Clients say the darnest things…(or funny sayings on the job)

Even without an accent there are verbal clues about where a person grew up. Soda/pop/coke is one example.

State highway 100 near me will be referred to as Highway a'hunerd or a'hunert by anyone who grew up here.

Place names are another clue. There is a suburb of Minneapolis, Edina, pronouned E-dine'-uh, another, Medina, pronounced Muh-dine'-nuh and Wayzata, why-zet'-uh.
 
L3VI said:
Climbing around making very small cuts with a handsaw all day and neighbor or passersby "you takin the whole thing down?" Heard that about a million times lol. Yep, stick by stick we takin this thing down!
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EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!! You’re deadwooding a 4’ dbh with a small top handle on the saddle and no one else around. EVERY passerby asks if you’re cutting down the tree!!

A small group were rec climbing in a local park. Many folks asked if we were cutting down the trees. These are magnificent old and large trees in a public park with no defects. Finally, I said to a lady who asked “Yes, new research reveals that trees are quite bad for the environment. They all have to go.”
 
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Tom Dunlap said:
Even without an accent there are verbal clues about where a person grew up. Soda/pop/coke is one example.

State highway 100 near me will be referred to as Highway a'hunerd or a'hunert by anyone who grew up here.

Place names are another clue. There is a suburb of Minneapolis, Edina, pronouned E-dine'-uh, another, Medina, pronounced Muh-dine'-nuh and Wayzata, why-zet'-uh.
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We definitely have a Baltimore city/county dialect around here. We’re a little further away but it’s easy to pick out a Baltimorean. They will call you hon or babe (even guy to guy strangers) although this is more of the 50+ crowd.

Water is pronounced “wooder”

Bel Air road is Blair road

A sink is a zinc

And, they live in Bawlmore Merlin instead of Baltimore Maryland.
 
It this neck of the woods people end every question with, or no. As in, "Do you want to come with, or no?" "You going to wear the red shirt today, or no?" Drove me nuts when I moved here, now I find myself adding it onto my questions as well. We are a product of our environment.
 
Treeaddict said:
We definitely have a Baltimore city/county dialect around here. We’re a little further away but it’s easy to pick out a Baltimorean. They will call you hon or babe (even guy to guy strangers) although this is more of the 50+ crowd.

Water is pronounced “wooder”

Bel Air road is Blair road

A sink is a zinc

And, they live in Bawlmore Merlin instead of Baltimore Maryland.
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It is amazing how hyper local some of the accents are as well, I live right on the edge of Lancaster County Pennsylvania, just about everybody in my neighborhood and west sounds Amish or Mennonite, whether they are or not. To the east, is Philadelphia. All of my neighbors on the east side Sound like they came from the city. The dividing line is quite literally the road in front of my house.
 
Reach said:
It is amazing how hyper local some of the accents are as well, I live right on the edge of Lancaster County Pennsylvania, just about everybody in my neighborhood and west sounds Amish or Mennonite, whether they are or not. To the east, is Philadelphia. All of my neighbors on the east side Sound like they came from the city. The dividing line is quite literally the road in front of my house.
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So, are you on the east or west side of the road?
 
oldoakman said:
So, are you on the east or west side of the road?
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I spent the first half of my life on the east side of the road, and I am very happily enjoying the second half of my life on the west side. To make it even funnier, my mother grew up on the east side, to parents from the west side and my father grew up on the west side, to parents from the east. Needless to say, I have a bit of both in me, and people comment on it sometimes.
 
Shadowscape said:
It this neck of the woods people end every question with, or no. As in, "Do you want to come with, or no?" "You going to wear the red shirt today, or no?" Drove me nuts when I moved here, now I find myself adding it onto my questions as well. We are a product of our environment.
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Where is that?
 
Reach said:
I spent the first half of my life on the east side of the road, and I am very happily enjoying the second half of my life on the west side. To make it even funnier, my mother grew up on the east side, to parents from the west side and my father grew up on the west side, to parents from the east. Needless to say, I have a bit of both in me, and people comment on it sometimes.
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I understand. My dad and his family was from West Virginia originally and my mom was from Baltimore city. Very similar situation.

I grew up saying wooder (Baltimorean for water) like my mom but ended up saying water from mocking the way my dad said it.
 
Reach said:
I spent the first half of my life on the east side of the road, and I am very happily enjoying the second half of my life on the west side. To make it even funnier, my mother grew up on the east side, to parents from the west side and my father grew up on the west side, to parents from the east. Needless to say, I have a bit of both in me, and people comment on it sometimes.
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So in other words, either you are multilingual, or no one can understand a word you say.
 
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