<p>in midwest, short “e” sounds are pronounced as short “i’s” for some reason. The number “10” sounds like tin. I will never forget one of my first days at school when someone asked if they could borrow a “pin”. I responded I did not have a pin and was met with a confused look and then him pointing and saying I had one right there on my desk. " OH, you mean you want to borrow a pen."</p>
<p>There are definitely regional differences between areas of the New England states - such as Massachusetts and Connecticut. In eastern Massachusetts (Boston/Worcester) and western Mass (Springfield - west), the accent is totally different. Even Rhode Island has a slightly different accent than eastern Mass. The Connecticut accent is more like Western Massachusetts but there are other differences. In western Mass, there is a phrase for the little strip of land with grass between the street and the sidewalk - a ‘tree belt’. Ten miles down the road in northern Connecticut, people have never heard the term.</p>
<p>In the NE and sometimes down to NYC, tomato sauce can be called “gravy.” My two favorite things are that I find people so much more friendly in the Northeast than that ornery reputation, so willing to chat. </p>
<p>And, the biggie: what happens in spring. The minute it’s warmer (we could be talking still in the 60’s,) the tops come down on cars, people are out sleeveless or barefoot or in shorts, you smell the grills. I love it. Of course, the next day you could smell their fireplaces.</p>
<p>Gravy for tomato sauce is strictly an Italian thing, in my experience. In fact, I think it may be only Sicilian. This is probably because the word “ragu” translates to “gravy.”</p>
<p>Michiganders definitely have an accent. For one thing, they completely fail to distinguish vowel sounds, falling back on that universal midwestern vowel sound that I don’t even know how to describe. Basically, “hairy” and “Larry” and “merry” are pronounced the same way. (I use the merry, marry, Mary test.)</p>
<p>Born and bred and raised in CT. It is grocery cart, not carriage. Never heard of a “tree belt.”</p>
<p>Don’t forget up here, where folks like to escape in winter is “Florider.”</p>
<p>A MN friend of mine used to say upper midwest folks were very sensitive to whether outsiders said Wis-con-sin or Wisc-on-sin. </p>
<p>Another difference between CA and the cold climates is potholes.</p>
<p>To learn one’s way around town, be aware that the town has a name, but people often give directions based on smaller sub-units of the town, called villages. A town includes many villages. </p>
<p>People don’t refer much to their county, which is a circle around a half-dozen or so towns. County is the weakest level of government in New England. In California, everyone knows their County. </p>
<p>There’s also an interesting pattern to naming New England villages. A town might be named, for example, Hillsboro. Within that town might be 4 or 5 villages, confusingly named Upper Hillsboro, Hillsboro Center, East Hillsboro and South Hillsboro. The one called “Upper” is likely the oldest area settled from post-colonial times so might just be referred to as “Hillsboro” without the word “Upper.” The one called “Center” is often from the mid or late l8th century, the most populated, lower land, on the river, has the mill from the Industrial Revolution times. The other two villages might be no more than a rural crossroads with 8 houses but has its own pride of place. It can be confusing! GPS will help; but when referring to roadsigns, keep aware if your destination is “Upper Hillsboro” vs. “East Hillsboro” etc. These villages might be just 7 miles from each other, but they’re not the same place. And they all lie within the Town of Hillsboro. So good luck.</p>
<p>Watch out for directions that sound like this, “Turn left where the tavern used to be.”</p>
<p>^ not helped by the fact that several towns or villages can have unrelated streets with the same name- as you cross from one little burb to the next, the road you’re on might change names and a block or two over, the “other” so-and-so street starts. </p>
<p>And, what you might call South Hillsboro, some other guy will call by some other name entirely. Charming, once you get the hang of it. </p>
<p>When I first moved here, I had that same “where X used to be” experience. You slip into the same so easily.</p>
<p>We also still have community bean suppers and May breakfasts at many churches.</p>
<p>This is awesome. I haven’t gone out of state for school, but I did go upstate (I’m from New York). That’s something people should know- 1) New York isn’t just the city and 2) Upstate is defined by where you’re from in New York. If you’re from the city, Westchester or Long Island, anything north of there is upstate. If you’re from else where, that definition changes and I’ve had people get upset when I’ve called Binghamton (where I go to school) upstate. I’m sorry but it is four and a half hours northwest of my house. That’s upstate XD. And I take no offense to being called a downstater, even though I only hear that from people upstate.</p>
