We have drinking fountains in Chicago. In Wisconsin those are "bubblers".

We might offer someone "a lift" to the store. I've heard southerners offer to "carry" a pedestrian.

We here in Vancouver say Toques as well as those most other Canadian places. :-)..

in my family we call them purses and wallets, purses being the wallet carrying handbag and wallets being the inside of the purse money carrier. :-).

Apparently the word toboggan for hat got shortened from toboggan hat to just toboggan.

Yes, we call all soft drinks soda too. We also call lunch dinner & dinner supper. We don't typically have brunch other than holidays.

In south/central Texas we call sodas soda or coke. Mostly soda but I've heard people use coke as a general term. Up north I know it can be referred to as pop. My BIL went through a time where he called sodas pop. It was the funniest thing ever. :D

We call shopping carts shopping carts or just carts. We also say highways and access roads. :D We don't have toboggans cause you would need snow for that. We don't know what snow is here. We barely know what rain is. :\

Another thing I often remember from my WV friend/boss: She would say to me "Will you move that chair over there, do you care?" rather than "Do you mind?" I always thought I should say, of coutrse I care but I don't mind doing anything you like.

I say pop. My husband is from Minnesota & he will say soda.

The dinner and supper distinction used to drive me batty. For those who may not have struggled with these two terms- dinner is your main meal of the day (unless it is breakfast.) Supper is your last mean of the day.

Definitely winter knitted hats are toques here as well, in Ontario.

You call it soda, we call it pop.

Tissues are Kleenex, even though it's the brand name.

Oh yeah, the dinner-supper distinction. As a kid, we had lunch and supper, dinner was reserved for those big holidays when we had company. Now we have lunch and dinner.

My mom still calls her evening meal supper, even though it is her main meal of the day. I explained the etymology of the words and that dinner is the correct term but, she sticks to supper.

Supper for your main meal is a fine use of the word. The tricky bit for me was when some people called the meal after church on Sunday dinner. Your mid-day meal is dinner if it's your largest and then you would have supper. But you can still have lunch at mid-day and call your evening meal supper.

When I moved from Ohio to New England my first experience with different names for things was when I bought something at a small store and told the clerk I didn't need a sack. They're called bags, here.

We drink pop here, my son drinks sody! We have a hose. My husband always called his hat a bonnet. I have no idea why. Tried to change him but he is stubborn! Men have billfolds and women purses. Growing up everyone called the noon meal dinner and evening was supper. My mother in law always said out ten the light! We also eat subs here. We do not eat string beans, they are green beans. We also use a shopping cart. A buggy is for a baby or a horse pulls. We would give people a ride to the store. I am sure there are more.

Sue in Central Indiana

Ooooops, I just realized in French-Canadian you say tuque- not toque. Never mind my previous silly comments (though I imagine this is one word that went from French to English and not the other way around, since toque usually means something else.)

This goes more with the pronunciation post but I'll put it here anyway. There's a YouTuber I watch and she's from Canada. She pronounces bag.. beyg. Do any other Canadians on here pronounce it like that?

Growing up in Ohio, we said pop. Here it's either soda or sometimes drink "I'm going to get a drink, want one?". Supper and dinner were interchangeable, although I think we used supper more. Never said dinner at lunch time.

Dad and his generation used lots of words that I think are gone, lavatory and davenport and dungarees (I'm not sure what that meant.) He always referred to his wallet as a billfold.

I heard an interesting story once about a crime investigator using language as one of the forensic tools. The example was a crime (I don't remember what), where the suspect instructed that they leave something on the "devil's strip." I believe this refers to the grass between the sidewalk and the street. Apparently use of that term is quite specific to a particular place in Ohio, and they were able to zero in on their suspect based on those two words. Probably he had heard the term all his life, and had no idea that it wasn't common anywhere else.

RE: devil's strip. We call that a parkway. Dungarees are pants (jeans? workpants?)

I was born in Wisconsin but raised in alabama. I still often used the "yankee" phrases for things. I was only 6 months old when we moved here,but the parental and older sibling influence has persisted I guess. Only one sister has taken completely to southern phrases,because of who she married ,IMO,but she does not have a southern accent,so it sounds weird. Some things I notice:

You don't push a button here,you mash it.

