Speak REAL American English: Regional English Expressions

Vanessa: Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

Do Americans have different accents?

Let's talk about it.

A lot of students ask me, "Vanessa, what is your accent?

You're from the US, but you don't sound like you're specifically from a certain region.

What's your accent?"

Well, it's kind of true because I generally speak with what's called a standard American

accent.

And this is the accent that you might hear on TV.

An accent that you might hear, a Hollywood celebrity use.

Maybe something that you would hear someone like Ellen DeGeneres speak with.

It is a standard American accent that is not specific to one region or another.

I'm not exactly sure why this developed in me because I live in the South of the US.

Maybe it's because I'm originally from the North of the US and I moved to the South,

and my parents don't really have a strong accent one way or the other.

Who knows?

But for whatever reason, this is the way that I speak.

But there are definitely different accents and different ways of speaking around the

US.

The biggest difference that is often found around the US is vocabulary choice.

And today I have a fun little lesson for you.

I'd like to introduce you to some words and phrases that people in different regions of

the United States use.

And if someone uses one of these phrases, other people might automatically know, "Ah,

that's where you're from."

Because these words and phrases are commonly known to be specific to those areas or maybe

someone from another area might say, "What?

What did you say?"

They might not even know the phrase at all.

So I would like to introduce you to these.

And if you are from the US and you are watching these, let me know in the comments is this

true for you?

From where you're from?

Let me know.

It would be always in interesting to find out.

And to help you never forget what you're going to learn today about regional English expressions

in the US, you can download this free PDF guide that I've created for you with all of

the expressions, the regions that they're used in, some ways that you can use them.

And also at the end of the free worksheet, you can answer Vanessa's challenge question.

So I hope this will be useful to you.

You can download it, print it out, put it under your pillow and sleep on it.

I hope it will be a useful tool for you.

All right, let's get started with the first set of regional expressions depending on where

you're from, you might use these.

How do you refer to a group of people?

This is a problem with the English language.

We don't have one specific word for a group of people.

So it depends where you're from.

If you're from the South where I live, you say y'all, y'all.

Y'all ready?

Do you want to meet up later?

I don't know.

What's y'all doing?

Y'all.

But if you're not from the South, you might say you guys.

What you guys doing?

What you guys doing?

This is common in the North and in various other areas of the US.

This is actually the one that I say the most.

Maybe it's because my origins are in the North and that's the way that my parents speak.

But it's common to say you guys in the North.

If you're from the Northeast, you might hear youse, youse.

This is so creative because here we have the singular you, what are you doing?

And then we have the plural.

It just adds an S. Oh, great.

That's what we do in English.

Cat, cats.

You, youse.

Maybe we should make that a more common word.

But if you are from the city of Pittsburgh, now Pittsburgh is actually where I am originally

from, but this is not a word that I say in my daily life, but it brings back some nice

memories of my family members who live there.

You might say yinz, yinz.

And this is kind of a fun Pittsburgh word because often we refer to people from Pittsburgh

as yinzers.

If you're from Pittsburgh, you're a yinzer.

And it's just because the word yinz is so common in that area.

So in conclusion, we could say where y'all want to eat tonight?

Where do you guys want to eat tonight?

Where youse want to eat tonight?

Where yinz to eat tonight?

All of these are acceptable.

What do you call this fizzy drink?

If you're from the North, you might say pop, pop.

And this is what I said when my family first moved to the South and people kind of laughed

at me a little bit and said, "What?

You want to drink a pop?"

Because it's pretty typical of the North of the US.

And in the South of the US, people are more likely to say soda or Coke.

So this one is a little bit strange because the brand is Coca-Cola.

But when you go to a restaurant in the South, your waitress might ask you, "What do you

want to drink?"

And you might say, "I would like a Coke."

Okay, well, if you're in another area of the US they would bring you Coca-Cola.

But in the South, if you say, "I want a Coke," the waitress will then ask you, "What kind

of Coke?"

Oh, and you might say Dr. Pepper, Sprite.

So this word Coke can cover the general category of soda.

It's a very interesting little change here in the South.

What do you call this sandwich?

Well, in most of the US, we call this a sub, a sub sandwich, and this word has become popularized

by the restaurant franchise Subway.

It's a sub sandwich.

But if you're from certain areas especially the Northeast specifically in Philadelphia,

you might call this a hoagie, a hoagie.

Sometimes I also call it this.

Maybe it's because this word has also leached into the Pittsburgh area where my parents

are from.

So maybe I sometimes say hoagie, but these words have a little bit of gray area because

people in the US move around a lot so we have origins in a lot of different places.

In New York, you might hear this called a hero, a hero.

And if you're from the upper Midwest, you might call this a Dagwood.

If you're from the upper Midwest, let me know if this is something that is commonly used

in daily life, but this type of sandwich has many different names.

