It always amuses me to see what does and doesn't make the list. Half of them I've never heard, and the other half I can't believe everyone else hasn't.
I feel like wicked and nasty are more universally common, though maybe I'm just saying that because I love dubstep, and metal but you don't really see those words often, at least nowadays. Kinda surprised bub doesn't originate from New York since I thought it came from Yiddish.
My Dad grew up in the mountains of North Carolina but I grew up in Indiana. When I went every summer it was a whole different language being used. The Appalachian mountains still use the language terms of the 1700s of Ireland,Scotland and England. It was so rural it just stayed the same.
In 1965, my father moved to Vermont from Illinois. He visited a local diner where the menu offered “homemade grinders.” When he asked what that was, the server clarified, “They’re like normal grinders, but we make them here.”
@@Anubis626 New Englanders are well known to be "economical" in their use of words. There's a famous joke about US President Calvin Coolidge who was born in Vermont. He was a man of very few words. A woman who was seated next to him at dinner supposedly said that she had made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words. His famous [supposed] reply was : "You lose!" Coolidge himself later denied making that statement, but it would have been totally in character.
@JIMBEARRI The other apocryphal story that bookends that one is: upon hearing that Calvin Coolidge was dead Dorothy Parker, the acid-tongued literary critic, remarked, "How can they tell?" In one version of the first story, Dorothy Parker was actually the woman who tried unsuccessfully to get Calvin Coolidge to talk.
Hoagie is from Pennsylvania because it was originally called a Hoggie and was used at the Navy Yard on Hog Island where, by the way, my grandfather worked during the Second World War. It was originally an Italian thing and referred to what the Italian workers brought for their lunches.
“Bub” is not just Maine slang. It’s outdated now but it was a common way to refer to someone, along with “Mac,” throughout the Northeast in the 40s and 50s. Watch old Hollywood films and you’ll hear it constantly.
I'm from the South, so when I moved to the Philly area, I discovered they didn't speak the same language I did. I went to lunch with a new friend who wanted to order "Tomato Pie." Not wanting to appear to be a country hick, I agreed to share thinking it would be something like a Quiche only with tomatoes instead of eggs. I was flabbergasted when a pizza showed up! 😲 It's not just the difference between English & American. Our language differs greatly from Sea to shining Sea. 😏
No... The tomato piess I've been served around Philly are not the same as a pizza. For one thing, it's served cold. The sauce is different. I dont know the recipe, but it tastes more like basic tomato sauce, without the classic seasoning you would have in a pizza sauce.
I'm with Warren T on this one. For us (southeastern PA natives), tomato pie and pizza refer to two distinct things, although they are similar. Pizza just refers to your usual east coast style thin-crust pizza, with a traditional pizza sauce covered in mozzarella and toppings. Tomato pie is inverted, with the cheese and toppings (if any) going on the crust first and a chunkier sauce (closer on the spectrum to crushed tomatoes) spread on top of the cheese. I grew up mostly associating tomato pie with Trenton NJ but it's pretty common all over the Philly area.
@@WarrenT Oh there's a fun one. Philadelphians call tomato sauce "gravy" and what most other folks call "gravy", they call "sauce." Or at least, South Philly Italians do.
@@heatherkuhn6559 Gravy has to have some meat cooked into it, like browning the meat and cooking the sauce in the drippings. The meat is usually added back.
Kind of hard to associate words with the "East Coast" - there are huge differences between the southeast and northeast, as well as the mid-atlantic states.
came here to say this. putting words from the mid-atlantic, new england, and the southeast coast in one video is a lot of dialectic difference! trying to explain that to west coast friends is a nightmare sometimes
The east coast is rather large and slang may vary considerably. I've never heard many of those words! Also, paunch is how I'd spell the "ponch" of which you speak.
The slang for a grinder, hero, sub, spuckie, hoagie varies as you travel up and down the East Coast. Since many people retire from the North to Florida, many of these terms have ended up there too. Hoagie came from the workers on Hog Island in the US Navy Yard, in Philadelphia. This was their version of a sub sandwich which started over a century and a half ago which was made with the local available ingredients.
See, I’d know that that meant if spelled “paunch” as well, and I’m not from the east coast. “Ponch” looked like conch, and so I thought maybe it was a type of shell.
Hey Laurence, I grew up in Cook County, IL. I’ve lived in Ohio, New Jersey and now Florida. In most states you hear people talking about going to the beach, but in NJ, you go “down the shore.” If you are in the Midwest, you might go to Oak Street Beach in Chicago, or go to “The Dunes” in Indiana or Michigan.
OMG as a native of Rochester, New York, I can truly say I'd only heard of four of them, but I love Lost in the Pond, because I married a Canadian and so much of Ontario is very old-school British. Laurence is looking at the US like I was looking at Canada when I moved there! Love the videos.
@@pathayes6084 Us in the Western half prefer not to be lumped in with those.... _Easterners_ 😒 Just kidding! But he could also do a whole episode on Pittsburghese!
Oh, I don't think he is ready for that. PA Amish country could supply this man with strange and relatively unheard of phrases for the next decade, with ease. I grew up in Chester County PA, with family in Lancaster and Reading and Hershey. I also spent almost a decade in Bradford County PA, with a whole new collective of slang and phrases. Then there is Western PA with its own slang and phrases that are different and Philly, which has its own separate phrases and slang.
The Grinder was first served in the Italian Neighborhood of New London, Connecticut. Sailors stationed at the Submarine Base would take the recipe home with them. They are also called Submarine Sandwiches for that reason.
As a lifelong East Coaster (NY, MA and MD), I’ve heard of 5 of these (grinder, hoagie, pie, nasty and wicked). I was expecting something different from this quiz. Quite a few words seem to be seemed to be city or state specific rather than regional. Thanks for the language lesson, Lawrence.
Lifelong DC-area resident, and I hadn't heard of a lot of these. Picked up some of the New England ones from visiting my sister, who relocated to Maine several decades ago.
I grew up in Central New York and as a child "wicked" was a popular word. It was used as an intensifier, "wicked cool" or as a synonym for cool, "That's wicked!". Much like the f-word, wicked is quite versatile. I've been told that it is more commonly used around Boston. I have no idea how it migrated to the areas outside of Syracuse.
I'm going to be really snarky here and say it probably migrated out of Syracuse with the people who moved away. I say that as someone who lived in Syracuse for several years, and then moved away...
It sounds like skater lingo, lol. Which is why I'm not surprised that a company I like that specializes in replacement earpads for headphones is called Wicked Cushions. They're based in California.
@@AnimatorBlake Also in Rochester here, and I've been using wicked since I was a little kid. I was surprised to see Boge(y) pop up on this list as well. I don't know anyone else around here that uses it beyond me and a few friends.
Sub sandwiches are called "grinders" in Rhode Island also. The supposed origin of this slang stems from when there were Italian immigrants who played crank organs on the street for tips. They were called "organ grinders." The sandwiches on Italian style torpedo rolls they ate began to be called "organ grinder sandwiches" which evolved down to just "grinders."
Thank you for the short lesson sir. +1 This is just the kind of "useless" info I retain incredibly well. Can't find my wallet ATM... but I'll tell you where the word grinder comes from lol
I thought grinder was a dating hook-up website or phone app. I have always called the sandwich version a Po' Boy, which is what they were called in Houston, where I first had one.
@@powellmountainmike8853 I've also had them in Louisiana, but I first had them in Houston. For the longest time, I did not think to call them anything else.
Italian immigrants built ships on Hog island outside of Philadelphia. They had to get use to eating their leisured lunch in less time so meat salad and bread became a sandwich.Hoagies came from hoggies. That’s one story anyway
Bubbler was a brand name (such as Kleenex or Thermos) for a specific style of water fountain that shot the water straight up. They were popular in specific areas near the manufacturer so the name became synonymous with water fountain. Popularity waned due to sanitary concerns.
I grew up in and now live in southern NH. wicked, bubbler, and grinder are the words I’d say I associate most with my way of speaking. It’s true that tonic is pretty specific to the older folk, the only person I know who still says that is my 93 year old aunt (though I did hear it from the older generation quite a bit when I was a child).
I was a grad student at the University of New Hampshire and one of the things I noticed in the classes where I was a TA was students talking about having "passed in" an assignment. I quickly figured out "passed in" meant "submitted". Where I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia area), we didn't say "pass in" but would instead say "hand in" or "turn in" an assignment, in the classroom context. Though I imagine these would nevertheless be understandable to a New Hampshirite. Edit: thanks for all the responses! Now I'm wondering if "pass in" is said outside of New England and east coast Canada.
I live in New Hampshire and have lived in salem Manchester and concord. Not only do I not say grinder I don’t know anyone who says that. I and literally everyone I know says sub.
Strong agree, all the variants of "What's up?" meaning such a common, easily-understood sentiment across dialects, languages, and even cultures does deserve a video.
Wicked basically means “very”. It’s an adverb as used here in the Boston area. Something usually isn’t wicked, but it can be wicked good, wicked bad, wicked expensive, etc.
@@cerveza2297 I am from Massachusetts but from the western part. This word was big here in the 90's. I had used it alot as a teenager. Boston is like another state. You guys have different words and everything. It's not ignorant its urban slang that kids came up with. That happens each generation.
