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[TopManFL (imported)]

The trouble is, whenever I m not in The South, people don t understand Southern ways. I ask if a restaurant has grits on the menu ? The waitress says " I don t even know what that is, but its sounds horrible ! "

I've lived where you have to specify when ordering iced tea if you want "sweet" or "unsweet". And I've lived where they've never heard of grits.

Now, for the argument over whether Texas, Tennessee or Carolina BBQ is best.

[cutnbulls2ox (imported)]

How about how people call sweet carbonated flavors " soda" or " pop " or " coke" in different parts of the country ? What flavor of soda, pop, or coke do you want to choose ? I love regional and language differences. They make for good humor, jokes, and more variety and interest in life.

I usually stay away from BBQ because most are too sweet and, to me, meat wasn t meant to be sweetened lol. But I do get endless laughs out of the intentionally super redneck names on many BBQ restaurants that make me laugh out loud driving past and seeing the names and funny pig signs on some places.

[Arab Nights (imported)]

I worked for a couple of months way back when out of Altus, OK and joking about getting wild and crazy and driving to Olustee for an orange soda (pronounced sodeeeee) pop. Not quite as wild as the kinky blonde waitress at the members-only social club (AKA bar in non-Baptist states), but not bad for OK.

[CircItaly (imported)]

I'm downloading my favorites Tumblrs on my desktop, can you all suggest me some valuable blog to download before it would be too late?

[gandalf (imported)]

The trouble is, whenever I m not in The South, people don t understand Southern ways. I ask if a restaurant has grits on the menu ? The waitress says " I don t even know what that is, but its sounds horrible ! "

Next time ask if they have corn meal mush. Just change the grits to yellow corn meal and cook like you would oatmeal. Ate a lot of both growing up.

[TopManFL (imported)]

I love regional and language differences. They make for good humor, jokes, and more variety and interest in life.

References to the Interstate Highway System:

Northern California = You just take "280" to "80" from San Francisco to Sacramento.

Southern California = OK, take "the 10" to "the 210" to get from Palm Springs to Pasadena.

East Coast = Get on "I-95" to "I-75" to get from Miami to Sarasota.

The South (as in Tennesee) = You'll need to go "Interstate 65" to "Interstate 64" to get to from Nashville to Louisville.

North East (as in New York / New Jersey) = You take "the 95", get "awe-ff" on exit 78. Make a right at the stop light. Go 1, 2 3 Dunk'n Donuts and make a left. After a few blocks there will be a blind man on the corner selling flowers, make a right (Don't worry! He's "Aowlways There") make a U turn. We're on the corner - you can't miss it. Good luck finding parking.

The Midwest = Take "I-40" to the exit marked "Middle of Nowhere", at the stop sign at the end of the exit, make a left. Now, there's gonna be a lot of cornfields, after about 5 miles look for a little red barn with an old Morton's Salt ad faded on it's north side - get ready to turn. After three dirt roads and make a right. You should be in the middle of two fields, one planted with corn and the other with a cover crop. Now, you go about six miles and you'll see a green pump shed, swing in there and there's a locked gate. Don't worry the dogs will bark and I'll know you're here. I'll open the gate for you with the clicker. You can't run over the dogs, they'll move out of the way. Look for the blue metal building marked "Ed's Tractor and Travel Agency", you'll be here. Don't get out of the car until I bring the dogs in.

North Dakota = "I'll pick you up at the airport, you'll never find it - it all just looks like snow in the movie 'Fargo'."

---

East Coast = A "tuna fish" sandwich

West Coast = A "tuna" sandwich

East Coast = "Expressway"

West Coast = "Freeway"

North East = "Parkway"

[JesusA (imported)]

Language differences are always great fun to play with. Before radio and television leveled so much of American English, there were linguists who claimed that from only a few words and their pronunciation they could place most Americans with 50 miles of where they grew up. For New Yorkers, within two blocks. Across “The Pond” there are even greater differences. A couple of my favorite quotations:

The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.

–––attributed to George Bernard Shaw (but nowhere in any of his published works)

We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.

–––Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost (1887)

[Brycenosak (imported)]

Even in a tiny country like New Zealand, we have detectable accents. The native Southlanders roll their RRRs . They go to worrrk. Then there the local pronunciation of maori place names. The Ngaruaroro river is the nar roarer, or the other side of the hill, the narr ra row. Then there is the correct way. Also maori versions of modern names, moataka is a motor car, or waka (canoe). The Maori were a stone age people, no written language, fired pottery or metal. It was the missionaries that interpreted to english. With so many dialects it can be very confusing

[madnomadtoo (imported)]

Language differences are always great fun to play with. Before radio and television leveled so much of American English, there were linguists who claimed that from only a few words and their pronunciation they could place most Americans with 50 miles of where they grew up. For New Yorkers, within two blocks. Across “The Pond” there are even greater differences.

You just described the premise of Shaw's Pygmalion, as in My Fair Lady.

"Why can't a woman be more like a man?

Men are so honest, so thoroughly square;

Eternally noble, historically fair;

Who, when you win, will always give your back a pat.

Why can't a woman be like that?"

Now imagine if Shaw had been a eunuch. Which sex would the song praise?

[Paolo]

Just as long as you don't talk sex (or bread) on Tumblr.