Only A True American Can Match The Slang To The City

America is a collection of strange and unique microcosms forced together by geography and agreements made on long-yellowed parchment. Despite combining into a single country, every state and every city within that state is a place unto itself. Regionality plays into much of the American experience; how things work on the north end is different than it works on the south. Same with language. A saying that’s common in one place will be utter nonsense to someone else as little as a few miles away. In that way, English is comprised of the slang that develops in these regions. There is no one single version of the language that everyone speaks.

However, if one is going to travel through the States, one should get an idea of certain verbal tics that are out there. Of course, we can’t fit them all here for two reasons: first being that there’s too many of them. The other being how many of them use colorful language. You might be amazed how much slang uses synonyms for fecal matter; whether professing to be unable to notice a difference between it and shoe polish, or in reference to the unstable mental and emotional state of a rat living in an outhouse. Like how I tip-toed around this? I hope so. Should’ve gone to law school, I tell ya.

Question 1

“Lower 48”

No, this is not a reference to my math grades. The Lower 48 is a reference to the rest of the states of America (and does not include Hawaii). Given the “lower” part, you can correctly assume that the area where this slang originates from is in the northern-most states of America—up where you might as well call yourself Canadian. Personally, those types of places are too cold for me. I prefer beaches, sand and drinking mai-tais in the shade.

Question 2

"Dip"

To most people, you’d think dip was just something for chips. Turns out, there are plenty of uses for the word. To some of our southern readership, “dip” might be a reference to chewing tobacco. For some of our more adventurous readers, “DIP” is a reference to PCP. For our uses, and for one specific city in mid-western America, “dip,” means to leave. An example: “Hey Bobby, where’s Jim?” “He dipped before his parents got mad.”

Question 3

"Hoosier"

Someone from or living in the state of Indiana, or a country bumpkin, depending on who is using the word and how. This is an example of how to use “Hoosier” in a sentence when you are not from Indiana and don’t really understand this whole thing and are afraid of angering people by crafting something that will be offensive in some way.

Question 4

"Tonic"

Not related to Grampa Simpson’s Revitalizing Tonic, this is just slang for soda. It’s a slang still used today despite this no longer being the Old West. Perhaps there are a few places in this city where the Pepsi is next to the sarsaparilla in the fridge, and the nearby apothecary has spare leeches for sale. However, it might be worth it if the town doc is still as loose with his laudanum prescriptions. Anyway, yeah, over in these parts, soda is called tonic.

Question 5

“Wicked pissa”

This one is an easy one—not only in deriving out its meaning (“very good/fun”), but where it has originated. Between the Saturday Night Live bits that largely lampooned the accent and area this slang is attached to, there has been a large number of movies made in since 1997 taking place in this area. Personally, I think the accent is a bit much, but that could be because of the over-saturation of it in the media, especially (and strangely) from New York Italian Martin Scorsese.

Question 6

"ayuh"

This looks like a typo, doesn’t it? Like my cat walked across my keyboard. But no. This mumbling, guttural “ayuh,” is a slang term and not just a reactive utterance you make when someone pinches your behind. Ayuh is actual, factual American slang for “yes.” You can almost hear “yeah” in it. It’s often easily confused by outsiders as “air.” The English language is a funny thing. So are accents. The slang in this area, as well as the surrounding states, are very different, but the accents are virtually interchangeable.

Question 7

“Bless your heart”

Let’s head over to the other side of the Mason Dixon. Hospitality and manners are a big thing in the south. They want to make you feel welcome and comfortable. That paternalism also means there’s a high degree of condescension. Take “bless your heart” for instance. Sounds pleasant enough. You probably think it’s a kindly world, a way of saying thanks. And it is. But listen carefully to the tone of the person saying it and the situation you’re in because that person could also be telling you to (ahem) perform an anatomical impossibility.

Question 8

“You betcha”

Unlike “bless your heart,” there isn’t any passive aggressive secondary meaning to “you betcha.” It really is just a way of agreeing or confirming in the affirmative. Like “Hoosier,” this slang has become part of American consciousness thanks to its use by prominent politicians and media. It’s now just one of those things that are out in the ether, but “you betcha” does have a regional origin. Do you know where? I’m not being rhetorical. You have to answer the question.

