The Wide, Wide World Of Slang

[Alexis Machine]

CyberCathy, my dad is from Alabama and my grandfather from south Carolina, and they both use the phrase "fixin' to". i think it's cute.

ownlife, I live in central Virginia. The ABC store closest to me is so full it looks like an alcoholics wet dream. There's usually 3-4 people behind the counter (no wandering around freely here), and everyone knows they're packing heat.

[dwanollah]

CyberCathy said:

Yes, we in various parts of Wisconsin will refer to an ATM as a TYME Machine. It's not as common as it used to be, but a lot of native Wisconsinites will still use it.

For the record, TYME = Take Your Money Everywhere.

I just spent a year in M'waukee, and never heard that (but I DID hear "bubbler...)! Although when I was in Philly, they were MAC machines.

"ATM Machine" drives me batshit crazy.

[queequeg]

Bottle shops is a weird one: I've heard it in London and in Canada but I've been told it's Australian slang?

Yeah, bottle shops are Australian. I'm from near London and I've never heard anyone use it. Off-licence seems to be the most common term here but, to be honest, I just get all my alcohol from the supermarket anyway. ;D

[underjoyed]

to be honest, I just get all my alcohol from the supermarket anyway. ;D

See, that was such a novelty to me on my forays down to the US when I was growing up in Vancouver. You could buy beer at a convenience store. Imagine!

Of course, back home we were legally allowed to consume it several years before our American neighbours but still...beer in a convenience store. In a supermarket. Gosh.

When I was living in Scotland, the sales of alcohol in supermarkets meant that on Sundays until noon the alcohol aisle was kind of roped off, since Scottish law prohibits the sale of alcohol on a Sunday before noon. By the time noon rolled around, there was usually a little queue (line) of people beginning to form.

I've never heard the term "bottle shops" in Canada, though. At least not out West.

[outlier]

spider said:

Bottle shops is a weird one: I've heard it in London and in Canada but I've been told it's Australian slang?

Sure is. Actually sometime ago I compiled a list of slang from my home state of Queensland (north-eastern Australia for you durn foreigners). Some choice samples:

pissed: Can be used in the American ("angry"), English ("drunk"), anatomical ("urinated"), metereological ("rained a lot") or movement ("ran away") sense. As in: "Davo was so pissed that it was pissing down, he got pissed and pissed himself so we pissed off." As is often the case in Australian speech, context is everything.

rooted: Irrevocably broken. As in: "Your hard disk is rooted mate. Need to get a new one." "Root" also means "to have sex".

hole in the wall: A cash machine or automated teller. I could make some comment about how this reflects a cargo-cult mentality towards banks and money. But I won't.

scallop: A battered potato cake ("potato scallop") such as you'd buy in a fish and chip shop. Also - confusingly - the battered fish (Patinopecten sp.), also as you'd buy in a fish and chip shop. Queenslanders use the same word to refer to both, instinctively recognising from context which meaning is the intended one. For example: "I'd like 4 dollars worth of chips and a couple of scallops." "OK. Anything else?" "Ah ... throw in a few scallops as well." "Coming right up." This turns out to be a similar usage from the North of England.

[CyberCathy]

Dwanollah said:

"ATM Machine" drives me batshit crazy.

Because it's redundant, or you would rather they be called something else?

[Shanmac]

don't you love it when Texans need you to repeat something that they didn't hear/understand and instead of saying "What?" or "Could you repeat that?" they say "Do what?"

To which I at first replied, "Do what, what?"That confused the hell out of me when I was in Texas a few years ago. And since most people had a hard time understanding me anyway (when they weren't mocking my Chicago accent), I heard it a lot. Another thing that threw me was their use of "coke" to apply to any kind of soda. I was in a Subway restaurant and I ordered a Coke with my meal, prompting the clerk to ask, "What kind?" Me: Blank stare, wondering how I left any room for error there. It's funny how quickly you get used to regional dialects though. On my last day there, as we were about to leave for the airport, I turned to my friend and said, "Y'all ready?"

[CyberCathy]

I've been here for seven months and I could probably go on at least that long with how many differences in slang there are! I knew it existed, but it is truly amazing how much of a cultural difference two parts of the country can have when you experience it first-hand.

PS Shanmac, you think they mock you for your Chicago accent? One native asked me if I was from Canada! He then proceeded to tell me Wisconsin and Canada are "same difference." Um, no, butt munch, but thanks for playing.

[InchoateDetails]

don't you love it when Texans need you to repeat something that they didn't hear/understand and instead of saying "What?" or "Could you repeat that?" they say "Do what?"

.

When I lived in Brooklyn NY people used to say "What happened?" everytime they wanted me to repeat what I said. It annoyed the crap out of me! I love how confused my Mom gets everytime she hears "Keep it tight". The first time I jokingly said it to her she said, "keep what tight?"

[dwanollah]

CyberCathy said:

Because it's redundant, or you would rather they be called something else?

Automated Teller Machine Machine. I'd like to stamp out and abolish redundancy.