When you go to the grocery store, you push a cart.

A cart is what people in the North us would say and it's kind of more general English

as well.

But if you are from the South, you would call this a buggy, a buggy.

This is a very Southern word.

I love to hear my Southern neighbors say, "I was pushing the buggy."

The buggy, that's what that is called.

But in the Northeast, this can also be called a carriage, a carriage.

Now to me, a carriage is something that maybe a king or queen would ride in a big carriage

or a fairy tale princess was in a carriage led by horses, but in the Northeast of the

US that is just a shopping cart.

When you want to buy liquor, hard alcohol, not wine, not beer.

Where do you go in the US?

Well, you need to go to a specific store because in a lot of states you cannot buy rum or whiskey

or other types of hard alcohol in the grocery store.

In some places you can buy beer and wine in the grocery store, but the US is a little

bit particular when it comes to alcohol.

You have to go to a specific store.

And what do you call that store?

Depends where you live.

So if you live in the North of the US or in most of the US, you might call this a liquor

store, a liquor store.

But here in the South of the US, we call this in ABC store and is because it is run by the

government.

It is kind of regulated by the government so it's like an alcoholic beverage company?

Cooperation?

Something like this.

And it is run by the government and regulated by the government.

And if you saw a video that I made with Lucy and Emma last year, I got lit in two by calling

this an ABC store.

There were hundreds of comments in this video that we made that said, "That's not an ABC

store that's a liquor store in the US."

And you know what?

It's both.

So if you have not seen that video that shows differences between British, American and

Australian English, I recommend checking it out and you can see how I said that in the

US we call it an ABC store and really that's the South of the US.

But there are a couple other words we use to describe this type of store in the Northeast

of the US, it can be called a package store, a package store.

Now I've never lived in those areas so if you are from those areas, let me know if that

is the most common word that you use and a diminutive of that in Boston sometimes people

say a packie, a packie.

It's kind of like a cute word.

I'm going to go to the packie.

It sounds so cute to me.

So you might say do you want to run to the liquor store and buy some whiskey?

Do you want to run to the ABC store and buy some whiskey?

Do you want to run to the package store?

Do you want to run to the packie and buy some whiskey?

There's a lot of different words we can use.

When you want to go for a run or do some exercise, you need to put on some?

Well, it depends where you're from.

If you're from generally the North of the US, you'll say sneakers.

I need to put on my sneakers.

But for me, I'm from the South of the US, the word sneakers feels a little bit old fashioned.

It kind of feels like something my grandma might say.

And instead for me and for the rest of the US, we say tennis shoes, tennis shoes.

Usually this word gets kind of linked together.

Tennis shoes, that S at the end of tennis kind of gets forgotten, tennis shoes.

It's not because we're all playing tennis all the time.

It actually has nothing to do with tennis.

Instead it's just these shoes and we call them tennis shoes.

You can use them for running, for hiking, for basketball, for any kind of exercise or

just being comfortable.

I'm going to put on my tennis shoes.

In the US, most kids love going to the bank.

Hmm, why would they like to go to bank?

The bank's kind of boring for kids, right?

Actually, it's because it's kind of a little tradition that at the bank, the teller will

give kids a?

This is almost ubiquitous.

At every bank, tellers give kids depending on where you're from, you might call this

a sucker, a sucker.

Because what do you do?

You suck on it and that's how you eat it.

This is common in the South and the Midwest, but the rest of the US calls this a lollipop,

a lollipop.

You will hear the word lollipop in the South, but it's more common when you go into a bank.

If that person is really from the South, they might say, "Do you want to sucker?

Can I give your kid a sucker?"

Extremely common.

What's one of the most intimidating things.

When you're driving?

Passing one of these things.

Well, what are these called?

Well, there's a couple different words we can use.

In the Northeast, you can call it a tractor trailer.

And this is kind of the more technical term.

You might know that my four-year-old son is obsessed with trucks so we have a lot of books

that talk about trucks and a term that they often use is tractor trailer.

I think this is kind of the more specific or technical term.

But if you're from the South of the US, you might call this an 18 wheeler.

So growing up, this is what I said.

I said, "Oh, there's an 18 wheeler."

Or you try to make the 18 wheelers honk by going like this.

It's kind of a kid tradition.

Does this happen in your country that when you're driving along and there's an 18 wheeler

passing you, you go like this because that's how they honk the horn is there's like a little

thing that they pull.

At least I assume so because that's what we did as kids, you do this and all the kids

are looking out the window and you hope that the driver will honk the horn and then everybody

cheers.

It's quite exciting, but there's another word we can use and that is semi, semi.

This is common everywhere around the US.

We would call this a semi.

So intimidating to pass a semi on the road.

It's so intimidating to pass a tractor trailer or to pass an 18 wheeler.

