What does the way you speak say about where you’re from?

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

Rotaries are circles in DC (Logan Circle, DuPont Circle), and I grew up knowing them as roundabouts (not sure of the region that represents). (Rotary is a civic organization!) And AGDee is absolutely right -- roly polies -- that's them!

A rotary is definitely a traffic circle in New England. In most places, they're labeled as such.

Originally Posted by pinksequins

What part of the South, AGDee? I truly don't know anyone who calls a shopping cart a buggy. You are still correct on roly-poly! (So it must be the roundabout that planted me in the Southeast.)

Some of my PA friends call a shopping cart a buggy. I call it a carriage

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

I have a different question. Around here, we have something that is commonly called a "Michigan turn." I've always wondered about this name, because other places must have them, too. AGDee, have you heard this term? Instead of making a left turn, at busy intersections/boulevards, you often have to turn right, then come back around. I googled it, and found articles, images, etc.

I've never heard the term "Michigan turn," but we have a lot of these here in Houston, although, you're still permitted to take the left at the intersection. NJ virtually eliminates the ability to make a left turn at busy intersections and makes use of jughandles to turn in the desired direction. It takes some getting used to, but it's so smart and keeps traffic moving. Since moving to TX, I estimate that I spend at least twice as long sitting at traffic lights than I did in Jersey.

[pinksequins]

LOL! Spot-on on the "p" in Clemson! What I generally hear is an elision creating three syllables: "Cle-em-sun" or Cle-emp-sun". (My pronunciation is the former though I hear the latter a lot!)

Sigmagirl, that's why I think Providence/Worcester/Boston was the bright blue inverse! : )

I think the test pegged me when I had tractor-trailers full of crayfish at a yard sale!

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

Sigmagirl, that's why I think Providence/Worcester/Boston was the bright blue inverse! : )

I think the test pegged me when I had tractor-trailers full of crayfish at a yard sale!

Hey, I would have said the same thing, and I'm from the Providence/Worcester/Boston area.

Although, we would have said "Tractah-trailahs fullah crayfish at a yahd sale!"

[pinksequins]

The eve before Halloween has me intrigued. I never knew it merited its own name. (You could make up any shenanigans about what happens, and I'd believe it).

[pinksequins]

LOL! I guess I need help with the inverse maps. They showed the distinctive word for Providence/Worcester (my inverse) as being "tractor trailer", which I interpreted as not being the term used in P/W. Does it mean instead the word that we have in common?

[sigmagirl2000]

I said tractor trailer and I'm from Springfield/ Worcester/ Boston.

My mom said "sneakers" and that placed her in Yonkers.... (I don't know what else to call them either, I just didn't get that question)

My aunt said "Mischief Night" for the halloween one and that placed her in Newark/ Patterson or something like that. There doesn't seem to be a "Hartford" location as everyone I know from CT got Springfield.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

I've never heard the term "Michigan turn," but we have a lot of these here in Houston, although, you're still permitted to take the left at the intersection. NJ virtually eliminates the ability to make a left turn at busy intersections and makes use of jughandles to turn in the desired direction. It takes some getting used to, but it's so smart and keeps traffic moving. Since moving to TX, I estimate that I spend at least twice as long sitting at traffic lights than I did in Jersey.

We have A and B off/on highways, but not busy streets. I've never seen type B. These jughandles are different than the Michigan turns, which are just on busy boulevard streets, not highways. When those are in place, turning right and coming back around is the only way to turn left. They are very common here.

[pinksequins]

I encountered a Type A jughandle on Route 29 north bypass in Lynchburg, VA. It was a bit disconcerting at first, but it did facilitate traffic flow (versus backed up left-turn lanes). Before today, I don't think I would have had a name for the configuration and before travelling 29, I would have ticked the box "Never heard of such a concept". : )

[pinksequins]

Growing up we called those shoes "tennis shoes" (regardless of why you wore them). I thought it was a bit anachronistic, but maybe it's regional useage. (I've even heard some people call them 'tennies"). I've heard "sneakers" used well outside of Yonkers.

[AnchorAlumna]

I'm between Jackson MS and Montgomery AL...I've never lived in that area but have been in north Alabama most of my life. I think the older you are, the more your accent and word choice is reflected in your education and experiences.

[pinksequins]

I am a bit surprised that there wasn't a pancake/flapjack/johnnycake question.

[AGDee]

In the Detroit area, we call them "Michigan lefts"- so when giving directions, we say "Make a Michigan left" which means they have to pass the intersection, go around the boulevard, come back the other way and actually turn RIGHT on the street they want to be on. I've seen a few jughandles, especially of type C, but never had a name for them. I like them MUCH better than traffic circles which I can never figure out. I'm always afraid I'm going to get stuck in the inner circle and keep going around and around, like in European Vacation. You have to drive very aggressively to get in the proper lane in a traffic circle around here.

The people I know who say "buggy" are in Kentucky and Georgia. My SIL also uses "buggy" and she grew up in Texas but has also lived in Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas so I don't know where she picked up the term.

Halloween Eve has been Devil's Night since I was a young child- before Detroit arsonists started setting massive fires on that night. Kids would write with soap on windows, knock on doors and run away, or TP (rolling- as used in some parts of the country) the yard as pranks that night. Once people started setting fires in Detroit, all of that other stuff stopped in the 'burbs. My kids never even asked to go out for Devil's Night. It was never a "thing" for them.

They are tennis shoes here. I rarely hear them called anything else.

Garage sales are more common than yard sales here- if it is a yard sale, it's because they don't have a garage. Rummage sale is sometimes used, but not that often. Those trucks are semis in this part of the world. You'll sometimes hear 18 wheeler, but it's usually a semi.

I answered crayfish, but in reality, I think we'd just call them crabs. I don't think that was an option though.

We've always called the strip between the sidewalk and the road the "boulevard" but that wasn't an option on the survery. The section of grass in the road a "median" but I sometimes hear it referred to as boulevard also.

[pinksequins]

Well, I'm stumped. Since it wasn't attending the yard sale of tractor trailers of crayfish while wearing tennis shoes, and since I don't use a buggy, I wonder how the test pegged me (other than the term "ya'll"). Maybe it was that the yard sale was held on a service road (with that grassy strip betwen the sidewalk and curb that is nameless?)

[pinksequins]

I did a Google search for "buggy linguistics" and encountered a great set of dialect maps. "Buggy" is definitely a Southern term. You find that "shopping cart", "grocery cart" and "buggy" are all used in much of the Carolinas. That helps explain why some people are familiar with "buggy" while others of us call them carts (and I confess to actually calling them grocery carts, but only in grocery stores).

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by AGDee

We've always called the strip between the sidewalk and the road the "boulevard" but that wasn't an option on the survery. The section of grass in the road a "median" but I sometimes hear it referred to as boulevard also.

My interpretation has always been that a divided street with a strip of grass in the middle is a boulevard. The main street in my home town is this kind of road and it's named "_________ Blvd." We do call the grass in the middle the median. I have no word for the strip between the sidewalk and the road.

As far as "buggy" goes, that's an old-fashioned British style pram...a "baby buggy." Or, it's one of those old-fashioned little carriages, like in the musical Oklahoma.