :)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
izzie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:25 PM
Response to Reply #10
36. I love wicked good and that map was wicked good.
n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
populistmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 07:50 PM
Response to Reply #10
82. "Wicked" was something to get used to when I first came to NE
Now I say it too without thinking much about it.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
HEyHEY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
11. here's some
It's a shithouse in distress - a messy place
Skookum - More a BC thing than a Northern thing means "Nice"
when someone is trying your patience

mouyak! _ I heard CLiff CLaven use this once...what the hell does it mean?

Newfie expressions
I'm dropping - I'm tired
Dragged me off - I got picked up
What are you to? - What are you doing?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
HEyHEY Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:42 PM
Response to Reply #11
14. Or ..."that's the shits"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bicentennial_baby Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
12. Wicked awesome hey!
OR if you're in a bad mood, that's a wicked pissah!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Redneck Socialist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:16 PM
Response to Reply #12
76. Wicked Cool n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
HereSince1628 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:43 PM
Response to Original message
15. I can't believe no one has suggested "dah Bears"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
maxanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
16. you'll be sorry
you asked, dolo amber!!

I live in northern NH where we have all kinds of rural witticisms.

dooryard - usually means driveway/front of house area

stacked up like cordwood - a lot of people jammed into a small area

dark as the inside of a shirt pocket

sounds like a cow pissin on a flat rock (refers to heavy rain)

hard saying, not knowing (when asked a question no one could answer)

and one of my personal favorites:
Why he's so dumb, he couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the directions were printed on the heel.

:D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #16
20. Heehee
I like "Dark as the inside of a shirt pocket." :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mac56 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
17. "Take and..."
An additional instruction that doesn't mean anything.

"Take and loosen that bolt there."
"Take and go to the post office."
"Take and put that in the fridge."

Minnesotan by birth and lived there 45 years, yew betcha.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
BigDaddyLove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:44 PM
Response to Original message
18. "Yo Cuz......"
A favorite greeting for South Philadelphians.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
XNASA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:50 PM
Response to Original message
21. Jag-off, as in, "You F**KIN' JAG-OFF!!!!!!!!"
It's means the same as jerk-off, more or less.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
JitterbugPerfume Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:56 PM
Response to Reply #21
22. my dad used to say
"To dumb to pound sand in a rat hole" and " so lazy lice falls off of him" called lazy peole "sorry" and no, I do not have any idea what the first two means !!!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
scarlet_owl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
23. Colder than a grave digger's ass.
That was one of my great-grandmother's personal favorites, along with "go piss up a well rope".
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
northernsoul Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:13 PM
Response to Reply #23
53. or, colder than a witch's tit in January
I spose I'm gonna get jumped on by the Wiccans for saying that now
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
BurtWorm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
26. Numb as a hake
Edited on Tue Dec-02-03 01:02 PM by BurtWorm
my all-time favorite Maine-ism.

PS: It means stupid as a netted fish.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
marzipanni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
27. Colder than a witch's tit.
Three dog night (it's cold enough that all the dogs want to get up on the bed and curl up next to your legs).
Put your nose to the grindstone (get to work, work hard)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
LisaM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:02 PM
Response to Original message
29. Eh?
How about "colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra?"

Also, "BEAUTY!" when someone score a really great goal.

Actually, any hockey term. I don't care if Carolina and Dallas have teams. It's not hockey down there.

Also, I never heard this in Michigan, but in Seattle, they refer to "black ice" (in Michigan it would be glare ice).

And of course, it's "pop".
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bluedeminredstate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:04 PM
Response to Original message
30. My Dad,
Mr.-New-Hampshire-Yankee, has many, but most I can't print here. One of my favorites is "Colder than a well-digger's ass" - not sure why a well-digger's ass is colder than the normal human's ass, but I like it anyway.
"She/he could scare a buzzard off a meat wagon" is used to describe someone who is exceptionally ugly.
"Numb as a haddock" is a good one; it's someone who stupid and just doesn't "get it."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
madddog Donating Member (302 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:16 PM
Response to Reply #30
54. it's...
colder than a well digger's ass in the Klondike"...that's how I heard it, and it would explain why that particular ass is colder than normal lol.

BTW, the southern version of the meat wagon one is..."it'll puke a dog off a gut wagon", which could denote something really foul smelling as well.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Zolok Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
31. I have no real Boston accent...
despite having lived here all my life.
That having been said, I do say "ay-yuh" as much as possible.
It's an inarticulate grunt of agreement.
:)

www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
GemMom Donating Member (281 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:32 PM
Response to Reply #31
59. Do you put .......
r's in funny places where they don't belong? Or pronounce it Hahvahd Yahd? :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 07:48 PM
Response to Reply #59
81. I do.
:D

My sister in Florida...a Maine gal...still laughs at how I say Daytoner instead of Daytona.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
XNASA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:12 PM
Response to Original message
32. "Flip me some cake" (Give me some money.)
Also

"You don't know sh*t from shinola."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
izzie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:17 PM
Response to Original message
33. So much for NE and the way they speak
It is really just great. Love local stuff like that.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
maxanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:22 PM
Response to Original message
34. one of my dad's favorites
"deaf as a haddock" which he used quite often in reference to my grandmother.

