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09/20/2020 08:57AM  
I tend to adapt some language on this board so that I'm understood. For instance, if I said I caught a pickerel, I bet very few people would know what to which fish I'm referring. In southern Ontario, it's what a walleye is known as. It's just local thing. I'm not sure there's any official book that refers to a walleye as a pickerel. Almost nobody here calls them walleye. The stores and markets call them pickerel too. Most fair-weather anglers here don't know either.

And if I said I caught a "northern" in southern Ontario, folks would look at you like you had a third eye. They are just pike here.

I had never heard of a rod until I participated on another canoe board with Americans years ago. Only engineers would have picked up on that.

Any others out there adapt there language in the same manner when communicating on here? The USA is not a homogeneous place.
 
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09/20/2020 11:29AM  

Some off the top of my head.
Brown bass—-smallmouth bass. Common in the Southern US.
Coke—-means any kind of soda...i.e. did you want a Pepsi coke? Southern US
Pop—-means Soda Northern US.
Soda—western US
Fireflies vs. lightning bugs
Garage sale vs. rummage sale vs. yard sale
Duck duck goose vs duck duck grey duck
Semi vs. eighteen wheeler vs tractor trailer

Rods vs. meters...anyone know where rods comes from. I have heard it is what the original surveyors from England and France used when measuring. The original voyageurs just carried it on. It also by chance happens to correlate with the average length of a canoe 16.5 feet...I’ve never seen an official explanation. I like the rods designation since we are entering a wilderness area gives an aura of mystique—when I see Canadian maps with meters...I think dang you messed it up...I know exactly how far that is I want the mystery :) It’s part of the trip conversation trying to figure out har far this 60 rod portage really is :)

Biologically speaking...Canadians are simply wrong when they call a walleye a pickerel :) But if that is the regional dialect doesn’t really hurt anything. Sort of funny to me because the Canadian stereotype is trying to be correct and precise...a good stereotype to have if you ask me, just this defies that...

Pickerel vs. walleye

 
tumblehome
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09/20/2020 12:54PM  
Argo, I lost the bet with you and I owe you a loonie.

Up there it's money, down here it's our el' preseidente

Tom
 
moosedoggie
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09/20/2020 01:31PM  
Rod History

The origin of the rod. FYI
 
09/20/2020 04:07PM  
Yep, Pickerel for walleye, speckles for brook trout (aka mud trout in Nfdld). It's all good. I like the regional common names, once I can figure them out. Now, learning to look to the right as you start across the road in England, that is more important...
 
09/20/2020 04:24PM  
Canada was using the British survey measurements, rod, chain, furlong and mile until they went metric starting in the mid-1960s. There are still many legal property descriptions that use the old measurements. Property descriptions usually stand unchanged until sold or re-surveyed. My first Quetico Park maps used rods for portages and the change to meters caught me off guard. Doesn't much matter to me now. I grew up with rods and work in metric in a country that still uses inches, feet and yards and acres.

The reason we have vetted scientific names for organisms is well illustrated in the posts above!
 
09/21/2020 08:10AM  
Beer depot - liquor store
Bubbler - drinking fountain
Sugar melon - cantaloupe
And who and who can forget the port-ig vs por- taahg debate.
 
tumblehome
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09/21/2020 09:45AM  
Speaking of rods:

I can look on a map and see a portage that might be 160 rods and I feel real comfortable understanding its length and approximate time it will take to walk it.

Now if you told me the portage was 1000 meters I would really not be sure how long it would take to walk and I would be all frustrated.

Bring back the rod for everything!

Tom
 
jcheese
member (27)member
  
09/21/2020 09:48AM  
I've noticed the 'northern' thing when referring to pike over the border. Also- Canadians (or at least N. Ontario residents) usually just say 'bass' and refer to smallmouth.

As for food... brats are 'sausages' and any smoked sausages are usually 'smokies'. I think Canadian bacon is 'back bacon' in Canada. Oh yeah- and when you order anything with 'the works'/'everything' it's "all-dressed". Weirdo Canadians. ;-)

One of my Canadian friends also make fun of me calling the garbage can "the trash". I guess it's like saying 'rubbish' in the UK. Regional things for sure.

Please forgive my quoting wackiness.
 
Duckman
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09/21/2020 10:30AM  
Shopping cart v. buggy.

It basically comes down to what your mom called it. It will always be a buggy to me.
 
09/21/2020 12:16PM  
mini bears= squirrels and mice
 
smoke11
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09/21/2020 12:50PM  
Old timers here in North Carolina refer to walleye as pike.
 
Nigal
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09/21/2020 01:17PM  
Argo: "I tend to adapt some language on this board so that I'm understood. For instance, if I said I caught a pickerel, I bet very few people would know what to which fish I'm referring. In southern Ontario, it's what a walleye is known as. It's just local thing. I'm not sure there's any official book that refers to a walleye as a pickerel. Almost nobody here calls them walleye. The stores and markets call them pickerel too. Most fair-weather anglers here don't know either.

And if I said I caught a "northern" in southern Ontario, folks would look at you like you had a third eye. They are just pike here.

I had never heard of a rod until I participated on another canoe board with Americans years ago. Only engineers would have picked up on that.

Any others out there adapt there language in the same manner when communicating on here? The USA is not a homogeneous place."


After eight years of tripping in Canada going back to Rods this year was tough and always found myself times-ing the rods by 5 to figure iut how many meters a portage (port-awe-j) was. LOL!
 
