How to Speak M'Wacky
Slanguage has some fun (if somewhat inaccurate and incomplete) lists of various regional US dialects. The closest they get to where I live in Wisconsin is Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Minnesota is essentially a foreign country as far as us Wisconsinites are concerned, so it doesn't really count, but the list for Milwaukee is pretty close to what you'll hear around my neck o' the Northwoods, just add the following:
Them are (those are): as in "Them are nice shoes."
Borrow me (lend me): as in "Borrow me them shoes, wouldja?"
Doncha know (obligatory ending of any rhetorical question): as in "Them are nice shoes, doncha know."
Stop-and-go light (traffic signal), as in "I was in such a hurry to buy a pair of them nice shoes that I ran the stop-and-go light!"
Jeez o' Pete! (Jesus and Peter): Catholic exclamation of surprise/exasperation as in "Jeez o' Pete, I ran the frickin' stop-and-go light!"
Comments
Holy crap. If we actually had people talking like that around here, we'd smack 'em. Oh, ok -- maybe on the far Sout' Side they can get away with it, but not the rest of the city.
I'll give you some of 'em: Bubbler, Brew City, Up North, TYME machines (that's a WI thing, not a MKE thing. And it's an brand acronym: Take Your Money Everywhere. So, nyahh.) and Brew Crew. Many of the others (The Valley, KK, Teutonia, etc.) are locations and one's a restaurant name (Kopps). But the rest of the list is crap. In nearly 35 years, I have never once heard anyone say "side by each."
And any Milwaukeean can tell you there's a difference between "white soda" and 7-Up. They're very different animals. And while I'm being fussy, "schnecks" are not bakery. They're snacks. :-)
Oh, wait -- and they gave "Flatlander" to the Minnesotans for use on the Dakotans? But... but... that's our name for Illinoisans. Thieves.
Posted by: czeltic girl | April 27, 2004 9:18 PM
Yeah, most of those lists are regional, not specific to a city. We say TYME machine here as well. I've also heard my relatives in Central WI say "side by each".
One of my buddies in Chicago told me about "flatlander", but that term isn't used around here...I just call him a FIB and he asks me how life is "behind the Cheddar Curtain".
As for "Vi-Queens", I think the Minnisnowdans first heard that from us Packer fans, doncha know...;^)
Posted by: MrBaliHai | April 27, 2004 10:49 PM
Ya der hey. :-)
And we say FIB around here, too. Works better in the "Go home, FIB" chant at sporting events.
Posted by: czeltic girl | April 28, 2004 7:38 PM