What are some quirks of your region?

A sample from Long Island, New York:

*Rule #1:  Under no circumstances should one  utter the words "I live in Long Island".  Saying that to a native or long term resident may cause reactions ranging from confusion to disgust.  We live "on" Long Island.
*For us, it's a fact:  Although geographically and scientifically part of Long Island, our reality is that Brooklyn and Queens are in no way part of Long Island.  As anyone in Queens, Brooklyn, Nassau, or Suffolk counties will tell you, Brooklyn and Queens are part of "the city", ALTHOUGH:
      *Except as noted above, “the city” refers to Manhattan and Manhattan only.  Long Islanders don’t say they’re going to Manhattan, they say they’re going to "the city". While NYC officially includes Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island, Manhattan is typically the center of the action and is the only area referred to when "the city" is used in a sentence.
"The city" means Manhattan only, except when distinguishing Queens and Brooklyn from Long Island.

I'll come up with more, but I'd like to hear from everyone!

I think I caught the pattern.

In my section of Texas, there's a specific terminology: if you're talking about going "into town" - means a fairly close (within 30 miles) small place, maybe a Dollar General and a grocery store, feed store, or gas station.

If you're talking about "going into the city" - the closest large city to you at that point - Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, El Paso, or Brownsville. You might get away with substituting another large township, but it's easier to mention the name of it when you talk about going there.

"I'm headed into town, anyone need something?" - something small and quick to pick up
"I'm heading into the city, anyone need something?" - feed, bulk groceries, clothing, hospitals, professional services, ...

"I'm heading to Galveston/Port Arthur, anyone need something?" - fresh seafood, seaweed, a day trip to the beach, ...

I don't know if there are any saying that are quirky to my part of the country.

I have read that the county seat was known as Sleepy.

And there are reminders of how fierce early Texas was.

I just call it the boondocks.  30 miles to the nearest gas station or fast food joint.

People here call traffic lights "stop and go lights".   It took me going into the military and enough people making fun of me to break me of that.  Also, people here eat breakfast, dinner, and supper instead of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We also drink "pop", not soda, and water is heated with "hot water heaters".  Shouldn't they be cold water heaters?

Maine is known for "Ayuh" a slang term meaning yes or yep. In reality, I only know a couple people who use that word.

In the north we say "you guys" to mean everyone in the group, not just males. Similar to the South's y'all. I actually had a teacher get upset with me (it was a college in Virginia, far enough south that "You Guys" was not used) one time when I was planning to have the class all go out for ice cream. She wanted to know why I hadn't invited the girls. As a matter of fact, there was one particular girl I was hoping would come... but that is another story. My intention was to invite the whole class... and we eventually go it all straightened out. And I got a lesson in regional phrases :)

I've lived in Minnesota for just over 20 years, so I'm still something of an outsider. Humorously, we moved 'up north' five years ago and now we're more accepted up here as 'folks from The Cities' instead of distrusted as folks from out of state.

The local children play "duck, duck, grey duck" instead of "duck, duck, goose" -- I'm never going to be Minnesotan enough to accept that.

People prepare hot dish instead of casseroles. And like Trace's people we (mostly) have pop, not soda.

Many people fly Scandinavian flags to indicate their ethnic origin. And more people sauna than other places I've lived.

People don't take the last of something communal. At a potluck, you can expect to see many dishes with tiny little portions left, no matter how popular because no one is allowed to take more than half of what's left. It's the Minnesotan version of Zeno's Paradox.

Everywhere has their own dialect and here's ours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Central_American_English

If you show a picture of a cute baby or kitten, you're likely to hear "oh, for cute!" as a response and there are other oh, for ____ options but I haven't really gotten the hang of them.

"Yeah" can mean dozens of different things depending on context and inflection. I once heard a 20 second snippet of a conversation that was just two people saying "yeah" back and forth but with a bunch of nuance.

There are also some differences about life up north vs. life in "The Cities" (the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area). From this act - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLZBS3HCs-Y:

Garrison Keillor wrote:Don't invest in a tuxedo or an evening gown....flannel and jeans are good anywhere, anytime, unless you're getting married...and maybe even then.

