Come Again?

[Krikit 1,164]

Dialect and colloquialisms can get quite confusing. I've been learning a lot, however some of them have me stumped. Feel free to add what you know or ask what you don't know. Here's mine:

What does "A quarter of six" or "At ten of six" mean with regard to telling time?

[Reba 2]

I think it means a quarter TO/TILL.

What boggles me is when someone says to me "If you don't care", rather than "if you don't mind", or "I don't care" instead of "I don't mind". IMO, "if you don't care" or "I don't care" are a negative and kinda rude, whereas down here in this little pocket of NC (dunno about elsewhere in the world) it means "no that's fine, I will do this for you, I don't mind at all"

[Krikit 1,164]

Thanks Reba. That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if it was before or after. To me a quarter of six is 1.5. lol

"I don't care" (yes, it sounds rude to me, too. lol) reminds me of "Uh huh" for "You're welcome."

[SomberCat 0]

Thanks Reba. That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if it was before or after. To me a quarter of six is 1.5. lol

"I don't care" (yes, it sounds rude to me, too. lol) reminds me of "Uh huh" for "You're welcome."

I just made a mental note - don't say "uh huh" anymore instead of your welcome. I am guilty, guilty, guilty.

Here's one - what the heck is a mickey? When my SO goes to the LCBO (another one I'm still getting used to), he says he's picking me up a mickey when he's getting whiskey for me. Does that refer to the size of the bottle? Here a mickey is something you would slip into someone's drink to drug them.

BTW Krikit, excellent move starting this thread. You rock!

[JillA 2]

Thanks Reba. That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if it was before or after. To me a quarter of six is 1.5. lol

"I don't care" (yes, it sounds rude to me, too. lol) reminds me of "Uh huh" for "You're welcome."

I just made a mental note - don't say "uh huh" anymore instead of your welcome. I am guilty, guilty, guilty.

Here's one - what the heck is a mickey? When my SO goes to the LCBO (another one I'm still getting used to), he says he's picking me up a mickey when he's getting whiskey for me. Does that refer to the size of the bottle? Here a mickey is something you would slip into someone's drink to drug them.

BTW Krikit, excellent move starting this thread. You rock!

hehe too funny. All of these things make me laugh, everyone here says "ten of..." and I'm like HUH? You mean ten to?

So a mickey is a small bottle of liquor, it's like pocket-size. That's funny because I asked my husband to pick me up a mickey of rum last week and he said what's that? I said you know, the small bottles of rum, a mickey! He looked at me funny! I never knew "mickey" was a Canadian term!

A few other things that come to mind, that people don't "get" here is a "2-4" when I say a 2-4 they say do you mean a case of beer? And also when I ask someone where the washroom is, they just can't figure out what that is! "you mean the bathroom?"

Edited January 18, 2009 by JillA

[Kathryn41 3,205]

the funny thing about the washroom - I ran into that here in the South and so now say restroom - BUT I was watching an old Andy Griffiths show and what do you think they said? They used the word washroom! Aunt Bea was telling Opie to go to the washroom and brush his teeth before bed or something like that - so they did use to use that word here!

The word that surprised me here was calling license plates 'tags'. We need to get new stickers for our tags at the tag office! It sure was confusing untiil I figured out what tags were.

Edited January 18, 2009 by Kathryn41

[SomberCat 0]

Got it. A mickey is a small bottle. From now on, I'm going to ask for the big bottle. Or is there a word for that I should be using?

I love the 2-4. We were in Atlanta together once and were looking for a liquor store. He walked up and asked a guy where he could buy a 2-4 and the guy looked at him like he had 3 eyes. I quickly jumped in and said a case.

Here's one I just took a very informal survey on last week when I was in Ontario. For the word "asphalt", he always pronounces it "ashfault" whereas I say "assfault". I asked several of his friends last week and they all say "ashfault". Is this a Canadian thing or did I just happen to stumble across a small cross-section of people who say it that way? Maybe I'll just start saying "blacktop".

The other day I saw Mrs. Cat use a term I had never heard of. She said she spent time north of 60. North of 60 what?

[Marilyn. 340]

I always say "20 after 6" or "quarter to 5"etc and my hubby always looks at me with a puzzled look on his face so I have to say 6:20 or 5:45

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Ashfault - me too! Born in Quebec, grew up in Ontario. All my family also says ashfault.