Question 9

"Kybo"

Porta_Potty_by_David_Shankbone

Well, this is a new one on me. While “ayuh” might come across as audible diarrhea, you can at least, to a point, hear something for the root meaning in there. Do you know what “Kybo” means? Is there a word that you can kinda derive from it? If you answered yes to this, sorry to tell you, but you have apophenia this time. A kybo is a porta-potty. Yes, the bane of the existence of anyone who has ever gone to an outdoor concert or county fair. A kybo.

Question 10

"Jeet"

Jeet is slurry/efficient way to ask someone “Did you eat?” If you have ever had a mother or a grandmother and you’re from the east coast, this has been asked of you practically since birth. Many people believe “jeet” originally came from New York or Philadelphia. Unfortunately, it’s a case of right box wrong corner. The answer to this will surprise you. Unless you know the answer. Then it won’t. Sorry. But considering your diet, perhaps a big surprise isn't good for your heart.

Question 11

"Whiskey ditch"

Go to a bar in this part of the United States and ask for a whiskey ditch. Turns out, no, they won’t pour whiskey on you and leave you behind. Instead, they’ll serve you a whiskey and water. Not quite an appetizing nickname, but then again, adding water to whiskey is something that shouldn’t be done in the first place. I’m all for experimentation, but let’s not ruin a good thing while we have it.

Question 12

"Deadass"

Yeah, you know “deadass” is a way of underlining the truth or seriousness of something. Hell, because of the deadass memes that permeated the internet throughout late 2017 and early 2018, you probably know where “deadass” proliferated and where it’s still most commonly used. It’s also a great way of determining who you want to go out with if the word pops up in their dating profiles. At least then you’ll know what you’re getting into.

Question 13

"Banquette"

WWE Sidewalk Slam

Okay, well let’s try to work this one out. The word’s usually spelled banquet, but not here. The slang of “banquette” means sidewalk; to walk down the banquette to go to the bar, or to stumble out of the bar and fall on the banquette and hurt yourself. I suppose calling the sidewalk a banquette could be a reference to a banquet table, given that it is longer and wider dimensions. Or an embankment. But whatever. Some places use the term.

Question 14

"Bubbler"

Soda has a number of nomenclatures out there. In some places, it’s called pop. In another place, all sodas fall under the “coke” umbrella, and my niece and nephew simply call it “fizzy water” and give me a puzzled expression when I call it “soda.” Then again, they often give me a puzzled expression whenever I say anything. New York humor doesn’t work on everyone. Anyway, yeah, over in this mid-western flyover state, if you want a soda, you ask for a bubbler.

Question 15

"All Git-Out "

George Strait

This one’s going to take some explaining. “All git-out” is the greatest degree of something. That final episode of The Shield was as good as all git-out. The MCU humor is as tedious as all git-out. Chicago pizza is as overrated as all git-out. You get the idea. Anyway, yeah, this is another southern colloquialism from the same state where I once heard this: “She so fine, I’d walk two miles over broken glass to hear her fart through a walkie-talkie.” Love and romance are alive and well.

Question 16

"Yinz"

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania primanti

Yinz means “you guys.” “Yinz hear about that infection Johnny got?” I’ve heard this a lot in my travels. The “yinz” part I mean, not the infections. Well, not as often at least. Anyway, yeah. This city has some interesting slang terms and a restaurant that puts fries and coleslaw into your sandwiches. If you ask for any changes or substitutions, they’ll ask you politely but firmly to leave. I know this from experience. Like an infection. That I've definitely never head. Never. Definitely.

Question 17

Beach Slang (the band)

Beach Slang

Let’s take a break and talk about Beach Slang for a second. Their west coast indie-punk sound and chaotic melodies make for an exciting listening experience. James Alex’s treacly lyrics are driven by pure nostalgia that can’t help but make you smile. Their covers of “Wembley” and “Sometimes Always” are as good as the originals, while their own oeuvre contains great hard-hitting “Future Mixtape for the Art Kids” alongside the soft, innocent reverie of “Thirteen.” Both songs are incredibly different musically, but match thematically, and are immediately recognizable as coming from the same great band. We didn't specify which 'slang' we'd ask about!