ETA: Here in the Midwest people take road-trips. I lived in Missouri for twenty years and then moved to New Jersey for five, and then here to Minnesota where I'm fixing to stay. As a sixteen year old, I drove from St. Louis to Chicago and back several times. No one thought it was weird even at that age. My honeymoon was a 6700 mile drive from mid-mo to southern California, up the coast into BC, and back home via Yellowstone. It was remarkable in scope, but not really weird. Then in New Jersey, I had many peers who commuted 90 minutes or more each way to work (which did and does seem mad to me), but thought the idea of driving to Pittsburg was crazy, much less for a Florida vacation. But six years ago, my 97 YO grandma in Anaheim, CA got sick so I hopped in the car and drove 1800 miles to ease her passing and manage her estate and again, no one batted an eye. I'm not sure how people in all the various regions feel about this, but I thought it was worth adding.

Christopher Weeks wrote:
People don't take the last of something communal. At a potluck, you can expect to see many dishes with tiny little portions left, no matter how popular because no one is allowed to take more than half of what's left. It's the Minnesotan version of Zeno's Paradox.

That's actually an extremely Swedish thing, to the point that that tiny leftover bit of food is known, in Sweden, as svenskbiten, meaning "the Swedish bite"!

PNW, expensive things are "Spendy".   Some S.C. phrases, Look Ya= look here. Come letta=come by later.  Been ya= been here

More of a growing thing than a social thing, but there are plants that grow most places as full-sun plants that need some level of shade in Arizona. My first garden had a stucco wall to the South, trees to the East, and a house to the West. I still had to build a shade structure. Even my 3 sisters garden and tomatoes needed shade.

At the beginning of my gardening adventure, I didn't know what to do, so I threw seeds at the ground and watched what happened (or in many cases, failed to happen). In the middle, I knew some of the conventional gardening methods and the standard care for the plants that I grow. I followed this advice to the letter. Now, I am realizing that some stuff just makes sense wherever you are (ex: don't transplant tomatoes outside when it's snowing) but that a lot of gardening advice is for a specific region and growing style. In different places using different systems, things like spacing and light/water requirements are completely different. Ultimately, the quirk of Arizona full sun is not the same as full sun anywhere else brought me to the realization that you have to grow different things using different methods in different places. What works in Pennsylvania won't work in Arizona and gardening advice given to conventional growers won't always align with permaculture values/techniques.

Kisses on the cheek.
In the Netherlands we give three.
In Finland: no kisses, but a hug.
In the Combrailles in France: two cheek kisses.
Our Parisian neighbors: four cheek kisses.
And yes, you always begin with the left cheek. Unless you want to have an accident.

Guess the amount of confusing situations

Christopher, "for" is Norwegian for "too" so that would make sense.  https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/for#Norwegian_Bokm%C3%A5l I've seen a Swedish flag flown here too.

In my quarter of Vermont, I can't think of much that is particularly quirky culturally, except for some regional names for mountains that are given different names than you would see on the map. I don't tend to venture very far either, so probably take for granted some things that other people would find surprising. Maybe one thing is that people here seem to value tolerance and politeness and certain things I've seen and heard in other places would be very rare here. Though it could have been for other reasons. And it varies because there are many layers of population who have migrated here at different times.

Also in the region, there is the only Carthusian monastery in the United States. As well, it is host to a regionally rare, native mint. They have a fascinating style of reproduction, making plantlets along the axils of their stem in wet years and then falling over into the mud. I don't know if they reproduce this way in other regions where they are more common, or not.

Vermont is also something of a hippie homeland due to a migration in the 1970s. There is a good amount of interest in the sorts of things we talk about here, and one farm I know of is in the process of establishing a food forest.

Ya = Yes
Ya no = certainly not
Ya no for sure = absolutely

Also,
Ya right could mean I agree or I don't believe you depending on tone and whether there is a pause in the middle.

Trace Oswald wrote:People here call traffic lights "stop and go lights".   It took me going into the military and enough people making fun of me to break me of that.  Also, people here eat breakfast, dinner, and supper instead of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We also drink "pop", not soda, and water is heated with "hot water heaters".  Shouldn't they be cold water heaters?

"Stop and go lights"!  I have a faint memory of calling them that as a child.
We use "hot water heaters", too.  I never caught on to the fact that they are, indeed, cold water heaters.
Which led me to this unrelated fact that has bothered me forever:
    If a fortification is a large fort, why isn't a ratification a large rat?
I know there are a lot of these perplexing issues in the English language, but that is the one that keeps me up at night.

Schlep: a Yiddish term widely used by Long Islanders, as in "I had to schlep all the way out east to buy my plants
out east eastern Suffolk County starting a little before the"tail of the fish" (see map below)

and this:

This thread had me laughing out loud.

