Vernacular Questionaire!

[athelind]

I am a 44 year old male. I grew up in suburban Southern California, and settled in semi-urban Northern California. Along the way, I spent a few years here and there in Texas and a couple of summers in Arkansas. I am, by training, trade, and temperament, an Environmental Scientist.



A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Storm Drain.

The Los Angeles River is a broad swath of concrete, seen in movies ranging from Them to Chinatown to Terminator 2. Smaller water channels are simply outside of the bounds of the local vernacular: you call'em whatever the locals call'em.

The thing you push around the grocery store: Shopping cart.

A metal container to carry a meal in: Cattle car.

Okay, that was Obligatory Dragon Humor. "Lunchbox."

The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: microwave Frying pan.

The piece of furniture that seats three people: Couch or sofa, unless it's a futon.

The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: Rain gutter.

The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Porch or patio.

Porches tend to be in front. "Front porch" is redundant; "back porch" is acceptable. Patios are always in back; they aren't always covered, but can be.

Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Soda.

A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: Sausage! Oh, and pancakes.

What, you don't put maple syrup on your sausage patties?

A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: Sub.

It's short for "Subway", not "Submarine", because that's where you get them. There's also a "Philly Cheesesteak", which is not a "Sub", despite the superficial similarities. Leave Quizno's out of this; it's neither fish nor fowl.

The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: Bathing suit, swimsuit, swimtrunks, trunks.

Shoes worn for sports: Shoes.

If I have to specify, they're "tennis shoes" (pronounce as one word: "tennishoes") or "sneakers". Other kinds of footwear includes "boots", "hiking boots", "dress shoes", "sandals", and "flip-flops". If I just say "shoes", I mean "tennishoes".

A flying insect that glows in the dark: Firefly.

The little insect that curls up into a ball: Pillbug.

The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: Seesaw, teeter-totter, catapult.

How you eat pizza: Pointy-end first, holding the crust.

That's what the crust is for, right? It's the handle!

Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard: Garage sale, yard sale.

The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: Crawlspace.

Postwar California houses don't have "things under them" that can actually be used as rooms. If I lived in a house so equipped, I'd probably call it a "basement", unless it had those neat sloping doors, which would make it a "cellar".

The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: Drinking fountain.

Comments

[ladyringo.livejournal.com]

syrup + sausaGe = <3

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Too much of it, however, is </3 _/\_/\_/\/VVVV\_______________________

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

I don't put maple syrup on my sausage, I use ketchup.

Granted, I've heard ketchup described as tomato syrup.

[shdragon.livejournal.com]

That's crasy.. Borl in St. Louis, raised in St. Louis for 29 years (with a small side trip to central Illinois for college) Never lived anywhere else until I moved out here to NorCal about 2 years ago..

And every single one of my answers is the same as yours with only a few exceptions.

Body of water: Stream.
Glowing bug: Lightning Bug
ball bug: Rolly-poly bug (Never learned the official name of them, and that's the name me and my sister invented for them when were little kids. Never heard any other word for them, so that's what they are)
Under the house: Basement.

That's so weird.

[hafoc.livejournal.com]

Old, old old. Lifetime Michiganian, if you can call it a life. :D Geologist turned geophysicist turned environmental protection enforcement type guy. Son of a science teacher and a teacher of English, which has devastated my spoken language.

A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Creek. My cousins from the Thumb call it a crick, though.

The thing you push around the grocery store: Cart.

A metal container to carry a meal in: Lunchbox.


The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Frying pan, frypan, skillet, griddle.

The piece of furniture that seats three people: Couch, usually.

The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: No such thing. The ice tears them off. Rain's what you call it when water from the sky comes down already melted, right?

The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Porch. If it's unroofed, it's a patio.

Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Now, this is sort of strange. It's always a bottle of pop, but if it's a can, it's usually soda. I think "pop" is traditional with our area, so the older-style containers are still pop. Canned pop came along once every-day contact with other states was a fact of life. They call it soda, so I usually call a can of pop "soda" too.

A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: Pancake.

A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: Sub, Submarine.