Question 18

"Grabowski"

steel worker simpsons

A grabowski is a hardworking, blue-collar person. A Regular Joe. A lunch-bucket Pete. A ham-and-egger. An Asbestos Andy. The type of guy with rough hands; who wants an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. He probably drinks domestic beer (not that there’s anything wrong with that). He may or may not drive a sturdy, American truck. He might actually know how to put up a shelf, unlike you, you overeducated schmuck. Sure, you can’t fix a damn thing, but you can quote Shakespeare sonnets line and verse. Yep. Great life choices so far.

Question 19

Yuppie

Ahh, yuppies. The young urban professionals of the late 80s and into the 1990s. Patrick Bateman scrawled a lovely tribute to them on a wall toward the end of American Psycho. The yuppies were proto-hipsters (indeed many hipster’s parents were yuppies). They helped the economy boom in their heyday, and as that wound down, became the forebearers of modern fashion/terrible and political correctness that has invaded the minds of their children like earworms. Patrick Bateman was right.

Question 20

“Red, green, or Christmas?”

Red_and_Green_Chile_Cheese_Enchiladas

If you patronize a restaurant in this area, you’ll be asked this odd question: “Red, green, or Christmas?” In other words, “Do you want red or green chile or both with your meal?” It’s an adorable colloquialism that would confuse outsiders at first. But be forewarned: like Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh, if you decide you don’t want any chile with your meals here, don’t be surprised if they run you out of town. Damn yuppies.

Question 21

"Calling for Earl"

vomit-655x353

Do me a favor. Bear-down on your chest for a second and simulate throwing up. What sound do you make? Does it sound like a stressed “Earl” sound? Well, that’s what “Calling for Earl” means. Vomiting. And as someone with a great deal of experience in vomiting (take that as you will), yes, this is the most accurate slang out there. I’ve decided to befriend a person named Earl just so I can bother him with this from now until he punches my lights out.

Question 22

"Git 'Er Done"

larry-cable-guy-promo

Thanks to Larry the Cable Guy and the creative bankruptcy of anyone making jokes about the south, Git ‘Er Done is one of the most universally applied slang terms out there. You can literally ask a barista in Auvers-Sur-Oise if they’ve ever heard of it, and you’ll have well more than a 50-50 chance they’ll ash their cigarette and nod with that practiced French detachment. Yes, I saw Breathless too. Try watching something outside of the New Wave once in a while. Anyway, git ‘er done’s meaning is clear: let’s get it done. It’s just said through a cheap southern twang.

Question 23

"Doncha Know"

We’re giving this one away. Not only because the meaning of “Doncha Know” is pretty obvious, but because of how famous it has become in our cultural lexicon. My god, there is a movie that uses the term more than any other, as well as a recent spin-off show that does the same. We’ll spell it out even more: it’s a Coen brothers movie that takes place in a cold part of the United States. Anyway, despite its clear derivation and meaning, “Doncha Know” has simply become a verbal tic that no longer has any specific meaning in its region of origin.

Question 24

"Fixin to"

“Fixin’ to” means getting ready to do a task, as in: “I’m fixin’ to get to the store before it closes.” The slang is most famous for the 1899 Bukka White song “Fixin’ to Die Blues” which has been covered and reimagined by countless singers over the years. In researching this quiz, I was surprised by the origins or the regions where some of these slang terms are most often used. While I knew Fixin’ to was true South, I was surprised where in the south this was from.

Question 25

"Hitch in his Gitalong"

Yes, yet another Southern colloquialism. They really do have the best slang in the country. To have a hitch in your gitalong is to have a limp. How great is that? I mean, sure, I’ve written about country music before, so my friends already think I’m half-cowboy or something, but I really want to start adding some of these things to my daily lexicon just to troll them. They’ll probably have me committed eventually, but it’ll be worth it for the lulz.

Question 26

"No suh!"

