OK, fair is fair....Favorite Northern Expresions

[dolo amber]

When I lived in NYC, I never could get the hang of this one:

"Yeah, we went to his house, we STOOD there about an hour but he never showed up."

Stood, as past tense of "stay". :wtf:


Also, "yeah right" when agreeing with someone, only it's smushed together so it comes out "y'right"...


I'm sure there are loads I'm not aware of, I seem to remember books written about New England having a lot of colorful phrases. Anybody have any faves?

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

1. Wind Chill

A common northern expression. One that I could do without, frankly.

[bif]

5. Don't forget about the heat index

To make our summers more insuferable.

[Leftist78]

50. insuferable summer in MI!!!!???

give me a break. :eyes: you should head down to my neck of the woods :)

[demnan]

2. I'm just thinking of Fargo

Ya, sure you betcha

[grannylib]

24. This was used on a VH1 behind the music with Megadeth...I used to

live in the town where the bass player (Dave Elefsen) grew up, and went to the same church as his family. When they interviewed Fran, his mom, about her son in this band and she had just found out the name of the band, and she said: "I thought, 'Oh ya, sure, you betcha, here we go now!' "
I nearly died laughing; it was so stereotypical and sounded just like something out of Fargo!
(I hope I don't sound like that when I talk!)

[AlienGirl]

3. Unthaw!

When you take something out of the freezer, you're unthawing it for dinner.

Tucker

[bif]

4. Cold as the balls on a brass monkey.

Not sure if that's specifically northern though. Some Michigan ones I hate are: "Where is it at?" and "I was over by my parents house."(So why didn't you stop in?)

[dolo amber]

7. Oh, that reminds me

An old boss of mine who was originally from MA and is very religious said once "It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table"...I nearly fainted at first till he got to the "pool table" part. :D

[Jackpine Radical]

84. So let's go by da Schultzes.

That's a pure German construction that I always associated with Milwaukee.

[Fovea]

6. Nope past tense of To Stand.

I stand, I stood, I will stand. They were standing at the door for an hour. At least that is the sense of it in the Midwest.

One from my Missouri childhood I don't hear anymore is 'of a ' As in-- 'I like to walk down to the riverbank of an evening with the dog.'

[dolo amber]

9. Well, you'd think so

But I heard it a million times while I lived there, and trust me, it was being used as the past tense of "stay"...

[Jerseycoa]

28. "of an evening"

That is very old-fashioned, but was once in general use everywhere. I remember my great-aunts saying it in NY and I know older people in the South who still say it.

[bamademo]

8. I lived in Jersey for 2 years

Every one asked me if I wanted a "pop" instead of a Coke. Southerners
describe all sodas as Cokes.

[HEyHEY]

13. Canadian's call it Pop too

[bif]

19. Ever see the Pop vs soda Map?

http://www.popvssoda.com/

[Jerseycoa]

25. I live in Jersey

I don't hear anybody call it pop. I come from NYC, though, where it is definitely soda. New Jersey has subs and New York has heroes.

The one I wanted to post has to do with Western Pennsylvania where instead of saying "the house needs cleaning," they say, "the house needs cleaned." The lawn needs mowed. The car needs washed. And so forth.

[Cheswick2.0]

72. yes, thank you! Did they forget the words "to be"?

"it needs mended"..... YIKES

[madddog]

45. you need to go further north...

then soda becomes "tonic".

My favorite, though, is "grinder" instead of hoagie or sub...that and "frappe" for milkshake.

[name not needed]

80. you say pop in jersey and youll get your ass kicked

[MaineDem]

10. "wicked"

Like something is wicked good.

Because I've always lived in New England it's hard to know what are "colorful phrases" are what are just everyday talk. :)

[izzie]

36. I love wicked good and that map was wicked good.

n/t

[populistmom]

82. "Wicked" was something to get used to when I first came to NE

Now I say it too without thinking much about it.