The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: In my case, heavy shorts and a cotton shirt. I sunburn, and besides that the sight of my body is not for the faint of heart, nor for polite society.

Shoes worn for sports: Tennies.

A flying insect that glows in the dark: Firefly.

The little insect that curls up into a ball: I have no idea.

The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: Teeter-totter.

How you eat pizza: Depends on the pizza. Flat and pointy end first if the pizza has enough structural integrity for that. Otherwise, just suck it off your shirt.

Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard: Garage sale, yard sale.

The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: What you're describing is a basement. However, if it's a special-purpose underground room, it's a cellar. Root cellar. Storm cellar.

The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: Drinking fountain.

[tombfyre.livejournal.com]

Yay for obligatory dragon humor. And us Canucks put Syrup on our sausage patties! 'tis a wonderful thing. :)

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Growing up in the Bay Area with parents from Michigan, I agree with your answers with minor exceptions.

Creek - because we lived near Walnut Creek. Stream, however, was equally acceptable.

And pill bug, roly-poly (long o) and (until age 11 or so) potato bugs were all possible for the little roll-up guys (not insects, by the way, but then you know that). Potato bugs later became the name of a large cricket-like monster.

And my grandparents in Michigan had a porch and a back-porch. Patios were uncovered or seperately covered (with an awning or other structure not integral with the house) and in my mind were totally a California thing.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

I've spent much of my time in Oklahoma, but I've lived in Arkansas and Maryland. I've visited Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, California, Texas, and Florida. And, of course, I read. So my answers will not all reflect my geographic roots.

A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Creek, unless it's especially muddy, narrow, and populated with aquatic vermin; in that case, "crick".

Similar rules apply to "wash" vs. "warsh" (greater physical force implied by the latter); "teach" vs. "learn" (likewise); and "wrestle" vs. "rassle" (the first one has rules).

The thing you push around the grocery store: Shopping cart or grocery cart.

A metal container to carry a meal in: Lunchbox or lunch pail.

The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Skillet, frying pan.

The piece of furniture that seats three people: Sofa, couch, divan.

The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: The density, and resulting gravity, of this planet. Now, if you're talking about the metal construct that then funnels the water away from the roof, that would be a rain gutter or just "gutter".

The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Gazebo. If it's attached to the house proper, then "patio".

Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Soft drink or soda. Cola, if dark.

During a summer internship with Wal~Mart, I attended many of their Saturday morning meetings. At one of them, Coca-Cola presented Wal~Mart an "outstanding merchant" award. Afterwards, in the Q/A, one of my fellow interns asked, "So, do you guys sell soda, or do you sell pop?"

The response? "We sell Coca-Cola."

A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: Pancakes, sometimes called hotcakes by certain Mc-stablishments. Can also be known as flapjacks, though rarely 'round these parts.

A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: Hoagy, sub(marine) sandwich, sub(marine), po-boy.

The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: Shorts, swimsuit, swim trunks, trunks, bathing suit.

Shoes worn for sports: Which sport? Cleats, tennies, tennis shoes.

A flying insect that glows in the dark: Firefly or lighting bug.

The little insect that curls up into a ball: Roly-poly.

The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: Teeter-totter, see-saw, lever.

How you eat pizza: Ideally, holding the crust and chomping directly on the acute angle. For pizzas with excessive thermal capacitance or crusts of insufficient structural integrity, with a knife and fork.

Where private citizens sell their household goods/stuff in their driveway/front yard: Garage sale, yard sale, lawn sale.

The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: If climate controlled with the rest of the house, "basement". If not, "cellar".

The thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: Water fountain, drinking fountain.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

That distinction between "basement" and "cellar" makes a lot of sense.

And... "lever" for a seesaw? Really?

(I'm surprised nobody's called me on "catapult" yet.)

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

It's a distinction I hadn't really thought about before now, but it does seem to be how I've been mentally distinguishing the two.

"Lever" was mostly facetious, though I'm sure I've seen see-saws used in a lesson on Simple Machines.
Hmm. "Seen see-saws". My internal grammar software nearly threw a wobbler on that one.

(Oh, that? I'd assumed it was more Obligatory Dragon Humor.)