A hose is a hose pipe

I say "parking space " most people here just say a "park."

I call it a shopping cart,people don't know what I'm talking about,it's a buggy here.

You don't cook food or serve someone a plate,you "fix" it.

Every soft drink is coke. If you order coke,they ask what kind.

Of course,the way certain words are pronounced it's different. It drives mom up the wall when sis says "THANKS-givin,not thanks-GIVING or IN-surance instead of inSURance. On my other hand mom and dad say "ruff" instead of roof and "rut beer" instead of root beer. Both annoy me,to be honest.

Ah,the whole supper/dinner debate. We grew up with breakfast, lunch and supper. I don't really see a consistent standard around here. But I HATE the word "supper." I don't know why. I say breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The whole/ma'am and sir thing are serious business here. I've been a ma'am since I first arrived here in the south.(another endearment mom can't stand) Most of us kids have never picked up this habit,and are often considered rude.

The phrase "Ima pray for you" is NOT always a friendly one. It's a genteel middle finger. Lol.

amylou321 my people on my mom's side of the family ended up in Wisconsin (after coming over from Germany/Prussia). I've never been there but my husband swears sometimes that I have the accent. I have many accents apparently. lol I love languages and cultures :)

My grandma used to say mash too lol And warsh.

My cousin says woof instead of wolf. haha

Is toque pronounced Tuke? I used the dictionary to pronounce it for me and it rhymes with coke. Our friends from Canada called knit caps tukes. (long u)

Of my three grown kids, the middle son, 35 y/o, still says "yes m'am, no m'am" to me. "Sir" to his dad and always to his elders as well.

In England, I got up from lunch in a restaurant and a lady said, "You dropped your wool-y, dear." Oh...my (disgusting American word), 'sweater'. Do Canadians say 'wool-y'? The term 'push chair' is certainly more accurate than 'stroller'.

amylou -- Surely you've heard the sweet, "Bless your heart," instead of F-you. I got that once when we Yankees attended a wedding in North Carolina and I was overheard asking DH why they served 'Christmas Bell' cookies. (Who knew there was an etiquette for which way the clapper was positioned?)

Minnesotan here. We drink pop, eat breakfast, dinner and supper. We grew up on a farm, there were 3 big meals a day. Sometimes we had hot dish. Never casserole. Used a cart, toboggan, and hose.

Nicole, the word toque (rhymes with coke) is French and is the word for the traditional hat worn by a chef - in that case, it's a toque blanche or white hat. It may have other uses too.

Gault & Millau is a company that rates restaurants, like Michelin does. They rate restaurants on a scale of 20, decent ones starting at maybe 12. At perhaps 13 or so (I forget), next to the rating number is a small image of a toque. Then two toques (at 14?), then as many as 5 as perfection at a rating of 20 is approached, though I wonder if any restaurant is rated at 20 and I haven't checked. So Michelin gives stars (3 is the max and is uncommon) and G&M gives toques, to signify the best restaurants they find.

Amylou, I've never heard of "Ima pray for you" Right up there with 'bless your heart!" LOL

Nicole, toque is pronounced like the number 2, so twoque. I thought that might be easier to explain than toooook.

Oh yes. What's the rule? You can gossip or say anything about anyone as long as you follow it with "bless their heart." Lol.

jasdip, not in my hooose nor when referring to a chef's hat, eh!

Wow, my folks (WV) call a woolen cap a toboggan, too. And they call a paper bag a poke. And we ate Supper, not Dinner. We called all soft drinks Coke, but we had migrated down here to FL so it might be a FL thing. All my Yankee New England friends call it soda. Anything that wasn't right next to you was "over yonder". Mom would say "put it over yonder" and then we'd say "which yonder?" and you didn't cook dinner, you "fixed" it. I was really razzed because I pronounced TV with the emphasis on the T instead of the V. That's how my folks always said it. When we said we wanted "iced tea" is sounded like "ass tea". I'm sure there's a lot more that I can't think of right now.

