y'all

And I am from northern Iowa. jeez

MonaRae

You betcha. Yes, I'm from Minnesota but I'm English and Irish for pity sake. I was once at a buffet and someone just ahead of me in line, commented about a bowl of Kraut and said ick, do you like that? I couldn't believe my ears when I heard my self say....Thats good stuff, you betcha. I felt like an escapee from the movie Fargo. LOL

I don't use these terms and I never will, but hearing my Michigan born and raised sister say "y'all" drives me up a tree. She lived in Oklahoma for 5 years and picked it up. I also cringe when I hear our Minnesota friends say "ish" and "youbetcha".

Living on the west coast I have heard just about everything, so very little bother me. It is not the grammar or spelling but what comes out of the mouth--especially around kids.

lol whats wrong with y'all?? I was born and raised in okla. and now live in Tx. We use it all the time.
What drives me nuts is someone saying awesome all the time lol

I have a couple of friends that always say "to make a long story short" . Well it sure doesn't shorten the story. That just drives me up the wall.

I don't say it but I really dislike the expression "no harm, no foul". Oh, and "out of pocket", which is used around here to mean "unavailable at the moment". Oh, and "flustrated". Flustered, fine. Frustrated, great. Flustrated? No, uh-uh, not a word.

I love, love, love those local colloquialisms. I've lived in several different locations in my life and have heard so many local expressions.

I find them charming. I'm sure that my own use of common phrases are pretty eclectic, since I was brought up in Central NYS, born to Mid-Westerners, and have lived in the South for much of my adult life. Practically everywhere I go, I sound 'funny'. lol

Someone using "absolutely" for every yes answer sort of bugs me. Is that regional?

Of coarse I say "y'all" and it is a beautiful word to my ears. On this forum y'all are my friends.

"You know" at the end of most sentences. It stands out like a sore thumb.

This is not the same as local colloquialisms which can be colorful and delightful. Some examples:

If you are from Chicago or southern Wisc, you say "bye bye" instead of "goodby" or plain "bye". Milwaukeans say "bubbler" for drinking fountain. How about "make out the light" or "bend the corner around". In southern Illinois, you'll hear "Its down the road a piece." Meaning a distance less than a mile or before the next crossroad. A "fair piece" is more than a mile and could be up to 10 miles. Also "up" and "down" often refers to "north" and "south" respectively. "He's gone up the road." may mean that he traveled north, but the rule is not always in force. Bible belt speech has to be heard to garner the full understanding of it. Inflections and emphasis are as important as the words used and these properties do not portray well by the written word.

"No problem" is fading away, being replaced by "Absolutely!", which seems to be the new buzz word at restaurants here in upstate (eastern) NY.

Absolutely, you know and axe (for ask) really, really get to me....Often when I'm watching someone being interviewed, I count the times that person has said, You know......And what makes it worse, most of these people are supposed to be educated....
Here in Pa. we do have our way of talking and some very funny words but never,ever criticize any one for using them, lol.....
My favorite is "yinz" or "younz"...I guess it's instead of you all...
I also love to hear the different way things are pronounced and used....

"you know what I mean?" drives me nuts.

Along with "absolutely" ... goes "incredible!"!

ole joyful

Do you ever start counting how many times someone says, "you know"? With some people it seems to fade away once they are certain they have your attention.

One of DH's grammar school teachers taught students to stop prefacing statements with "Well..." If someone stood to start a report and said, "Well..." the class responded with, "Sit down!"

"Well" and "You know" seem to be used to establish a connection between the speaker and the listener. "Absolutely" is probably intended as a connector, too. "Uh" is some kind of 'place holder' while the speaker tries to think about what to say. (Could we do away with all sports interviews? Think of the time saved!)

I am hearing a new catch word. It's "robust". I received an email from a company that told me their new service program was robust. They used the word twice in the first paragraph. Last night I heard a politician use robust AND "at the end of the day" in one sentence.

One of my dorm-mates was from Philadelphia. She claimed everyone at home mispronounced "probably" as "prolly".

I may be a Northerner, and I have gotten blank looks in the South when asking directions to 'Vehr-sigh', but I use y'all as a 'softener' to the more blunt 'you'.

In the South, Versailles is 'Ver-SALES', and downstate Illinois IS part of 'The South'. Up north we have a distinctive 'Chicago-ese' and talk about 'Da Bears' and 'Da Mare 'a Da City'. We greet one another with, "How ya' dooo-in?"

If I ever hear "ROBUST" from a waiter, I will flee the restaurant immediately!! "Absolutely" is my limit!!!

A word that is used too often lately is "surreal". It is used much too often, as I don't think there are that many things that are "having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic". I think I hear it usually as meaning "unbelievable", but it bugs me!!

Phyllis, thank you for mentioning "surreal." That is one of the most misused words I hear a lot lately and it makes my skin crawl.

