Regional Word Usage

The Late Night Gourmet

The Late Night Gourmet

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I'm sure that this sort of thing is true everywhere in the world: different parts of the country have different terms for the same thing. This one is particular to the States:

https://www.rd.com/culture/regional-sayings-phrases-words/

I've lived in several parts of the country, so my usage is a mishmash that doesn't match up to any one area.

To summarize, the words or phrases they showed were (follow the link to see which regions, and to see some less-used outlier terms):

What we call insects that glow at night
  • Fireflies
  • Lightning Bugs

What we call a sale of household items
  • Garage Sale
  • Yard Sale
  • Rummage Sale

How we address a group of people
  • You Guys
  • Y'All
  • Youse

What we call carbonated beverages
  • Pop
  • Soda
  • Coke

Where we throw our trash
  • Garbage Can
  • Trash Can

What we haul freight in
  • Semi/Semitruck
  • Tractor Trailor
  • Eighteen-Wheeler

What we drink from in public places
  • Drinking Fountain
  • Water Fountain

What we call athletic footwear
  • Sneakers
  • Tennis Shoes

How many syllables in "caramel"?
  • 2
  • 3
 
This is a fascinating subject. I don't know where to begin. There is maybe slightly less variation in terminology across the UK - but a considerable variation in dialect and slang words used. Increasingly we are taking on American terms and phrases. For example 'Hi Guys' is something you would never have heard here a few decades ago(less?) but now waiters in restaurants say it when they approach your table (not in high end restaurants).

Of course, in the UK many of the items mentioned in your post have different names here. I'll post your list with the UK equivalents when I get a moment.
 
Yep, I love regional word definition differences, regional pronunciation differences, all that stuff. Favorite topic of mine.
 
morning glory said:
Increasingly we are taking on American terms and phrases.
Click to expand...

I first visited England in 1993. I most recently visited in 2015. When I was waiting at a tube station or train platform, I could sometimes overhear conversations; there is a very noticeable difference in the phrasing people use. This is particularly true for young people. The accents are the same, but the words are changing.

TastyReuben said:
Yep, I love regional word definition differences, regional pronunciation differences, all that stuff. Favorite topic of mine.
Click to expand...
When I lived in California, I called carbonated beverages "soda"; when I was in Maryland, I started calling it "Coke". And, now that I'm in Michigan, it's "pop". But, I use the Maryland terminology for athletic wear (sneakers) and how I pronounce ca-ra-mel.

I particularly enjoyed linguistics classes in college. The lesson there was that it's hard to call a terminology or pronunciation "wrong" (though my wife tells me that I'm wrong when I call athletic footwear "sneakers").
 
UK terminology added to @The Late Night Gourmet's original list (in blue)

What we call insects that glow at night
  • Fireflies
  • Lightning Bugs
We don't have them in the UK but I know them as Fireflies

What we call a sale of household items
  • Garage Sale
  • Yard Sale
  • Rummage Sale
This wasn't something we had here until maybe 20 or so years ago and even now not very common. But if we do its usually called a garage sale I think.

How we address a group of people
  • You Guys
  • Y'All
  • Youse
  • Everyone N.B. this is changing and depends on context. Wasn't sure of context. Do you mean as in someone in a group asking what people want to drink, for example?

What we call carbonated beverages
  • Pop
  • Soda
  • Coke
  • Fizzy drinks

Where we throw our trash
  • Garbage Can
  • Trash Can
  • Rubbish bin

What we haul freight in
  • Semi/Semitruck
  • Tractor Trailor
  • Eighteen-Wheeler
I don't even understand what you mean by hauling freight! Do you mean when you attach something to the back of a car?

What we drink from in public places
  • Drinking Fountain
  • Water Fountain
  • Drinking Fountain

What we call athletic footwear
  • Sneakers
  • Tennis Shoes
  • Trainers

How many syllables in "caramel"?
  • 2
  • 3
  • 3
 
morning glory said:
I don't even understand what you mean by hauling freight! Do you mean when you attach something to the back of a car?
Click to expand...
I think you'd refer to this as an articulated lorry.

I call carbonated soft drinks "pop" because I'm from Ohio. My wife calls them "soda" because of where she's from, but I ran into a girl outside Buffalo, NY who called everything like that "coke," so when she wanted an orange pop/soda (like a Fanta Orange), she'd say, "I'd like an orange coke."
 
Much the same here although trainers or runners for sneakers. Our trucks here are class 2, 4 or 5. Class 5 is truck and trailer or as we call them "b" trains. And we have glow worms, but they don't fly. To my knowledge??
I notice muricans don't use the u in words like colour or flavour. We grow coriander here but you call it cilantro.
I believe mandarin is the hardest language to learn, then English. I hate seeing the words there, their and they're
Bastardised! Just me though.

Russ
 

My usage of those words:

What we call insects that glow at night
  • Fireflies Usually.
  • Lightning Bugs. Rarely.

What we call a sale of household items
  • Garage Sale
  • Yard Sale
  • Rummage Sale
  • Tag Sale

How we address a group of people
  • You Guys
  • Y'All
  • Youse

What we call carbonated beverages
  • Pop
  • Soda
  • Coke

Where we throw our trash
  • Garbage Can
  • Trash Can
I'm pretty interchangeable on the above.

What we haul freight in
  • Semi/Semitruck
  • Tractor Trailor
  • Eighteen-Wheeler

What we drink from in public places
  • Drinking Fountain
  • Water Fountain
I know some people who call it a "bubbler".

What we call athletic footwear
  • Sneakers
  • Tennis Shoes

How many syllables in "caramel"?
  • 2
  • 3
(Carmel is the name of a town near where I used to live...)

  • A long sandwich

  • Sub
  • Hoagie
  • Po' Boy
  • Grinder

A water way smaller than a river

  • Creek
  • Stream
  • Coulee
  • Bayou
I thought a Bayou was a southern salty marsh, not an inland flowing body of water. For me, streams tend to be a bit bigger than creeks.
 
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