American English regional vocabulary
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Template:Short description Template:See also Template:For Template:Use mdy dates {{#invoke:Gallery|gallery}} Regional vocabulary within American English varies. Below is a list of lexical differences in vocabulary that are generally associated with a region. A term featured on a list may or may not be found throughout the region concerned, and may or may not be recognized by speakers outside that region. Some terms appear on more than one list.
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Regionalisms
Historically, a number of everyday words and expressions used to be characteristic of different dialect areas of the United States, especially the North, the Midland, and the South; many of these terms spread from their area of origin and came to be used throughout the nation. Today many people use these different words for the same object interchangeably, or to distinguish between variations of an object. Such traditional lexical variables include:Template:Listref
- faucet (North) and spigot (South)Template:Listref
- frying pan (North and South, but not Midland), spider (obsolete New England),<ref>Allen, Harold Byron, and Gary N. Underwood (eds). (1971) Readings in American Dialectology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.</ref> and skillet (Midland and South)
- gutter (Northeast, South, and West), eaves trough (West and Inland North), and rainspouting (Maryland and Pennsylvania)
- pit (North) and seed (elsewhere)
- teeter-totter (North; widespread),Template:Listref seesaw (South and Midland; now widespread), and dandle (Rhode Island)
- firefly (more Northern and Western) and lightning bug (widespread)
- pail (North, north Midland) and bucket (Midland and South; now widespread)
- sneakers (Northeast and fairly widespread), tennis shoes (widespread outside the Northeast) and gym shoes (Chicago and Cincinnati)
- soda (Northeast, Greater Milwaukee, Great St. Louis, California, and Florida), pop (Inland North, Upper Midwest, and Northwest), coke (South), and tonic (Eastern New England possibility) See also: Names for soft drinks in the United States
- you guys (widespread), y'all (Southern and South Midland), you'uns and yins (Western Pennsylvania), and yous or youse (New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Northeastern Pennsylvania)<ref name="Vaux"/>
However many differences still hold and mark boundaries between different dialect areas, as shown below. From 2000 to 2005, for instance, The Dialect Survey queried North American English speakers' usage of a variety of linguistic items, including vocabulary items that vary by region.<ref name="Vaux">Template:Cite book</ref> These include:
- generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage
- drink made with milk and ice cream
- long sandwich that contains cold cuts, lettuce, and so on
- rubber-soled shoes worn in physical education class, for athletic activities, etc.
Below are lists outlining regional vocabularies in the main dialect areas of the United States.
North
- brat or braht – bratwurstTemplate:Listref
- breezeway (widespread) ("skyway" in Minnesota) – a hallway connecting two buildingsTemplate:Listref
- clout (originally Chicago, now widespread) – political or social influenceTemplate:Listref
- davenport (widespread though uncommon) – a sofa, or couchTemplate:Listref
- euchre (throughout the North) – card game similar to spadesTemplate:Listref
- fridge (throughout North and West) – refrigeratorTemplate:Listref
- hotdish (esp. Minnesota) – a simple entree cooked in a single dish, related to casserole<ref>Mohr, Howard. (1987) How to Talk Minnesotan: A Visitor's Guide. New York: Penguin.</ref>
- paczki (in Polish settlement areas, esp. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin) – a jelly doughnutTemplate:Listref
- pop (North-Central and West) – a soft drink, carbonated sodaTemplate:Listref
- soda (all the Northeast and parts of Wisconsin) – soft drinkTemplate:Listref
- Troll (North-Central) – people who reside in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan
- Yooper (North-Central) – people who reside in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan<ref>Binder, David. (14 September 1995). "Upper Peninsula Journal: Yes, They're Yoopers, and Proud of it." New York Times, section A, page 16.</ref>
