My New Vocabulary

As you can imagine, moving to a whole different part of the country means learning a whole new world of slang & terminology. I thought it was weird moving from St.Louis to Kansas City & getting used to "pop" instead of "soda" or "69 Highway" instead of "Highway 69." That was nothing! Since being here I've had more than a few moments where I'm sure I looked like a complete idiot not knowing what in the world the other person was talking about. Here is a list of some of my favorites:

#1: "Jimmies." Nope, not Jimmy Walker. Would you believe this is what they call sprinkles?? We went to the local ice cream shop a few times and stared at the menu a few times before I got up the nerve to ask, "Okay, who's Jimmy & why is he 50 cents!?" lol

#2: This brings me to #2. "Creamy" has always been a descriptive term to me. (i.e. "Mmm. This soup is so creamy...") Well here "creamy" is a noun. It's what they call soft serve ice cream!

#3: A "Johnny." Seriously, I have no idea where this one comes from. And this is where the "Stacia ends up looking like an idiot" part comes in. I had a patient ask me for a new "johnny." I was clueless. I'm a nurse & had to ask my patient what a "johnny" was. Apparently it's a hospital gown. My bad.

#4: It's not just called "trash" around here. Nope, it's "rubbish." I thought they just said that in England? I guess they do in New England too!

#5: A "Flatlander" equals any person who is from anywhere else but the north east corner of the country. Being from KS/MO, guess what they call me! lol




#6: Had someone ask me if there was a "bubbler" nearby. No idea what the heck they were talking about. Found out later it was a drinking fountain. Again, my bad.

#7: "Wicked" has absolutely nothing to do with witches or general evilness. In fact, it's a word New Englanders use for "really really." Okay, lots of people know this one, especially thanks to SNL skits. But seriously they use it all the time! I caught Mark using it in conversation the other day & it took everything in Matt & me not to snicker. It was pretty "wicked" funny. ;)

#8: the "package store" makes me think something along the lines of a UPS store or something like it. Wrong again! For some reason it's the term for the corner liquor store. Who knew.




#9: "Massholes." Learned this one pretty quick. From a self-proclaimed "Masshole" during hospital orientation. Seriously, people from Massachussets tend to be pretty cranky & negative as a whole, and what's funnier is they seem to be proud of it! lol I've also learned that they have major issues with road rage. Consider yourself forewarned.

#10: A frappe has nothing to do with the fancy coffee drink you'd get from Starbucks or even McDonalds. A "frappe" is actually a milkshake. A milkshake is just milk with flavored syrup. Then there's a coffee milk, and a float... it's all very complicated.

#11: A "grinder" to me sounds like some sort of tool. Like a meat grinder or a coffee grinder. But a "grinder" is a sub sandwich. Why, I have no idea.

#12: This is what I would picture when you say "carriage." But here, a "carriage" is actually your regular run-of-the-mill shopping cart. Sadly, not as fancy.



In Vermont they don't tend to have too terribly heavy of an accent, maybe a long "o" once in a while. But as I head over to New Hampshire (or New Hampster as Natalie likes to call it) the accents get thicker, and as I head to work it's even more Boston-esque. There's really no such thing as an "R." As Natalie gets older I start to worry a little bit more of the lack of "r" in some of her pronunciations, but I think it'll go unnoticed around here! lol