I recently moved to northern Minnesota from the cities (Christopher, we are likely right by each other), but have spent time living in AZ.

Man, do people up here know how to Pot Luck. I always thought Minnesotans did great potlucks but up here they take it to another level. It's all the hot dishes.

When I lived in Arizona, people kept wanting me to say the word Bagel. I think MN has the best bagels - Bruggers Bagels -  but I know east coasters will want to fight me on that one. I have had NYC bagels. Yes, they are great. But I love me a Brugger's Bagel.

Dealing with mice up here is so common that people don't even flinch when talking about the antifreeze bucket option.

Born and raised in and around Seattle:
“The East Side” can mean east of Lake Washington or east of the Cascade Mountains, depending on context.  Veeeery different areas.
Despite the rainy stereotype, it has always been dry from July 5 (after the traditional rain messing up July 4 fireworks) through September.  With climate change now it’s a hot dry and a real drought.
The “Seattle Freeze” is complained about by newcomers, when they meet new people who are friendly and say, “we should totally meet up again!” and then… never do. I blame the Scandinavian settlers.
Drivers are terrible.  This is true.  Partly it’s so many newcomers with radically different driving styles trying to coexist.  Yes, snow shuts the city down. a) It’s probably been +/- freezing for days so there’s a sheet of ice under that snow.  b) Hills. c) We only have to drive in snow every other year.  d) We’re bad drivers.  

Living in Hamburg, Germany:
They don’t call it the Seattle Freeze but when I describe it, locals get it. I blame the Scandinavians.
Plattdeutsch - actually closer in my head to English than regular German, but wiiiild sounding.
Platt means Flat.  Which the northern third of Germany is.  Good Lord is it flat.
There used to not be droughts - my bf once showed me a graph of precipitation by month, and it was a flat line.  Now there are droughts.
I don’t drive here much. Aside from me, I think everyone here drives pretty competently.

Christopher Weeks wrote:.............

1)      Many people fly Scandinavian flags to indicate their ethnic origin. And more people sauna than other places I've lived.

2)      People don't take the last of something communal. At a potluck, you can expect to see many dishes with tiny little portions left, no matter how popular because no one is allowed to take more than half of what's left. It's the Minnesotan version of Zeno's Paradox.

3)      Everywhere has their own dialect and here's ours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Central_American_English

4)      "Yeah" can mean dozens of different things depending on context and inflection. I once heard a 20 second snippet of a conversation that was just two people saying "yeah" back and forth but with a bunch of nuance.

......

1)      A true local probably doesn't even need to see a flag; -- it would all be discerned in how long the "oooooooo" is held words like 'toast' and 'Oh....'.

2)      (see below)

3)      The examples in that wiki entry are interesting, especially as some of the Germanic structure here in the Great Plains differs from that in, say, Pennsylvania.  My wife had grown up in central PA and recalls "the car needs washed..."   or "the lawn needs mowed...", proposed to be a shortening the German "needs ....... to be" where the "to be" was at the end of the sentence.  This is not something I've ever heard here as a near life-long Minnesotan.  Wife also remembers the childhood threat (from adult) that if they misbehaved, they would end up in the "hoosegow"....which appears to be a derivation of the Spanish word "juzgar".  Had not heard this one before and was surprised it did not have German origins as well.

4)      In addition to "Yeah" and "Ooooooohhhh...." there is "A guy could....".   When we first moved here and wife had car trouble one day, pulled into a repair garage lot.  Couple of guys came out, raised the hood, leaned against the engine bay and began to explain what "a guy could do".  "Well, a guy could check the oxygen sensor, or a guy could check the belt tension or....".  Wife was dumbfounded!  She was tempted to say "I'm not so interested in what "a guy might do", what are *YOU* going to do to find the problem!??..." lol...    These idioms die hard and are a source of great local cultural color.

Eino Kenttä wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:
People don't take the last of something communal. At a potluck, you can expect to see many dishes with tiny little portions left, no matter how popular because no one is allowed to take more than half of what's left. It's the Minnesotan version of Zeno's Paradox.

That's actually an extremely Swedish thing, to the point that that tiny leftover bit of food is known, in Sweden, as svenskbiten, meaning "the Swedish bite"!