Numb as a boot.
He's a few logs short of a cord (pronounced shot of a cod)

That's a real corker (pronounced cockah)

My daughter refers to our local rednecks as "Woodboogahs."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
maxanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:22 PM
Response to Original message
35. one more
Edited on Tue Dec-02-03 01:25 PM by maxanne
Another of my daughter's favorites:
"You ain't right." (meaning not right in the head)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TrogL Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:36 PM
Response to Original message
37. Dunno if these are Northern or not
but they've popped up fairly recently and I find I can't live without them.


  • ...and you were expecting...what?
  • Don't start!
  • Now what?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Snow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:42 PM
Response to Original message
38. "That's different" (eyebrows raised) - meaning that's really bad.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
northernsoul Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:17 PM
Response to Reply #38
55. or, even worse - "Alotta guys woulda..."
As in "Alotta guys woulda not tried to take the radiator cap off while she's still runnin'. But, I guess you figured different, huh?"

We are the masters of painful understatement here in the upper Midwest.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
northernsoul Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #55
56. referring to inanimate objects as "she"
"After I changed the air filter, she got up and runnin' pretty good. But I figure you might want to try and drive her into town and back just to be sure"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TheMightyFavog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:52 PM
Response to Original message
39. Youse Guys and Excape...
Are youse guys goin out on the ice tonight?

It's a Wisconsin thing.


Hell, when we were first learning the basic verb forms in German 101 earlier this semester, we were taught that the ihr form's closest English equivalent was "Youse", as in "Youse guys".


Another regionalism that is common in Northeast Wisconsin (for some reason I find completley annoying), is that a lot of people around here pronounce the word "escape" "excape".
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
madddog Donating Member (302 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:56 PM
Response to Reply #39
47. "youse" guys
*may* have started with the Irish in NY...brought over from a country where English was a second language...adding an "s" to you to make it plural is still fairly common in Ireland.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Cheswick2.0 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:07 PM
Response to Reply #47
73. yes that is why it is common here in NE Pa also
lots of Irish people. In the towns where they are dominate they also say "a couple two tree"... meaning "two or three". One local town Throop is pronounced troop. It seems like the Irish also do not pronounce /th/.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
cosmicdot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 01:56 PM
Response to Original message
40. what 'yous guys' doing?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
HereSince1628 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:07 PM
Response to Original message
41. What IS scrapple?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
madddog Donating Member (302 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:58 PM
Response to Reply #41
48. various parts of the animal
Edited on Tue Dec-02-03 02:59 PM by madddog
ground up and formed into a square loaf...think ears, lips, esophagae, toenails, tail, etc.

About the best way to cook it is to slice it up thin and fry it quick.

I don't know whether they use beef or pork...there may be both kinds.

It's one step above souse loaf on the "what I wouldn't eat with a gun to my head" food chain lol.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
grannylib Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:08 PM
Response to Original message
42. I never thought this was odd, but a friend from Oklahoma pointed it out to
me that, here in the upper midwest, we say "Are you going to/do you want to come with?" and the 'come with' part really threw her!
I never even stopped to think how odd that must sound but I have grown up saying that, instead of 'come along' or whatever other people say...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:25 PM
Response to Reply #42
43. "come with" drives me insane!
:D

I keep waiting for another word, like "me". Do you want to come with...me? I only just heard this a few years ago and I can't get over it yet!

The phrase seems so, I don't know, unfinished. :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Cadfael Donating Member (570 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:55 PM
Response to Reply #43
70. I have never even given it a second thought!
You mean "go with" and "come with" aren't common expressions?? And I'm surprised no one mentioned "Go by" as in: "I'm gonna go by Tony's house" - the stopping is implied.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Snow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:39 PM
Response to Original message
44. I always thought "stood" was Brooklyn dialect -
as in "I shoulda stood in bed!". I actually had a cabbie say that to me once while describing his awful day.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:59 PM
Response to Reply #44
49. Thank You!!
I was beginning to think maybe I'd been hearing things since no one else had mentioned the "stood" thing. :D
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
THUNDER HANDS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 02:53 PM
Response to Original message
46. well, out here on Lawn Guyland
We tend to string out our vowels.