Have you ever felt like that?

If you're going on a camping trip, you might need to buy a of ice to put in a cooler so

that you can keep your food cold.

Hmm, what would you call this?

Well, in most of the US, it's called a bag, just a bag.

But in the South of the US, in some places in the Midwest as well, it's called a sack,

a sack.

Now I have a funny story to share with you about this.

Dan, my husband, his grandfather is from Texas and has a very strong Texas accent.

And he's quite tall.

He's 6'2".

I don't know what that would be in meters, but he's very tall and he is kind of big,

and he was visiting the North of the US where Dan's family is originally from.

And he walked into a grocery store and he said with a very strong Texas accent, this

big guy said, "I want sack of ice.

Where can I find it?

I want a sack of ice."

So he said a sack of ice.

He wanted to buy a bag of ice to keep some food cold.

But the way that he said it sounded a lot like sacrifice.

So the poor cashier is looking at this guy saying, "You want a sacrifice?

What?"

It was just a misunderstanding and they kind of laughed about it for a moment, but it is

a common word that's used in the South compared to bag is a sack.

And you will hear the word bag used in the South, but it's common to say sack as well.

In general, there are three meals: breakfast, lunch, and?

Hmm?

Well, it depends on where you're from.

If you are from the North or the West of the US, you just say dinner, I'm going to eat

some dinner.

But if you're from the South and some places in the Midwest, you might say supper, supper.

This is something that's really common in the South.

Time to eat supper.

We're going to eat supper.

Now, this is a word that even though I live in the South, I don't really use.

I don't feel like I'm Southern enough to use this word.

Maybe it's because my family is really from the North and I don't have strong origins

in the South, but the word supper is extremely common and kind of makes my heart warm when

I think about it, because I remember all of my Southern neighbors who say this and it

feels so nice.

You're going to eat some supper.

Our three final expressions that are regional expressions are kind of fun.

The next one is bless your heart.

Now this doesn't really mean anything specific in the rest of the US.

It just means, oh, I appreciate you.

Thanks.

Great.

It's a positive thing.

It's not said as often, but in the South, I want you to know if you hear bless your

heart usually it means you're an idiot.

It's not a compliment.

So for example, let's say that you are going to a baby shower.

This is like a little party to celebrate someone who's going to have a baby.

And everyone brings some food and there is a little Southern grandma and she's eating

a brownie.

And she eats it and goes, "Oh, who made these?"

And you say, "Oh, I made those.

Those are vegan brownies."

And she says, "Oh, bless your heart."

This means she thinks those are terrible brownies, but I'm going to say it in such a nice way.

This is kind of a hidden Southern expression that if you hear it, make sure you keep in

mind all of those things because it's commonly used in the South.

In fact, there's a really funny video on YouTube.

If you type in bless your heart It's a Southern Thing.

This is a YouTube channel.

It's a Southern Thing.

You will see a hilarious video about all of the different scenarios where people use bless

your heart in the South.

Quite funny and it's a good way to learn about culture as well.

The next regional phrase is give me some sugar.

Okay, well you can't say it exactly like that because this is common of Southern grandmas.

Maybe I'm partial to the South and know more things about the South.

But if a Southern grandma said give me some sugar to you, does she mean to pass the sugar?

No.

She means to give her a little kiss.

Give me some sugar, my little grandbabies.

Give me a kiss.

So she's asking for a kiss, but in the rest of the US if someone said, give me the sugar,

give me some sugar.

It means literally sugar, something sweet.

And our final regional expression is being ugly.

Hmm, if someone said stop being so ugly, would you think, "Oh no.

Is it my hair?

Did I forget to wash my face this morning?"

Hmm, if you're from the North or the rest of the US it's about physical appearance.

To be ugly is about physical appearance.

But in the South, this has a special meaning.

If we say stop being so ugly, this means stop being so mean or rude.

This is something that parents often say to their children.

Stop being so ugly to each other, just get along and play.

Stop being so ugly.

So ugly has more of a figurative sense here.

Your actions are ugly because you're being rude to each other.

So stop being so ugly.

This is a fun regional expression as well.

I hope you enjoyed all of these fun regional expressions from the US.

If you're from the US, let me know of more in the comments or if you agree or disagree

with what I've said.

And don't forget, you can always download the free PDF for today's lesson so that you

can remember all of these regional expressions.

And you can understand where people are from based on what they say.

And you can also answer Vanessa's challenge question at the bottom of the PDF.

And now I have a question for you.

In the comments let me know, were any of these words new for you?

Let me know in the comments and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on

my YouTube channel.

Bye.

The next step is to download the free PDF worksheet for this lesson.

With this free PDF, you will master today's lesson and never forget what you have learned.

You can be a confident English speaker.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for a free English lesson every Friday.

Bye.