I am wracking my brain trying to thing of something unusual, but all I can come up with is meat & 3 and bbq.

The first is the choice offered at, well, meat and 3 type restaurants, a meat and a choice of 3 sides. Many sides are offered but for the most part, they are all the same everywhere and one or two of the side choices will include a cobbler (canned fruit) or banana pudding. The meats are about the same too.

Bbq. Is smoked pork cooked for almost a day, preferably in a true bbq pit. It's not hamburgers/whatever thrown on the gas/charcoal grill.
The sides are usually always the same, everywhere.

tube steaks (hot dogs)

Yes, Teresa, I have no shame, Bologna! BTW, I know exactly where McKeesport is and where your mom is from:) We are north of Pittsburgh. Since you've had ham salad, you probably have enjoyed ham loaf? I like that too:)

Circle ham -- doesn't that sound so much better? Bordering menuworthy.

Love the tube steaks, jimster.

jomuir, "tumshee" was just too intriguing not to google. I took the risk. First hit --

Yahoo Answers:

What is a tumshee? Please help thanks :)
My dad keeps calling me a 'tumshee' head? X

"a tumshie is a joky Scots word for a turnip - he's just saying Away and don't be silly, in a joky way.
tell him he's a big ba'heid
Source(s):
Scot

Love it!

Cathy in SWPA

It wasn't until my college years that I realized that creamed chipped beef on toast was exactly the same as the dried beef gravy my mom made for breakfast nearly every Saturday morning.

One time, a South Philly co-worker invited me for dinner and said she was making macaroni and gravy. It turned out to be what I knew as spaghetti and meatballs.

Ruthanna, I hear the macaroni and gravy here frequently (we have the largest Italian population in the US) mostly from people age 50-55+. I've even see it on restaurant menus.

/tricia

Here what you guys call bologna is (depending on the state you're in) polony, devon, fritz or strasbourg.

A Chinese restaurant I went to had this on thier menu:

Deep Fried Crap Cakes With Ginger.

It was not bad.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Tue, Jan 15, 13 at 11:11

oh, brill!

One often finds so many things offered on Chinese restaurant menus!

Sally

Where are the eggs in NY egg creams?

When I used to travel to upstate NY, I could enjoy beef on wreck sandwiches and spiedies.

I was 27 and had just moved to Santa Barbara, CA in 1977 when I found out that green peppers and mangoes were not the same food. My sweet 84 yr old aunt still says she added mangoes to her salad or her hash.

Swede= Irish (and English)name for rutabaga( It comes from the old Swedish word Rotabagge, meaning simply "root ram").
I wonder how the Swedes like that :)

And the scots call a swede a turnip! Very confusing all round. For us, a turnip's something else.

Dandelion greens are often used in salads; a French term for this green alludes to their alleged diuretic properties. They call it 'pis-en-lit'--literally 'wet the bed'.

Somehow I can't see myself going into La Tour d'Argent and ordering a bedwetter salad.

One of my favorite Austrian desserts is Mohr im Hemd--"Moor in a shirt." Presumably from the battles with the Turks where the best revenge is turning your enemy into a chocolate dessert and devouring it :)

At our house SOS was creamed dried beef and hamburger gravy was essentailly the same dish but made with hamburger meat. My Dad loves both on toast! I have also heard of City chicken and enjoyed it when we visited my Mother-In-law in Pittsburgh!
Joann

Teresa, if you had watched Rocky and Bullwinkle religiously as I did, you would have seen an episode in which R&B are going to D.C. from MN, but on their way they stop at a train station and step onto the platform. Bullwinkle then says, "So this is Washington D.C.!" Then Rocky says, "No, this is the train station in McKeesport P.A.!" Then Bullwinkle said, "I know - I'm just practicing saying it." For me, that put McKeesport on the map, and I've always wanted to visit there, plus Pittsburgh.

The only odd food name I can think of now is how in Texas people call soda water "Coke". I've always called it soda, but some people call is pop. I have no idea where the term "pop" comes from, unless it refers to someone's father. My father used the term "soft drink" even though he never went into bars.

Lars

I think "pop" refers to the sound made when opening a carbonated drink in a glass bottle with a metal cap that needs to be pried off with a bottle opener or "church key".... especially if the bottle gets a bit shaken beforehand.

When I lived in the Great lakes area,
Soft drinks were all called "pop".
Never heard anyone call it "soda"
Or "soda water".

In this part of Texas,
It's all called "soda water",
Or it's called by its name,
Such as 'Coke', Pepsi', '7-Up', whatever.
If you ask for a 'coke', you get Coca-Cola.
The term 'soft drink'
refers to any carbonated beverage,
Up there or down here.

Judging from your posts, Lars,
The Texas you lived in is
a completely different world
from the Texas I live in now.
:>)

Rusty

Rusty & Lars: where I grew up, soft drinks were often referred to as 'cold drinks', even though you would never refer to a cold beer as a cold drink. I actually overheard someone in a supermarket asking where the unchilled soft drinks were by saying, "Where are the hot cold drinks?"