Well, all except for me. I don't have an accent. Not even a NY one. :(
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
kanrok Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:02 PM
Response to Original message
51. Skeetch (or do you say "skitch"?)
to describe the act of holding onto the back bumper of a car after a fresh snow, and being pulled to your heart's content. Also, as a tip 'o the hat to my Cheesehead brothers and sisters (whom will be crying in their beers on Sunday night when the Beloved Bears kick the snot out of the Packers): "Ya, hey dere!"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
SiobhanClancy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:06 PM
Response to Original message
52. "So didn't I"...
"down cellar","dooryard","wicked cunnin'"(for cute)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:38 PM
Response to Reply #52
60. "down cellar"
See, there's something I say without even realizing it. :D

Doesn't everyone say that? HeeHee
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
SiobhanClancy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:58 PM
Response to Reply #60
62. I thought they did till I left home...
had NO idea what a basement was!:)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
maxanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:22 PM
Response to Original message
57. I heard guys from N.Jersey
in a hotel I worked at (in NH - talk about cognitive dissonence:

Four of them had checked in. Three headed up the stairs to their room, and the other one headed for the bar. He turned, and realized they were leaving him, so he bellowed:

"Hey, youse guys! You tree guys, gedovaheeyah."

The desk clerk and I were snorting with laughter.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Paragon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:27 PM
Response to Original message
58. Michiganders who use their right hands as maps
Resist the urge. You can be spotted and identified from miles away. ;-)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DancingBear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 03:47 PM
Response to Original message
61. What?? No Boston driving expressions??

"Go up to the light and bang a left"

Never figured out why you don't "bang a right", though - but you don't.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Guaranteed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 04:05 PM
Response to Original message
63. In Nor Cal the big word is "hella"
Edited on Tue Dec-02-03 04:05 PM by BullGooseLoony
as in, "Dude, this Indica is hella sticky."

After growing up there I went to college down south, in So Cal- the southern Californians knew us northerners right away. They NEVER said "hella." It made us stick out so bad.

So, I expunged "hella" from my vocabularly rather quickly. Every time I go back home, though, it starts to come out again.....

On edit: Of course, I don't think northern California is what you really meant by "northern." :)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ronnykmarshall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #63
66. One from the Southland
So. As in, "I sooooo thought he was serious!"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
bmbmd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:00 PM
Response to Original message
64. To all my Scandahoovian friends in Montana
"Hoofta" and "Hoofta Mas".
"Cold as hell, eh?"
"Better than a kick in the hind end with a frozen boot."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
welshTerrier2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:15 PM
Response to Original message
65. my friend from Maine
tells me that many from the quebecois community living in Maine use expressions like:

"you live long from here?" and "this puts me nervous" ...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
maxanne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:10 PM
Response to Reply #65
74. bwaahahahaha
along with, "throw the baby downstairs - his bottle." Or "throw the horse over the fence, some hay."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
MaineDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:13 PM
Response to Reply #65
75. Throw me down the stairs my hat
That from the FrancoAmericans. I remember that from when I was a kid.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
SiobhanClancy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:17 PM
Response to Reply #65
77. Once on our way to Montreal...
from Maine,we stopped into a bar in some little town near Sherbrooke. They had a live band singing country music,and the first verse of the first song started out "They gonna put me in the movies,me":)
It was pretty funny at the time.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
CBHagman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:39 PM
Response to Original message
67. My mother was from the Bronx and used to say ...
..."I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that..."

I've never heard anyone else use this expression and don't know whether it's a generational thing or New Yorkese. She also used the expression "happy as a clam," though not "happy as a clam at high tide."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Snow Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:51 PM
Response to Reply #67
69. Yeah, I've heard that a lot from my family in Indiana -
the doughnuts thing. I don't remember which of my parents or grandparents used it though (scratching head). They were all either hoosiers of about three generations or chicagoans ditto.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
WWW Donating Member (597 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 05:49 PM
Response to Original message
68. Something that is universal here in cental Maine
Is calling lunch - dinnah, and dinner - suppa. If you get asked to dinnah, you always have to ask if it is at noon or at 5. Probably our most famous word is Ayah. (Meaning I agree, yes, I know what you are saying.) My favorite line is from my Grandmother, born in New Brunswick and then a Mainer for the rest of her life. "She's so contrary that if her butt itched, she'd scratch her nose."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
tinnyguy1777 Donating Member (222 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:02 PM
Response to Original message
71. Refering to night time,
or to a very dark room-----"Its darker than a bag of Assholes"
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
NightTrain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:22 PM
Response to Original message
78. Ayuh!

"So, have you lived in Maine your whole life?"
"Not yet."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
BigBen Donating Member (65 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 06:31 PM
Response to Original message
79. pasty
The official meat pie of Northern Michigan. Pronounced pah-sty, not pay-sty. Good stuff if you're into that type of thing.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
kayleybeth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-02-03 08:02 PM
Response to Original message
83. My favorite
is "P.S.D.S."... the way people from Boston pronounce "pierced ears".
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Wed May 01st 2024, 02:41 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC