Definitions/pronunciations

[Restorer32]

Wayne, do folks in your part of Virginia pack their groceries in a bag, a tut, or a sack?

[stock_steve]

What's the entomology (sorry--etymology--couldn't resist) of, for example:

"needs restored" being used interchangeably with "needs to be restored"?

Seems perhaps to be a north-south thing?

[keiser31]

I get tickled when someone tells me that they have "repo" parts (which stands for "repossessed" parts) on their car. It is actually supposed to be "repro" or "repop" (which stands for "reproduction") parts. I know....picky, picky, picky...

[cutlasguy]

A guy I worked with called Hillary Clinton, Hillary "Rodan" Clinton. I asked him if she had a long neck, big feet, and scales! He never got the joke! I wish, however, that the posters on this site knew the difference between "where and were"

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Couple of mis-applications of terminology that area always guaranteed to grind my gears are:

"Coupe" and "Roadster"

These are both much-abused by modern automotive writers and gearheads alike.

Pre-1930, a coupe or roadster both had only one row of passenger seating inside the main body, under cover, and with the top up they both had body silhouettes (outlines) quite different from their Sedan/Coach and Touring Car/Phaeton counterparts.

As the years went along, a true "Roadster" still only had one row of seating inside the main body, and did not have roll-up windows; roll-up windows made it a "Convertible Coupe". The last true American-made Roadster was the Dodge Wayfarer in 1949, which had a single bench seat, and snap-in side windows. ( Kaiser Darrin might qualify, but can't remember if it has roll-up windows...)

Coupes get a little more complicated; in the mid-to late 1930's, the cabin began to get longer, often fitted with quarter windows and fold-down jump seats... then around 1940-'41, coupes began to be offered with a full bench seat in the back: these are Club Coupes; they are still distinguishable from Sedan /Coach/Brougham and Four-doors sedans by having a different body outline.

Maybe picayune on my part, but my BP always spikes when I see a garden-variety 2-door sedan / HT referred to as a "coupe" and any drop-top called a "roadster"...

If it's got a back-seat, it ain't neither...

[Restorer32]

Of course Packard covered all bases in 1932 by calling their offering a Coupe Roadster.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Of course Packard covered all bases in 1932 by calling their offering a Coupe Roadster.

Doh !

Yes, and I think Anderson had some sort of special roadster with the top that folded behind the rumble section, getting all everyone under one roof...

[R W Burgess]

Wayne, do folks in your part of Virginia pack their groceries in a bag, a tut, or a sack?

A bag Jeff, or maybe a tote(the way we spell it)

Actually, I pack them in the trunk, but that's another story!:eek:

Wayne

[trimacar]

Well, since we're talking car talk, the one I like is when a car is advertised as "100% original, fully restored" or "all original, 100% restored." Either it's original or it's restored, it can't be both. It can be "restored to original condition," however.

It's not beating up on anybody, it's just fun how things can be said ever so slightly incorrectly and be amusing.

Now, let's talk tires. When someone says there's "no tread left," do they mean no rubber left, or no space between the rubber left? I know the answer, just want to get it out there......

[Earl B.]

There used to be a cafe in Raleigh, NC that was named...The Irregardless Cafe.

One used around here by older people, but not heard so much now is il for oil. I'm going to il that squeeky door. Gee, I thought the hinge was squeeking.

It was cold the other day, and she wore her fear coat. I'm going to bile some water.

[Shop Rat]

A word unique to my paternal grandmother, "gritchel". It actually is a combination of two regular words, grip and satchel...as in luggage.

And this one came from my beloved mother. Idin' it. As in, "It's a beautiful day, idin' (isn't) it?

[Restorer32]

My Scotch-Irish ancestors from way down in the SW corner of VA never said "I swear", it was always "I suwanne" and they carried their groceries in a "tut" pronounced to rhyme with "put" or in a "poke".

[oldcarfudd]

I enjoy regional variants. In 1964 I was transferred from NJ to Minnesota. It drove me nuts to hear people say: "We're going to lunch. Want to come with?" With what, darn it; "with" takes an object! Many years later I took some German lessons. In German there's a perfectly good verb "mitkommen", literally "to come with". "Kommen sie mit?" means "Are you coming with?" and doesn't require an object. I'm told there's an analogous construction in Swedish. The settlers in Minnesota and Wisconsin were mainly German and Swedish immigrants; when they learned English, they put in overtones of their native languages, and those overtones are there to this day. We're a nation of immigrants, and it shows!

Gil Fitzhugh, Morristown, NJ

[Guest bkazmer]

De S F : I think you might count the first generation Viper as a roadster - it had no side windows (or outside door latch) and a removable top

another pet peeve is "hardtop" for cars with B-pillars

[keiser31]

I have a friend (Renato Lopez) who owns a 1964 "Balien with a slam six", which I determined to be a Valiant with a slant six. Sort of a "regional variant" or "barien"...

[Guest billybird]

Thats why I luv e south. We don't waste energy pronouncin stuff we don't need to. Let me site a few examples- Jeet yet? { have you eaten? } Meer { come over here } Caint { I can't do that } Git { leave my property } As long as you understand somebodys the main thang. Ia be back drectly with sumpnother else to say. See yawl later, I gotta go let te flies out, they ain't been out all day! Southern forever!

[Guest De Soto Frank]

"Git."

Says it all !

[Guest De Soto Frank]

My maternal Grandfather ( from the Blue Ridge above Charlottesville ) always spoke fondly of his '26 Ford runabout with the "rumpus seat"...