You can almost hear Foghorn Leghorn or Yosemite Sam calling out “No suh!” (No, sir) in their usual blustering incredulity. But you know what the funny part is? The term isn’t even from the South or often used in the South; at least not to the extend that the city in question uses it, primarily in vehement denial, and often uttered very loudly. This makes total sense, of course, given the city in question.

Question 27

"Sit on the stoop."

stoop

To sit on the stoop is to sit on the front steps of your house (though usually an apartment). This slang isn’t quite as famous as many others. Sitting on the stoop is a term and an activity most used in residential areas in the city, rather than in rural settings, which is a little strange to me. Given that it were great for passing the time and used as much as an opportunity to talk to neighbors and passersby makes you think it’d be something down in the south rather than in a terse urban setting.

Question 28

"Swamp Cooler"

A swamp cooler is an evaporative air cooler. Never heard of one? Not a surprise. They’re only really useful in the particularly hot-dry areas of the United States; usually desert adjacent (hint hint). An evaporative air cooler is one that adds coolness to the air along with moisture in an attempt to, you know, turning into beef jerky, or drying out like a dream deferred or a raisin in the sun. Yes, I chose this slang just to could shoehorn in a Langston Hughes reference. I apologize for nothing.

Question 29

"Cattywampus"

Somehow, cattywampus is not the name of a summer camp. Sometimes presented as “caddywonkers” or “caddywonked,” it means that something is sideways or otherwise askew. Oddly, it may be derived from the nearly identical world cater-corner (which has its own slang as catty-cornered). All of them still mean askew, diagonal or sideways. It’s a weird little language. We still do it better than the Brits, despite them creating the language and whatnot. Also, football > soccer. Fight me on this.

Question 30

'Fit to be tied'

We’ve got another example of Southern slang. Now, I’ve heard this term thrown around a lot, despite it being Southern. It was usually from older people, so I assumed it was just a term that was popular at one time and was lost on further generations. If you’re fit to be tied, you’re extremely angry. And no, this has nothing to do with “tying one off.” Of course, if you’re fit to be tied and you tie one off, you won’t be so angry anymore, but you probably have a few other problems that should take precedence.

Question 31

“On her wedding day she was happier than a seagull with a French fry.”

Yeah, you guessed it; another southern colloquialism. This one is clear in its meaning, but I added it just as an example for the interesting point of reference and oddly flowery nature of Southern dialect. There is a language within a language in this country that appears as beautiful and arbitrary as anything in nature. In the South, the language is metaphor from lived experiences. It’s not scientific or precise; rather, it’s a feeling at a time or place.

Question 32

"The Shore"

If you come from this place, you don’t go to the beach; you go to the shore. It’s the same thing—salt water, sand, seagulls and a guy selling hot knishes, bottled water, and ice cream. But, you know, they just call it something different here. Did you know that in Ohio “cornholing” means something totally different than it does in the rest of the United States? It’s not quite the same thing, but it’s an interesting factoid just the same.

Question 33

'So don’t I!'

Leave it to an area with some of the best universities on planet Earth to popularize an idiom that is a grammatical abomination. This actually reminds me of my niece. She’s three and has an interesting command over the English language. If she doesn’t hear you, she’ll yell, “What you said?” When we play Hide and Seek, and I find her, she’ll say, “Don’t see me.” Instead of saying “One more thing,” before getting off the phone, she says, “One more last thing.” She rules.

Question 34

“Holler”

justified

No, this has nothing to do with Scott Steiner’s “Holla if ya hear me” catchphrase. Rather, if you watched the series Justified, you already know that a “Holler” is just another word for “valley” and was derived from the word “hollow.” Time and changing accents simply shifted it to “Holler” over the years. And if you watched Justified, you’d already know where the term Holler originated. But you didn’t, did you? Well, it was a great show, and I hope this is a lesson to you.

Question 35

“Just because a cat has her kittens in the oven don’t make them biscuits.”

This last one has a specific regional meaning. A more literal translation would be this: “Just because you were born here, doesn’t mean you’re really from here.” Relating back to the beginning, just because there's something in an oven, it doesn’t make it biscuits. Quite a violent choice of metaphor, but what can you do? We can't always make sense of the slang, actually, we MOSTLY can't make sense of the slang, but it is fascinating nonetheless. So what's this one?

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