Janey, I was born in Alabama and I beg to differ. I never have used any of those terms, except maybe buggy sometimes, and neither did anyone in my family or any of my friends. Yes I have heard them from time to time, but not everywhere. Most of the time it’s just a cart. Hey, a place to park is just a ‘parking place’! I’ve also heard that strip between the sidewalk and the street called a ‘hell strip’.

We do refer to pretty much everything as Coke, unless it is the Pepsi brand you are asking for in a store. In Boston once many years ago, I asked for a Coke and got a Pepsi. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. My DH, from Ohio, always begs to differ and says it’s breakfast, dinner and supper.

In Cincinnati where I grew up, The first two meals were breakfast and lunch, the third meal was called either dinner or supper which are synonyms. The woolen hat was called a "dunsel cap" which I've never heard elsewhere. You'd put soda in your shopping cart and swerve around the lady pushing a stroller. You might then get some water at the drinking fountain, and buy the fixin's for a subway sandwich and detergent to warsh your clothes in the warshing machine. I've banished this last one from my speech, but my sister still say "warsh" and it drives me crazy.

In southern Illinois, farm folks living on rural unpaved roads referred to concrete highways as "hard roads". The slang term for a paved road with 4 or more lanes is "super slab".

Go farther south and you'll hear "wite bread" for "white bread".

In Wisconsin, the term, bubbler, is fading away because bubblers have been phased out. Early drinking fountains in Milwaukee, WI and other Wisconsin cities were designed with a bowl having a central water tube usually with its top end a spherical shape. The water squirted out vertically and fell straight back on itself sometimes making a bubbling sound, thus the term, bubbler. These were deemed not sanitary as it was possible for water falling from a drinker's mouth to land on the bubbler head. This happens when the user shuts off the water and is yet leaning over the fountain. Replacement designs shoots a stream of water across the receiving pan and water falling from the drinker's mouth falls in the pan. This is true as long as there is a great enough flow to support a healthy steam across the pan. in adverse conditions with low flow, the user's mouth may go low enough to touch the fountain head - not good.

These new designs are usually called "drinking fountains" by Wisconsinites. The old design is still called bubblers.

I learned at family reunions that polite young women will say to the elders, and the relatives with canes or wheelchairs and the pregnant ladies,"let me help (pronounced "hep") your plate!" Thanks for the memory, make me smile.

The very fact that anyone gets upset by being addressed as sir or ma'am is baffling to me and therefore, I suppose, evidence of my "southern roots". Any stranger of any age would be and is addressed as "sir/ma'am". I could be speaking to a 4 year old, a 40 year old or a 90 year old. "Sir/ma'am" is just me being polite because I don't know your name.

I legitimately understand supper being used as a proper term for your evening meal IF your main meal (aka dinner) is consumed mid-day.

What annoys the heck out of me is interchanging dinner and supper. They aren't the same thing.

*Breakfast-dinner-supper makes sense

*Breakfast-lunch-dinner makes sense

*Breakfast-lunch-supper makes NO sense, whatsoever.

Supper is a LIGHT meal consumed at the end of the day after your main meal. Think soup.

Dinner is your MAIN meal, consumed either mid-day OR evening.

Dictionary on the meaning of supper...an evening meal, typically a light or informal one. Ours were always informal.

Regionalisms make life more interesting. Sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit just to see who notices.

Growing up, supper = dinner and everyone usually said "supper." Sometime long ago we switched to using "dinner" for the evening meal, I really don't know why.

My grandmother referred to "hair" as plural. As in, "Your hairs are so lovely". Was this from her first-generation German heritage?

I don't mind being called 'ma'am' or anything said politely. But I have had friends go on and on about "raising kids right" to always "show respect" by using "sir" and "ma'am." Well, good for you, but don't think for one minute that MY parents were remiss in raising ME just because they never made me say "sir or ma'am." Mom always said "actions speak louder than words."

the whole hoagie/sub thing makes me a bitcrazy cuz I KNOW what's what there and there's NO room for negotiation;)

you DO NOT put mayo on a real hoagie! if it has turkey or tuna, it AIN'T a hoagie... just a LONG turkey/tuna sandwich. if someone counts out number of slices of meat/cheese and it's already sliced... AIN'T a hoagie.