In some areas of the rural south, soft drinks were referred to as 'dopes'--that's pretty much died out, but my dad remembered that term.

My wife is from the midwest, and refers to all such things as sodas. To me a soda is something with ice cream, syrup and carbonated water that you'd get at a (duh) soda fountain.

I've heard people ask for a coke, 'but make it a Sprite'. Coke being generic for a soft drink, not specific to Coca-Cola.

Now the most redneckish (hey, I'm part redneck, I can use the term) term for a coke is to drop the 'ca'--how many times in the rural south have you heard people refer to having a 'co-cola'?

Ha, Lars. I don't know where "pop" comes from, but lots of folks in Pittsburgh refer to colas/sodas as "pop."

dcarch: "Deep Fried Crap Cakes With Ginger" Brought a smile!

Cathy in SWPA

Islay, we have Nun's Farts in Quebec, pie dough rolled out thin and buttered then sprinkled with a generous amount of brown sugar, you roll that again and cut pinwheel pieces, bake the pinwheels cut size up. Gross name but very good.

Map for soft drink name usage.

Rusty, I've always been in the southern half of the state, except for occasional visits to Waco and Ranger (between Ft. Worth and Abilene) to visit relatives. I went to college in Houston and Austin, spending about four years in each. I left Texas in 1973 and haven't lived there since, except for the 3-1/2 years in Austin for my design degree. I've noticed that different regions of Texas can be very different from each other. When I would visit Mexico and return to Texas via bus, I would not switch from Spanish back to English until I got north of San Antonio or Victoria.

I like Westelle's explanation of the term "pop" - that makes sense to me.

Lars

Lars,

That map is fascinating. (O.K. I'm fascinated by most maps.)

I grew up in a "pop" zone. When I went to college I had a tough adjustment because it was in a "soda" zone. It's hard to change a life long habit. For a while I said "soda pop", as a sort of transition.

Jim

When I was a vendor at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market we often had tour busses of businessmen from Japan. One of the vendors sold "toads in the hole." Pancakes with and egg cooked in a hole in the center. He had a lot of funny stories about selling them to the Japanese customers and watching their translator try to make the translation.

Lars, love the map! We are in western Pennsylvania and my daughter goes to school eastern Pennsylvania. One of the first things she told us was that no one says "pop."

Cathy in SWPA

Teresa, I had a friend in San Francisco who was from South Africa (His ancestry was Dutch), and he made a similar dish with bread, but I don't remember what he called it - the link has several names for it, including One-Eyed Jack. This was about the only thing he knew how to cook, and I hated it because I do not like fried eggs. He was a very good artist/muralist, however, and did some beautiful portraits of me - one of which I gave to my mother. A lot of people painted my portrait back then because I knew so many artists. I won't let Kevin paint me, however, because he is less flattering.

Jim, collecting maps is one of my hobbies, and I have several atlases. I especially like old maps. When I was at Rice, I used to go to downtown Houston and pick up maps from the oil company buildings - Gulf, Shell, Texaco, Pennzoil, etc. They would give me any map I asked for, including city maps. The Gulf and Texaco buildings were my favorites - I think they have changed names by now.

Lars

And if you are a Democrat, you tend to say "soda" more.

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful:

In Canada, a carbonated drink is "pop", occasionally "soft drink", but never soda. Maybe its my British heritage and brief residency there, but Toad-in-the-hole is a dinner sausage (banger) cooked in Yorkshire pudding. "Bubble-and-squeak" is leftover cabbage and mashed potatoes fried together.

Here in Southern California, fried bred with the whole egg cracked and fried in the middle have been called "Gold Mines". Toast comes out of the toaster; fried bred comes out of a skillet. "Turkey Fries" or "Chicken Fries" are turkey or chicken "oysters". One of my sister's favorite holiday "confections" consists of melted chocolate, peanut butter and dry oatmeal blended together called "Chocolate Shi--ies" Both because that's what they look like and what they strongly encourage you to do. Once blended, you must remove it from the pot IMMEDIATELY, or you have to throw away the pan. They will NOT dissolve.

Along that line, I well remember "The Green Apple Quick-Step" from too many green apples. Kim

In western New York we say "pop" and I remember being surprized that toward New York city they call it soda. Beef on Wreck is not called anything else as a Wreck is a kind of roll that I think is made no where else.We also have sponge candy that I think is only in this area.

oh and a pet peeve of mine. Here we do not have "Buffalo wings". They are chicken wings or just wings. When we hear of "Buffalo wings" being served in other areas most people laugh. What exactly are "Buffalo wings"?

Wikipedia gives five versions of their origins. "Wings" in general, baffle me, much as "ribs" do. Who in their right mind would pay a premium price for the least productive piece of meat? Also, just too much work for too little reward, like sunflower seeds, pomegranates and artichoke hearts. If I'm going to work that hard, I want a decent reward for my effort! Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Buffalo Wings

"And if you are a Democrat, you tend to say "soda" more."

