Every US region has its own special words and phrases, and the Northeast is no different.
An object that already has a name can become unique to an area through language — in New England, grocery carts are "carriages," water fountains are "bubblers," and soft-serve ice cream is a "creemee."
Check out this list of 14 things you probably won't hear people say anywhere but the Northeast.
"Jimmies" are synonymous with sprinkles.
In the Philadelphia-Boston area, people don't dare call these ice cream toppers "sprinkles."
According to legend, the name "jimmies" came from the Brooklyn company Just Born, who in the 1930s claimed to have invented the treat and named them after the factory worker who operated the "jimmy" machine, Jimmy Bartholomew.
The nickname still sparks debate, as the Northeast is divided between two types of people: those who call only chocolate sprinkles "jimmies," and those who consider chocolate and multi-colored ones "jimmies."
Thirsty? Take a sip from the "bubbler."
Bubbler is a slang term for a water fountain, or drinking fountain, and it's only used in the Boston-Providence areas.
A linguistics survey conducted by North Carolina State University shows that the majority of America prefers "water fountain," and only about 18.3% of the country says "bubbler."
Strangely, the slang has trickled into Wisconsin — but "bubbler" (or "bubblah," as some say) is forever native to the Northeast.
If you need to make a quick turn, just "bang a 'uey!"
If you miss your turn while driving, the answer is simple in New England — "bang a 'uey!"
"'Uey," of course, refers to a U-turn. And "bang" has to do with the quickness of it — banging on the steering wheel and changing direction. Mark Wahlberg, a Boston native, describes it as "turning around."
That weird time between winter and spring is called "mud season."
"Mud season" is a fitting term that New Englanders use to describe the weird, muddy period between winter and spring, when it isn't quite warm yet.
According to the Boston Globe, it can be a beautiful time of year — despite its name.
"Down cellar" means "basement" for some in the region.
"Down cellar" is used throughout the entire Northeast region as a direction and a descriptor for the act of going (or state of being) in one's basement.
You can say, "Hey, go down cellar and grab a soda," or "She's down cellar sleeping right now."
The word "cellar" is also used in Iowa, and, according to the Dictionary of American Regional English, it is slowly dying out along with other regionalisms.
What most consider a milkshake, people in New England call a "frappe."
With the exception of Rhode Island — which calls it a "cabinet," after the kitchen cabinet where the blender is kept — the entirety of New England calls its thick, syrupy milkshakes "frappes."
A milkshake to them is just milk and syrup until you add ice cream, which makes it a frappe.
It's also how Starbucks got its iconic "frappuccino" — the name is combination of New England's "frappe" and "cappuccino."
When you're packing groceries, you put them into a "carriage."
It seems so formal, but people in the Northeast call their shopping carts "carriages."
So the next time you're grabbing some "jimmies" from the grocery store, be sure to pile them into your carriage — and return it to the carriage station when you're done.
Most of New England call these sandwiches "grinders."
There seems to be an endless amount of names for this long, meat-and-cheese-filled sandwich — sub, submarine, hoagie, grinder, hero, and even spuckie.
In the Northeast region, however, people tend to call them grinders. One theory regarding the slang's origin is that it takes a lot of chewing — or "grinding" — to eat one of these dense sandwiches.
In Boston, lots of people call them "spuckies," a name that comes from the word "spucadella," which means long roll. Interestingly, spucadella isn't an authentic Italian word, which suggests it could've been an invention of the Boston-Italian dialect.
Quick-stop liquor stores are called "packies."
"Packie" is the term that many Bostonians use to describe a small, corner liquor store. It's a shortened version of "package store," and it's almost always used in the context of grabbing something — like a beer or a pack of cigarettes — for a quick pick-up.
One popular explanation for the name's origin: Northeastern states didn't want their citizens seen carrying "cheap" liquor on the streets, so the stores started packing the booze into brown paper bags — hence, "packie."
The northeast has "rotaries" instead of "roundabouts."
Calling a roundabout a "rotary" is something entirely unique to New England.
But, according to the City of Brooklyn Center, there is a slight difference between the two circular roads — a roundabout is usually smaller, with no lane changes involved, whereas New England's rotaries are larger with weaving traffic throughout.
"Yes" in Maine is often pronounced "ayuh!"
This unusual way of saying "yes" is special to Maine (and the regions north of it). Similar to the British "aye," "ayuh" can also be pronounced like "ee-yuh" or "eye-yuh."
But like many regional dialects, the Down Eastern accent of Maine — "ayuh"'s origin point — is fading in modern-day usage.
A "creemee" is a soft-serve ice cream native to Vermont.
We all know and love soft serve ice cream, but people from Vermont love "creeemees" instead.
These treats are called "creemees," or "creamies," because the soft serve ice cream in Vermont used to be made with a higher butterfat content, which made it creamier. There's still some debate surrounding who made the first creemee — Dairy Queen vs. Carvel — but regardless, creemees are a popular summer treat in the region.
If you find yourself in a hospital in the Northeast, you'll wear a "johnnie" instead of a gown.
Though its origins are unclear — as the name "Johnnie" is quite ubiquitous in the United States — people in New England call their hospital gowns "johnnies," according to the Dictionary of American Regional English.
New Englanders have a word for annoying fall tourists — "leaf peepers."
"Leaf peepers" are what New Englanders call the swarm of tourists that flock to the region in the fall to get a look at the colorful foliage.
And according to Yankee Magazine, there are different kinds of "peepers," ranging in varying levels of determination, hunger, and slow driving.
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