[HEyHEY]

11. here's some

It's a shithouse in distress - a messy place
Skookum - More a BC thing than a Northern thing means "Nice"
when someone is trying your patience

mouyak! _ I heard CLiff CLaven use this once...what the hell does it mean?

Newfie expressions
I'm dropping - I'm tired
Dragged me off - I got picked up
What are you to? - What are you doing?

[HEyHEY]

14. Or ..."that's the shits"

[bicentennial_baby]

12. Wicked awesome hey!

OR if you're in a bad mood, that's a wicked pissah!

[Redneck Socialist]

76. Wicked Cool n/t

[HereSince1628]

15. I can't believe no one has suggested "dah Bears"

[maxanne]

16. you'll be sorry

you asked, dolo amber!!

I live in northern NH where we have all kinds of rural witticisms.

dooryard - usually means driveway/front of house area

stacked up like cordwood - a lot of people jammed into a small area

dark as the inside of a shirt pocket

sounds like a cow pissin on a flat rock (refers to heavy rain)

hard saying, not knowing (when asked a question no one could answer)

and one of my personal favorites:
Why he's so dumb, he couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the directions were printed on the heel.

:D

[dolo amber]

20. Heehee

I like "Dark as the inside of a shirt pocket." :D

[mac56]

17. "Take and..."

An additional instruction that doesn't mean anything.

"Take and loosen that bolt there."
"Take and go to the post office."
"Take and put that in the fridge."

Minnesotan by birth and lived there 45 years, yew betcha.

[BigDaddyLove]

18. "Yo Cuz......"

A favorite greeting for South Philadelphians.

[XNASA]

21. Jag-off, as in, "You F**KIN' JAG-OFF!!!!!!!!"

It's means the same as jerk-off, more or less.

[JitterbugPerfume]

22. my dad used to say

"To dumb to pound sand in a rat hole" and " so lazy lice falls off of him" called lazy peole "sorry" and no, I do not have any idea what the first two means !!!

[scarlet_owl]

23. Colder than a grave digger's ass.

That was one of my great-grandmother's personal favorites, along with "go piss up a well rope".

[northernsoul]

53. or, colder than a witch's tit in January

I spose I'm gonna get jumped on by the Wiccans for saying that now

[BurtWorm]

26. Numb as a hake

my all-time favorite Maine-ism.

PS: It means stupid as a netted fish.

[marzipanni]

27. Colder than a witch's tit.

Three dog night (it's cold enough that all the dogs want to get up on the bed and curl up next to your legs).
Put your nose to the grindstone (get to work, work hard)

[LisaM]

29. Eh?

How about "colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra?"

Also, "BEAUTY!" when someone score a really great goal.

Actually, any hockey term. I don't care if Carolina and Dallas have teams. It's not hockey down there.

Also, I never heard this in Michigan, but in Seattle, they refer to "black ice" (in Michigan it would be glare ice).

And of course, it's "pop".

[bluedeminredstate]

30. My Dad,

Mr.-New-Hampshire-Yankee, has many, but most I can't print here. One of my favorites is "Colder than a well-digger's ass" - not sure why a well-digger's ass is colder than the normal human's ass, but I like it anyway.
"She/he could scare a buzzard off a meat wagon" is used to describe someone who is exceptionally ugly.
"Numb as a haddock" is a good one; it's someone who stupid and just doesn't "get it."

[madddog]

54. it's...

colder than a well digger's ass in the Klondike"...that's how I heard it, and it would explain why that particular ass is colder than normal lol.

BTW, the southern version of the meat wagon one is..."it'll puke a dog off a gut wagon", which could denote something really foul smelling as well.

[Zolok]

31. I have no real Boston accent...

despite having lived here all my life.
That having been said, I do say "ay-yuh" as much as possible.
It's an inarticulate grunt of agreement.
:)

www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com

[GemMom]

59. Do you put .......

r's in funny places where they don't belong? Or pronounce it Hahvahd Yahd? :D

[MaineDem]

81. I do.

:D

My sister in Florida...a Maine gal...still laughs at how I say Daytoner instead of Daytona.