- ope – a form of alert or apology used when trying to get around someone or something; E.g. "Ope, let me squeeze right past ya". Ope is most often used in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Northeast
- brook (now widespread but especially common in the Northeast) – creek Template:Listref
- bubbler (esp. New England, Wisconsin and the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys) – a water fountainTemplate:Listref
- cellar – alternate term for basement<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- sneakers (throughout the U.S., though concentrated in the Northeast and parts of Florida) – generic rubber-soled athletic shoe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- soda – a sweet, carbonated soft drinkTemplate:Listref
- Mischief Night (or, rarer, Cabbage Night) – an annual night when, by custom, preteens and teenagers play pranks; usually, the night before HalloweenTemplate:Listref
New England
- grinder – submarine sandwichTemplate:Listref
- packie (package store) – a liquor storeTemplate:Listref
- rotary – traffic circleTemplate:Listref
- tag sale – garage saleTemplate:Listref
- wicked (all of Massachusetts) – very; an intensifier and adverb, as in wicked cold meaning very coldTemplate:Listref
Eastern New England
- bulkhead – cellar hatchwayTemplate:Listref
- cabinet (Rhode Island) – milk shakeTemplate:Listref
- frappe – milkshakeTemplate:Listref
- hosey – (rare, but esp. parts of Massachusetts & Maine) to stake a claim or choose sides, to claim ownership of something (sometimes, the front seat of a car)Template:Listref
- intervale – bottomland; mostly historicalTemplate:Listref
- jimmies – sprinkles (ice cream topping)Template:Listref see also Mid-Atlantic, below
- johnnycake (also Rhode Island jonnycake) – a type of cornmeal breadTemplate:Listref
- leaf peeper – a tourist who has come to see the area's vibrant autumn foliageTemplate:Listref
- necessary – outhouse, privyTemplate:Listref
- quahog – pronounced "koe-hog," it properly refers to a specific species of clam but is also applied to any clamTemplate:Listref
- tonic (eastern Massachusetts) – soft drinkTemplate:Listref
Northern New England
- ayuh – "yes" or affirmativeTemplate:Listref
- creemee – (Vermont) soft serve ice cream <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- dooryard – area around the main entry door of a house, specifically a farmhouse. Typically including the driveway and parking area proximal to the houseTemplate:Listref
- Italian (sandwich) – (Maine) submarine sandwichTemplate:Listref
- logan (also pokelogan) – a shallow, swampy lake or pond (from Algonquian)Template:Listref
- muckle – to grasp, hold-fast, or tear intoTemplate:Listref
- mud season – early spring <ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ZielinskiKeim2005">Template:Cite book</ref>
Mid-Atlantic
- breezeway – the space between two groups of rowhouses in the middle of a city blockTemplate:Listref
- down the shore – shore areas and beaches of Southern New Jersey<ref name="Philly" />
- hoagie – submarine sandwichTemplate:Listref
- jawn – pronoun used for any person, place, or thing<ref name="Philly">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source needed
- jimmies – sprinkles (ice cream topping)<ref name="Jimmies">Template:Cite web</ref> see also New England, above
- parlor – living roomTemplate:Listref
- pavement – sidewalkTemplate:Listref
- shoobie – A visitor to the beach (typically the South Jersey shore) for the day (as contrasted with an overnight visitor)Template:Listref
- water ice – Italian ice<ref name="Philly" />
- yo! – Hello; also used to grab someone's attention<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Better source needed
- youze – plural form of "you people"<ref name="youze">Template:Cite web</ref>
Greater New York City
- bodega – small corner grocery store, from the Spanish word for closetTemplate:Listref
- catty corner – on an angle to a cornerTemplate:Listref
- dungarees (older) – jeansTemplate:Listref
- egg cream – a mixture of cold milk, flavored syrup, and seltzerTemplate:Listref
- have a catch – play catchTemplate:Listref
- hero – submarine sandwichTemplate:Listref
- kill – a small river or strait, in the name of specific watercourses; e.g. Beaver Kill, Fresh Kills, Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill (from Dutch)Template:Listref
