American terms

[queenjaneapprxmtly]

mariah said:

And it's "yard" as opposed to "lawn" unless you're talking about mowing the lawn.

Well, that certainly makes sense; I've never heard of anybody saying "I'm going to mow the yard."

:p

[Tensleep]

Thank you Mariah! Now we know!

It's amusing how tangled up we get on the small details...Probably a good thing, but still funny to me!

See ya in the funny papers!!!

Tens

[fairlane]

"It fell off the back of a truck" - do you use that to imply stolen goods? I was about to use that expression in my fic but wanted to check it is not just a NZ saying!

[misosoop]

Most of my family in Oklahoma say "lawn" and "yard". And they never say "that thing", it's always "That deal", as in "You know that deal I bought two days ago? Where'd it go?"

My aunt (also Oklahoma native) says sofa instead of couch, but I think it's completely interchangable; they still know what a couch is.

My mother also told me that when she was younger, they called the trunk of the car the 'turtle-hull/haul' or something, until she moved up to the Chicago area and realized it was a 'trunk' up here.

So, each area in America has different words and phrases. I could pester my mom for ones more apt to be said in Oklahoma and pass them out, since she grew up around the same time The Outsiders took place, in a small town not far from Tulsa. I don't think they'd vary too much.

[EmilineHarris]

fairlane said:

"It fell off the back of a truck" - do you use that to imply stolen goods? I was about to use that expression in my fic but wanted to check it is not just a NZ saying!

I've also heard this saying and I'm from the Midwest... So it's not just a NZ thing!

[sharpshooter]

Hey, would anyone be able to tell me what Coca-Cola and all that stuff would be called in Oklahoma? I call all of it coke, but I'm not sure if that's what it's called there. -.-;;

[Keira]

I'm pretty sure they'd call it the same thing there. Coke or Coca-Cola. The only differences there might be is between the term 'soda' and 'pop', for which I can't help you out there, except to suggest you go see what Ponyboy refers to it as being (if he does) in the book. I'm drawing a blank on any specifics to that.

For what it's worth, throughout the book, they drink Pepsi quite a bit, as opposed to Coke. Just an observation I made long ago

[sharpshooter]

Well, I meant what they would call all those fizzy beverages in all, but yeah, they do seem to drink more pepsi then coke. -or at leats Pony does, the pepsi fiend!- It's probably sodapop though, since Sodapop's name is Sodapop, and not just Pop or Soda, or somethin'. I really have no idea... -wanders off to find the book-

[BlindedxxFalcon]

Hmm...I would help you, but my book is lost.

[Keira]

Yeah, all I know is different areas of the country, and other English speaking countries, refer to "sodapop" as being either "soda" or "pop". Some places have a healthy mix of the two, and some don't say either, but like here in Utah, for example, most people say, "soda." But I've been other places where they generally say, "pop."

Hope that helps some

[Keira]

Here are a couple of fine stat sites to check out on the Soda vs Pop controversy:

popvssoda.com:2998/stats/ALL.html

and

popvssoda.com:2998/


According to the first site, so many people said they refer to it as being the following:

State/Province | pop | soda | coke | other | Total
Oklahoma | 1140 | 409 | 1182 |100 | 2831 |1.01%

[sharpshooter]

Thanks!
Me, my sister and my mom were actually talking about it earlier, and my sister decided people should just say, I'd like a carbonated beverage.

[Keira]

Haha, that'd take up way too many syllables for me

[Nittanylizard]

sharpshooter said:

Thanks!
Me, my sister and my mom were actually talking about it earlier, and my sister decided people should just say, I'd like a carbonated beverage.

Hahaha, great idea! Maybe that's what the 'other' category is for. I wonder what else people say?

[anotherillusion]

I used to say 'fizzy drink' but it referred to coke, lemonade, etc.
AI