Another one is "uber." I actually had to look that one up. It means The ultimate, above all, the best, top, something that nothing is better than. OK, so it means really, really good! Just say so,

I am waiting to see what is going to replace Awesome and Amazing. Oh, wait, maybe it will be uber, y'think?

Something that bothers me is using "loved ones" to refer to, usually, relatives in case of a death. What ever happened to family and friends?

About bye bye, that was taught to and used with babies. It is easy for them to learn and mimic.

Born and raised a Southerner. So many of these local words are specific to small areas. But we usually always know what the other folks mean. Okay, y'all?

Sue

"Prolly" is my most hated phrase along with "it needs wash" or "it needs clean". These are verbs people, add the "ing" on the end, I promise it won't kill you.

Also when people drop their g's, as in nothin' or goin'.

My roommate used to say "renember" instead of remember, drove me nuts!

Don't get me started on "like".

Sorry, the English minor in me gets carried away!!!

Funny how this thread started out with people noticing the silly things they say and wished they could stop the habit, and ended up being gripes about the way OTHER people speak.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned "actually" that is misused (and used) so often, especially by those on TV. That's a word that I too will count when I hear the first one uttered.

The one that takes the cake, though, is when I heard one of the talking heads say "you guys" on national TV when referring to those she was interviewing.

As far as what I say; I moved to the South from Michigan 40 years ago and just recently have I caught myself saying "ya'll". I wouldn't have been caught dead using that in past years. Guess it just goes to show that it takes that long to become a Southerner, although I'm sure a true Southerner would debate if I could ever be considered one.

I'm just blowing off steam here but after working in the public for 30 plus years...what does bother me is critisizing someone's dialect or the way they speak...we are a melting pot here in the US and i've learned never to critique the way someone speaks...I grew up in Southern Indiana, then moved to a large city when I was 12...I was called a hick because of the slow laidback dialect I had from living in the country on a farm for the first 12 years of my life...then I left and became a flight attendant...I lived in Atlanta for a month, back to Chicago for a month, then Houston for two years, back to Indiana for four years and have been in Georgia for the past 27...We merged with a very northern company based out of Minneapolis 3 years ago and there has been some heated issues with the merger...several of the Minneapolis based gals were in the lunch line with us one day and started making fun of the southern accents...I pretty much told them..."I grew up two hours south of Chicago, but I learned to speak SUTHIN when I moved here 26 years ago"...you know....when in Rome...it shut them right up...I've also called some of my family members on it...one of them actually accused me of faking my accent...OMG...I have better things to do then fake an accent...

Sorry...didn't mean to ruffles anyones feathers...I've gotten really good at pinpointing where someone is from just listening to the words they use...it makes them feel special...so go on and PAK that CAH...youse guys from Chicago...like well I do love living in LAX...your voice and dialect just tells me where y'all hail from!!

I've noticed the phrase "Are you serious?" being used more and more lately. Or just "Seriously?"

When we talk on the phone, my SIL constantly says "Y'know?" but doesn't wait for me to answer.

DH used to say "eatable" and I would tease him about it. Now that he finally uses "edible" it disappoints me that I can no longer tease him. :)

I should have mentioned that YES, it has everything to do with my cooking! LOL

Nothing really gets on my nerves...but people who are so anal retentive about others grammers, spelling, etc. gets on my nerves...I mean really, aren't there more things to get anal about?..Lmfao (laughing my fat a@@ off) O.K., O.K., just teasing so don't get mad and all...(giggle)

I've said before and I'll say it again, I don't laugh, criticize or otherwise when someone doesn't know better. When someone who dropped out of school violates spelling and grammar rules that's something they don't know. But when someone who *should* know better butchers the language and then claims it's they way they talk, part of their "culture" or whatever, that's when there's a loss of credibility. And yes, many people force accents and catch phrases and that's funny.

Years ago my uncle and dad were talking. My uncle born & raised in Houston, Tx and my dad, born and raised in rural MN, well seeing them understand each other at times was interesting, but in ways, amazing. Anyway for some reason it came up about my uncle never using the term "y'all" and his answer was interesting. For his job he traveled internationally. He said he never says it anymore and never will and won't allow his daughter to say iteither. He said he needs to be understood and be respected when he communicates with others. Using colloquialisms won't help with communication and sounding like trailer trash won't gain him respect. I know a lot of people will be upset, but he was a very successful man.

liz, it may a keen ear for picking up accents...i swear i did when i was a kid...mother had this delightful scot friend, and after spend just a hour or 2 with her i found myself copying her accent...had to stop and start over, didn't want to sound rude or that i was "making fun"..look at actress meryl streep..she's one of the best for accents...

the only speech pattern i havn't copied since we've been here in mi..the "flat a" sound and pop v soda...

i too, was raised in so ca and heard just about everything...

My brother used to over-use the word "gigantic". as in, I ate a gigantic bowl of cereal. Really,and where did you get a gigantic bowl? He grew up to be a normal person, and no longer uses that word. There's a waiter around here who still says "No problem" when I thank him for serving me.