Ah, TG, you're saying that some of your habits are regional? I'm vindicated!

I think the Sir/Madam thing can at times be the opposite of what you've described. From my observations in the South, it's sometimes not so much that this practice is to be polite, it's that the failure to do so can be viewed as being disrespectful. I'm thinking especially with black/white interactions when there's a bit of tension present. It's been relatively unheard and unknown "around these parts" on the West Coast where I am other than when used in a way I'd describe as perhaps quirky or irreverent. When in a store or elsewhere where employees provide service, one might here (with a bit of affectation) "Yes SIR, what can I do for you". It's neither polite nor disrespectful, maybe somewhere in the middle?

In the same regional setting, the meal at midday is lunch and the last meal is dinner, no matter what amount or type of food is involved. Lunch can be a sandwich or a container of yogurt, or a dinner-like larger meal in a restaurant. Both are lunch. The same for dinner, the last meal of the day. The word supper is rarely if ever heard.

Couch, chesterfield, divan, sofa, davenport

different words for the same thing

I have always liked calling unmarried ladies miss Jane or miss Alice.

i grew up in Alabama too. Hate it when people young enough to be my

granddaughter call me by my first name.

Didnt some call ref a frigerdair back in the day?

dh is from Minnesota. Moved many times now call it soda.

in al it was coke.

had friends from Pa say youens a lot. ya'll sounds better.

My sisters in Al say "ha" not "hi"

I think Frigidaire used to be like Kleenex, a brand name used as a generic. I used to have a loan officer who said you'uns. Turns out she was from Florida LOL. Years later, on a public TV series, the story of English, I saw a program about accents or speech in certain American regions that mirrored regions in England. For instance, the Boston Brahmin accent was the same as, seems like, an Oxford accent. And as it turns out, people in Brooklyn and people in a certain area of Florida have the same accent because the people who originally settled those areas came from the same parts of Great Britain.

I bet you can still hear bits of Old English in Maine! Well, if you can get more than one word out of an elder. It's as though a person has a limited supply of words to ration over a lifetime.

My grandmother would inquire, "How are you keeping?" I think it's actually nicer than, "How do you DO?" (Do what?)

Supper is what you have at night if you had a big meal in the middle of the day. If you had Sunday DINNER (roast-potatoes-carrots-rice-green beans-gravy), then at night you had hash for supper.(leftovers scrambled with onion and worchestershire sauce).

When we have Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner, then at night we have leftovers for supper.

When everyone goes to work during the day and takes a sandwich for LUNCH, then we have DINNER at night.

I was wondering about the English/American connections to accents. Watching the Cornwall set Doc Martin (anyone remember the children's show Kipper- that's DocMartin) the other day and thought about how they say Louiser instead of Louise just like some parts of the US.

Where I live, as an original northerner, if people are using sir/ma'am (which I never taught my children to do when we moved to the south) is used as either a term of politness or respect, they DON'T have the right right to call e "sweetie" or "hon". I'm 81, by the way.

I've never understood the "hey" versus "hi" thing either. Is hey strictly a Southern thing?

Rita, there was a PBS series ages ago, maybe in the 80s, called The Story of English. I remember one of the episodes talked about how fragments of English regional words and pronunciations were present in certain American regional uses when a particular US area had an influx of people from one particular region of England. The Appalachian area was cited as one example but I don't remember what or from where.

When I first moved from Ca to the Deep South I was surprised at many words. I had to ask a woman what she was talking about when she kept saying buggy. She explained that means grocery cart. When I heard another woman say, “you’ins” I though maybe she meant a type of sheep?? I asked someone what a you’in was, they explained it’s like y’all. I also was confused when I would help with the dishes at a dinner party and the hostess would say, “Put those casserole dishes up” why would she say up and then point to a cupboard that was down. I quickly learned putting something up in the south means anywhere that it’s supposed to go.

LOL, Sabbath, I've been hearing and saying "put things up" my whole life, never had thought about it. Canning is also called putting up ("Granny put up 40 quarts of tomatoes").

Elmer, thanks for the tip about the show. I will look it up online.