I'm from California, USA and we say, or have been known to say, certain things that are specific to us. Ok that latter part is a stretch given that Hollywood is here and we pretty much set the tone for what the rest of you say but regardless, I'm interested in some of the words/phrases/lingo specific to where you live or grew up.

I notice we in Cali say things like:

Hella as in "hell of"

Handle Your Business as in "take care of things"

For Realz as in "are you kidding me"

We call women dudes - "dude are you serious?"

We call men dudes - "are you serious dude?"

We call men bitches - "shut yo bitch ass up!"

We call women bitches - "bitch shut your ass up!"

We don't mention the names of roads or streets when giving directions but tend to mention the nearest freeway or landmark.

Los Angeles and Hollywood are called SoCal and San Franciso and Oakland are called NorCal and the area in between is often called "the valley".

Our airports are named after the city their in rather than some famous president or dead celebrity. Well, we had John Wayne airport but its more people call it Ontario airport.

Our cars are called "rides" or "trucks" or "autos" or we just name the vehicle by its manufacturer eg. my benz, my lex, my beamer (BMW).

So how do you speak given where you come from?

Let's go!!!!

[Edited 12/5/11 13:38pm]

General discussion?

Lol oh my God...Have TOO many!! I can't possibly remember them all!

smoothcriminal12 said:

General discussion?

Oh hellz how did I end up here!!!!! Thanks SC!

HotGritz said:

smoothcriminal12 said:

General discussion?

Oh hellz how did I end up here!!!!! Thanks SC!

Anytime.

request sent to mod.

in the meantime tho,..., whatcha got?

i just learned that to an Aussie a thong is a shoe of some sort. So when you tell them "nice thong" make sure you look at their feet. HAH!

In DC scummy = "excuse me;" however, I NEVER utter it. I enunciate.

Shyra said:

In DC scummy = "excuse me;" however, I NEVER utter it. I enunciate.

Like SCUUUU - MMMMMYYY????

I can't think of too many quirks in Northeastern Ohiospeak, except that people occasionally drop the verb "to be" from sentences. "The computer needs to be fixed," for example, becomes "the computer needs fixed."

Here in Toronto, though, I've noticed a few more colloquialisms. Everyone seems to begin sentences with "So...." And, yes, I do notice a liberal use of "...eh" to punctuate sentences up here, although not to the extent that non-Canadians like to caricature. I find I've picked up this latter habit, so much so that both Canadians and Americans notice it now in my speech.

I also notice (and I rather hate this) that when someone wants to affirm that they're listening to another person up here, often they don't just nod like most folk, they do something like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah!?!?" I find it annoying because it comes off like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah... get to the point!"

[Edited 12/6/11 17:32pm]

I live in Oakland, and I have begun to say "howdy" and "eh"

NDRU said:

I live in Oakland, and I have begun to say "howdy" and "eh"

oh my collard greens.....what?

HotGritz said:

NDRU said:

I live in Oakland, and I have begun to say "howdy" and "eh"

oh my collard greens.....what?

hella weird, eh mate?

When I moved to Toronto from Edmonton, people here would often laugh when I'd say "give 'er" (which effectively means 'do it' or 'go for it'). Is that just an Alberta phrase, or does anybody else say that?

HOW COME YOUR THREAD TITLE ISN'T CAPITALIZED????????

I'm a Texan, so "ya'll" is a large part of my vocabulary.

nah then - wait a moment

thas reyt - you are correct

oreyt? - how are you?

tneet - tonight

tmoz - tomorrow

feyt - fight

breadcake - breadcake

I could guw on (go on) forever

I noticed when I lived in Cali for a short bit that everyone said "all" instead of "like"

for example. here (northeast) we'd say "I was talking to my friend and she was like can you believe so and so said that?"

there they'd say "I was talking to my friend and she was all can you believe so and so said that?"

always struck me as weird.

oh yeah, another thing I thought was weird was the way they address their highways.

here I'd say you have to get on 101, to 93 and take exit whatever.

there they'd say you have to get on the 405, to the 5 and take exit whatever. they'd put a "the" in front of it.

[Edited 12/7/11 8:45am]

PA - "sneakers", MN - "tennis shoes"

PA - "soda", MN - "pop"

XxAxX said:

HOW COME YOUR THREAD TITLE ISN'T CAPITALIZED????????

What possesses you to ask such a thing?

Shorty said:

I noticed when I lived in Cali for a short bit that everyone said "all" instead of "like"

for example. here (northeast) we'd say "I was talking to my friend and she was like can you believe so and so said that?"

there they'd say "I was talking to my friend and she was all can you believe so and so said that?"

always struck me as weird.

oh yeah, another thing I thought was weird was the way they address their highways.

here I'd say you have to get on 101, to 93 and take exit whatever.

there they'd say you have to get on the 405, to the 5 and take exit whatever. they'd put a "the" in front of it.

[Edited 12/7/11 8:45am]

That's a good california example. i hear both but i think "all" is more norcal (the bay area and upward) and "like" is southern califonria. Then again....people migrate up and down like crazy so you're bound to hear those phrases throughout the state.

HotGritz said:

Shorty said:

I noticed when I lived in Cali for a short bit that everyone said "all" instead of "like"

for example. here (northeast) we'd say "I was talking to my friend and she was like can you believe so and so said that?"

there they'd say "I was talking to my friend and she was all can you believe so and so said that?"

always struck me as weird.

oh yeah, another thing I thought was weird was the way they address their highways.

here I'd say you have to get on 101, to 93 and take exit whatever.

there they'd say you have to get on the 405, to the 5 and take exit whatever. they'd put a "the" in front of it.

[Edited 12/7/11 8:45am]

That's a good california example. i hear both but i think "all" is more norcal (the bay area and upward) and "like" is southern califonria. Then again....people migrate up and down like crazy so you're bound to hear those phrases throughout the state.

oh! to clarify I meant northeast USA. aka New England area. I lived in Socal for a very brief 3/4 months

Hella is Bay Area all the way.

Not sure where it started exactly, but I didn't hear "in the cuts" "from the cuts" "out of the cuts" or "cutties" anywhere but hear for a good number of years.

And there must be a website somewhere listing all the colloquialisms E40 has created.

Shorty said:

New England is kinda known for the word "wicked" as in that's wicked good or wicked pissa!

And Barney. I think you might get to claim that one, too.

But I might have just watche Good Will Hunting too many times.

where did "blimey" originate and what does it mean exactly?

HotGritz said:

where did "blimey" originate and what does it mean exactly?

"Blimey is a British term used to express wonder or surprise."

I think its pretty old, too.

HotGritz said:

where did "blimey" originate and what does it mean exactly?

More interesting answer...

"A nice mild expletive, in terms of rudeness on a par with "wow" or "my goodness". It was originally part of the phrase "cor blimey", which was likely a contraction of "god blind me", which was in turn an abbreviated version of "may god blind me if it is not so". There has been little evidence of god blinding users of the word, whether what they were saying was true or not. The original phrase "cor blimey" is still used but rarely."

Personal Family Collquialism

Quakeas (quay "kehs" ) = Dogs

tibodaux = to skip and glid