North of 60 - is 60 degrees North latitude - I think that is the tree line stops and north of that you get mainly tundra and taiga. It is not quite the Arctic - but close enough! It was popularized by a really cool TV show in the 90s called North of 60 about living in a small town in the Northwest Territories.

[MrsCat 6]

Ashfault - me too! Born in Quebec, grew up in Ontario. All my family also says ashfault.

North of 60 - is 60 degrees North latitude - I think that is the tree line stops and north of that you get mainly tundra and taiga. It is not quite the Arctic - but close enough! It was popularized by a really cool TV show in the 90s called North of 60 about living in a small town in the Northwest Territories.

Yup - the 60th Parallel is where the border the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut start. Land of the midnight sun. =)

[TheATeam 0]

I was talking to my husband about this thread and we had to laugh. He didn't know what a mickey was either, other than a brand of beer down here. I also say ashfault as well and he says "assfault". He just laughed and said well there's no h in that word, why would you say it like that?

[Krikit 1,164]

the funny thing about the washroom - I ran into that here in the South and so now say restroom - BUT I was watching an old Andy Griffiths show and what do you think they said? They used the word washroom! Aunt Bea was telling Opie to go to the washroom and brush his teeth before bed or something like that - so they did use to use that word here!

I wonder if that's a regional thing? My husband and his family all refer to the washroom as the laundry room. They're from NC. I guess that's the same here in Florida, too, because people look at me like this when I ask for it.

The word that surprised me here was calling license plates 'tags'. We need to get new stickers for our tags at the tag office! It sure was confusing untiil I figured out what tags were.

And there's not even a tag office here! It's in a place called the Tax Collector, which was somewhere else entirely. I remember going to the DMV to change over my car registration from Ontario to Florida. They said "You have to get that at the Tag Office."

"Uhhh..... okay. What's a Tag Office?"

"It's where you get the tags."

"Okay. What's a tag?"

Ashfault - me too! Born in Quebec, grew up in Ontario. All my family also says ashfault.

Ashfault for me too! The assfault refers to the crack in your behind, doesn't it?

I think I need to keep a spreadsheet. lol

Edited January 18, 2009 by Krikit

[Emancipation 2]

Ashfault here too!! tee hee.. hubby looks at me like I'm from mars.. I think we CDNs changed it cause it sounds too crass..

[SomberCat 0]

Ashfault here too!! tee hee.. hubby looks at me like I'm from mars.. I think we CDNs changed it cause it sounds too crass..

I can't wait for my SO to see that all of you say "ashfault". We've been laughing about this all week and I have his friends in Ontario laughing about it too, so he will love it that you all say it. I'm starting to wonder if us Americans say it the wrong way.

Wow, thanks for the explanation of north of 60. I would NEVER have figured that one out. I would like to discuss how you pronounce Nunuvut, but that's a little hard to do when we're not speaking. I've also taken an informal survey on that one and it seems that no one knows for sure how to say it. In fact, most of those I asked pronounced it starting with a 'u' and it sounded something like "univik".

As far as tags go, I think that must be regional. We say "plates" and I've never heard anyone say tags. We also renew our plates right at the DMV, so there's no other special place to go.

I do have a spreadsheet, so I have a million of these. Here are a few more of my favorites (or should I say favourites lol) from it. My very favorite one is the word "pissed". My SO was telling me a story of a weekend with his friend and over and over he kept saying, "He was so pissed." I couldn't figure out for the life of me why the guy was angry, so I finally asked what made him so mad and I got silence on the end of the phone followed by hysterical laughter. That was when I learned that "pissed" also means drunk. It gave me a whole new meaning for the song that Chumbawumba sings where they say "Pissing the night away". Do you use that term?

My second favorite is what do you call shoes you would use for exercise? He always says he's putting on his runners, although he doesn't run. I always say I'm putting on gym shoes, although I'm not going to the gym. Most people in Indiana say gym shoes. Very occasionally, you'll hear someone say sneakers though. But never in Indiana will you hear someone say runners... at least not until he moves here. What do you call them?

[JillA 2]

LOL yes pissed means drunk. "I got pissed out of my head last night" does not mean angry!

And Kathryn, the tags issue happened to me just weeks ago! When I went to register my car, my husband said I had to go to a tags place. I said you mean the DMV? What are you talking about, tags? I had never heard plates been called tags before.

I call my "gym shoes" sneakers, I never call them anything else! My husband calls them gym shoes too, even though he doesn't wear them to the gym!

Another one is my purse. People here call it a pocketbook, and I didn't understand what a pocketbook was at first.