Grammar Moses: How language is peppered with regionalisms

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the Oxford English Dictionary's 90th anniversary and one of the audience participation activities it's launched that seeks to enshrine regionalisms in its pages.

Seeing an opportunity, I hijacked it for my own purposes, although I hope you all sent your ideas to OED, too.

I received a dozen or more thoughtful and funny responses, several of which I'll share with you today. You'll see some eerie similarities.

The Jewels

I'll start with something my father-in-law was fond of doing: adding and subtracting esses from the names of grocery stores. Aloysious "Leo" Zucker was born in Chicago in 1919 and lived on the North Side and then in the Western suburbs his entire life. He shopped them all.

Instead of buying his groceries at Jewel and Eagle, Leo shopped at "Jewels" and "Eagles."

But in a twist, Dominick's and Woodman's became "Dominick" and "Woodman."

At least his defiance was consistent.

Bill Page noted that people in the Chicago area are wont to say, "I'm going to the Jewel (although the store is sometimes referred to as "the Jewels."

Back to Bill and "the" Jewels" later in this column.

Sodie

In my previous column, I wrote that in the Chicago area a soft drink is "pop," while in Wisconsin it's "soda" and in Atlanta, if it's fizzy it's a "coke."

Ken Juranek told me his wife Carol said in Quincy, Illinois, a soft drink is a "sodie." "If you want a 7-Up," he said, "order a 'white sodie.'"

Bob Kopp grew up in LaGrange but says he also referred to soft drinks as (lowercase) "cokes."

"In the early '60s the gas station on the corner of Brainerd and Burlington had one of those red dispensing machines that said 'Coca-Cola' on the side, but when you lifted the lid there was a variety of bottled drinks from which you could choose. We'd say, 'Do you want a coke?' 'Sure, I'll have a grape.'"

Pittsburghese

My friend Carole Recconu wrote to say, "In Pittsburgh you might red up (clean) the house by putting stuff away in the cupboard (closet.) Also, be careful if you order a personalized item by phone; your Christmas stocking for Don may come back embroidered for Dawn."

Baltimorese

Bob Anderson wrote: "As longtime Chicago suburbanites we were amused by Baltimorese when we lived there for two years. First, the city name: Take your choice of the three-syllable version or the 1.5- to 2-syllable version. Bal-duh-mrr is the first; Bal-mr is the second. Second, everybody is "hon." Waitresses, bank clerks, etc. 'What can I get you, hon?' Finally, "zink," as in 'The dirty dishes are soaking in the zink.'"

The extraneous 'the'

Back to Bill Page.

"I've always been curious about the unneeded 'the' as in 'He got the cancer and died.'" Bill wrote. "I once heard from a bar customer that he couldn't get comfortable on the stool because he was afflicted with 'the hemorrhoids.' This oddity also appears in phrases such as 'the Jewels.'"

Ken Juranek also pointed out that "in the Chicago area, we shop at 'The Jewel.'"

I think we have a trend here, folks.

"It's only in Chicago I've heard the phrases 'going by' to mean 'going to' and 'come with' meaning 'accompany me,' Bill added. "'I'm going by Joey's house. Wanna come with?' Maybe they were headed to the Jewels."

My wife, Leo's daughter, grew up in Chicago. She consistently throws an "at" at the end of any question that involves a location: "Where did I leave my phone at?" Building on that, she puts an "at all" at the end of just about every other question: "Do you want fish tacos for dinner at all?"

We laugh about it all of the time. She's adorable, that one.

The Californians

Larry Lee writes: I'm originally from California, where the eastern region of the country is referred to as 'back east.' In Chicago it's referred to as 'out east.'

Larry offered several other California/Chicago comparisons I don't have space for today, but there is one biggie he missed.

In California, people put "the" before the name of every expressway. "Don't get stuck on the 405!"

In the Chicago area, people "drive 90 to work."

Wait, that's confusing. They "take 90 to work," but my experience is many also drive 90 mph on that roadway.

The other significant difference between California and the Chicago area is in California they drive on freeways.

In Chicago, thanks to the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, we don't know what freeways are.

Drive and write carefully!

• Jim Baumann is vice president/managing editor of the Daily Herald. Write him at jbaumann@dailyherald.com. Put Grammar Moses in the subject line. You also can friend or follow Jim at facebook.com/jimbaumann.