<p>I’m from Long Island (aka Lawn Guyland- the LI accent is notoriously mocked by everyone not from LI or the city. Rs are often dropped (like a Boston accent) but only at the end, but the dominating feature is the “aw” sound. Cawfee, not coffee. Dawg, not dog. Wawk, not walk. Say the phrase “I walked the dog, went to the mall, and got a coffee from the girl.” If you know someone with a strong Long Island accent it may sound like “I wawked the dawg, went to the mawl, and gawt a cawfee from the goil.”) Also, another thing about Long Island, and this makes me upset when I hear people not from the area saying it, Long Islanders are not all wealthy and from the Hamptons. I’m from a middle class town on the south shore (along the Atlantic Ocean, not the Long Island Sound) which is very different than a rich area on the north shore or the Hamptons. </p>
<p>One hilarious difference in accent between up and downstate seems to be the pronunciation of a brand of milk chocolate peanut butter cups. I call them Reese’s (REESes) but my upstate friends have said it REEsIES, as though there’s an I in the name. I find this funny because if you say the name with out the possessive, its Reese. REES. No I at all. </p>
<p>Man, this is fun. I like this thread.</p>
<p>Does your student drive? If so, keep these things in the car trunk always: long-handled snowbrush, ice scraper for the front windshield. Buy a strong ice scraper so it doesn’t snap in the line of duty.</p>
<p>What you might not think of, but helped me out of so many situations: an old heavy woolen blanket or bedspread, to lay under a tire when it’s spinning in deep snow. It’ll give you traction to get out of a parked space if it snowed around the car since you parked! Automobile shops also sell tire traction devices for same purpose, that look like plastic ladders around 10" x 24". Some keep a bucket of sand in their trunk always, to sprinkle for traction; just make sure it’s tightly sealed. Smartest people keep a long-handled shovel in their trunk to dig their car out of “situations.”</p>
<p>I also keep an aluminum blanket (folds up the size of a wallet) in the glove compartment, in case I get stranded where it’s cold. I haven’t used it in 40 years, but I wouldn;'t be without it :)</p>
<p>Keep gasoline in the car and don’t play brinksmanship with that. I’d aim for a quarter tank full at all times. Sometimes you want or need to go out late at night. You can’t assume gas stations will be open in a small town.</p>
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<p>Hillsboro may alternatively be known as Hillsborough; both are correct.</p>
<p>If you’re talking UVM, there isn’t much to learn because Burlington is nice, small city. The kids I know there love it. I would make sure your kid has a passport because Montreal is very close and is a great place to visit. </p>
<p>Vermont tradition distinguishes Vermonters from flat landers. Not a factor in schools and not in Burlington generally. Vermont is quintessentially Yankee but is also liberal or progressive in the old Yankee way in which the community is a society. That attitude matters.</p>
<p>re Wisconsin. In Milwaukee they drink soda, in Madison they drink pop- at least in my day. We had the “what do you call it” conversation in the dorm freshman year circa 1971 and I knew the WI terms from where I and parents were from. A transfer student said they called it soda pop in St Louis. There used to be bubblers at the zoo where the water literally bubbled up from a hole in the center of the fountain.</p>
<p>Wisconsinites do NOT sound like they do in “Fargo”! </p>
<p>Learn to pronounce the state and other place names the way the locals do- it will be noticed. You can tell who has done their homework on the Weather Channel. There was an ad on TV featuring the Packers coach- he managed to say Green Bay wrong- it’s two words, therefore with equal emphasis on each, not one word with the emphasis on “bay”.</p>
<p>Learn the local geography as well. Freshman year at UW-Madison I told people I was from Monona (a Madison suburb and the name of the second largest lake in the city- the state capitol sits on an isthmus bordered by it and the lake the campus is next to, that capitol one mile away can be seen from campus due to hills) and was shocked to hear some people think I was saying Winona, Minnesota- I learned where that place was.This was long before reciprocity and many OOS students from MN.</p>
<p>The WI maple syrup will also be in low supply this year due to warm spring weather in WI.</p>