Yeah, wicked is classic Maine/Massachusetts, and I would think of it more like "extremely" than simply "very," but the range is wide enough that both fit.
Creemee actually is more than just a name for soft serve. Creemee is a soft serve with a higher than normal amount of cream. I found this out when I visited my sister in Vermont. They are definitely better than most soft serve ice cream I've had elsewhere.
Lived in Vt for more than 90% of my life, and I've never heard it called soft serve until I worked at a restaurant that out-of-staters frequented. I was genuinely confused when I heard it , which is the funny part.
As far as soft-serve ice cream in Vermont, in many VT locales a "creemee" or "creamy" is soft serve blended with maple syrup. REAL, maple syrup of course.
@@festerofest4374 What locales were those? And what festivals/fairs were taking place? As someone who grew up in VT, most places typically only carried vanilla and chocolate, or a swirl of the two. If maple was offered, typically it was because the fair was in town, or it was one of the festivals (Apple fest, Maple fest, Winter Carnival, etc.). Just curious were and when you were able to find the maple, as it didn’t used to be a common find, surprisingly….(but not really, because…the syrup makes it too soft, it doesn’t set the same with syrup in it.)
This is so funny to me as a Southerner. The only two I knew for sure were hoagie and grinder. Otherwise, they all sounded like a foreign language to me too. It goes to show even us Americans do not all speak the same English. 🤣
I live in the Philly area, born and raised, and was tickled pink JAWN made the list! It's such a unique part of the regional vernacular. You could hear JAWN anywhere and know were that speaker is from instantly
First mistake was thinking "the east coast" is a thing. NYC and South Carolina are at least as far apart linguistically as the US and the UK, and Maine is almost as far apart from NYC.
youre so much more wrong than youd ever think. as someone whos spent a decade in both the north east and south east. Northerners and Southerners like to act like theyre soooo much different but really you arent that different at all. and i mean not much different AT ALL
Lifelong MA resident, I've always calls them grinders. I understand it comes from selling sandwiches to the dock workers in Boston that spent most of their time grinding the rust off ships. My favorite Boston phrase is " Bang a yuie" for make a U-turn, and packy for package store, which is a euphemism for a liquor store.
I picked up "wicked" from going to college in Vermont. It was a very interesting addition to my Californian Valley Girl slang, like, y'know? Like, college is totally wicked, and Vermont is like, wicked cold, for real.
I love learning about regional slang terminology. If you do a video on West Coast California slang, I'll give you a head start: grip, legit, May Gray, June Gloom, sigalert, bruh, the Santa Anas
I grew up in Southern California until I was 20 and half of those I've never even heard of, lol. I think "legit" is one I use the most out of all of those. Maybe "grip" like "get a grip" and of course recent slang hearing "bruh" everywhere... but never heard "May Gray" or "June Gloom" ... don't know what "sigalert" is, and "Santa Anas" is just a term for the strong winds I suppose ? lol
@@danielleking262 May gray and June gloom refers to the overcast ocean influence weather every May and June. Sigalert....the notifications of serious traffic delays on our already crowded freeways
Apart from the odd year or two in England, I'm a lifelong East Coaster (CT and NJ), but I've never heard of most of the these words. I suspect quite a few of them are specific to a limited region or sub-region, not to the East Coast as a whole. (I've been told that there are very definite territorial lines of demarcation separating "hoagie" from "grinder" from "hero" from "subway," for example. If you call a hoagie a grinder in Philadelphia, you'll be in big trouble, bub!) "Bub" has always struck me as a blue-collar New York word with a somewhat negative or aggressive overtone, a form of address for a stranger whose looks or demeanor the speaker didn't care for. In certain hard-boiled black-and-white movies of the 1930s/ '40s/ '50s, cab drivers and petty gangsters and bouncers and cops on the beat were always saying things like, "Hey bub, watch where ya goin'!" or "Hey bub, whatcha lookin' at?!" The words "bud" (abbreviated from "buddy") and "buster" have a similar connotation and could be used interchangeably with bub. Calling a guy "bud" doesn't mean he's your buddy ("Hey bud, gimme a cigarette!"), and "buster" might be uttered in a threatening manner as a preliminary to a punch. ("Hey, buster, get ova' here or I'll knock ya block off!")
It is because he is not getting the words from the area. He gets it from people who think that is what we say, often a caricature. . He did this in the south version, and nobody makes hoecakes, hopping john or says piddling, etc. Some we do say, but it would help if he actually asked people in the region.
My brother was once late for a party. He'd moved to California. When asked why he was so late, he told his friends, "I got pulled over by the staties on my way to the packie, and I couldn't find my registration in the glovie." LOL
@danielleking262 That sounds like Massachusetts. staties = state police packie = package (liquor) store but I've never heard anyone call a glove compartment a "glovie" And it looks like it's supposed to be said in a Southie (South Boston) accent. (If you've ever seen someone doing a "Boston" accent that doesn't sound like John F. Kennedy, they are probably doing a Southie accent. The Sam Adams beer ads with "your cousin, from Boston" or the Dunkin' Donuts ad from this year's Super Bowl [2024] featured Southie accents.)
Dear Lawrence, Could you do a show with the direction being east to west. That is could you explain some British term like tickety-boo, toddler pip, why cheers means thank you, goodbye and lifting a drink together. Also mine's a pint. I've been watching a lot of British TV on Amazon Prime Video. Many of these terms come up and noone can explain to this Pennsylvanian what they mean so if the pond could look the other way around for a couple of sessions this patron would be ever so pleased.
As a New Englander I can say that lots of the words on this list that originate here are primarily used by older people, and those places further west that use the same terms show the settlement patterns of the US. Those places were settled by New Englanders heading west, many of the settlements around the Great Lakes and in the Pacific Northwest were called Yankee Towns, as Yankee originally strictly meant people from New England
I read something many years ago and I am trying to recall how it went. In the world, a Yankee is anyone from the USA. In the USA, a Yankee is anyone from outside the former Confederate states. Outside of those states, a Yankee is anyone from the northeast. In the northeast, a Yankee is someone from New England. In New England, a Yankee is someone from Vermont. And in Vermont, a Yankee is anyone who eats meat pie for breakfast.
@@gazoontight I am from Massachusetts and I thought that Yankee is from someone in North East in US, although we are also call massh*les here, particularly for are driving mostly people near boston lol
@@gazoontight Liked your bit you sent in. In my neck of NE, in order for someone to be considered a Yankee they must be at least the 3rd generation born in this country (in other words, not an immigrant)
@@gazoontight The only Americans I’ve ever heard refer to themselves as Yankees are people from the Northeast and not just Vermont. I don’t care for when non Americans call me as Yank or Yankee because not only am I not from the Northeast, I’ve hardly ever been them. I correct them. The Yankees baseball team is in New York for a reason. If the franchise moved to New Orleans I guarantee the name would be changed.
Going to guess Laurence didn’t ever watch an X-Men cartoon, “bub,” had to be Wolverine’s favourite word. Either that or it was the writers trying to get around swearing.
I grew up on the east coast, in several states. I've only heard a couple of those: wicked, like wicked good, wicked bad, grinder but not in Boston, in SE CT, and in my experience "bub" was mainly used to say "Hey, Bub," in a not nice way, to get the attention of someone who's about to be in an arguement, or depending on how much beer was consumed, a barfight.
Thank you from Connecticut. The state that has many towns and cities named for British towns as well as Irish in their origins. Native American words are as much in common as well. 🇺🇸❤️🇬🇧
In Eastern PA a “grinder” is sometimes used for a hot sandwich. Hoagie is used for cold sandwiches but the term “Sub” is recognized and a NJ thing. Pie for Pizza also tends to be more NJ but known. And Mom and Pop shops are always the best places to get your, Pie, Hoagie, Sub or Grinder. Chains are “subway” are a joke. Add “Gin Mill” to the list of old timers words.
@@JosephSapienza57 i grew up in Waterbury in the 60s and early 70s- back then everybody called them Grinders. Subs became more popular when Subway opened.
Grinders, subs, hoagies, italians are all words for different types of the same hot or cold sandwich in the northeast region. Usually think of grinders as hot and hoagies as cold, and italians are usually cold deli meat and cheese sandwiches (you want salt, peppa, oil on that?) and interchangeable with sub or hoagie. You will hear hero used occasionally, but not as much as other regions
(Alice's hubby /Don) Slippin' once meant dancing. Bub meant the same thing in New York City. Both terms are obsolete or obsolescent on most of the east coast. Growing up in the late '40s and the 50s, until about 1955, no one not Italian said pizza alone. It was always pizza pie. Back in those days, quinine water was sold as tonic in the northeast.
LOL, I've been following you for a long long time and thought it was high time I said Hello, and tell you how much I enjoy you and your videos. You always bring a smile to my face. Love and Respect!!
As someone who's lived in Massachusetts and Rhode Island all my life, I salute you, sir. A word I think needs to be added to your list is "cabinet", which is a tiny colloquialism. It's almost entirely exclusive to Rhode Island, and it literally means milkshake. Ice cream, syrup, and milk.
Grinder originated in Connecticut in the 1930s; Nardelli's being the most widespread grinder shop chain. In New Haven, "tomato pie" originated with Frank Pepe in 1925. Also known as "apizza" or "abeets" - Neopolitan style where Frank was from. Default is dough with tomato sauce, you must ask for mozz on it if you want cheese. Spuckie ("spooky") short for spucadella meaning 'long roll'. Only used in Boston, as is tonic or "bulkie" (kaiser roll).
I've lived in NY for most of life and hadn't heard of most of these words! It kind of seemed like they were mostly typical of New England. Would love to see you do a New York specific list; there is slang that's very unique to our city. We are an island after all :)
Hello from Rhode Island. It's remarkable how many of these words and usages I had never heard before. I was aware of that use of "tonic," but I'm 51 and cannot recall ever hearing it used. "Grinder" and "bubbler" are the only words you're likely to hear here, although perhaps less often than in the past.
My husband's family is from there too, but I was under the impression that a bubbler was specifically a water cooler with the tank on the top, and a water fountain like at a school or public building was a water or drinking fountain?
@@saraa3418 A bubbler is a water fountain at a school or a public building. I've never heard it used to describe a water cooler with the water tank on top. That would make sense though, since the water bubbles as it drains.
JPMadden, "tonic" as a carbonated drink is, or maybe was, the city of Boston. The term changed to "soda" as soon as you get out of the city. Experience from a generation or so ago, so usage may have changed. Woonsocket used to be famous for people speaking English with French grammar rules. "Drive slow your car". Or so went the stereotype, I've only been there a couple times in my life. Is that accurate?
I’ve certainly heard a number of these, especially near the end of the list. It was interesting to see what other East coast slang exists since I was born and raised in the Mid Atlantic region.
I live in New Hampshire and use most of these phrases lol, and even when I shared them with my husband he laughed because he thought that everyone knew the meaning lol, it blew his mind to know that not everyone all over the world understands our slang words lol I know that it's small minded but it was still funny lol thank you so very much for sharing love your channel and thank you so much for sharing ❤😊❤😊
I've lived in the NY and CT area my whole life (70+ years), and never heard boge, creemee, jawn, ponch, spuckie or slippin'. Of course, pizza is a pie, except in New Haven, CT where it's apizza (pronounced "a-beetz:. A water fountain is a water fountain, although I've heard the term bubbler a few times when travelling. I grew up just north of NYC calling the sandwich a wedge, and then got used to NYC calling it a hero, and in CT it's a grinder. I agree we should try to settle on a single name, but I don't expect to see it in my lifetime. Thanks for sharing. The USA is roughly the same size as Europe (according to Google) so there is no reason to expect the we will be any more organized language-wise than Europe. As has been quoted extensively, UK and USA are two countries separated by the same language - and in the case of the USA, we are one country separated by the same language.
East coaster here (NYC): “Boge” is a term that hasn't been used, and only had a short lived use, back east in the early ’90s. It comes from (Humphrey) Bogart who was very often pictured with a cigarette hanging from his lips. It is Ebonics... “Bub” is almost completely in disuse, falling out of favor in the 1950s... In NYC, a grinder or hoagie is called a “hero.”
I'm guessing you don't smoke or roll up with others in Marcus Garvey Park too often; 'boge' is less popular but most definitely still in use. Particularly if you're asking/being asked for one from someone you at least vaguely know already.
Delighted you had creemee (also spelled: creamee), and the best kind is maple by the way. Of course it is, it's Vermont! There is also one upper New England specific word: dooryard. Anyone not from Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire tend to be confused when this word is spoken, but in upper New England it is a very common term in conversation. Lower New England may have this word in some places, but the farther south you go the more that word disappears. I agree with the comment below, as linguistically the upper east coast is very different than the lower east coast, and as we say in Vermont: "you can't get there from here."
Grinder is usually specific to a hot sub, often an Italian one. For example, a Meatball Grinder. The word that my out of State relatives thought was funny in Connecticut was "Package Store" or "Packy", which means "Liquor Store". "Wicked" was more common in other parts of New England, but seems to have gained in popularity recently. "Cremee" is Vermont specific, but "Softee" or "Soft-Serve" is pretty generally understood.
Not in Massachusetts. A grinder is exclusively cold. Cold-cut grinder. Roast beef grinder. Ham and cheese grinder. But it's a meatball sub. Chicken parm sub.
@@uiscepreston Interesting. Here in PA, if you want a sub that's usually cold to be heated in the oven, you ask for a grinder (e.g., an Italian grinder) instead of a sub/hoagie. I've done that many times.
@@pamelabennett9057 iwas going to say the same thing because i keep seeing people say its a hot sub. In Massachusetts particularly central mass it means just a deli sub like an italian or turkey etc...
When I first moved to Boston over 25 years ago, I remember seeing a sign above the aisle in a big grocery store chain for "Tonic & Diet Tonic." But they've gone more mainstream now & you won't find signs like that very often.
I grew up in Weymouth , a town south of Boston. We allied those large sandwiches subs, but in from Boston northwards, at least along the coast, they were called grinders. By the way, in other videos you’ve mentioned John Quincy Adams. In my lifetime his second name was pronounced “quin zee”, the way the name of that town is pronounced. Quincy was town we shopped in since it was much larger than Weymouth.
As a North Carolinian, I’m a mix of Southern and East Coast and proud of it! Slippin’, bub, wicked, pie, hoagie were all part of everyday use, even tonic I heard once or twice, but we say soda. I now live in Oklahoma and these words aren’t heard at all, but I still use soda & slippin’! Man, I miss the East Coast. And really until this channel, I didn’t realize East Coast was a thing, at least different word vernacular than the south, to me they were one in the same, lol.
All of my guesses below were before Laurence revealed the real meaning - and I'm a born-and-bred Chicago/suburban gal! Boge - something you smoke (a cigar, cigarette, Bogee) Bub - a friend, a pal - usually a male ("Hey, bub!") Bubbler - a drinking fountain, water fountain - where you press a lever or foot pedal to get some water (also popular in M
I just learned about “grinder” yesterday lol I’m from the midsouth but going to attend Uni on the East Coast this fall. I was warned by one of the older students about different terms (especially grinder) and I have no idea why someone would call food item a grinder. Thank you for making this video, it’s seriously could not have come at a better time. I feel slightly better about the transition armed with my newfound East coast vocabulary so thanks Mr. Laurence ^_^
Grinder, pie and hoagie are the only ones I heard of. (Michigan millennial here). And wicked always sounded more like UK slang to me, i'm surprise you didn't get that one. and "whats's poppin" i was shocked to see on here lol
As someone who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the '50s and early '60s I think I did good with 6 or 7 right. In my youth wicked was similar to cool but in the opposite direction. Cool was more laid back and easy going while wicked was sharper or edgier. "That hot rod has a wicked paint job." Tonic isn't exactly like seltzer. Tonic has some minerals and quinine in it. So it's quite bitter. It was commonly used as a mixer for gin making a gin and tonic. These were common drinks in the tropics to "counter malaria."
Hello! I love that you made this! I grew up an hour north of Boston. I left in '89 and never heard of boge so it's is a newer word? Bubler is shortened because as a kid I would line up to drink from the watah bubblah. The elders drank tonic watah and wicked shortened since my beloved '80's where we said something was wicked awesome. And yeah, the sandwich thing is crazy. Late to the party but I'm so happy I found your channel!
I have a feeling you'd most like pronounce many of our town and village names here in MA, as they are often English (sometimes Native American) but it's fun past time to watch 'outsiders' pronounce Worcester LOL also a Frappe in Boston is not pronounced how you might think :) We do use Wicked here (in MA) often in jest, but I always thought wicked in England was also a positive : my Hols were wicked. Tho, often in jest, Wicked can often be followed by Pisser (of course in the vernacular Wicked pissah) this is said jokingly amongst my friends but I've heard it in sincerity in Boston many times.
From my PNW understanding, bub is North American for bloke. Logan, aka Wolverine, of the Xmen uses it alot. Wicked is used here as well. 5:16 Utah has or had a sandwich chain called Hoagie & Yoggie.
It's an adverb, that modifies and adjective. It means, to an extreme degree. You wouldn't say, " He's wicked at skiing" you would say, "He is wicked good at skiing." You wouldn't say, "I have a wicked headache," you would say, "I have a wicked bad headache."
@@andrewjones6295 Indeed. It's also up to the region and speaker. In Mass, wicked is most often used as you describe, although "I have a wicked headache" is kosher, as is "she's got some wicked moves."
I ♥️ this series. Please do the Southwest! That would be wicked smart. I’ve heard more of (and use) the southern words and phrases, but was surprised that I was familiar with several of these. I’ll call people bub, use the phrase “wicked”, tell people they’re slippin’, and I know I’ve asked people “what’s poppin’” before. I’m from the Southwest so I’m intrigued as to how these words made their way into my lexicon. 😁
My brother works in a factory in the southwest. The management sent out an email with a list of words that were no longer PC. The list contained words like pow-wow, war path and others that would be considered deragatory to Native Americans, some common words in Spanish and cowboy slang. I'd have thought the southwest had lost a lot of regional slang after the Cali types woke-ified everything.