[XNASA]

32. "Flip me some cake" (Give me some money.)

Also

"You don't know sh*t from shinola."

[izzie]

33. So much for NE and the way they speak

It is really just great. Love local stuff like that.

[maxanne]

34. one of my dad's favorites

"deaf as a haddock" which he used quite often in reference to my grandmother.

Numb as a boot.
He's a few logs short of a cord (pronounced shot of a cod)

That's a real corker (pronounced cockah)

My daughter refers to our local rednecks as "Woodboogahs."

[maxanne]

35. one more

Another of my daughter's favorites:
"You ain't right." (meaning not right in the head)

[TrogL]

37. Dunno if these are Northern or not

but they've popped up fairly recently and I find I can't live without them.

• ...and you were expecting...what?
  
• Don't start!
  
• Now what?
  

[Snow]

38. "That's different" (eyebrows raised) - meaning that's really bad.

[northernsoul]

55. or, even worse - "Alotta guys woulda..."

As in "Alotta guys woulda not tried to take the radiator cap off while she's still runnin'. But, I guess you figured different, huh?"

We are the masters of painful understatement here in the upper Midwest.

[northernsoul]

56. referring to inanimate objects as "she"

"After I changed the air filter, she got up and runnin' pretty good. But I figure you might want to try and drive her into town and back just to be sure"

[TheMightyFavog]

39. Youse Guys and Excape...

Are youse guys goin out on the ice tonight?

It's a Wisconsin thing.


Hell, when we were first learning the basic verb forms in German 101 earlier this semester, we were taught that the ihr form's closest English equivalent was "Youse", as in "Youse guys".


Another regionalism that is common in Northeast Wisconsin (for some reason I find completley annoying), is that a lot of people around here pronounce the word "escape" "excape".

[madddog]

47. "youse" guys

*may* have started with the Irish in NY...brought over from a country where English was a second language...adding an "s" to you to make it plural is still fairly common in Ireland.

[Cheswick2.0]

73. yes that is why it is common here in NE Pa also

lots of Irish people. In the towns where they are dominate they also say "a couple two tree"... meaning "two or three". One local town Throop is pronounced troop. It seems like the Irish also do not pronounce /th/.

[cosmicdot]

40. what 'yous guys' doing?

[HereSince1628]

41. What IS scrapple?

[madddog]

48. various parts of the animal

ground up and formed into a square loaf...think ears, lips, esophagae, toenails, tail, etc.

About the best way to cook it is to slice it up thin and fry it quick.

I don't know whether they use beef or pork...there may be both kinds.

It's one step above souse loaf on the "what I wouldn't eat with a gun to my head" food chain lol.

[grannylib]

42. I never thought this was odd, but a friend from Oklahoma pointed it out to

me that, here in the upper midwest, we say "Are you going to/do you want to come with?" and the 'come with' part really threw her!
I never even stopped to think how odd that must sound but I have grown up saying that, instead of 'come along' or whatever other people say...

[MaineDem]

43. "come with" drives me insane!

:D

I keep waiting for another word, like "me". Do you want to come with...me? I only just heard this a few years ago and I can't get over it yet!

The phrase seems so, I don't know, unfinished. :D

[Cadfael]

70. I have never even given it a second thought!

You mean "go with" and "come with" aren't common expressions?? And I'm surprised no one mentioned "Go by" as in: "I'm gonna go by Tony's house" - the stopping is implied.

[Snow]

44. I always thought "stood" was Brooklyn dialect -

as in "I shoulda stood in bed!". I actually had a cabbie say that to me once while describing his awful day.

[dolo amber]

49. Thank You!!

I was beginning to think maybe I'd been hearing things since no one else had mentioned the "stood" thing. :D

[THUNDER HANDS]

46. well, out here on Lawn Guyland

We tend to string out our vowels.

Well, all except for me. I don't have an accent. Not even a NY one. :(

[kanrok]

51. Skeetch (or do you say "skitch"?)

to describe the act of holding onto the back bumper of a car after a fresh snow, and being pulled to your heart's content. Also, as a tip 'o the hat to my Cheesehead brothers and sisters (whom will be crying in their beers on Sunday night when the Beloved Bears kick the snot out of the Packers): "Ya, hey dere!"

