Won't speak for the Denver Metro area, but SE Colorado is where I've been for well over 40 years.  [where the Great Plains meet the Rockies].  Now here, we don't have 'dinner', we eat 'supper'  [breakfast, lunch & supper].  And before supper, you all know that you're supposed to 'warsh' your hands, right? [actually, we 'warsh-up for supper'].  And we know instantly that you aren't from here if you say 'Colorado Springs' and not just 'Springs'; or if you pronounce 'Pueblo' correctly, cuz the natives call their own hometown 'Pleblow'.  We wave AND honk at just about anybody. We drink 'pop' when we go out and we make suntea at home; one gallon sweet, one gallon not.  Starbucks has such a choke-hold on us, that we don't even know if we actually like the 'double mocha frappy whatcha call ems' we so proudly recite . . . so who knows how we take our joe anymore.  Me personally?  Black, black, black - all day long.  My husband is half Cajun and he loves chicory!!!

Well I just love this thread.  I grew up sitting on a 'couch' but found out other people grew up sitting on a davenport' when all my life I'd thought that was a town in Iowa!!  In Jersey we go 'down the shore' but our NY cousings go 'to the beach'.  We drink soda - all kinds of stuff - and coke could be diet, classic, caffeinne free.  Pop was Dad or Grandpa when I was growing up and when someone asked me if I wanted Pop in a midwest restaurant I just looked at them like - huh?!?.  I'm sure they must of wondered where that hick was from?  And don't even get me going on accents - mine is so messed up from living in different parts of the country it's ridiculous.  Try giving midwestern kids a spelling test with a NJ accent - they have a laugh a minute and you get nowhere until you adopt there accent, go back home and no one knows what you are talking about:)  Fun, fun, fun.  Love this thread!

Ann 

Yeah!  This thread is great.  I know in NY and I think all over the US, we go on vacation; but if you are in Europe, you go on "holiday".  Oh, and we "go to the beach".

Mimi

I know about the accents Ann.  I grew up in Texas and never knew I had an accent.  Then after I married, my husband got transferred to Kansas.  That is when I realized I had one.  It took me a while to blend in. And there are still some words that have that drawl to them.  Now when I go home they tell me I have a different accent and yet here (Kansas) they tell me I have a Texas accent.  Boy am I confused  

 

Growing up in rural NW Missoura as they say here, we too acknowledged people as we were driving.  Only not really a wave,  just lifting the fingers up off the steering wheel.  We too heard " git warshed up for supper"  When I left the small town to go to college to become a teacher, they actually checked how we pronounced words and I realized that it is really a fascinating subject.  I married an Army man and as we moved to different parts of the country I would notice some of those differences.  My neighbors in Salt Lake City "bottled" the produce from their gardens but I "canned" mine.  When I asked if their daughters could "babysit" my children, they said their daughter would be happy to "tend" them.  To my South Carolina friend, everyone was "darlin". My neighbors in Wisconsin said "dent" instead of didn't.  I loved the accent of a woman our children adopted as "Grandma" in Virginia.  I can still hear her tell us "a boat" her family.  And last summer while visiting in Kentucky, my friend asked her daughter to get something from the "boot" of the car.  Thanks everyone for sharing!  As another friend says, "It's been a hoot". 

Growing up near DC, when someone lifted a finger off the steering wheel, it generally wasn't meant to be a friendly gesture. I much prefer where I live now, where people give a whole-hearted wave to total strangers.

Michelle:

My husband is half Cajun and he loves chicory!!!

 

Hey Michelle, I'm all Cajun and drinking coffee with chicory now!   One contact even asked for it (Community Coffee New Orleans Blend) but he's since been dropped for no contact.  Can't imagine any of his buddies would share that love.  My husband hates it.

My dad lived on both sides of the Arkansas/Louisiana line, and he liked and drank chicory for most of his life. 

Some of the sayings that our ancestors from the hills and sticks said:

Wal I declahr (expression of surprise for something someone said); I swaney (in place of swear, which they didn't say); shut yore mouth (when surprised by something someone said); land sakes (another expression of surprise); fixin' to do that drecly (will do that directly); put neah (nearly); raise sand or hissy fit or coniption fit (don't know how to spell that one); ruint for ruined; warsh and rinch the clothes; chester drawers for chest of drawers; full as a tick when we have eaten a lot; you ain't just whistlin' Dixie when they were in agreement with what you said; flatter than a flitter (flat tire, etc.).