- on line – waiting or standing in a lineTemplate:Listref
- potsy – hopscotchTemplate:Listref
- punchball and stickball – street variants of baseball, suitable for smaller urban areas, in which a fist or stick substitutes for the bat and a "Spaldeen" is the ballTemplate:Listref
- scallion – spring onionTemplate:Listref
- stoop – a small porch or steps in front of a building, originally from Dutch<ref name="STOOP">Template:Cite web</ref>
Midland
- barn-burner (now widespread) – an exciting, often high-scoring game, esp. a basketball gameTemplate:Listref
- hoosier (esp. Indiana) – someone from Indiana; (outside of Indiana, esp. in the St. Louis, Missouri area) a person from a rural area, comparable to redneckTemplate:Listref
- mango – green bell pepper, sometimes also various chili peppersTemplate:Listref
- outer road – a frontage road or other service roadTemplate:Listref
A soft drink is generally known in the American Midland as pop, except for being soda around Greater St. Louis in Missouri and Illinois, and coke in central Indiana and central and western OklahomaTemplate:Listref
South
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- alligator pear – avocadoTemplate:Listref
- banquette (southern Louisiana) – sidewalk, foot-pathTemplate:Listref
- billfold (widespread, but infrequent Northeast, Pacific Northwest) – a man's walletTemplate:Listref
- cap (also Midlands) – sir (prob. from "captain")Template:Listref
- chill bumps (also Midlands) – goose bumpsTemplate:Listref
- chuck – toss or throw an objectTemplate:Listref (now somewhat widespread)
- coke – any brand of soft drinkTemplate:Listref
- commode (also Midlands) – bathroom; restroom; particularly the toilet itselfTemplate:Listref
- crocus sack (Atlantic), croker sack (Gulf) – burlap bagTemplate:Listref
- cut on/off – to turn on/offTemplate:Listref
- directly – in a minute; soon; presentlyTemplate:Listref
- dirty rice (esp. Louisiana) – Cajun rice dish consisting of rice, spices, and meatTemplate:Listref
- Don't get above your raisin' - regional colloquialism <ref name="A Way with Words">Template:Cite web</ref>
- fais-dodo (southern Louisiana) – a partyTemplate:Listref
- fix – to get ready, to be on the verge of doing, e.g. "I'm fixing to go"; (widespread but esp. South) to prepare foodTemplate:Listref
- house shoes – bedroom slippersTemplate:Listref
- lagniappe (Gulf, esp. Louisiana) – a little bit of something extraTemplate:Listref
- locker (esp. Louisiana) – closetTemplate:Listref
- make (age) (Gulf, esp. Louisiana) – have a birthday; "He's making 16 tomorrow."Template:Listref
- neutral ground (Louisiana, Mississippi) – median stripTemplate:Listref
- po' boy (scattered, but esp. South) – a long sandwich, typically made with fried oysters, clams, or shrimpTemplate:Listref
- put up – put away, put back in its placeTemplate:Listref
- yankee – northerner; also damn yankee, damned yankeeTemplate:Listref
- yonder (esp. rural) – over there, or a long distance away; also over yonder<ref>Wolfram, Walt, and Natalie Schilling-Estes. (2006) American English: dialects and variation second edition. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.</ref>
West
- barrow pit (var. of "borrow pit") - an excavated area where material has been dug for use as fill at another location<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- davenport (widespread) – couch or sofaTemplate:Listref
- hella or hecka (esp. San Francisco Bay Area) – "very" or "a lot of"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- pop (widespread in West and North); soda (predominates in California, Arizona, southern Nevada);Template:Listref coke (in parts of New Mexico and Tucson, Arizona)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> – sweetened carbonated beverage
- snowmachine (Alaska) – a motor vehicle for travel over snow. Outside Alaska known as a snowmobile<ref name="OED2">Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.</ref>
Pacific Northwest
- skid road or skid row – a path made of logs or timbers along which logs are pulled; (widespread) a run-down, impoverished urban areaTemplate:Listref<ref name="OED2"/>
See also
- American and British English differences section Vocabulary
- General American
- List of dialects of the English language
- Names for soft drinks in the United States
- Sociolinguistics