We're fast becoming a homogeneous group. Everyone distilled untill their essence has mixed with enough other people we'll hear some different phrase, use, we'll pause and realize we know that. When I was 10, we had or were going to Disney World for the Bicentennial. But my dad also wanted and education part of the summer. It wasn't super educational but we spent three weeks touring the Smithsonian nobody comes away dumber for that. We were outside the Washington monument waiting for the rain to clear and I had an hour-long argument with the boy my age over the difference between pop and soda. We also argued that he couldn't have a Nana because Nana was my Nana. I guess I learned quite a bit on that trip the only time my grandmother ever went camping with us I think it took her 10 years to forgive us she hated camping.
Doing one of these videos on slang words which are specific to southern Louisiana (cajun/bayou country) would be awesome! I'd be surprised (and impressed) if he didn't fail at guessing 80-90% of them.
Wow. I have lived in north Virginia for 30 years, and the only ones I have ever heard used are hoagie, wicked, and bub. Clearly, I need to get out more.
Although I know a few of these terms, a lot were more northern east coast - no southern east coast. Most of them made me think "huh?" Of course I'm in northeastern NC, so there you go.
I wasn't raised on the east coast, but one time when I was little my dad took me to an east-coast-themed sub restaurant, and the signs on the door advertised that they had grinders, and I took this to mean that they had meat grinders to grind up the meat for their sandwiches, and I said something to express this view that I held regarding the meaning of the word grinder, and my dad told me that we were going to buy grinders to eat, and since I still thought this was referring to the appliance used to grind meat, which itself is clearly not edible, I thought he was just saying a ridiculous thing to mess with me.
I was born in California. I used the words pop, drinking fountain, sandwich. In Jr. high and High School our family moved to Connecticut. One friend teased me for saying pop and aunt ( like ant). She said soda and aunt (like awning). Well I say soda but I still say aunt like awning. There are many words back East for sub sandwiches:hoagies (Philly), grinder. I did hear pie used at pizzerias. I never heard bubbler (I thought that was Southern). I never heard boge, spuckie, what's poppin', nasty (as a good thing). I remember the LLBean catalog calls their slippers wicked good. I think it means "extremely". In California, I hear many mothers saying to their kids "Don't touch that! It's nasty!" in the bathroom.
I can only attribute “ponch” to illiterates (Ponch to me only refers to the nickname for Erik Estrada’s character Frank Poncherello on the old series CHiPs. The word has always been spelled paunch here in Massachusetts. Never heard Spuckie or a few of the other terms.
Lived in New England for decades now and while I've seen ponch I too actually thought if it wasnt a misspelling of paunch then it was a chips reference and meant a cop or something. Never heard of spuckie or boge and only knew creemee because of an ex from VT. Bub isnt Maine, its eastern Canada Wolverine :D
I was raised in Portsmouth England however due to being born in NJ randomly I am a US citizen. Later this year I am moving to the USA to work for a friend of the family, im super excited as ive not been since I was 3 months old. Your channel is quite interesting.
That was more of a North East type of list so you could probably still squeeze a little bit more out of the rest of the East Coast. A lot of New England slang in that one. I live on the East Coast and I hadn't heard half of them. Maybe try and look at the mid Atlantic.
I’ve lived in the Boston area all my life and we do not typically use the word grinder to mean a submarine sandwich. We simply call these sandwiches a sub. You’ll find sub shops everywhere with signage that says “Sub Shop”. I always thought grinder was more of a New York term.
In certain parts of Connecticut a grinder is specifically for sub-type sandwiches served hot, like a meatball grinder, while one with cold cuts would be a sub or some other local term.
I grew up near Boston, and can say we pretty much always used “sub.” Since I’ve moved out near Worcester (which, for my Boston area family might as well be California), “grinder” has been heard quite often. I’m one of the few who still says “tonic” for any carbonated beverage, and I will not change.
its New England and some of Upstate NY - but not really in boston. very common in CT, RI, western MA, VT & NH everyone obviously knows what a sub is too.
The bronze drinking fountains located on the streets of downtown Portland, Oregon, are known as "Benson Bubblers." Outside of that context, "bubbler" is not used here.
I think setting these up as "East Coast" is still even a little too broad of an area. The mid-Atlantic states have words that are different from just a couple of hours north in the northeast. To be fair, here in New Jersey, we tend to have our own language. And I'd not heard of many of these terms.
It always amuses me to see what does and doesn't make the list. Half of them I've never heard, and the other half I can't believe everyone else hasn't.
Same, although most of these were Northeastern and I'm from Virginia. The Northeast is quite different than anything in the Southeast
200th like omg
He's using a listicle. It's a list built by algorithm, not by thinking human beings.
I never heard most of these words.
I feel like wicked and nasty are more universally common, though maybe I'm just saying that because I love dubstep, and metal but you don't really see those words often, at least nowadays. Kinda surprised bub doesn't originate from New York since I thought it came from Yiddish.
My Dad grew up in the mountains of North Carolina but I grew up in Indiana. When I went every summer it was a whole different language being used. The Appalachian mountains still use the language terms of the 1700s of Ireland,Scotland and England. It was so rural it just stayed the same.
In 1965, my father moved to Vermont from Illinois. He visited a local diner where the menu offered “homemade grinders.” When he asked what that was, the server clarified, “They’re like normal grinders, but we make them here.”
Wow, real helpful! Hahaha
LOL
HA!
@@Anubis626 New Englanders are well known to be "economical" in their use of words. There's a famous joke about US President Calvin Coolidge who was born in Vermont. He was a man of very few words. A woman who was seated next to him at dinner supposedly said that she had made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words. His famous [supposed] reply was : "You lose!" Coolidge himself later denied making that statement, but it would have been totally in character.
@JIMBEARRI The other apocryphal story that bookends that one is: upon hearing that Calvin Coolidge was dead Dorothy Parker, the acid-tongued literary critic, remarked, "How can they tell?" In one version of the first story, Dorothy Parker was actually the woman who tried unsuccessfully to get Calvin Coolidge to talk.
Hoagie is from Pennsylvania because it was originally called a Hoggie and was used at the Navy Yard on Hog Island where, by the way, my grandfather worked during the Second World War. It was originally an Italian thing and referred to what the Italian workers brought for their lunches.
“Bub” is not just Maine slang. It’s outdated now but it was a common way to refer to someone, along with “Mac,” throughout the Northeast in the 40s and 50s. Watch old Hollywood films and you’ll hear it constantly.
Or Read a Wolverine X-Men comic. He uses it ALL the time.
"What's all the hubbub, bub?"
Now it's "Bro" or "Bruh" or "Dude" in most of the US.
When I think "bub", I think of Wolverine. He uses it often.
@@alidaweber1023 You know what’s weird? I remember my father using Brother in certain instances. My brothers friends, addressing store help etc.
I'm from the South, so when I moved to the Philly area, I discovered they didn't speak the same language I did. I went to lunch with a new friend who wanted to order "Tomato Pie." Not wanting to appear to be a country hick, I agreed to share thinking it would be something like a Quiche only with tomatoes instead of eggs. I was flabbergasted when a pizza showed up! 😲
It's not just the difference between English & American. Our language differs greatly from Sea to shining Sea. 😏
No... The tomato piess I've been served around Philly are not the same as a pizza. For one thing, it's served cold. The sauce is different. I dont know the recipe, but it tastes more like basic tomato sauce, without the classic seasoning you would have in a pizza sauce.
I'm with Warren T on this one. For us (southeastern PA natives), tomato pie and pizza refer to two distinct things, although they are similar. Pizza just refers to your usual east coast style thin-crust pizza, with a traditional pizza sauce covered in mozzarella and toppings. Tomato pie is inverted, with the cheese and toppings (if any) going on the crust first and a chunkier sauce (closer on the spectrum to crushed tomatoes) spread on top of the cheese.
I grew up mostly associating tomato pie with Trenton NJ but it's pretty common all over the Philly area.
@@WarrenT Oh there's a fun one. Philadelphians call tomato sauce "gravy" and what most other folks call "gravy", they call "sauce." Or at least, South Philly Italians do.
@@heatherkuhn6559 I grew up just outside of f Philly for 20 years and never heard of tomato sauce as gravy. Gravy was the stuff with turkey.
@@heatherkuhn6559 Gravy has to have some meat cooked into it, like browning the meat and cooking the sauce in the drippings. The meat is usually added back.
Kind of hard to associate words with the "East Coast" - there are huge differences between the southeast and northeast, as well as the mid-atlantic states.
It's hard to associate words from Boston to NYC which is a cesspool (btw).
Heck, you can have drastic differences between parts of states with how dense the population is on the east coast, especially the north-east.
came here to say this. putting words from the mid-atlantic, new england, and the southeast coast in one video is a lot of dialectic difference! trying to explain that to west coast friends is a nightmare sometimes
Yeah the words in the video seemed more northeast based
Such as weather..
Here is Pittsburgh Pa a jag off....is someone who parks their car in a space you dug out of the snow, pop is soda, yniz.... means you guys.
The east coast is rather large and slang may vary considerably. I've never heard many of those words! Also, paunch is how I'd spell the "ponch" of which you speak.
Ponch is the Latino biker cop on CHIPs.😆
@@elultimo102 Exactly!
The slang for a grinder, hero, sub, spuckie, hoagie varies as you travel up and down the East Coast. Since many people retire from the North to Florida, many of these terms have ended up there too.