I think the University of Minnesota and other higher ed institutions in the state need to start (re)-teaching calculus with this example.  Since the area under the curve is best defined by infinitely divisible lines under the curve, wouldn't Aunt Lena's "infinitely disappearing potato salad" serve as the most tangible example to the local students,....and double as a means of cultural outreach to the students from other countries?    :-)

John Weiland wrote:My wife had grown up in central PA and recalls "the car needs washed..."   or "the lawn needs mowed...", proposed to be a shortening the German "needs ....... to be" where the "to be" was at the end of the sentence.  This is not something I've ever heard here as a near life-long Minnesotan.

Interesting! The only person I know who says that routinely is from Sedalia, Missouri.

if they misbehaved, they would end up in the "hoosegow"...

I guess I thought that was from out west or something. Colloquial for jail.

there is "A guy could....".

Neat! That rings immediately true, but isn't something I'd articulated to myself. A guy could go crazy trying to list everything. :-)

Nina Surya wrote:Kisses on the cheek.
In the Netherlands we give three.
In Finland: no kisses, but a hug.
In the Combrailles in France: two cheek kisses.
Our Parisian neighbors: four cheek kisses.
And yes, you always begin with the left cheek. Unless you want to have an accident.

Guess the amount of confusing situations

Oh man, this reminds me of when I was around 18 years old, and someone in my youth group brought their cousin from Spain. The Spaniard was being introduced to me, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was absolutely mortified and rather offended. I'd never been kissed by non-family member, and personal bubbles here in the Pacific Northwest are large. I still feel kind of bad for the dude, because I'm sure my reaction was extreme and very unexpected for him!

Christopher Weeks wrote:

John Weiland wrote:My wife had grown up in central PA and recalls "the car needs washed..."   or "the lawn needs mowed...", proposed to be a shortening the German "needs ....... to be" where the "to be" was at the end of the sentence.  This is not something I've ever heard here as a near life-long Minnesotan.

Interesting! The only person I know who says that routinely is from Sedalia, Missouri.

if they misbehaved, they would end up in the "hoosegow"...

I guess I thought that was from out west or something. Colloquial for jail.

there is "A guy could....".

Neat! That rings immediately true, but isn't something I'd articulated to myself. A guy could go crazy trying to list everything. :-)

As someone with an English teacher mother (and all-the-maths-and-sciences teacher father, yes I was doomed), “the car needs washed” makes my teeth itch, and yet sometimes in a hurry I say it.  I don’t think it’s a PNW thing; maybe I picked it up from my best friend, whose parents were serious Okies, or deeper from my Lancaster-area mom.

Re: “A guy could”, that sounds a bit like the way you construct “you can”/“you could” in German: “mann kann”/mann könnte”.  In a way it’s a bit more polite!  You is very direct, where someone-out-there-not-necessarily-you gives you some distance. :)

(Edited for grammar, English and German. :) )

Matt McSpadden wrote:In the north we say "you guys" to mean everyone in the group, not just males. Similar to the South's y'all. I actually had a teacher get upset with me (it was a college in Virginia, far enough south that "You Guys" was not used) one time when I was planning to have the class all go out for ice cream. She wanted to know why I hadn't invited the girls. As a matter of fact, there was one particular girl I was hoping would come... but that is another story. My intention was to invite the whole class... and we eventually go it all straightened out. And I got a lesson in regional phrases :)

I'm on the other northern coast of the US, and also use "you guys" to refer to any group of people. If I were referring to a bunch of my female friends, I'd probably call them "you guys"!

---

I think one of our weird linguistic things in the pacific northwest is that we call land isopods "potato bugs." Most places call them "woodlice" or "rolly polly" or "pill bug"

Nicole Alderman wrote:

Matt McSpadden wrote:In the north we say "you guys" to mean everyone in the group, not just males. Similar to the South's y'all. I actually had a teacher get upset with me (it was a college in Virginia, far enough south that "You Guys" was not used) one time when I was planning to have the class all go out for ice cream. She wanted to know why I hadn't invited the girls. As a matter of fact, there was one particular girl I was hoping would come... but that is another story. My intention was to invite the whole class... and we eventually go it all straightened out. And I got a lesson in regional phrases :)

I'm on the other northern coast of the US, and also use "you guys" to refer to any group of people. If I were referring to a bunch of my female friends, I'd probably call them "you guys"!

---

I think one of our weird linguistic things in the pacific northwest is that we call land isopods "potato bugs." Most places call them "woodlice" or "rolly polly" or "pill bug"

Yes to potato bugs!  I have heard that there is another insect with that name out there, which is horrifying looking.  I’m a big fan of not-clicking on the horrifying thing, so I don’t know what that corresponds to.