[SiobhanClancy]

52. "So didn't I"...

"down cellar","dooryard","wicked cunnin'"(for cute)

[MaineDem]

60. "down cellar"

See, there's something I say without even realizing it. :D

Doesn't everyone say that? HeeHee

[SiobhanClancy]

62. I thought they did till I left home...

had NO idea what a basement was!:)

[maxanne]

57. I heard guys from N.Jersey

in a hotel I worked at (in NH - talk about cognitive dissonence:

Four of them had checked in. Three headed up the stairs to their room, and the other one headed for the bar. He turned, and realized they were leaving him, so he bellowed:

"Hey, youse guys! You tree guys, gedovaheeyah."

The desk clerk and I were snorting with laughter.

[Paragon]

58. Michiganders who use their right hands as maps

Resist the urge. You can be spotted and identified from miles away. ;-)

[DancingBear]

61. What?? No Boston driving expressions??

"Go up to the light and bang a left"

Never figured out why you don't "bang a right", though - but you don't.

[Guaranteed]

63. In Nor Cal the big word is "hella"

as in, "Dude, this Indica is hella sticky."

After growing up there I went to college down south, in So Cal- the southern Californians knew us northerners right away. They NEVER said "hella." It made us stick out so bad.

So, I expunged "hella" from my vocabularly rather quickly. Every time I go back home, though, it starts to come out again.....

On edit: Of course, I don't think northern California is what you really meant by "northern." :)

[ronnykmarshall]

66. One from the Southland

So. As in, "I sooooo thought he was serious!"

[bmbmd]

64. To all my Scandahoovian friends in Montana

"Hoofta" and "Hoofta Mas".
"Cold as hell, eh?"
"Better than a kick in the hind end with a frozen boot."

[welshTerrier2]

65. my friend from Maine

tells me that many from the quebecois community living in Maine use expressions like:

"you live long from here?" and "this puts me nervous" ...

[maxanne]

74. bwaahahahaha

along with, "throw the baby downstairs - his bottle." Or "throw the horse over the fence, some hay."

[MaineDem]

75. Throw me down the stairs my hat

That from the FrancoAmericans. I remember that from when I was a kid.

[SiobhanClancy]

77. Once on our way to Montreal...

from Maine,we stopped into a bar in some little town near Sherbrooke. They had a live band singing country music,and the first verse of the first song started out "They gonna put me in the movies,me":)
It was pretty funny at the time.

[CBHagman]

67. My mother was from the Bronx and used to say ...

..."I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that..."

I've never heard anyone else use this expression and don't know whether it's a generational thing or New Yorkese. She also used the expression "happy as a clam," though not "happy as a clam at high tide."

[Snow]

69. Yeah, I've heard that a lot from my family in Indiana -

the doughnuts thing. I don't remember which of my parents or grandparents used it though (scratching head). They were all either hoosiers of about three generations or chicagoans ditto.

[WWW]

68. Something that is universal here in cental Maine

Is calling lunch - dinnah, and dinner - suppa. If you get asked to dinnah, you always have to ask if it is at noon or at 5. Probably our most famous word is Ayah. (Meaning I agree, yes, I know what you are saying.) My favorite line is from my Grandmother, born in New Brunswick and then a Mainer for the rest of her life. "She's so contrary that if her butt itched, she'd scratch her nose."

[tinnyguy1777]

71. Refering to night time,

or to a very dark room-----"Its darker than a bag of Assholes"

[NightTrain]

78. Ayuh!

"So, have you lived in Maine your whole life?"
"Not yet."

[BigBen]

79. pasty

The official meat pie of Northern Michigan. Pronounced pah-sty, not pay-sty. Good stuff if you're into that type of thing.

[kayleybeth]

83. My favorite

is "P.S.D.S."... the way people from Boston pronounce "pierced ears".