I don't think it's really that common. People know what it means, but hardly anyone says it
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Words you thought were worldwide, turns out they are local/slang
- Thread starter Pankratous
- Start date
Hella in the Bay Area. I know it's not like unheard of elsewhere but it's absolutely pervasive in SF and surrounding suburbs. One of my teachers used to say it a lot, and he was like 60.
SoCal used to say grippa instead of hella, but I live in LA now and I never hear it anymore.
SoCal used to say grippa instead of hella, but I live in LA now and I never hear it anymore.
I was about to post this one, had no idea how regional it was until I was called out when saying it
This is a thing in Seattle due to a historically large Scandinavian immigrant population. For us it's normally "Yah sure you betchya."
Where is "here"? I grew up in Washington state calling them jojos.
We also had hella up here in the 90s.
Here we call bar trivia "Quizzo". I heard they don't do that other places.
We also call sprinkles (like on ice cream or cupcakes) "jimmies". Wikipedia tells me they also do this in Boston so maybe it's more of an east coast thing than specific to one city.
We also call sprinkles (like on ice cream or cupcakes) "jimmies". Wikipedia tells me they also do this in Boston so maybe it's more of an east coast thing than specific to one city.
I grew up in New Mexico which might as well be a different country to the rest of the US. Where getting rolled means getting robbed, where "Don't get peepee hearted." will not make people look at you like you are crazy, and umbers is not in anyway a paint color.
In Dundee they're called "circles" - I've never seen roundabouts called that anywhere else in the UK.
Plenty from North East England I thought were universal as a child.
Examples:
Spelk = splinter (of wood, like in your finger).
Pet lip = pouting (if someone has their pet lip out they're protruding their lower lip, like you do when you're sulking).
Plodging/to plodge = when you walk along the beach with your bare feet submerged in the shallows of the sea. I'm not sure there's an actual official word for this.
Marra is what we call a friend, at least in Sunderland, but I was always aware this was local dialect.
Examples:
Spelk = splinter (of wood, like in your finger).
Pet lip = pouting (if someone has their pet lip out they're protruding their lower lip, like you do when you're sulking).
Plodging/to plodge = when you walk along the beach with your bare feet submerged in the shallows of the sea. I'm not sure there's an actual official word for this.
Marra is what we call a friend, at least in Sunderland, but I was always aware this was local dialect.
I think it's a universal Scottish rite of passage to use "outwith" with non-scots and get blank stares/confused emails in return.
Grew up saying "hella" in the Bay Area and even when chatting with friends either out of state or out of the country, it warms my heart knowing that they say "hella" as well 😌
"Gym shoes" is the least common term I still use. Most I think refer to them as sneakers or tennis shoes. There's like two big cities that call them gym shoes I think, maybe three.
This is it. I don't know what peoples' objection to it. It's hella useful
I only remember this from an elementary school context where we might change shoes for gym class. Outside of school, they were just called running shoes.
I didn't even know it was a Bay Area thing until just recently lol.
Not sure how far reaching, but growing up in Canada we always referred to dental anesthetic as freezing. They put in the freezing. My mouth is frozen. Recently discussing with some American friends I learned they never heard the term and they use numbing.
Some American colleagues also pointed out that the Canadians would say "for sure" as a phrase of agreement. "Can we get this done by the end of the week?" "For sure."
Some American colleagues also pointed out that the Canadians would say "for sure" as a phrase of agreement. "Can we get this done by the end of the week?" "For sure."
A woman in New York thought I was crazy and asking her to put a dress on my slice.
It's not local, it's the correct word. People who use Sub are just wrong
It's an age thing. We called everything a jawn in the early 90s
As someone who says thrice a lot; a lot of people don't know thrice.
Or that there's words past secondary.
I've always thought the word "sneaker" sounds incredibly nerdy. It's like nails on a chalkboard for me.
My cousin in England didn't know what a walk-in closet was. She thought it was a bathroom. My uncle was confused lol.
Not 'quite' the same, but there's a bunch of totally random Yiddish/Hebrew words my family throws about that I keep forgetting aren't just, like, normal English words everyone knows.
Mitzvah and chutzpah come out of my mouth a lot and I swear there's like five or six others that are so ingrained in me I can't single them out unless someone else notices.
Mitzvah and chutzpah come out of my mouth a lot and I swear there's like five or six others that are so ingrained in me I can't single them out unless someone else notices.
My coworker from England said to my other coworker here in the US that her house looked homely when she visited. Some confusion there on the use of the word among us but we thought she meant that her house look like shit, not a cozy place to live in which she meant.
From Birmingham, UK and we call car roundabouts 'islands' and forward rolls 'gambols'. And suburban alleyways are called 'gulleys'. I'm sure there are more.
Depends on where you are in the US. In the Midwest it's traditionally known as Pop, but on the west-coast it's known as Soda.
Oh I'm aware (not Pakistani, but I originate from South Asia), but I can't stress how common it is. Here's just one of countless examples.
I'm from west Michigan and I've deadass never heard this before. You might need to be even more specific on your region.
Buggie is a shopping cart
Gumband is a rubber band.
"Red up" is clean up, ready up
Example : go red up your room
Gumband is a rubber band.
"Red up" is clean up, ready up
Example : go red up your room
This is what I came to post . I moved to CT when I was in like third grade and just thought it was slang used everywhere. Everyone i know calls it a packy
Not quite the same but the phrase "Now in a minute", as in "I'll be there now in a minute", or "I'll do it now in a minute".
This is such a normal thing to say in Wales that I didn't realise it made no sense until I started using it around English people and they asked what the fuck I was talking about.
I didn't realise the English don't use cwtch either, meaning to cuddle. Super weird.
This is such a normal thing to say in Wales that I didn't realise it made no sense until I started using it around English people and they asked what the fuck I was talking about.
I didn't realise the English don't use cwtch either, meaning to cuddle. Super weird.
Whole bunch of Quebec French words or expression. They are so universally used in Quebec without the France (or other French countries) version ever used that are assumed to be the standard word. Example: magasinage (which means shopping), une brassée (a washing machine load), un char ( a car), blonde (girlfriend). There so many.
I've lived in NE OH my whole life. Everyone I've ever heard talk about a vacuum cleaner calls them sweepers.
To be fair, I don't know anything past tertiary, so I don't blame them haha
I thought it was specifically a northern cali/ bay area thing.