I also grew up with “you guys”.  “You guys and gals” is not really an improvement, in my opinion .  I like y’all or yins (short for you-uns in the Pittsburgh area).  You would think that in Germany, where there are not one but two words for second person plural, that would not be a problem, but I had a director who addressed us all as “Mädels”. That’s young girls, in a room where I was usually the only woman.  There were layers of ick there.

The “you guys” thing is weird. I’ve lived on both coasts and up and down the Midwest and that phrase is gender-neutral and inclusive everywhere I’ve been. I wonder if the regionalism is that part of Virginia or maybe just Matt’s prof was being picky.

I grew up in the midwest, calling them potato bugs.

I've called them potato bugs or rolly polys but I heard a better name and now I only call them armadillo seeds.

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

Re: “A guy could”, that sounds a bit like the way you construct “you can”/“you could” in German: “mann kann”/mann könnte”.  In a way it’s a bit more polite!  You is very direct, where someone-out-there-not-necessarily-you gives you some distance. :)

(Edited for grammar, English and German. :) )

Yes....I had not considered "a guy could" that way -- this makes sense.  It always seemed a bit strange that there are two or more different ways to express this in German and forgive me if I'm forgetting proper structure and grammer.  "Mann konnte das Auto waschen" ([Some]one could wash the car) might also be expressed "Das Auto konnte gewashed werden" (The car could be washed).  The 'werden' seemed to trip up most native English speakers during German lessons (and hence becomes frequently dropped) since it suggests "to be" at the end of the sentence.  But also interesting that if directly translated from German to English while retaining word order, it sounds somewhat like Shakespearean English, no?  The morphing of languages over time is quite fascinating, really.....

So I'm from this weird limnal space between the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos (in eastern PA); they're geographically right up against each other but they're very, very different.  (I identify with the LV more than the Poconos.)

The Poconos: pretty much assume everything true for the greater NYC metro area (including Long Island and northern NJ) is true for here.  I don't have actual numbers, but my gut says we're about 1/4-1/3 native-born and almost everybody else moved here from across the Delaware.  Everything that isn't New York is pretty much Lehigh Valley, but woodsier.  
-The driving is pretty aggressive, but since it's also a huge tourist area, you see a lot of different styles.  Driving on 80 will turn your butthole inside out, even if you're used to it.  
-"You guys" is the norm, though "yous" is common in informal speech.  It's more of the Jersey inflection, actually pronounced like it's spelled.  
-The City is Manhattan, though it is very occasionally used in the generic, lowercase sense when talking about other places. You can hear the difference.  
-Bagel sounds more like "beggel" than "baygel."  
-You stand on line, rather than in line.
-Work commutes are long (1hr+) because so much of the region is a bedroom community of the NYC area.
-Every restaurant and most stores have brochure racks for local attractions.  Back in the day we used to have like three Muffler Men, but they're long gone.