Portage99
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09/22/2020 10:54PM  
My Dad used to call small catfish 'creek chub', which I loved when I was little! I always used this term, and then, I found out there really is a Creek Chub in IL! You have to admit that this name begs to be reserved for baby catfish. : )

Dare we ignite the soda, sodie, pop debate? I was born into a family where my mother used 'pop' and my dad used 'sodie'. I am still in therapy. ha ha




 
09/23/2020 08:24AM  
Portage99: "My Dad used to call small catfish 'creek chub', which I loved when I was little! I always used this term, and then, I found out there really is a Creek Chub in IL! You have to admit that this name begs to be reserved for baby catfish. : )

Dare we ignite the soda, sodie, pop debate? I was born into a family where my mother used 'pop' and my dad used 'sodie'. I am still in therapy. ha ha"

Soda and sneekers when visiting my cousins in NY. They're soft drinks and running shoes here. We're a bit wordy here.
 
09/23/2020 08:37AM  
Is it hot dish or casserole?

You may run a vacuum but I run a sweeper.

You may clean your room but I just red up.

Folks around here call grouse partridge. They also call brook trout speckies.

Hex
 
09/23/2020 08:47AM  
Is it a Sub sandwich,a Hoggie or a Grinder? Where I’m from in Massachusetts it’s a Grinder.
 
Bearpath9
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09/23/2020 09:03AM  
Coyote or Coyotee ?
 
jhb8426
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09/23/2020 11:34PM  
Canoearoo: "mini bears= squirrels and mice"


squirrels = tree rats
 
09/24/2020 01:18AM  
Quetico vs. the Quetico

oops: there was a thread with 46 replies on this already.
 
smoke11
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09/24/2020 02:00PM  
pole cat= Skunk
 
09/24/2020 02:36PM  
A lot of Sconnies call ATM’s “Tyme Machines”. A college buddy and I were in downtown Minneapolis and he was out of cash. You should have seen the look on strangers faces as he was asking them where he could find the closest “Time Machine”. That was a fun night.

Tony
 
Jackfish
Moderator
  
09/24/2020 03:07PM  
There are folks in Milwaukee that, I think jokingly, refer to certain things in a funny way. I don't think people truly pronounce these words this way in a normal conversation unless they're poking fun just for the sake of saying them in a funny way.

Milwaukee = Mwah-key
Highway 100 (runs north and south thru town) = Highway hunnert
Someone mentioned above, but Milwaukee drinking fountains tend to be called bubblers.

There are others, but those three came to mind.
 
Podunk
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09/24/2020 04:11PM  
Being born and raised in W Penn Pittsburgh area I still get funny looks when asking for a gum band. That and my Mum always told me to red up my room. I've been here in Indiana 30 plus yrs and I still get the "you ain't from around here ".
 
fraxinus
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09/24/2020 04:21PM  
Up here mayonnaise is a dressing spread on a sandwich, In Texas, its - Mayun ays
a lotta bass in that lake.
 
Portage99
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09/24/2020 04:30PM  
LarryS48: "Quetico vs. the Quetico

oops: there was a thread with 46 replies on this already.
"


LOL! We humans are strange, aren't we?
 
Portage99
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09/24/2020 04:31PM  
I've never heard the term Sconnies! But, I never heard of a FIB until some Sconnie used the term on a canoe trip. : ) hee hee

I have no idea what a gum band is-I'm thinking of a retainer.

We only used Miracle Whip as mayo. If you get some other disgusting product on a sandwich, it must have been some horrible mistake. : ) My first college roommate could not understand why I kept calling Miracle Whip the mayo. Honestly, I don't think I tasted regular mayonnaise until I was in college.

We say car accident. In Phoenix, they seemed to say car crash (which sounded very strange to me).

Some of my favorite slang is instead of saying taking a right or left, my friends and I say, "hang a Louie" or "hang a Ralph". We also are not from the country, we live in The Stix or BFE.

 
Podunk
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09/24/2020 04:46PM  
Gum band is a rubber band.
 
Podunk
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09/24/2020 04:49PM  
Another Pittsburghese is neb or nebby. Which is nebbing into someone else's business. You know you're out there when autocorrect doesn't like your spelling.
 
goatroti
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09/24/2020 05:34PM  
My Uncle Paul lived in West Penna. for years, Rennnerdale, Carnegie, 84 and Washington. (Waarshington), but was originally from Cleveland. He said "Waaarsh the car", the "Giant Eagle" sounded more like the "Jaaahn Eagle".
On another note, what were those drive through beer stores called?
 
gotwins
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09/24/2020 08:28PM  
The Canadians also use the "washroom" where I would use the "bathroom" or "rest room."

Then there's the bill they pay every month called "hydro" which is electricity!

They wear "toques" when it's cold out, instead of stocking cap.

We met some Ontarians down in Florida that refered to Twice Baked Potatoes as "double bakes." We loved that one and now refer to them as double bakes at home :)

And rods are awesome. 4 of them to a chain, of course, and 320 to a mile. A chain is also 22 yards, or 66 feet, which is the distance between the wickets on a cricket pitch becauase they probably had a surveyor's chain around when setting up the rules.

 
09/24/2020 10:00PM  
Definitely Minnesotan : Ending sentences with a preposition. "Do you wanna go with?"
 
09/25/2020 08:10AM  
Podunk: "Another Pittsburghese is neb or nebby. Which is nebbing into someone else's business. You know you're out there when autocorrect doesn't like your spelling."


Don't be a jagoff Podunk!

Also originally from western Pennsyltucky. Zelienople/Harmony.
If you haven't stumbled upon Pittsburgh Dad on Youtube yet, you might check it out, very nostalgic.

Hex
 
mgraber
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09/25/2020 11:47AM  
We use to travel to Manitoba to fish every year, and it was always interesting the names they had for fish.
Walleye - Pickerel
Northern Pike - Jack
Fresh Water Drum - Silver Bass
White Bass - Striped Bass
Crappie - Calico Bass
Burbot - Eelpout
 
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