Hoagie came from the workers on Hog Island in the US Navy Yard, in Philadelphia. This was their version of a sub sandwich which started over a century and a half ago which was made with the local available ingredients.
See, I’d know that that meant if spelled “paunch” as well, and I’m not from the east coast. “Ponch” looked like conch, and so I thought maybe it was a type of shell.
I'm in the "paunch" camp too. Never seen it as "ponch".
Hey Laurence, I grew up in Cook County, IL. I’ve lived in Ohio, New Jersey and now Florida. In most states you hear people talking about going to the beach, but in NJ, you go “down the shore.” If you are in the Midwest, you might go to Oak Street Beach in Chicago, or go to “The Dunes” in Indiana or Michigan.
OMG as a native of Rochester, New York, I can truly say I'd only heard of four of them, but I love Lost in the Pond, because I married a Canadian and so much of Ontario is very old-school British. Laurence is looking at the US like I was looking at Canada when I moved there! Love the videos.
As someone who lives in New Hampshire, I'm so excited to see this! You should try Massachusetts city names!
You could do an entire episode on PA Dutch phrases.
I would love that! Or phrases just used in Pennsylvania.
Yesss!!
@@pathayes6084 Us in the Western half prefer not to be lumped in with those.... _Easterners_ 😒 Just kidding! But he could also do a whole episode on Pittsburghese!
@@tryhardfinessedyou yins sure could
Oh, I don't think he is ready for that. PA Amish country could supply this man with strange and relatively unheard of phrases for the next decade, with ease. I grew up in Chester County PA, with family in Lancaster and Reading and Hershey. I also spent almost a decade in Bradford County PA, with a whole new collective of slang and phrases. Then there is Western PA with its own slang and phrases that are different and Philly, which has its own separate phrases and slang.
The Grinder was first served in the Italian Neighborhood of New London, Connecticut. Sailors stationed at the Submarine Base would take the recipe home with them. They are also called Submarine Sandwiches for that reason.
As a lifelong East Coaster (NY, MA and MD), I’ve heard of 5 of these (grinder, hoagie, pie, nasty and wicked). I was expecting something different from this quiz. Quite a few words seem to be seemed to be city or state specific rather than regional. Thanks for the language lesson, Lawrence.
Lifelong East coaster. Never heard of "boge", "creemee", "jawn", or "spuckie"
@@billsager5634 I live in Philly and never ever hear anyone say Jawn
Lifelong DC-area resident, and I hadn't heard of a lot of these. Picked up some of the New England ones from visiting my sister, who relocated to Maine several decades ago.
@@jaredf6205 Oh so you only know white people in Philly. That's honestly impressive.
That's because "the east coast" is not a meaningful geographic region.
I grew up in Central New York and as a child "wicked" was a popular word. It was used as an intensifier, "wicked cool" or as a synonym for cool, "That's wicked!". Much like the f-word, wicked is quite versatile. I've been told that it is more commonly used around Boston. I have no idea how it migrated to the areas outside of Syracuse.
I'm going to be really snarky here and say it probably migrated out of Syracuse with the people who moved away. I say that as someone who lived in Syracuse for several years, and then moved away...
It sounds like skater lingo, lol. Which is why I'm not surprised that a company I like that specializes in replacement earpads for headphones is called Wicked Cushions. They're based in California.
Its wicked common in Maine
In Western New York in Rochester we never use Wicked. Crazy how fast it drops off.
@@AnimatorBlake Also in Rochester here, and I've been using wicked since I was a little kid.
I was surprised to see Boge(y) pop up on this list as well. I don't know anyone else around here that uses it beyond me and a few friends.
Sub sandwiches are called "grinders" in Rhode Island also. The supposed origin of this slang stems from when there were Italian immigrants who played crank organs on the street for tips. They were called "organ grinders." The sandwiches on Italian style torpedo rolls they ate began to be called "organ grinder sandwiches" which evolved down to just "grinders."
Thank you for the short lesson sir. +1 This is just the kind of "useless" info I retain incredibly well. Can't find my wallet ATM... but I'll tell you where the word grinder comes from lol
I thought grinder was a dating hook-up website or phone app. I have always called the sandwich version a Po' Boy, which is what they were called in Houston, where I first had one.
@@larsedik They are called po boys in Louisiana too.
@@powellmountainmike8853 I've also had them in Louisiana, but I first had them in Houston. For the longest time, I did not think to call them anything else.
Italian immigrants built ships on Hog island outside of Philadelphia. They had to get use to eating their leisured lunch in less time so meat salad and bread became a sandwich.Hoagies came from hoggies. That’s one story anyway
Bubbler was a brand name (such as Kleenex or Thermos) for a specific style of water fountain that shot the water straight up. They were popular in specific areas near the manufacturer so the name became synonymous with water fountain. Popularity waned due to sanitary concerns.
I grew up in and now live in southern NH. wicked, bubbler, and grinder are the words I’d say I associate most with my way of speaking. It’s true that tonic is pretty specific to the older folk, the only person I know who still says that is my 93 year old aunt (though I did hear it from the older generation quite a bit when I was a child).
I was a grad student at the University of New Hampshire and one of the things I noticed in the classes where I was a TA was students talking about having "passed in" an assignment. I quickly figured out "passed in" meant "submitted". Where I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia area), we didn't say "pass in" but would instead say "hand in" or "turn in" an assignment, in the classroom context. Though I imagine these would nevertheless be understandable to a New Hampshirite.
Edit: thanks for all the responses! Now I'm wondering if "pass in" is said outside of New England and east coast Canada.
Bubbler is so much more fun than drinking fountain.
@@vincem3748 Pass in a paper, essay, test, is used in east coast Canada.
We are neighbors. I live in southern NH too. I agree 100% with your comment.
I live in New Hampshire and have lived in salem Manchester and concord. Not only do I not say grinder I don’t know anyone who says that. I and literally everyone I know says sub.
Strong agree, all the variants of "What's up?" meaning such a common, easily-understood sentiment across dialects, languages, and even cultures does deserve a video.
Boge (rhymes with Rogue) is short for Bogie, after Humphrey Bogart, for cigarette. Might be more of a Canadian thing but I've heard it round Boston
It's also short for bogus.
Don’t Bogart that joint my Friend!
@@fourhillsfarm That one I’ve heard of 😂
@@fourhillsfarm "Slackers"
@@fourhillsfarm Pass it over to me!
Sings: "When a fish bites your heel and you see a big eel, that's A MORAY!"
Cute. I heard Dean Martin singing this in my head.😊
Wicked basically means “very”. It’s an adverb as used here in the Boston area. Something usually isn’t wicked, but it can be wicked good, wicked bad, wicked expensive, etc.
I work in Boston. The only people I know who say wicked are from moo hampshire. It's ignorant.
@@cerveza2297 I am from Massachusetts but from the western part. This word was big here in the 90's. I had used it alot as a teenager. Boston is like another state. You guys have different words and everything. It's not ignorant its urban slang that kids came up with. That happens each generation.
@@cerveza2297 That's a pretty ignorant comment.
I live here and grew up here. It's still used.
Yeah, wicked is classic Maine/Massachusetts, and I would think of it more like "extremely" than simply "very," but the range is wide enough that both fit.
Thank you. You are are one of the few people who get it
I'm from Boston and I learned a lot of words I have never heard. Great video Sir Lawrence
spuckie is short for spuccadella a type of Italian bread used to make sandwiched in East Boston.
I've lived.in Rhody 23 yrs and never heard it. I fogured it had to be a North End thing...I was close
Wow, that is incredibly regional! Thanks for the interesting etymology.
Nicely expressive face!! Love all your videos. Opens a whole new world of America's weird. Every area of US is so different from all others
Creemee actually is more than just a name for soft serve. Creemee is a soft serve with a higher than normal amount of cream. I found this out when I visited my sister in Vermont. They are definitely better than most soft serve ice cream I've had elsewhere.
summer in VT is the creemee
Lived in Vt for more than 90% of my life, and I've never heard it called soft serve until I worked at a restaurant that out-of-staters frequented. I was genuinely confused when I heard it , which is the funny part.
@@morningcolossus Creemees are creemee.
As far as soft-serve ice cream in Vermont, in many VT locales a "creemee" or "creamy" is soft serve blended with maple syrup. REAL, maple syrup of course.
@@festerofest4374 What locales were those? And what festivals/fairs were taking place? As someone who grew up in VT, most places typically only carried vanilla and chocolate, or a swirl of the two. If maple was offered, typically it was because the fair was in town, or it was one of the festivals (Apple fest, Maple fest, Winter Carnival, etc.). Just curious were and when you were able to find the maple, as it didn’t used to be a common find, surprisingly….(but not really, because…the syrup makes it too soft, it doesn’t set the same with syrup in it.)
This is so funny to me as a Southerner. The only two I knew for sure were hoagie and grinder. Otherwise, they all sounded like a foreign language to me too. It goes to show even us Americans do not all speak the same English. 🤣
This California girI agrees with you Southerner! And I only really knew "hoagie" and "grinder" from that Adam Sandler song!