The Lehigh Valley (which is actually the region around three small Colonial cities--Allentown, Easton, and Bethlehem): Always been fairly diverse as far as Northern European ancestry goes--PA Dutch farmers, Italian and Welsh/ Cornish quarrymen, Ukranian/ Polish miners & foundry workers, English and Scottish colonials, Irish laborers.  The early 20th century gave us southern Black mill workers and Puerto Rican steel workers (Bethlehem Steel recruited down there pretty heavily and for pretty racist reasons).  
-Lots of different churches (and fire companies) means lots of different fundraising food sales: fastnachts and pork-and-sauerkraut suppers, pasties, pierogies and halupki, empanadas/ empandillas; everybody does hoagie sales, though.
-There's this whole Sheetz vs. Wawa thing, but Wawa was here first.  Everybody has a preference when it comes to the food and coffee, but mostly it's whoever's closest and has the best gas price that determines where you go. (Turkey Hill is the sleeper here, way cheaper drinks and snacks, sometimes best gas prices too)
-PA Dutch was a big subset of the regional culture (but less and less as time goes on).  All the weird-ass grammatical shit from the language has made it into the regional dialect (stronger the farther out from the cities you get); for whatever reason, we can't seem to get a handle on prepositions and where prepositional phrases belong in a sentence (German rules? English rules?  We don't need no stinkin' rules!).  Other highlights include peppering in PA Dutch words in sentences (and, to make it even more confusing, our spelling, pronunciation, and even nuances of meaning are different than Berks & Lancaster counties--talk about hyper-regional), ending declarative sentences with "once/ oncest (wuhnst)" and questions with "say/ say now/ say now once?," using "Yeah-yup!" as a more emphatic affirmation.
-Just like people from Philly, we go "down the shore" when we go to the beach (only applies to Jersey, though--going to like, Myrtle Beach would not be down the shore) and "up the Poconos" (where a lot of people know or knew someone with a cabin, back before everything became gated communities with bougie names).
-"You guys" is common, "yous" is informal; we say it more like "ya's" or "yuhs"
-"Do you want to come with?" is how we ask someone along.  We drop that final pronoun.  Definitely has roots in German.
-You know an Italian lives (or lived) in a house because there's a stone grotto in the front yard.  If Mary's been replaced with flowers or a birdbath or something, the house has changed hands.  They're clustered around quarries, usually, because most Italian immigration to the area was from recruiting efforts on the part of limestone quarry owners (and slate, to a lesser degree; slate was more heavily Wales and SW England).  I'm a total nerd for how history and geography overlap.
-Some creeks and rivers are named -kill, which is an early Dutch Colonial thing from when they were exploring the waterways; it's way more common in NJ and NY.  A lot of our place names are bastardizations of Lenape language.
-We drink soda and put our groceries in bags.  I was very weirded out when someone literally asked me if I "wanted my pop in the sack" when I was somewhere in the midwest (honestly I forget exactly where, it was at a tiny store that was a stop along a 3-day Greyhound ride from PA to Mt).
-We put a red sauce (not marinara or ketchup, though) on our cheesesteaks.  There's no debate about American or Whiz, it's either American or Provolone.  Our pizza is more or less NY style, though our crust is thicker.  And Tomato Pie is 100% not the same as pizza, even though it's dough, tomato sauce, and cheese (each ingredient is a different type than pizza and tomato pie is served cold or room temp).
-They're pillbugs, though I had one teacher that called them roly-polies.  A potato bug is the same as a potato beetle.
-We stand in line, not on line.
-Traffic is awful.  Public transportation barely exists and the most recent update to the transportation infrastructure was under Eisenhower.  Forget potholes, we've got sinkholes that take out whole roads.  Because we're three cities (and whole bunch of boroughs and townships) in a trenchcoat, road conditions vary widely on any given trip; lots of bad intersections and stop signs that should be lights, but are in townships that have more thru-traffic than the tax base can support.
-Tangent to the above, we're like the warehouse capital of the East Coast.  So many big trucks.  Nondescript white boxes for miles upon miles, sitting on what was once some of the most fertile farmland in the country.  Everybody hates it, everybody complains about it, but it's a part of life and we can't change it (they could in Harrisburg, but that will never happen).  I'm counting it as a quirk because at this point, it's almost vernacular architecture.

Okay, I have to stop because I could get so into the weeds on this.  We're not as homogeneous as the Midwest (or even the western part of PA) due to us being settled earlier and having more waves of immigration, so sometimes it's hard to differentiate a real Lehigh Valley thing from a generic Mid Atlantic thing, or from a German-American/ Italian-American/ whatever-American thing.  I find it all so fascinating.

S Tonin wrote:So I'm from this weird limnal space between the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos (in eastern PA); they're geographically right up against each other but they're very, very different.  (I identify with the LV more than the Poconos.)
........

-We put a red sauce (not marinara or ketchup, though) on our cheesesteaks.  There's no debate about American or Whiz, it's either American or Provolone.  Our pizza is more or less NY style, though our crust is thicker.  
.........

Okay, I have to stop because I could get so into the weeds on this.  We're not as homogeneous as the Midwest (or even the western part of PA) due to us being settled earlier and having more waves of immigration, so sometimes it's hard to differentiate a real Lehigh Valley thing from a generic Mid Atlantic thing, or from a German-American/ Italian-American/ whatever-American thing.  I find it all so fascinating.

Wife is from opposite side of PA and somehow adapted to flats of the Red River Valley of the North.... although not for the Lutefisk and Rommegrot. ;-)   Early years were in Lewisburg and later (1960s) in Upper St. Clair (Pittsburgh-ish).   Hasn't been back since early 1970s so much changed I'm sure.

