Things you hate that you say
 

I've noticed that ever since I moved to Ohio, I end half my sentences in prepositions when speaking.. and it bugs the crap out of me.
of course I guess that's better than my previous Tennessee lingo.. "You done yur homework yet?" "Fixin to!"

What parts of your regional dialect do you despise?

split infinitives.

"to boldly go where no man has gone before"

all that.

Dialect
 

It's a love/hate thing for me. Regionalisms are cool in a purely anthropological way, but Southern talk has always irked me. Waiting "on" somebody rather than "for" them. One "mashes" an elevator button here. Then they torture place names: Albany is pronounced All-binny, etc.

But what I hate most is when people tell me to "Have a blessed day."

You could just respond with, "Yeah, I hope you get some nookie, too." How much more blessed can you be in one day?

God I miss nookie. Onanism is just not the same.

I'm from Pittsburgh, enough said.

I see where you're at. My father told me some British language expert says it's ok to use that "at" construction, but it sure sounds stupid to me.

Be careful.

The 80's in me still makes me sometimes say "totally." I totally hate when I do that.

Apparently, I acquire a strong Indian accent when I speak with my grandmother.

I probably have bad grammer too, but what I really hate is all the swear words that I say. I just can't seem to clean up my potty mouth. Luckily, my daughter hasn't picked up too much, and has only said a few, but it's still a bad habit.

heh, the other day we were playing outside and she said "it's frickin' hot out here!" At least it wasn't the real F word...I have no one to blame but myself. :o

Just don't start saying "N-that" or I'll start having to hate you.
Has taken me a while to get rid of "like" even with years of theatre and dialect training. It was more deeply ingrained than my southern dialect, which I allowed back for my daily speech.
I didn't say it a lot, but hated it and became very aware of it when my training started... so when I did say it, it was glaring for me.
I used to work on the phone, up to sixty calls a day sometimes (depending on what I was doing) and live in Central FL. Though I took calls from all over the nation, we got routed calls from our area first and I worked nights, so talked to the SE about 80% of the time. Got preached to much of the time... learned just to agree with them then tell them that it was something I was not supposed to talk about, it was best, trust me. Lord some of the stories I could tell.:3_eyes:

Something I don't do but a lot of people from this area do that I cannot STAND is pluralize everything, Wal-Mart is Wal-Marts or Wals-Mart, you go to K-Marts or the Olive Gardens... It really drives me nuts and I can't figure out why, nothing else about southern colloquialisms do, but that one really does.

I reckon...
I figger....
I aim to...
I'm studying on..
and in this area we don't say We're fixin' to. We say we're fittin' to. Chrise.

Fittin' ta' put on yer' britches?

I grew up in the Smoky Mountains of GA, lived and worked overseas with the British and am currently inhabiting FL. I have studied several foreign languages as well. As such, I have a mish mash of dialects and slang. When I am conversing with someone, I tend to take on their speaking habits and accent. The worst, however, is when I am talking to someone with a rural southern accent. My hillbilly roots just reach up and grab my voicebox, I swear. Ya'll, You'uns, git outa heah, ain't, and all my words seem to grow by 1 or 2 syllables, kin yew b'leve it? :eyebrow:

My kids think I say milk funny. Me-yilk is how they say it sounds. Pffftt...

I also play an online MMORPG, Everquest. The phrases used in the game have occasionally spilled over into real life which always gives us pause (are we overdoing the gaming thing!?).

Camp: To sit your character down and type /camp which will log you out of the game after 20 seconds. I've actually told my partner I was camping for the night as I was heading to bed.

Aggro: A creature sees you and attacks. My partner and I have used this phrase to describe getting upset with each other.


Stormie

I hate to hear myself change the -ng sound at the end of a word to just an -n, like "we're goin' runnin'"

I hate to hear others say "try and". You "try to", not "and".

I also pronounce water like "wooder" - it's a Philadelphia thing. Some people even say "wooda".

My all time hate what people say is in Cincinnati, they use "please" to mean "please" and "excuse me". I ordered water in a restaurant, pronouncing it "wooder". The waitress didn't understand, and said "please?". So of course I said "wooder, please?"

When someone tells me a party is going to be a 'hoot', I usually don't attend. Of course 'bash' isn't a great choice either.

I'm from the midwest but I spent two weeks on the east coast, and these were some of the things I noticed:

I say "flip flops" instead of "thongs".
I say "pop" and not "soda".
I stand "in line" not "on line".
I have to be somewhere "by" a certain time, not "for" a certain time.
I wear "tennis shoes" not "sneakers".
I say "shopping cart" instead of "basket" or, damn I can't remember the name now, but it reminded me of something that you would put a baby in. Edit: Oh! I think they called it a "carriage".
I also end most of my sentences with prepositions.