I live in the Philly area, born and raised, and was tickled pink JAWN made the list! It's such a unique part of the regional vernacular. You could hear JAWN anywhere and know were that speaker is from instantly
The only reason I know "jawn" is because there's an NPC in Fallout 76 that asks what a jawn is. Having no idea, I looked it up.
First mistake was thinking "the east coast" is a thing. NYC and South Carolina are at least as far apart linguistically as the US and the UK, and Maine is almost as far apart from NYC.
You took the slang right out of my mouth!! The WHOLE eastern seaboard? Thats like putting the slang of the Outer Hebrides in with Wimbledon’s!
BINGO!! :)
@@MarloweDash should have done New England and the traditional south for a better video
youre so much more wrong than youd ever think. as someone whos spent a decade in both the north east and south east. Northerners and Southerners like to act like theyre soooo much different but really you arent that different at all. and i mean not much different AT ALL
@@steelwitness so you're telling us that you're not a native English speaker
Lifelong MA resident, I've always calls them grinders. I understand it comes from selling sandwiches to the dock workers in Boston that spent most of their time grinding the rust off ships. My favorite Boston phrase is " Bang a yuie" for make a U-turn, and packy for package store, which is a euphemism for a liquor store.
My friends had to explain "packy" when I moved up here!
I've heard it as "hang a yuie."
@@alidaweber1023 Also heard it as a "one-eighty," as in degrees.
Not from the east, but I’ve heard hang a Louie (turn left) or hang a Ralph (turn right.)
These are wicked good additions to the list!
We sailors would call the paved area between the barracks ‘the grinder’. That would be where we would hold first formation and do p.t.
Muster on the grinder
Fallout on the grinder
Ah, the memories. In formation on the grinder waiting for the CC to run us to death. 😜
I picked up "wicked" from going to college in Vermont. It was a very interesting addition to my Californian Valley Girl slang, like, y'know? Like, college is totally wicked, and Vermont is like, wicked cold, for real.
Huh. I haven't heard "wicked" and I've lived in Vermont all my life. Probably fell out of use before my time, I guess.
Totally dude.
Always great to hear slang guessing with Lawrence. Nice video.
I love learning about regional slang terminology. If you do a video on West Coast California slang, I'll give you a head start: grip, legit, May Gray, June Gloom, sigalert, bruh, the Santa Anas
I grew up in Southern California until I was 20 and half of those I've never even heard of, lol. I think "legit" is one I use the most out of all of those. Maybe "grip" like "get a grip" and of course recent slang hearing "bruh" everywhere... but never heard "May Gray" or "June Gloom" ... don't know what "sigalert" is, and "Santa Anas" is just a term for the strong winds I suppose ? lol
@@danielleking262 May gray and June gloom refers to the overcast ocean influence weather every May and June. Sigalert....the notifications of serious traffic delays on our already crowded freeways
@@danielleking262 oh and the Santa Ana winds are the crazy hot winds we get coming from the desert
M1: "Hey, Bub. What's Poppin'?" M2: "Just got me a new car." M1: "Wicked."
Hawaii, the land of Aloha, would be a great location to find refreshingly familiar and not so familiar words with unexpected meanings.❣️🌴
Technically a grinder is a sub sandwich that is put under the broiler and toasted until the cheese is melted
@@dianeferrier7588 Not where I come from.
It doesn't take long to become kama aina.
Apart from the odd year or two in England, I'm a lifelong East Coaster (CT and NJ), but I've never heard of most of the these words. I suspect quite a few of them are specific to a limited region or sub-region, not to the East Coast as a whole. (I've been told that there are very definite territorial lines of demarcation separating "hoagie" from "grinder" from "hero" from "subway," for example. If you call a hoagie a grinder in Philadelphia, you'll be in big trouble, bub!)
"Bub" has always struck me as a blue-collar New York word with a somewhat negative or aggressive overtone, a form of address for a stranger whose looks or demeanor the speaker didn't care for. In certain hard-boiled black-and-white movies of the 1930s/ '40s/ '50s, cab drivers and petty gangsters and bouncers and cops on the beat were always saying things like, "Hey bub, watch where ya goin'!" or "Hey bub, whatcha lookin' at?!" The words "bud" (abbreviated from "buddy") and "buster" have a similar connotation and could be used interchangeably with bub. Calling a guy "bud" doesn't mean he's your buddy ("Hey bud, gimme a cigarette!"), and "buster" might be uttered in a threatening manner as a preliminary to a punch. ("Hey, buster, get ova' here or I'll knock ya block off!")
But don't you get great cheese steak subs in Philly?
It is because he is not getting the words from the area. He gets it from people who think that is what we say, often a caricature. . He did this in the south version, and nobody makes hoecakes, hopping john or says piddling, etc. Some we do say, but it would help if he actually asked people in the region.
My brother was once late for a party. He'd moved to California. When asked why he was so late, he told his friends, "I got pulled over by the staties on my way to the packie, and I couldn't find my registration in the glovie." LOL
Where is your brother from?? lol
@danielleking262 That sounds like Massachusetts.
staties = state police
packie = package (liquor) store
but I've never heard anyone call a glove compartment a "glovie"
And it looks like it's supposed to be said in a Southie (South Boston) accent. (If you've ever seen someone doing a "Boston" accent that doesn't sound like John F. Kennedy, they are probably doing a Southie accent. The Sam Adams beer ads with "your cousin, from Boston" or the Dunkin' Donuts ad from this year's Super Bowl [2024] featured Southie accents.)
Vermonter here. When I went to college in Massachusetts, everyone picked on me for saying "creemee" :)
With a moniker that starts with "slut" they probably another meaning of cream in mind ;)
@@mesientogut6701 I'm ONLY a slut for Bernie, not in general.
Dear Lawrence,
Could you do a show with the direction being east to west. That is could you explain some British term like tickety-boo, toddler pip, why cheers means thank you, goodbye and lifting a drink together. Also mine's a pint. I've been watching a lot of British TV on Amazon Prime Video. Many of these terms come up and noone can explain to this Pennsylvanian what they mean so if the pond could look the other way around for a couple of sessions this patron would be ever so pleased.
As a New Englander I can say that lots of the words on this list that originate here are primarily used by older people, and those places further west that use the same terms show the settlement patterns of the US. Those places were settled by New Englanders heading west, many of the settlements around the Great Lakes and in the Pacific Northwest were called Yankee Towns, as Yankee originally strictly meant people from New England
I read something many years ago and I am trying to recall how it went. In the world, a Yankee is anyone from the USA. In the USA, a Yankee is anyone from outside the former Confederate states. Outside of those states, a Yankee is anyone from the northeast. In the northeast, a Yankee is someone from New England. In New England, a Yankee is someone from Vermont. And in Vermont, a Yankee is anyone who eats meat pie for breakfast.
I was surprised Lawrence didn't know them. I figured since east coast was basically populated by Great Britain they'd be left overs from then. Wrong.
@@gazoontight I am from Massachusetts and I thought that Yankee is from someone in North East in US, although we are also call massh*les here, particularly for are driving mostly people near boston lol
@@gazoontight Liked your bit you sent in. In my neck of NE, in order for someone to be considered a Yankee they must be at least the 3rd generation born in this country (in other words, not an immigrant)
@@gazoontight The only Americans I’ve ever heard refer to themselves as Yankees are people from the Northeast and not just Vermont. I don’t care for when non Americans call me as Yank or Yankee because not only am I not from the Northeast, I’ve hardly ever been them. I correct them. The Yankees baseball team is in New York for a reason. If the franchise moved to New Orleans I guarantee the name would be changed.
No one is a 'grafter', A conman is a 'Grifter'
Going to guess Laurence didn’t ever watch an X-Men cartoon, “bub,” had to be Wolverine’s favourite word. Either that or it was the writers trying to get around swearing.
lol, I call my students "Bub" all the time. (I live in Maine)
Bub was also the grandfather on My Three Sons back in the 1960s
Bubba Louie was a cartoon character on the '60s. We called my brother "Bub" for awhile due to the that.
Literally the only time I've ever heard someone call some else bub.
I grew up on the east coast, in several states. I've only heard a couple of those: wicked, like wicked good, wicked bad, grinder but not in Boston, in SE CT, and in my experience "bub" was mainly used to say "Hey, Bub," in a not nice way, to get the attention of someone who's about to be in an arguement, or depending on how much beer was consumed, a barfight.
Thank you from Connecticut. The state that has many towns and cities named for British towns as well as Irish in their origins. Native American words are as much in common as well.
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I'm in Connecticut as well! Hey, "neighbor"!
@@sarawilliams3190 born in Groton-New London, lived for 31 years. I now live in Columbia, SC.
I still visit family when I can.
@@rodneygriffin7666 I've lived in Bristol since 88. It's a nice area, pretty central. South Carolina is gorgeous! And the barbecue is amazing
Hello fellow connecticutians
Your videos are always so interesting Lawrence, and you’re a very genuine person. Thanks for your content!
In Eastern PA a “grinder” is sometimes used for a hot sandwich. Hoagie is used for cold sandwiches but the term “Sub” is recognized and a NJ thing. Pie for Pizza also tends to be more NJ but known. And Mom and Pop shops are always the best places to get your, Pie, Hoagie, Sub or Grinder. Chains are “subway” are a joke. Add “Gin Mill” to the list of old timers words.