Gran

 I grew up in New York and moved to New Jersey after High School. I remember ordering a Frank( short for frankfurter) and was promptly told that we have hot dogs here not franks. I now live at the Jersey Shore for about 30 years so I am not considered a BENNY( a derogatory term for a tourist who comes " down the shore") I still think of regular coffee with 2 sugars and some milk. And sub sandwiches will also be a "Hero". Not hoagies as my Philadelphia neighbors call them. LOL Diane

I grew up in Pittsburgh, too. It's fun to encounter someone in a new state who uses a phrase or word that I recognize from childhood. My friends from work and I were at a restaurant in Savannah (Mrs Wilkes' Boarding House, for you Georgians!) that serves family style. Part of the procedure is that after the meal, you take your plates over to the dishwasher's window. A man seated at the end of the table said to his wife that we have to "rid up" the table . I immediately pounced, "Where are you from?" (Which usually elicits the response, "What did I say?") It turned out that he and his wife were from Pittsburgh, too, but had been living in Florida for several years. We had a great time sharing stories and memories with our table-mates over lunch - before ridding-up, of course. My cousin, also from Pittsburgh but also having moved around a lot, sometimes asks visitors who come from Pittsburgh to bring along some chipped ham!

Hey Nancy,

What's is like living in Colorado?

Mimi

Nancy B:

My cousin, also from Pittsburgh but also having moved around a lot, sometimes asks visitors who come from Pittsburgh to bring along some chipped ham!

Isaly's chipped chopped ham -- oh, yeah!  Nothing better than a "chip ham samwich & a Klondike" -- unless you have it with an Ahrn (that's Iron City Beer for you non-Pixburgh-ese speaking folks )  Then there's the soft baked pretzels from "dahn Sahsside" (down South Side" -- can't get 'em anywhere else better than that (LOL!)  Course there's all kinds of cool things to buy "dahn the Strip" (that's the Strip District, and no, it's not what first springs to your mind! -- The Strip District is a long "strip" of open air markets, produce vendors, and other wonderful ethnic grocers along the railroad tracks along the Allegheny River on Penn Avenue just above "dahn-tahn" Pittsburgh --

And while we're on the topic of food -- let's not forget the wonderful selections at the food stands at Kennywood Amusement Park -- not to mention the rides -- who out there remembers riding the Jack Rabbit & Racer roller coasters? And their wonderful Merry-go-Round -- an historic landmark?

Am I bringing back memories, Nancy?

Nancy B:

we have to "rid up" the table .

Oh, my GOSH! My grandmother from Uniontown,Pa. is THE only person I ever heard say that! I knew it was time to do the dishes! She ate "hamburgs," too.

Mimi - I love it here! The climate is fabulous (very little humidity) and the sky really is that blue! I've been here for just about three years (after dreaming about it for 18 years) and don't intend to go anywhere else. Where I work, we have a regular parade of wildlife passing by and hanging around. There are elk, mule deer, mountain lions (I haven't personally seen one yet, but one was spotted right out in front one evening in December!). coyotes, fox, hawks, eagles - you name it! We are 6 miles from the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. (My avatar picture is from one of our snowshoeing trips.) From our front porch at work, we have an ever-changing view of Long's Peak. It literally is different every time you look at it. Some days, with cloud cover and snow, you can't even see the mountains. Just amazing. When I first got out here, I used to wonder if the day would come when I didn't notice that spectacular view, or the elk walking past my window - it hasn't happened yet... Nancy

CWP:

Oh, my GOSH! My grandmother from Uniontown,Pa. is THE only person I ever heard say that! I knew it was time to do the dishes! She ate "hamburgs," too.

 

My grandmother lived in a small town in the anthracite coal region of PA.  They ate hamburgs, too.  They also ate dippy eggs (over easy - you can dip your toast into the yolk).  If company was expected, you straightened the house and if you left a room, you outened the lights.