<p>“Up north” is relative to where you live. I used to consider it much further south in the state than I now do.</p>
<p>Decades ago I had an elderly patient in Indiana named Smith who said he was from the “old country”. He didn’t have a British accent so I asked where he was from specifically- he said Virginia! In Wisconsin the old country would have meant someplace in Europe or another foreign land. I had to think of my American history and the westward migration.</p>
<p>My Madison friends said “soda”! And our nanny totally sounds Fargo-- she’s from a super small town in central WI.</p>
<p>I grew up southeastern Mass., by the RI border, and my mom sat me in the carriage when she shopped for groceries (and if I was good, I got an ice cream cone with jimmies afterwards). The term “carriage” still slips out of me sometimes–I get some odd looks.</p>
<p>I feel we have neglected another critical culinary distinction. In southeastern Mass.(and maybe other parts of New England), a milk shake has no ice cream. It’s just milk and syrup frothed up in the machine. If you want ice cream, you’re looking for a frappe or a cabinet. If you want it with coffee flavored syrup, a New England specialty, you ask for a “coffee cab”. Well, at least that’s how it went 45 years ago! I think with the spread of chain eateries, some of these distinctions may be getting lost–but I love the regionalisms.</p>
<p>Years ago I participated in the online Dialect Survey, whose results are now available here for those who like this sort of thing (you’ll see some of the terms discussed in this thread):
[Dialect</a> Survey Results](<a href=“http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_96.html]Dialect”>http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_96.html)</p>
<p>Love the dialect survey, mommaj! I found my county immediately with dinner, supper, and pop. </p>
<p>Another thing to be aware of is how cars yield to pedestrians. In Berkeley, we were just used to people walking off the sidewalk without looking to see if they had a light, or if a car was coming there way. Moving back in the Chicago area made me realize that not everyone stops! Best to advise them to watch traffic for a while so they dont end up getting hit. </p>
<p>If you are coming to the Midwest, be prepared for the double doors that are necessary in shops to keep the cold air out. It can be frustrating for a polite person to be able to open only one door, or to see the other person standing there waiting for the 2nd door to be opened. I know that I fluster many an older gentleman by opeing the second door for him instead of waiting for him to come through and open for me.</p>
<p>In NM, manana doesn’t mean tomorrow, it means “not today”</p>
<p>I’ve been in CT for 33 years…never heard of a “packy run” and we call the carts in the grocery store…carts. Which part of the state calls them “carriages”?</p>
<p>Notable thing…we have lots of snow. College (and high school) students do NOT wear boots in many places.</p>
<p>don’t forget the NE Aunt, ant pronunciation. Not sure why some prefer to call nice ladies insects…lol</p>
<p>and yes, In RI…it’s a package store and a packy run. Shopping carriage is the norm. Milk shakes certainly do not have ice cream. I go to the beach, down the Cape, “wicked” good is used commonly…and coffee milk is fantastic.</p>
<p>Very funny thread.</p>
<p>DH is from Boston, and I’m from TX. HUGE difference in driving in both states. When I first visited Boston, I was freaking out leaving Logan when the 8 or so lanes merged into ~4 before the tunnel. I was screaming at DH to “let that person in” to which he replied, “Are you kidding? We’ll be here all day!” In Texas, it’s customary to let other vehicles in front of you. They smile and wave; in MA, it seemed like they were out for blood – it’s intense. Suffice to say, I am terrified to drive there. ;)</p>
<p>Also, when I’m in a booth in a restaurant and DH wants me to move down on the bench so that he can sit on the same side, he says, “Push over.” Huh? What the heck? In Texas, one says, “Scoot down,” or “Scoot over.” Area and idea are pronounced just as they are written down here, but my northern MIL says “arear” and “idear”.</p>
<p>Also in Texas, when we are about to do something, we’re “fixin’” to do it. “Y’all” is indeed proper English :), and manners are taken seriously (Yes, M’am/Sir – No, M’am/Sir as already noted). D attends college near DC and one of her first comments was that there were so many guys who don’t hold doors open for girls nor do they make the offer to stand so that a girl can have their seat. She was taken aback. At her prep school, there were assigned “door holders” in elementary school (boys) and all girls always entered the building before the boys.</p>