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Is it "Crayons" or "Crayolas"?
"Bandage" or "Band-Aid"?
"Glass cleaner" or "Windex"?
"Tape" or "Scotch tape"?
"Marker", "Magic Marker" or "Sharpie"?
Q-tips or cotton swabs?
Xerox or copier?

Crayons
Band-Aid
Windex
Scotch Tape when refering to clear tape... tape or Masking/Duct/electrical tape when referring to them
Sharpie when referring to a marker that wont smudge or is permanent..marker when referring to other types of markers.
Q-tips
Xerox or (photo)copy...but always copier.

Crayons
Tennis Shoes (even though I don't play tennis, my friends say this too)
Ketchup
Soda
Backpack (rather than bookbag, but I've heard it before)
Kleenex (rather than tissue)
Pizza (or I've referred to the name of the place, like "let's get some Papa John's")

I'm from Wisconsin, and I go to school in Kansas City, MO. I get made fun of a lot for my Northerner accent. My friends here talk so fast! They of course say I talk really slow; that I'm deliberate with my vowels. For example, I completely pronouce "throat" whereas people from KC say it fast: "thrut."

Spelling question: I spell it "Theatre," not "Theater." Anyone else?
"RUBBERS": In the winter to go outside my dad wears these things called 'rubbers' over his tennis or work shoes. When we were little my brother and I would always crack up whenever Dad said "Gotta put my rubbers on."

Okay we still crack up.

One last question: Who knows what a "bubbler" is? Winner gets one (1) online smiley face from me. !

Well, born and raised in the UK by American parents... so the differences are endless, but I laughed so many times reading this thread. It seems like you have as many regional variations over there as we do over here

But here we go...

Sneakers = trainers
soda = lemonade
ATM = cashpoint
Elevator = lift
Mom = mum
Erb = Herb
Cotton swab = cotton bud
band aid = plaster
scotch tape = sellotape
Backpack = rucksack.

And the best one...

Aluminum = Aluminium. First time I said Aluminium to one of my cousins they really had no idea what I was talking about. Then it was like 'oh, you mean aloooominum, what soft drink cans are made of?'...

hehehe

Actually, on a serious note, when I was a kid learning to spell, I'd get my parents telling me one thing at home and my teachers telling me another at school... it was quite weird, figuring out who to believe....

starbug wrote: scotch tape = sellotape

First I have to say that makes the "spellotape" in Harry Potter funnier.

Actually, on a serious note, when I was a kid learning to spell, I'd get my parents telling me one thing at home and my teachers telling me another at school... it was quite weird, figuring out who to believe....

When in doubt, add a U.

Shoes and sneakers are the same thing to me. I know there's a difference, but I never bothered to figure out what it is, so I always say shoes.

Also, ketchup, pizza, atm/mac machine. I can't pronounce calculator correctly; I say "cackulator." I don't know why. I know I have an accent, but I don't know what it is. All salutations start with "yo." I pronounce roof with a long "oo" like "rewf." Erbs, not "herbs." Shoes you wear for tennis are tennis shoes, rubbers are...something else...and I've never called soda "pop" in my life.

And who's spelling my "Theater" wrong???

There are two kinds of people in this world, those who say Mis-oor-ee and those who say Mis-ur-uh. I usually use the former, unless I'm feeling cranky, in which case I use the latter with a thick drawl.

... Great thread idea! I can see this one going on for a hundred replies or so...

My brother, a former network engineer, refers to a computer as a "Very long, loudly shouted chain of profanities that I won't print in a polite forum". My best friend has shortened his computer's name to FRED. Hint: the RED stands for Ridiculous Electronic Device. Can you guess what the F stands for?

When it comes to British/American/English spellings, I just go with whatever sticks in my mind, as the dictionary usually lists both versions as correct.

Yeah, I've always thought grey seemed more, err, grey! Gray just seems too red!

I often confuse the greetings "How ya doin?" and "How's it going?" so they come out as "How ya goin?" and "How's it doin?"

Some others, at random:

• Kal-kya-later
  Ruhf
  Mom
  Uh-loom-uh-num
  Catch-up
  Athletic shoes or cross trainers for flat surfaces; shoes are dressy; hikers are all-purpose; boots are heavy-duty for work or bad weather.
  Peetza
  A-Tee-eM
  Erb
  Cussing or words that'd make a sailor blush
  Dumpster, though I use that term to describe something else as well
  Little League, or JUCO for the big kids
  El-a-vater
  Soda. If I'm ordering at a restuarant and don't know which kind they serve, I say "Coke" and they'll get Coke or Pepsi, depending.
  Marker, except for fancy art supplies, which are "felt tip pens"
  Scotch tape
  Duck tape rather than Duct tape, even though I know it's wrong.
  Windex
  Band-Aid
  Crayons
  Q-Tips
  Zeer-ox
  Rubbers protect against something, but it's got nothing to do with cloud cover!
  Throw-t
  Kleen-x
  Backpack

I'll guess that a "bubbler" is a "perk-uh-later".

Hey....watch those comments about Missouri pal.
But seriously Nost. you bring up an interesting point for those of us in the Show Me state. I (and everyone I know who is from Mo.) pronounces it MIZ-ZUR-EEE. Somehow people not from here pronounce it MIZ-ZUR-AH. Well actually that last (AH) sound sounds more like a 'schwa'. (That was always my favorite letter.) But I can't find the schwa on my keyboard. I know this is all fascinating to non-MO residents but it may save all of you some problems if you one day are in Mo. and get the chance to blend in with the locals. "Can I get a schwa for $500 Vanna?????"

candygirl wrote: When in doubt, add a U.

Hehe I actually do that...

And I just thought of another weird thing. Do you guys have regional variations for the word 'adult'?

is it ADult or adULT ??

I'm in the former category.

I'd also say Hoover for vacuum cleaner.

I'm the latter, adULT

And it is just vacuum for me.

starbug wrote:

And I just thought of another weird thing. Do you guys have regional variations for the word 'adult'?

is it ADult or adULT ??

I'm in the former category.

I'd also say Hoover for vacuum cleaner.

For some reason, I don't say vacuum. I say vacuum cleaner, as if that isn't redundant. As opposed to the vacuum shower?

I blame it on my mom because she says vacuum cleaner.



One of the few perks of being a Gen X-er.

Ok what about - (not really regional)

Aunt - Ant or Ont?
Vase - Vaaz or Vayse?

Ant and Vayse.

Apparently I am not cultured enough to say Ont and Vaaaaaahz.



I picture people like Thurston Howell the Third saying Vaaaaaaahz because a vase is something you stick flowers in while a Vaaaaaahhhzz is something in a museum.

candygirl wrote:Ant and Vayse.

Apparently I am not cultured enough to say Ont and Vaaaaaahz.



I picture people like Thurston Howell the Third saying Vaaaaaaahz.

hee hee

I know i'm the same as you. I always hate when people say it that way.

I don't know if it is a ghetto thing or not but its a HUGE pet peeve of mine. When someone says underwears and not underwear.

ie " My underwears have a big hole in them"

Also what about Sweater... does anyone here use that word to also mean Sweatshirts and not just a regular sweater? I know a few people who do but I don't.

I think in general, anytime people add an extraneous S to a word, it is annoying - underwears, anyways, etc.

I believe that is worthy of a completely new thread!