Definitely heard Gin Mill used by the older generation growing up. Three sheets to the wind usually went along with it.
In Connecticut a lot of the time I hear people use grinder and sub interchangeably. But Connecticut is weird.
Sub is widely used in Eastern MA as well.
@@JosephSapienza57 i grew up in Waterbury in the 60s and early 70s- back then everybody called them Grinders. Subs became more popular when Subway opened.
Grinders, subs, hoagies, italians are all words for different types of the same hot or cold sandwich in the northeast region. Usually think of grinders as hot and hoagies as cold, and italians are usually cold deli meat and cheese sandwiches (you want salt, peppa, oil on that?) and interchangeable with sub or hoagie. You will hear hero used occasionally, but not as much as other regions
(Alice's hubby /Don) Slippin' once meant dancing. Bub meant the same thing in New York City. Both terms are obsolete or obsolescent on most of the east coast. Growing up in the late '40s and the 50s, until about 1955, no one not Italian said pizza alone. It was always pizza pie. Back in those days, quinine water was sold as tonic in the northeast.
LOL, I've been following you for a long long time and thought it was high time I said Hello, and tell you how much I enjoy you and your videos. You always bring a smile to my face. Love and Respect!!
As someone who's lived in Massachusetts and Rhode Island all my life, I salute you, sir. A word I think needs to be added to your list is "cabinet", which is a tiny colloquialism. It's almost entirely exclusive to Rhode Island, and it literally means milkshake. Ice cream, syrup, and milk.
And the "tonic" should be a Moxie. Only tried it once; I seem to recall it tasting like a mix of Nyquil and 10W-30.
Grinder originated in Connecticut in the 1930s; Nardelli's being the most widespread grinder shop chain. In New Haven, "tomato pie" originated with Frank Pepe in 1925. Also known as "apizza" or "abeets" - Neopolitan style where Frank was from. Default is dough with tomato sauce, you must ask for mozz on it if you want cheese.
Spuckie ("spooky") short for spucadella meaning 'long roll'. Only used in Boston, as is tonic or "bulkie" (kaiser roll).
You said out east. We always have said out west, back east.
Only easterners say that.
I've lived in NY for most of life and hadn't heard of most of these words! It kind of seemed like they were mostly typical of New England. Would love to see you do a New York specific list; there is slang that's very unique to our city. We are an island after all :)
The Jewish, Italian, black, and hispanic populations of NYC have entirely different dialects. Perhaps an episode for each NYC borough?
Hello from Rhode Island. It's remarkable how many of these words and usages I had never heard before. I was aware of that use of "tonic," but I'm 51 and cannot recall ever hearing it used. "Grinder" and "bubbler" are the only words you're likely to hear here, although perhaps less often than in the past.
My husband's family is from there too, but I was under the impression that a bubbler was specifically a water cooler with the tank on the top, and a water fountain like at a school or public building was a water or drinking fountain?
@@saraa3418 A bubbler is a water fountain at a school or a public building. I've never heard it used to describe a water cooler with the water tank on top. That would make sense though, since the water bubbles as it drains.
It probably comes from tonic water, a cocktail ingredient that's fizzy and contains quinine.
Yes
JPMadden, "tonic" as a carbonated drink is, or maybe was, the city of Boston. The term changed to "soda" as soon as you get out of the city. Experience from a generation or so ago, so usage may have changed.
Woonsocket used to be famous for people speaking English with French grammar rules. "Drive slow your car". Or so went the stereotype, I've only been there a couple times in my life. Is that accurate?
The things you teach us Americans about our country is great. From Michigan.
I’m from Philly- hoagie and jawn- both well known.
I’ve certainly heard a number of these, especially near the end of the list. It was interesting to see what other East coast slang exists since I was born and raised in the Mid Atlantic region.
I live in New Hampshire and use most of these phrases lol, and even when I shared them with my husband he laughed because he thought that everyone knew the meaning lol, it blew his mind to know that not everyone all over the world understands our slang words lol I know that it's small minded but it was still funny lol thank you so very much for sharing love your channel and thank you so much for sharing ❤😊❤😊
I've lived in the NY and CT area my whole life (70+ years), and never heard boge, creemee, jawn, ponch, spuckie or slippin'. Of course, pizza is a pie, except in New Haven, CT where it's apizza (pronounced "a-beetz:. A water fountain is a water fountain, although I've heard the term bubbler a few times when travelling. I grew up just north of NYC calling the sandwich a wedge, and then got used to NYC calling it a hero, and in CT it's a grinder. I agree we should try to settle on a single name, but I don't expect to see it in my lifetime.
Thanks for sharing. The USA is roughly the same size as Europe (according to Google) so there is no reason to expect the we will be any more organized language-wise than Europe. As has been quoted extensively, UK and USA
are two countries separated by the same language - and in the case of the USA, we are one country separated by the same language.
We've already settled on a single name: sub. Each area has it's own name for them, but they all also use sub.
East coaster here (NYC): “Boge” is a term that hasn't been used, and only had a short lived use, back east in the early ’90s. It comes from (Humphrey) Bogart who was very often pictured with a cigarette hanging from his lips. It is Ebonics... “Bub” is almost completely in disuse, falling out of favor in the 1950s... In NYC, a grinder or hoagie is called a “hero.”
East Coasters have a variety of words for sub. NY is Hero, Phily is Hoagie, New England Grinder.
I'm guessing you don't smoke or roll up with others in Marcus Garvey Park too often; 'boge' is less popular but most definitely still in use. Particularly if you're asking/being asked for one from someone you at least vaguely know already.
When I met my American family, I could hardly understand a word they said! It's the nouns that got me.
Grew up on the East Coast. Never used any of these. Grew up in PA and never used or heard of grinder.
Maybe because “grinder” is more specific to Massachusetts / New England. “Hoagie” would be more likely for PA, but it is a big state.
Delighted you had creemee (also spelled: creamee), and the best kind is maple by the way. Of course it is, it's Vermont! There is also one upper New England specific word: dooryard. Anyone not from Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire tend to be confused when this word is spoken, but in upper New England it is a very common term in conversation. Lower New England may have this word in some places, but the farther south you go the more that word disappears. I agree with the comment below, as linguistically the upper east coast is very different than the lower east coast, and as we say in Vermont: "you can't get there from here."
Grinder is usually specific to a hot sub, often an Italian one. For example, a Meatball Grinder. The word that my out of State relatives thought was funny in Connecticut was "Package Store" or "Packy", which means "Liquor Store". "Wicked" was more common in other parts of New England, but seems to have gained in popularity recently. "Cremee" is Vermont specific, but "Softee" or "Soft-Serve" is pretty generally understood.
Packy is also used in the upper Midwest, like WI and MN.
Not in Massachusetts. A grinder is exclusively cold. Cold-cut grinder. Roast beef grinder. Ham and cheese grinder. But it's a meatball sub. Chicken parm sub.
@@uiscepreston Interesting. Here in PA, if you want a sub that's usually cold to be heated in the oven, you ask for a grinder (e.g., an Italian grinder) instead of a sub/hoagie. I've done that many times.
@@pamelabennett9057 iwas going to say the same thing because i keep seeing people say its a hot sub. In Massachusetts particularly central mass it means just a deli sub like an italian or turkey etc...
@@uiscepreston In Boston subs are hot or cold. grinder seems to be used farther west.
When I first moved to Boston over 25 years ago, I remember seeing a sign above the aisle in a big grocery store chain for "Tonic & Diet Tonic." But they've gone more mainstream now & you won't find signs like that very often.
I'm from the Pacific Northwest. The only one I've ever heard is "Bub" and I think I heard it on Looney Toons. Bugs Bunny would call people Bub.
I grew up in Weymouth , a town south of Boston. We allied those large sandwiches subs, but in from Boston northwards, at least along the coast, they were called grinders. By the way, in other videos you’ve mentioned John Quincy Adams. In my lifetime his second name was pronounced “quin zee”, the way the name of that town is pronounced. Quincy was town we shopped in since it was much larger than Weymouth.
As a North Carolinian, I’m a mix of Southern and East Coast and proud of it! Slippin’, bub, wicked, pie, hoagie were all part of everyday use, even tonic I heard once or twice, but we say soda. I now live in Oklahoma and these words aren’t heard at all, but I still use soda & slippin’! Man, I miss the East Coast. And really until this channel, I didn’t realize East Coast was a thing, at least different word vernacular than the south, to me they were one in the same, lol.
All of my guesses below were before Laurence revealed the real meaning - and I'm a born-and-bred Chicago/suburban gal!
Boge - something you smoke (a cigar, cigarette, Bogee)
Bub - a friend, a pal - usually a male ("Hey, bub!")
Bubbler - a drinking fountain, water fountain - where you press a lever or foot pedal to get some water (also popular in M
I just learned about “grinder” yesterday lol
I’m from the midsouth but going to attend Uni on the East Coast this fall. I was warned by one of the older students about different terms (especially grinder) and I have no idea why someone would call food item a grinder. Thank you for making this video, it’s seriously could not have come at a better time. I feel slightly better about the transition armed with my newfound East coast vocabulary so thanks Mr. Laurence ^_^
I think of the joke, “Grinder? I barely know’er!”