I'm giving cheesesteaks a first attempt tonight, but am partial to using a marinade instead of straight onion/pepper/seasoning mix.  We will see how it goes!  But also to say that the Midwest/Plains states 'feel' more homogeneous now (and apologies to the diverse Indigenous peoples of the region as I'm referring in this context to the Euro stock) although almost down to the town or county, each were more ethnically centered.  Chislic, fleischkuchle, kuchen (derived from the more generic German word for 'cake', but a specific item regionally) are possibly expanding across the U.S., but I wouldn't be surprised if they aren't.  Fleischkuchle may be specifically German-Russian since there are so many enclaves of that movement that settled in the Dakotas.  (We used to joke with our mother about her ancestors emmigrating from Germany, taking a wrong turn, and ending up around the Black Sea instead of the 'New World'. That's why we let her drive the car while we did the navigation...LOL!)   Oddly enough, there was an Italian settlement up here, a number of whom helped build the railroad from Fargo down to Minneapolis...a few small restaurants tapping into that history existed when we first moved here, but time eroded the uniqueness of that town.

John Weiland wrote:I'm giving cheesesteaks a first attempt tonight, but am partial to using a marinade instead of straight onion/pepper/seasoning mix.

SACRILEGE!

Honestly though, that's probably pretty good.  I'm also a total heretic, I like mine cooked with mushrooms & onions and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.  I also eat mine on corn tortillas, like a taco, because I'm gluten free and refuse to pay like $7 for four rolls.

Sorry if this was mentioned above but in WI, water fountains are called bubblers and, back in the 90s (much less common now), ATMs were called time machines.  Or more precisely a local banking acronym (TYME machines).  If you were traveling out of state and asked where the tyme machine was you often got a funny look.

Curious about one other thing....don't know how universal or regional.  The types of acknowledgement shown to the oncoming driver on a rural road.  If you know the driver, you might often slow down roll down window (yes, even in winter) and engage in banter.  But if you don't know the driver, you....

a)   roll down the window and wave as you continue driving,

b)   leave one hand on the wheel and wave with the other hand,

c)  leave both hands on the wheel and raise the fingers of one hand in greeting,  

d)  leave both hands on the wheel and raise only the little pinky of one hand. or

e)  leave both hands on the wheel with no hand movement and only raise your eyebrows or give slight nod  in acknowledgement of the passerby.

Around here, c and d appear to be equally employed with occasionally e being observed.

S Tonin wrote:

John Weiland wrote:I'm giving cheesesteaks a first attempt tonight, but am partial to using a marinade instead of straight onion/pepper/seasoning mix.

SACRILEGE!

Honestly though, that's probably pretty good.  I'm also a total heretic, I like mine cooked with mushrooms & onions and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.  I also eat mine on corn tortillas, like a taco, because I'm gluten free and refuse to pay like $7 for four rolls.

The sacrilege gets worse....and in the spirit of 'radical honesty', the whole meal is vegan (gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd.... ;-)  ).   Really wanted to use the Worcestershire sauce, but has anchovy.....no matter, many other flavors to substitute.  A go-to cheese topping made from ground cashews provides the finishing touch....seemed pretty passable but the food critic soon will arrive from evening chores to provide final judgement. Ha!....

I don’t know if this qualifies for a quirk:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portlandia

I miss the good old days of Portlandia.  After that it turned into distopialand, now its a little better but a long ways to go before its as safe as it used to be in the mid 10s, what a difference several years makes.

My community fought the highway department to keep its single stop light.  My nearest movie theater or Mcdonalds is an hour drive away and nearest Costco is 2 1/2 hours away.   I am so rural I don't have cell service.  The zone I live in is sort of between 2 rain shadows so many years precipe is 4 to 6 inches per year meaning it is drier than many deserts of the world.

John Weiland wrote:Curious about one other thing.....

B and C here.

I have lived in several "quirky" places and it's always fun to learn all this stuff.

My people are originally from Long Island (Suffolk Cty), Rockland County NY, and Jersey City. I had a grandfather who said "erl" and "terlet" instead of "oil" and "toilet", my mother still says "warsh the car", and my grandmother drank "melk" and "pepsa cola".
In college I lived in upstate NY, which was pretty indistinct, but worked in Manhattan on the weekends and holidays. New York was great in terms of unflappability. Just saw some celebrity on the subway? Yeah whatever. Guy collapsed on the sidewalk? Walk around. Alien invasion? Oh please, I have things to do.

