What do you say? Seesaw or teeter totter? Paper bag or paper sack? Water bucket or water pail?

[bobbieinok]

These used to be regional terms. I was told seesaw was southern, teeter totter northern. I don't remember about the others.

There was also a regional distinction in the answer to the question 'What do you fry your eggs in - skillet, fry pan, frying pan?' Some places in New England apparently call the utensil a 'spider'. IIRC I found that usage in an Asey Mayo mystery.

And then do you 'take' or 'drive' someone to school? A few places say 'carry.' I was stunned when I heard some one say 'carry.' I think they were from MS.

[hlthe2b]

1. I tend to use both...

water bucket when galvanized steel; water pail when plastic

seesaw or teeter totter, more the former now

paper bag more so when it is a full sized paper grocery bag/sack and paper sack when referring to a paper lunch bag/sack


I've moved throughout the country a good bit, so maybe the regionalisms have blurred.

[bobbieinok]

3. Apparently since WWII people have moved so much that these distinctions are gone

[Hokie]

2. In some parts of the South they call a paper bag a poke

I definitely say seesaw. Also there is soda and pop. In the most of the South you have a bottle of pop.

[bobbieinok]

5. I've been told some places ask 'what kind of coke do you want 7up or fanta?'

[unc70]

8. The South does not say pop

Come or maybe soft drink.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. Both For The Playground Item

My whole life they seemed interchangeable terms. Pretty much always used "bag" and like someone above, it was a bucket if it was metal and pail if it was plastic. i don't know where that distinction came from, though.

Most everyone i know calls the cooking item a frying pan, but i could imagine some folks using skillet. Not many though.

And, "take" to school would be pretty common parlance around here. (Southern fringes of Chicagoland.)

[bobbieinok]

6. As a kid in OK, I heard skillet

[TexasProgresive]

7. What about shopping

Cart, basket, buggy or trolley?

[demmiblue]

9. Teeter totter, paper bag, just plain 'bucket', frying pan (skillet if cast iron)...

take or drive... and, of course, pop.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Not too long ago I tried to take one of those on-line vocabulary tests

to determine where you are from, but I had to give up, because for me many of the word pairs or triplets are equal in my brain. I've lived in enough different places that my vocabulary is broader than those tests assume.

Same with lots of other people.

[spooky3]

11. You might like this article:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20130609130800-5670386-do-you-call-it-soda-or-pop

[yardwork]

12. "Can I carry you..." is an old southern way of offering to drive somebody somewhere.

It probably predates the use of cars.

Other southernisms I learned when I moved here:

"He's just ignorant." In this context, "ignorant" conveys a constellation of meanings, all very negative. It's one of the worst things you can say about somebody. It's far worse than the better known "Well, bless her heart" which conveys a milder form of criticism.

Another one I like is "I don't want to be ugly, but..." This signals that sharp criticism will follow.