These aren't regionalisms but I hate it when I say the word picture, because I prononunce it like pitcher. And also, italian, because I prononunce it "eyetalian".

What! Flip flops and thongs are entirely different things!

You wear flip flops on your feet, and you wear a thong at your --

hey, could I see that again?

I think calling Philadelphia "Philly" is just too "Philly."

Most of the words I use in the privacy of my office are short and of Anglo-Saxon origin. Because of this it is very hard to remember to self-censor in other, more social settings.

I admit to ending sentences with prepositions, but sometimes I just lack the time to go through the grammatical gymnastics not to mess that up.

I am embarrassed that I sometimes actually use the phrase "You go girl." This is only moderately acceptable when I am using it to compliment a gay male coworker who is a complete flamer.

I usually type kinda like I talk. I speak in a weird amalgam of alabamian, marylandish, british (dont ask me why), and 'normal' english.

After spending a few years in the army (and in North Carolina- I mean, Nawth Carulawna) I've picked up "Y'all", "yer", and "git". I can't stand any of them.
I spent my first twenty years in Utah, and the last few years I lived there I was constantly being asked "so, where you from?" "Here." "No, before that." ?? I was almost denied a loan because my application said I was from Utah and they thought I had an accent. (the secretary at the door even went so far as to announce at my return, "the Canadian guy's here.") I moved to New Mexico and it was the same drill. Nobody's said anything since I've joined the military, though. Haven't ever quite figured that one out, although I know I pronounce my t's funny.

I say "actually" FAR too often. It's never necessary and I am trying hard to break the habit.

As a teen I used "literally" the same way, now I laugh out loud at people who do that. Literally.

I've also noticed "to be fair" and "I have to say" creeping up on me. I hate these pointless qualifying phrases! I despise them! Am going to watch what I say really carefully today. I bet there's others.

One thing I like is picking up new dialect words. Cob for a crusty bread roll, mardy for moody and pump for fart. I feel enriched :)

"younz" (spellings vary. . .) almost cost me my current job. Apparently as I left the first interview, I said "nice to meet younz". My bosses overlooked it, hired me, and STILL torment me constantly.

I also say "the thing of it is, is..." - How else would you make a point!?!?!?

I hate when someone says "anyways." I just want to smack them. It's like fingernails on a blackboard (remember those?) to me.

I know a very sweet man who botches words in such a funny way. Instead of Cirque du Soleil he called it Surf duh Souffle. Instead of incrimating yourself you incrimidate yourself. A big "to-do" is a big padoo.

"you know what I mean?" I say this too much, it bugs me.

I'm from the east coast.

I say "flip flops" instead of "thongs".
I say "soda" and not "pop".
I stand "in line" not "on line".
I have to be somewhere "by" a certain time, not "for" a certain time.
I wear "sneakers" not "tennis shoes".
I say "shopping cart" instead of "basket" or "carriage".

Actually (yeah, I say that too much, too), I hate when people put an extra syllable in a word. Acme is ac-me, not ac-a-me. And color is kullur, not keller. I also say "got" too much. Instead of "he has rythm" I say "he's got rythm".

That last one was memorialized in a Pennsylvania state marketing motto

"You've got a friend in Pennsylvania"

James Taylor is actually to blame, but a twist of phrase is what makes a good lyric awesome.

Worsh Your Hands
 

I'm guilty of saying "dude" a lot, and for nearly everything. As an expression of surprise or admiration "Dude!" and to address people both male and female "Hey dude." The Big Lebowski made me feel better about using it a lot, and I still do.

I've begun to say "whatever" way too much, but it just seems the right thing to say when I do.

Things I NEVER say that others do that bug me:

"Like" as an interjection every other word in casual speech. The overheard teenage girls' conversation can drive me nuts!

Ebonic uses like "Let me ax you a question." I've been in conferences with high-status people and the Black man or woman in power will use "ax" all the time. They were never told not to by their teachers, either because their teachers also used the word or they feared being labeled a racist. I work with a grown woman budget analyst who uses the term "End of the physical year." No one can correct her for fear of hurting her feelings. I actually use "physical year" when I discuss end of the fiscal year issues with her.

A co-worker says "Worshington" all the time. I just don't understand why, because he says everything else just fine.

dewd

here in Kansas, nuthin' is 10 feet long; it's 10 foot long... and don't get me started on that metric deal.