@@danielm5535 oh sadly the only Grinder reference I know is the app lol, but now I’ve been introduced to a new joke so thanks
Here are some funny words that I like: tarnation, whatchamacallit, thingamajig, canoodling. Really enjoy your channel! Keep up the good work!
Grinder, pie and hoagie are the only ones I heard of. (Michigan millennial here). And wicked always sounded more like UK slang to me, i'm surprise you didn't get that one.
and "whats's poppin" i was shocked to see on here lol
As someone who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the '50s and early '60s I think I did good with 6 or 7 right. In my youth wicked was similar to cool but in the opposite direction. Cool was more laid back and easy going while wicked was sharper or edgier. "That hot rod has a wicked paint job." Tonic isn't exactly like seltzer. Tonic has some minerals and quinine in it. So it's quite bitter. It was commonly used as a mixer for gin making a gin and tonic. These were common drinks in the tropics to "counter malaria."
I love how we can never telling if he's genuinely appalled, thinking, or suppressing a laugh
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Hello! I love that you made this! I grew up an hour north of Boston. I left in '89 and never heard of boge so it's is a newer word? Bubler is shortened because as a kid I would line up to drink from the watah bubblah. The elders drank tonic watah and wicked shortened since my beloved '80's where we said something was wicked awesome. And yeah, the sandwich thing is crazy. Late to the party but I'm so happy I found your channel!
I have a feeling you'd most like pronounce many of our town and village names here in MA, as they are often English (sometimes Native American) but it's fun past time to watch 'outsiders' pronounce Worcester LOL also a Frappe in Boston is not pronounced how you might think :)
We do use Wicked here (in MA) often in jest, but I always thought wicked in England was also a positive : my Hols were wicked.
Tho, often in jest, Wicked can often be followed by Pisser (of course in the vernacular Wicked pissah) this is said jokingly amongst my friends but I've heard it in sincerity in Boston many times.
From my PNW understanding, bub is North American for bloke.
Logan, aka Wolverine, of the Xmen uses it alot. Wicked is used here as well.
5:16 Utah has or had a sandwich chain called Hoagie & Yoggie.
"Wicked" can be used as a lone adjective. That's wicked!
It's an adverb, that modifies and adjective. It means, to an extreme degree. You wouldn't say, " He's wicked at skiing" you would say, "He is wicked good at skiing." You wouldn't say, "I have a wicked headache," you would say, "I have a wicked bad headache."
@@andrewjones6295 Indeed. It's also up to the region and speaker. In Mass, wicked is most often used as you describe, although "I have a wicked headache" is kosher, as is "she's got some wicked moves."
It would be pretty amusing seeing you try to guess Florida slang, specifically south Florida/Miami
I'm from the west and I never heard of any of those, except for tonic to go with gin and wicked...neither of which is from the east.
4:30 A grinder is a submarine sandwich, but usually the meat, cheese, and roll have been _toasted_ before the veggie condiments have been added.
I ♥️ this series. Please do the Southwest! That would be wicked smart.
I’ve heard more of (and use) the southern words and phrases, but was surprised that I was familiar with several of these. I’ll call people bub, use the phrase “wicked”, tell people they’re slippin’, and I know I’ve asked people “what’s poppin’” before.
I’m from the Southwest so I’m intrigued as to how these words made their way into my lexicon. 😁
My brother works in a factory in the southwest. The management sent out an email with a list of words that were no longer PC. The list contained words like pow-wow, war path and others that would be considered deragatory to Native Americans, some common words in Spanish and cowboy slang.
I'd have thought the southwest had lost a lot of regional slang after the Cali types woke-ified everything.
We're fast becoming a homogeneous group. Everyone distilled untill their essence has mixed with enough other people we'll hear some different phrase, use, we'll pause and realize we know that.
When I was 10, we had or were going to Disney World for the Bicentennial. But my dad also wanted and education part of the summer. It wasn't super educational but we spent three weeks touring the Smithsonian nobody comes away dumber for that.
We were outside the Washington monument waiting for the rain to clear and I had an hour-long argument with the boy my age over the difference between pop and soda. We also argued that he couldn't have a Nana because Nana was my Nana. I guess I learned quite a bit on that trip the only time my grandmother ever went camping with us I think it took her 10 years to forgive us she hated camping.
Doing one of these videos on slang words which are specific to southern Louisiana (cajun/bayou country) would be awesome! I'd be surprised (and impressed) if he didn't fail at guessing 80-90% of them.
Wow. I have lived in north Virginia for 30 years, and the only ones I have ever heard used are hoagie, wicked, and bub. Clearly, I need to get out more.
Same. Lived in NOVA area for 27 years before moving to Florida. I was familiar with those and a few more but the majority flummoxed me.
I'm from Rhode island and only really heard bubbler
Although I know a few of these terms, a lot were more northern east coast - no southern east coast. Most of them made me think "huh?" Of course I'm in northeastern NC, so there you go.
2:43 -- Bub -- guy, dude, mac in north-central Indiana. Antagonistic, although sometimes jokingly so. No longer common, if it ever was.
I wasn't raised on the east coast, but one time when I was little my dad took me to an east-coast-themed sub restaurant, and the signs on the door advertised that they had grinders, and I took this to mean that they had meat grinders to grind up the meat for their sandwiches, and I said something to express this view that I held regarding the meaning of the word grinder, and my dad told me that we were going to buy grinders to eat, and since I still thought this was referring to the appliance used to grind meat, which itself is clearly not edible, I thought he was just saying a ridiculous thing to mess with me.
I was born in California. I used the words pop, drinking fountain, sandwich. In Jr. high and High School our family moved to Connecticut. One friend teased me for saying pop and aunt ( like ant). She said soda and aunt (like awning). Well I say soda but I still say aunt like awning. There are many words back East for sub sandwiches:hoagies (Philly), grinder. I did hear pie used at pizzerias. I never heard bubbler (I thought that was Southern). I never heard boge, spuckie, what's poppin', nasty (as a good thing). I remember the LLBean catalog calls their slippers wicked good. I think it means "extremely".
In California, I hear many mothers saying to their kids "Don't touch that! It's nasty!" in the bathroom.
I can only attribute “ponch” to illiterates (Ponch to me only refers to the nickname for Erik Estrada’s character Frank Poncherello on the old series CHiPs. The word has always been spelled paunch here in Massachusetts. Never heard Spuckie or a few of the other terms.
Agreed. There are too many people spelling things how they sound these days. Every time I read “sike” instead of “psych” I die a little.
Paunch also refers to a large belly.
Lived in New England for decades now and while I've seen ponch I too actually thought if it wasnt a misspelling of paunch then it was a chips reference and meant a cop or something. Never heard of spuckie or boge and only knew creemee because of an ex from VT. Bub isnt Maine, its eastern Canada Wolverine :D
Him equating ponch/paunch to 'steal' reminded me of how in the 90s we had 'steal' mean 'punch'. As in to hit.
I was raised in Portsmouth England however due to being born in NJ randomly I am a US citizen. Later this year I am moving to the USA to work for a friend of the family, im super excited as ive not been since I was 3 months old. Your channel is quite interesting.
In SC we use "wicked", "hoagie", and "what's Poppin"
Where do you live in SC, I've never heard anyone say "hoagie?"
Are you a transplant?
That was more of a North East type of list so you could probably still squeeze a little bit more out of the rest of the East Coast. A lot of New England slang in that one. I live on the East Coast and I hadn't heard half of them.
Maybe try and look at the mid Atlantic.
Mid-Atlantic resident here.
I'm giggling.
Boge as in "Bogy" as in Humphrey Bogart, notorious for smoking like chimney in his movies. Hence the reference.
Grinders are slightly more wide-spread than just Boston area; grinders and hoagies duke it out and inter-penetrate regionally.
I'd love to have you guess meanings of Utah slang words!
I’ve lived in the Boston area all my life and we do not typically use the word grinder to mean a submarine sandwich. We simply call these sandwiches a sub. You’ll find sub shops everywhere with signage that says “Sub Shop”. I always thought grinder was more of a New York term.
In certain parts of Connecticut a grinder is specifically for sub-type sandwiches served hot, like a meatball grinder, while one with cold cuts would be a sub or some other local term.
I grew up near Boston, and can say we pretty much always used “sub.” Since I’ve moved out near Worcester (which, for my Boston area family might as well be California), “grinder” has been heard quite often. I’m one of the few who still says “tonic” for any carbonated beverage, and I will not change.
This is definitely a Connecticut term, used almost exclusively for a hot sandwich like a meatball etc..
its New England and some of Upstate NY - but not really in boston.
very common in CT, RI, western MA, VT & NH
everyone obviously knows what a sub is too.
I missed pie because it seemed so obvious that I thought it must have some more exotic meaning. And your team forgot jug handle.
The bronze drinking fountains located on the streets of downtown Portland, Oregon, are known as "Benson Bubblers." Outside of that context, "bubbler" is not used here.
and it was a regional trauma when they were fitted with valves rather than running 24/7 to conserve water.
8:13 -- Paunch in north-central Indiana.
I think setting these up as "East Coast" is still even a little too broad of an area. The mid-Atlantic states have words that are different from just a couple of hours north in the northeast. To be fair, here in New Jersey, we tend to have our own language. And I'd not heard of many of these terms.