More English confusion

[bunyip]

Median, I have heard it referred to AS MEDIUM so many times, damned caps key!!!

 

[Dftodd]

Looking at a recipe, biscuits with gravy, I thought it sounded awful then discovered what you call biscuits we call scones, moving on, what we call biscuits you call cookies, your jelly is our jam, tater tots=potato gems, picking up a recipe book becomes quite a challenge.
Of course our own terms/words vary between states, a scallop can be either a shellfish or a slice of battered fried potato, there are others but being beckoned by SWMBO.
Often attributed to that fine barrister Horace Rumpole but actually from Haggers novel She.

Actually, we have Jam as well. Jelly is smooth. Jam is chunky.

I prefer Jam over jelly there is a pretty big difference between scones and biscuits here. I like scones and Jam. But would turn my nose up at scones and gravy.

 

[Dftodd]

When I was in California some decades ago I went into a "takeaway" place to get some food. "Takeaway" is another English word that seems to have failed to thrive in the US.
Shop assistant: To go?
Me: sorry?
Shop assistant: To go?
Me: where?
Shop assistant: To Go?
Me: sorry? to go where?
Shop assistant: To Go?

This went on whilst the shop assistant didn't ask me a complete English sentence. I eventually guessed what she was wanting to know.

At least it was not a major problem unlike my colleague. When asked at the border control point at the airport what his occupation was he replied "Solicitor" This caused major problems and he was nearly sent packing home to Australia. The appropriate word to use in the US is "Attorney".

Mike

Ask for a coke in Missouri I got in an argument with a waiter when I was in my teens and traveling west for the first time Waiter came around for drink orders, I asked for a coke.

The servers reply was "What kind??".

I replied "A coke!!!!"

Waiter replied in a huffy tone "What kind??!!!".

This went back and forth a few times till I finally replied "I want a cola, you only serve coke products here, so..... I'll have coke!!!! Not diet!!".

After the waiter left, a lady sitting at the next table informed me, that in that area, they call all sodas coke

I replied that where I'm from when someone asks what you want to drink you state exactly what it is that you want to avoid confusion.

 

[Dftodd]

Is that to cover up the taste? Is that salad sandwich hoagie or a grinder? How about coleslaw on a pizza?

And what do you guys put on a toasted frankfurter?

btw, up here people put cheese on a hamburger ... so they can't taste the meat? (it's only beef)

They call subs "grinders" where I grew up in Vermont.

After I moved to Florida, one of my friends was looking for ideas for lunch. I said "How about we run out for grinders!!!".

I got a few WTF's for that comment.

 

[the old grind]

When I ran in MA & NH we got the best grinder & soda lunch at a shop adjacent to an apothecary and we didn't call rotaries roundabouts. (btw, what happens in Connecticut stays in Connecticut )

 

[Jstpssng]

They call subs "grinders" where I grew up in Vermont.

After I moved to Florida, one of my friends was looking for ideas for lunch. I said "How about we run out for grinders!!!".

I got a few WTF's for that comment.

A guy who moved up from Connecticut told about finding a motorcycle saddlebag with a grinder in it. I actually heard the story several times and every time that he told it my first thought was he was talking about an angle grinder. He only had to explain it to me once though.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Kinda reminds me of my home state...

 

[MoKelly]

Kinda reminds me of my home state...

View attachment 711918

Welcome to the SEC!

MoKelly

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Welcome to the SEC!

MoKelly

 

[CoryB]

When I was in college in Richmond, VA, I took my Boston born girlfriend to meet my North Carolina born and raised grandmother.

I had to translate both directions as neither could understand the other.
I later got a book for my girlfriend called, “How to Speak Southern” and enjoyed many a laugh hearing her trying to pronounce Southern words with her Boston accent.

 

[tallyho8]

Rocket, aka arugula, aka eruca. Relative of kale and broccoli...
Eruca vesicaria - Wikipedia
Apparently, it is also called "ruchetta", "rucola", "rucoli", "rugula", "colewort", and "roquette".

Aren't dialects wonderful?

I remember a story about a kidnapper who was located because he used a very local word for the strip of earth between opposite lanes of traffic in a city. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/503012/12-regional-idioms-‘highway-median-strip’

All the best,

Peter

We don’t have medians around here, we have neutral grounds.

 

[Oaktree]

They call subs "grinders" where I grew up in Vermont.

After I moved to Florida, one of my friends was looking for ideas for lunch. I said "How about we run out for grinders!!!".

I got a few WTF's for that comment.

I grew up in N.H. next to Vt. and don't think I ever heard subs called grinders, not until many years later when I dated someone who grew up in Conn.
That kind of sandwich seems to vary a LOT from one region in the U.S. to another, both in name and what it consists of. I spent a couple years in the PNW in my mid-20s, and couldn't find a decent sub for anything.

Sadly, a lot of the really good mom & pop shops are long gone with only chains left.

I later got a book for my girlfriend called, “How to Speak Southern” and enjoyed many a laugh hearing her trying to pronounce Southern words with her Boston accent.

Works the other way too, the few companies whose call centers are in the U.S. seem to locate them in the south. Depending on which agent you get, lotsa luck understanding what they're saying and/or getting a resolution to your issue if you're in another part of the country. Do they intentionally hire people with the heaviest regional/ethnic accents they can find?

 

[cqaigy2]

I grew up in N.H. next to Vt. and don't think I ever heard subs called grinders, not until many years later when I dated someone who grew up in Conn.
That kind of sandwich seems to vary a LOT from one region in the U.S. to another, both in name and what it consists of. I spent a couple years in the PNW in my mid-20s, and couldn't find a decent sub for anything.

Sadly, a lot of the really good mom & pop shops are long gone with only chains left.


Works the other way too, the few companies whose call centers are in the U.S. seem to locate them in the south. Depending on which agent you get, lotsa luck understanding what they're saying and/or getting a resolution to your issue if you're in another part of the country. Do they intentionally hire people with the heaviest regional/ethnic accents they can find?

The best Sub/Grinder i ever had was in Ellensburg WA. At the time I didn't know what a grinder was, but it sounded pretty good and the waitress was pretty cute, so there you go. The second best, pretty close to the first, was in Port Angeles i think it was. I don't eat wheat anymore, but i might dig up some gluten enzymes and suffer a bit to eat one of those again. They were Yummy!

 

[kenmbz]

Some areas I went to called a sub a wedge. Trying to remember where maybe Western Mass.?

 

[Frankenkubota]

Some areas I went to called a sub a wedge. Trying to remember where maybe Western Mass.?

you wouldn't want to get that confused with a wedgie!

 

[tallyho8]

I never knew what a sub was until they opened a Subway shop locally. They are always called po-boys here.

 

[Jim Shooz]

Boy was she pissed!

Round here that would mean she was really, really, drunk. In fact so drunk she could be "pissed as a fart"

 

[the old grind]

You can sometimes tell a lady's mood by looking at her hands. If she's holding her carry piece she's pro'ly pretty steamed.