You are very astute to draw that conclusion from the two maps. It made me chuckle when I finally got the point.

Jim

When we first came to Oz carbonated soft drinks were called "cool drinks". I used to get a little confused when asked if I wanted a "cool drink" :-) Similarly I was horrified when a friend asked me if I wanted a "spider". (Hell no! I thought.) Turns out she meant a fizzy drink (there's another term) poured over a scoop of icecream. "Lemonade" here _always_ means a drink similar to 7-Up. Lemonade made from lemon juice, water and sugar is almost unknown. "Cordial", a fruit flavoured syrup concentrate which is mixed with cold water, is popular especially for children.
Fried bread with an egg in the middle was called a "bullseye" by my mother, "toad in the hole" by my Aussie friends (not withstanding the sausage in Yorkshire pudding version) and "one-eyed Egyptian" by DH's family. DD when she was little called them "one-eyed dipped-in" :-)

Fish eyes in glue or Tapioca Pudding if my mother was around

Ah, good old "frog spawn" ;-)

I was in the store, Shoprite, and saw frozen chitterlings.

Interesting name, "chitterlings"

dcarch

I wonder if the name 'pop' came from the sound emanating from this type of bottle. I've seen some in antique shops and junk shops.

Here is a link that might be useful: antique pop bottle

We call carbonated soft drinks "tonic". I didn't"t see that on the map. We're 40 miles north of Boston.

How about Slum Gullion? That's what my Dad called a stew he made out of whatever leftovers were in the refrigerator.

SOS was creamed clipped beef on toast.

Wiggle was shrimp and peas in white sauce usually served on buttered toast.

Dead egg is a well done fried egg with the yolk broken but not beaten together with the white.

Spotted Dick is another steamed pudding with currants!
Squashed flies are those biscuits with currants in them - garibaldi.

Actually, in Texas, we call "coke" Dr. Pepper.

Sally

How about a Slugburger? I have never eaten one but I have friends from Corinth, MS, who say they aren't bad.

Here is a link that might be useful: Slugburger

OK - some Pittsburgh foods:
Jumbo - good quality baloney, great for:
Hump backed steak - fried baloney sandwiches
Ham salad - made w baloney
City chicken
Chipped ham - boiled ham from deli, sliced/saved extremely thin
BBQ ham - chipped ham in Isaly's BBQ sauce (I make it today w 1 lb of chipped ham & 1 bottle of Heinz Chili Sauce)
Tommy Tucker Mint Ginger Ale
White Birch Beer
Pig in a blanket - stuffed cabbage rolls

No wonder I gained weight ðÂÂÂ

Mark - welcome to the forum! I see you joined yesterday. It was the city chicken and bologna that brought you out of lurkdom - wasn't it? :-)

Mark, I've heard stuffed cabbage rolls called pigs in blankets but have also heard the same term used for those mini hot dogs wrapped and baked in a strip of pastry and served as appetizers.

There are so many strangely named alcoholic beverages. The first one that comes to mind is a Skip and Go Naked. I think there's a variation called Hop Skip and Go Naked. No, I've never consumed either. LOL

My husband's folks in Minnesota refer lunch as "dinner", dinner as "supper", and mid morning/afternoon coffee breaks as "lunch".

When we moved back to Midwest from Florida, my 4 years old son wanted to have "dirty rice"; the waitress thought this little fellow was really funny.

@teresa - ya saw right through me!! Baloney & city chicken were favorites growing up.
I thought of some other Western PA terms:
Slippy - when ice is on roads & sidewalks, it is slippy outside
Red up - as in "go red up your room" (clean-up)
Dun Tun - where're yinz going? Dun Tun to shop for shoes.
Kennywood is open! - when someone's zipper is down
Up 'ere or down 'ere - directional inference, i.e. up there or down there
7-Iron - shot of Seagrams Seven dropped into a mug of Iron City Beer

Funny & true story: Went to Primanti Brothers for first time a couple of yrs ago. Looking @ menu at list of 'sammiches' I saw Steak & Cheese - #2 best seller. But I just couldn't find the #1 best seller. Asking waitress, she pulled up a chair & said, "Honey, in these parts Iron City beer is the #1...

Lars, that's a great map. I knew about the soda/pop divide, but not in such detail. What's fascinating is the big island of "soda" centered around St. Louis, deep in "pop" territory.
I wonder why. And why does the west say "soda"?
"Soda" is the only thing that sounds right to me, of course!

Moose, You are right! When I took my DH to NH to visit my family, they offered him "tonic". He looked at me for help because he didn't have a clue. I said Aunt Lisa wants to know if you want a coke.

:---I said Aunt Lisa wants to know if you want a coke.--"

You never ask for a Coke if you are in a Pizza Hut.

Likewise, you get all kinds of dirty looks if you ask for a Pepsi in Atlanta.

dcarch