I had a nursing instructor who called condoms condones--as in "I don't condone your use of condoms."

Well damn. Are you sure you're not a midwesterner hidden in an east coasters body?

It depends on where in the East you are. There is an awful lot of East Coast ... and what goes in Philadelphia doesn't work in New England, or in Miami.

I start a large number of my sentences in conversations with "Yeah, no," as in, "Yeah, no I'm not sure where it is," or "Yeah, no you're totally right." It doesn't bother me, since in my mind it's usually because I'm agreeing with a negative, but it drives my father crazy and he nags me about it every time I see him.

Not much gets me out here... but the weirdest accents / linguistics I have ever heard were from two different guys from Fresno. I blame pollution.

I don't see the problem. Gershwin's got rhythm. He's also got music. There's honorable precedent.

Philaspeak often requres that one say "He/She/It goes" rather than "says."

I hate hearing that more than anything esle! "He goes" instead of "He said", and "He's like" instead of "He said". When I hear a person saying one of those phrases repeatedly, I want to have them write down what they're saying and listen to how stupid it sounds and looks when read.

My brother-in-law exchanges "says" and "goes". As in "he goes "oh yeah?" then says bam on the side of his head"

I think a lot of your examples were New Yorkisms, especially standing "on" line.

I've been thinking about little ways I say words and stuff, and I've found a few more I'm guilty of overusing (or just using period):

Watchoo = What [are] you
'zif = as if
Whater = what are [you] (optional version of Watchoo)
'ag = cool, sweet, awesome, you get the idea
don' = don't
jus' = just
(i think i have an aversion to t's)
all ya'll
"hey man" - I say this to people regardless of their sex.. oops
"buggy" - shopping cart
Also guilty of "he/she/it goes"
"ya know?" after a statement
I wait on people instead of for them
I stall the elevator instead of hold it
No one can audibly tell the difference when I say pen and pin.. they both sound like pin

and yes rkzenrage i change all my and's to " 'n" .... " 'n then what happened?"


People always tell me I have an accent, but they can never quite pinpoint exactly what it is since I've done my growning up in thirds in California, Tennessee, and now Ohio.. now it all has melted together in a sticky mess of lingo and slang and who the freak knows what else.

Alternate form of "whater":
Whaddaya as in "whaddaya doin'"

A coworker just asked me how to spell "stinch" She meant stench. I told her she was so Ohio! (I am too, but try not to show it!)

I use both. If someone is making me wait somewhat against my will, I'm waiting on them. If it's expected that they will arrive at a certain time, and they are not yet late, I am waiting for them.

Is it Pittsburgh where they say din't instead of didn't?

I've always interpreted "he said" as

"Now I'm going to repeat the words that he used"

and "he's like" as

"Now I'm going to do a whole body imitation of him at the moment that he said these words"

As a Brit in the US with young children, I use a shitload of phrases that "aren't me". But I'm a big fan of "adapt and survive" so it just makes me laugh when I hear myself saying "that was awesome, dude, give me a high five!".

I have yet to say:

Where is he at?
It's gotten cold.

but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I don't care. I love language. I see beauty, history and culture in the differences.

Hmm...I think so, sounds familiar. I am sitting here trying to say it in my head.

Dint is said widely in NE Pa. Please also note that in rural Pa, the word W-A-T-E-R may sound very much like W-O-O-D-E-R.

You havn't met my grandmother. My favorite parts of our language down here is "Grannyisms". "You've danced, now pay the fiddler." "He's lower than whale ****, and it lays on the bottom of the ocean", stuff like that. Not all are original, but she uses them in conversation, which I have never seen anyone do before. That is the true Nawth Cackalacki language.

I would have to say the worst things I do are as follows:
1)Use leetspeak in conversation. Example: That DM4 pwns my Spyder Rodeo.
2)Accidentally copy people's accents when speaking to them.
3)Avoid words that contain s's to keep from having to say them. My lisp is a b-word.

After several hours of talking to my cousin, I start to stutter also.

I say (whenever I can get away with it) "Know what I mean, Vern?" as in Jim Varney's "Ernest P. Worrell" ....talking to the never-seen Vern.

I love it though, don't hate it. But everyone asks me "Who is Vern?" so that is the part I hate. LOL

Know what I mean, Vern?

Yes, I do know what you mean, Vern. I do the same thing. :)

A friend here at work recently said "Exactamundo."

I asked her when she had turned into The Fonz.

She had no idea what I was talking about!:p

I do that too, especially if I know beforehand with what accent someone is speaking.