[Barry Wolk]

"We're going to lunch. Want to come with?"

Also meal related, "We invited some friends over for dinner.":rolleyes:

[Dave@Moon]

Almost every gas pump in this city is equipped with a sticker that says "Please pre-pay in advance". I've been inclined to pre-pay afterwards at times.

[Dave@Moon]

example...."Steve Moskowitz will be the marquee attraction at the marque event celebrating Oldsmobile in the main marquee, or so it says on the marquee of the Hershey Theatre".

Thank goodness he didn't show up in a Marquis!:eek:

[Barry Wolk]

Who in management approved this sign? I took this in Troy, MI at a fancy restaurant.

[ex98thdrill]

Eight years ago when I was deployed, my interpreter (Jamshid) was telling me something was crooked. Instead of saying it as crook-ed, he said "crookd." After asking him three times what he was telling me I looked at him and asked ahd finally he said "it's not straight." I said "you mean it's crooked?" he said "yeah it's crookd"

When I corrected him, he told me

"You don't look-ed at something, you looked at it, so if it isn't straight, it's crookd."

I've never forgotten that, but with what Jamshid said, he was right. From an english perspective he was wrong, but from a common sense status he was right.

[Guest ken bogren]

So how does one define Classic, or is that classic?

[keiser31]

Who in management approved this sign? I took this in Troy, MI at a fancy restaurant.

THAT'S what you call "ruffage"!

[ex98thdrill]

So how does one define Classic, or is that classic?

That horse has been beat so bad to the point where there's glue running out of it.

That's a sleeping dog you let lay.....

[Shop Rat]

My maternal Grandfather ( from the Blue Ridge above Charlottesville ) always spoke fondly of his '26 Ford runabout with the "rumpus seat"...

Hey, without that "rumpus seat" you likely wouldn't be here.

[trimacar]

When I grew up, behind the porte cochere was a garage, converted into a playroom/den. We always called it the "rumpus room."

In the South, we fix a lot of things. "We're fixin' to make supper." "We're fixin to go to the car show." (hey, trying to keep cars in there!). "I'm fixin' to reply to this AACA forum....."

My wife, damyankee from north of Pittsburgh, says she's going to "red up the house." Make it ready??? She's a youse, not a y'all.

Went on a trip with work cohorts, one a middle age (aged?) lady from California. Took me three days, but she was saying "y'all" when it was over.....

[rick60]

Is "fitment" a word? It is not in my dictionary. I hear it used a lot on the SPEED channel.

[olympic]

One of the words that really bugs me is Guage for Gauge. I see this in major publications. Should you desire a strange language, come to Baltimore!!

[Shop Rat]

..... Should you desire a strange language, come to Baltimore!!

Uh, isn't that Balltimer?

And by the way, when did it become the fashion to put the t back into "often"? Every time I turn around someone else is pronouncing it that way.

[CarlLaFong]

Lugshury instead of Luxury

[starfireelvis]

...and I thought my six-year-old brother (at the time) was the only one who thought the Gordon Lightfoot song was "The Wreck of the Ella Fitzgerald"!

I remember being in a diner in Queens about 20+ years back, where they had at each table those remote jukeboxes where you could put your money in from your table to play a tune. I swear, there was one of those adhesive labels right above the slot that said "Quaters Only". Guess the dude must have tried "sounding it out".

The other one that comes immediately to mind, and it is car-related, was when my friend's mom took me back home after spending the night over there when I was 16, and just learning to drive. She asked me if I had been on the "stimulator" yet.

"Uh, no, I haven't", I could barely say without busting out laughing. Was going to say that guys usually don't have to use those things (I know I sure as hell wasn't going to!).

[buick5563]

Uh, isn't that Balltimer?

No way, Hon.

Bawlmer.

[Guest De Soto Frank]

Uh, isn't that Balltimer?

And by the way, when did it become the fashion to put the t back into "often"? Every time I turn around someone else is pronouncing it that way.

The "t" in Baltimore is silent, Susan...

I grew-up just out-side the Beltway, and try as I might, I STILL can't talk like someone from "Charm City"

Can't even think of a way to write phonetically in Balmer-ese...

Maybe someone from Dun-dahk or Fell's Point will chime in and help me !

[buick5563]

Frank,

Yeah, I tried to think of how to write Eaucean Sitty (or just OC for Ocean City)

I grew up in DC, and learned a whole 'nother dialect.

[Jrope]

I had a boss years ago that was telling me about the new tv he recently purchased. "What brand is it?" I asked him. "Magnabox" he replied proudly.

[Shop Rat]

The "t" in Baltimore is silent, Susan... .....

I worked for several years with a guy that was born and raised there. He left the t in but the ending when he said it sounded like "uh-mer". Maybe he was from a different side of town.

[LI_BENTLEY]

In the UK you always get your "T" parts from Fords or worked at Lagondas, I guess it is correct in Britan but not in American English.

[oldcarfudd]

In the UK, a corporation is a plural noun. I think there used to be an ad campaign for Hertz that said "Hertz welcomes you". In the UK, the same slogan was "Hertz welcome you". Each was correct in its (not it's, dammit!) own country.

Here's an odd one right here in the US of A. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (no "the" in the name) is referred to by its employees as "The Met". But the Prudential Insurance Company refers to its rival as "Mets". I know. My father worked his whole life at the Met, and I worked mine at the Pru.

Gil Fitzhugh, Morristown, NJ