I then moved to a place in Japan that has a very distinct accent, the story goes it's so cold there you can't open your mouth much to talk or you'll freeze to death. Not mealy mouthed mumbling, but I had to work hard to have a very nice narration voice when I moved to the capital.
Then I lived in Rhode Island, where you have your cawfee cabinet (milkshake) and then eat a quahog, and then drink from the bubbler (water fountain, like that tiny spot in WI). There is a lot of linguistic overlap between RI and NJ, since most people seem to have just moved from there, but the crusty yankee quirkiness was refreshing. I was amazed when I moved there, you didn't need to use a motorcycle helmet or a seatbelt: if you want to die, go ahead, but maybe check that organ donation box on your license. That has probably changed in the 20 years I've been gone.
After that I moved to a place in Brazil that is known for being even more unfriendly than NYC. You don't talk to anyone you don't know, and the accent is.... pretty intense. Only after did I realize how relieved I am my husband has an accent from a different city, because when I met him we didn't speak this language and I didn't realize just how grating some of the accents (like the one here) are. And we have all sorts of weird antiquated words for things, it can be embarrassing sometimes to find out that here they use the old-timey word for stoplight (semaforo) instead of the normal sinaleiro. There are lots of regional variations though, it's always fun to explore, especially when I'm traveling elsewhere where people talk to strangers, unlike here!!

Tereza Okava wrote:I moved to a place in Brazil that is known for being even more unfriendly than NYC. You don't talk to anyone you don't know...

Oh, this reminded me of something! In 1979, my folks moved us from Los Angeles -- the only region I had memory of, to suburban St. Louis, MO. On our very first day in the new house, I'd finished my part of emptying the U-Haul and my mom told me to go explore, so I was walking around the neighborhood. Two or three blocks from home, I was walking down the side of a sleepy residential street (there were no sidewalks!!) and a little old lady with a small dog came walking up toward me. So I started crossing the street to get away from the stranger, of course(!). And then the strangest thing I could have imagined happened. She said "hi" and smiled at me. I gaped at her for a second and then ran home. When I told my parents about the encounter my mom laughed and laughed before starting to explain that "things are different out here."

New Jersey, USA here!
1 - The armadillo bugs are called RolyPolies (however you want to spell it)

2 - Our large sandwiches are called subs, and the best ones are from delis or pizza places that also might make subs. Places like Subway or the ones from Wawa or QuickCheck, or supermarkets are all inferior.

3 - "you guys" rolls off our tongues left & right. We also often say "girls" to mean women of any age, though maybe that's a generational thing. There's no female equivalent of "guy"; that's what the English language needs, lol

4 - Some places here have good bagels, too, but not as many as the city. When we say "the city", we mean NYC.

5 - We go "down the shore". Not to the beach, or the ocean, not TO the shore, but "down the shore". It could mean the beach, but it could also be to someone's house near the coast, or to the boardwalk, or to a restaurant near the shore, etc.

6 - Can anyone say Taylor Ham?!? Or pork roll?!? Thank you! Supposedly even NY'ers don't have it! It's round slices of pressed pork, very salty, fried and eaten like bacon; either on a kaiser roll (talyorhameggandcheese, ketchupsaltpepper) or at home on the side.

7 - Even though we're so geographically small, the cultural differences between different parts of Jersey are jawdropping. Down south people wear cowboy hats and shoot guns. Northeast Jersey is diverse and has more money and cities than the rest (closer to NYC). Northwest is 'mountains' and trees, like a mini Pacific Northwest. In the center is the Pine Barrens, which is literally a million acres of desert, and the Jersey Devil lives there with a handful of hidden preppers in old missile silos... we imagine, lol. Cape May is like a tiny Florida. I could make more comparisons! (Camden is L.A.; New Hope is San Francisco; Newark is NYC, Hoboken is Boston; it's freaky)
NJ is like a miniature version of the US!

Kim Wills wrote:Taylor Ham?!?

OMG!!! My father used to make it when I was a kid, I have memories of waking up to the smell. I'm torn between nostalgia and disgust. I'd probably eat it on a kaiser roll with an egg and cheese.... and then be set for the next 40 years!
(ps- we called them pillbugs, this would be in the gritty NE NJ suburbs where I spent part of my childhood. And they wear hats and shoot guns out in the west of the state too- more bears, deer and rattlesnakes than highways near the Water Gap where I went to high school.)
I was born in NJ and spent a good part of my first 18 years there living all over the north of the state, but I am amazed nowadays to see any reporting about NJ citing names of towns I have never heard of. Not sure if things have been renamed or redistricted (?) but it's funny how often I'll look at the map and say, ah, Belleville used to be called Nutley when I lived there. It's certainly grown leaps and bounds.