Regional Phrases, funny expressions and Idioms

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I might leave off the I entirely. Take 91 to 84 to 81 to 77 to 95 to 4 (that's the route we'd take to Disney).

It's mixed here for the most part in my area.

I-35 but just 435 (instead of saying I-435) same with 635 (which is not usually referred to as I-635).

I-70 but then saying 69 Highway or Alternate 69

To get to my mom's house I'd say K7 to K10 to 435 to I-35

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Most people (except for my husband who is from CA and uses “the”) don’t use the “I” for Interstate. Probably bc we don’t have a lot of them.

Take 80 to get to Omaha. Take 80 to get to Quad Cities. Take 35 to get to Kansas City.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

We also used to shout “Padiddle” and hit the roof of the car when we saw a car with only one headlight. Not sure why, but it was a game as to who could spot one first.

 

[Lumpy1106]

People in Southern California put the word "the" in front of freeway numbers. "The 5", "the 405" etc. People in Northern California would say "Interstate 5", "interstate 405"....."Highway 50"

The back story in case you care (I find it interesting):
That goes back to when California started giving names to the freeways. The San Diego Freeway, The Santa Ana Freeway, etc. In So Cal pre-smart phones, we used to be VERY dependent on the radio traffic reports (and even local morning TV) where they would go straight to the reporter in the helicopter to give them the most accurate info. That guy worked (still works) for a 3rd party that actually gives reports to several radio/TV stations and rotates around to give reports - he doesn't sit around doing nothing int he 15 minutes between reports at the station you are listening to.

LSS - the guy in the helicopter did not have time for the long-winded freeway names, and a lot of people (myself included) thought the names were silly anyway (San Diego freeway does not go all the way to San Diego - for example). SO, to shorten the report and get reports to the most stations, he just shortened it to the number. THE 405, THE 5, THE 101, etc.

BUT....
You won't find people in No Cal doing that because they hate So Cal and they don't want to be associated in any way - weird but true. So Cal steals their water, and other such nonsense. They stick to Interstate 5, Highway 99, etc just because they are stubborn.

And before you call out my regional bias or whatever, I grew up in No Cal and have lived in So Cal since the 90s. I have walked both roads - so to speak. IMHO, once you get used to the So Cal way it is the most economical way to say it and it feels weird any other way. And yes, you do get a lot of stares when you travel to Boston, New York, etc. and a lot of glares from the folks in No Cal when you go up there.

 

[Silver saucer]

We've always just said I-5. But for everything else it's "take 20 or 34 to go to....", "go down 58..." "take 84, 405.." etc.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

The back story in case you care (I find it interesting):
That goes back to when California started giving names to the freeways. The San Diego Freeway, The Santa Ana Freeway, etc. In So Cal pre-smart phones, we used to be VERY dependent on the radio traffic reports (and even local morning TV) where they would go straight to the reporter in the helicopter to give them the most accurate info. That guy worked (still works) for a 3rd party that actually gives reports to several radio/TV stations and rotates around to give reports - he doesn't sit around doing nothing int he 15 minutes between reports at the station you are listening to.

LSS - the guy in the helicopter did not have time for the long-winded freeway names, and a lot of people (myself included) thought the names were silly anyway (San Diego freeway does not go all the way to San Diego - for example). SO, to shorten the report and get reports to the most stations, he just shortened it to the number. THE 405, THE 5, THE 101, etc.

BUT....
You won't find people in No Cal doing that because they hate So Cal and they don't want to be associated in any way - weird but true. So Cal steals their water, and other such nonsense. They stick to Interstate 5, Highway 99, etc just because they are stubborn.

And before you call out my regional bias or whatever, I grew up in No Cal and have lived in So Cal since the 90s. I have walked both roads - so to speak. IMHO, once you get used to the So Cal way it is the most economical way to say it and it feels weird any other way. And yes, you do get a lot of stares when you travel to Boston, New York, etc. and a lot of glares from the folks in No Cal when you go up there.

That is very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

 

[tvguy]

The back story in case you care (I find it interesting):
That goes back to when California started giving names to the freeways. The San Diego Freeway, The Santa Ana Freeway, etc. In So Cal pre-smart phones, we used to be VERY dependent on the radio traffic reports (and even local morning TV) where they would go straight to the reporter in the helicopter to give them the most accurate info. That guy worked (still works) for a 3rd party that actually gives reports to several radio/TV stations and rotates around to give reports - he doesn't sit around doing nothing int he 15 minutes between reports at the station you are listening to.

LSS - the guy in the helicopter did not have time for the long-winded freeway names, and a lot of people (myself included) thought the names were silly anyway (San Diego freeway does not go all the way to San Diego - for example). SO, to shorten the report and get reports to the most stations, he just shortened it to the number. THE 405, THE 5, THE 101, etc.

BUT....
You won't find people in No Cal doing that because they hate So Cal and they don't want to be associated in any way - weird but true. So Cal steals their water, and other such nonsense. They stick to Interstate 5, Highway 99, etc just because they are stubborn.

And before you call out my regional bias or whatever, I grew up in No Cal and have lived in So Cal since the 90s. I have walked both roads - so to speak. IMHO, once you get used to the So Cal way it is the most economical way to say it and it feels weird any other way. And yes, you do get a lot of stares when you travel to Boston, New York, etc. and a lot of glares from the folks in No Cal when you go up there.

I was involved in writing traffic reports for three different Sacramento TV stations for 42 years so, yes, I have a bit of knowledge about communicating which freeway is what.
In Sacramento, to confuse things, the Federal Government decided what was Interstate 80 through town did not meet Federal standards to be called an Interstate. They changed the name to Business Loop 80, and the freeway that goes over the top of town, which had been Interstate 880 became Interstate 80. Local politicians were not happy, so they named PART of what was Business Loop 80 the Capital City Freeway. But the local politicians included a section of Highway 50 in the roadway they call the Capital City Freeway. And to confuse matters even more, Caltrans refused to recognize either the Business Loop 80 or Capital City Freeway names, they call it State Route 51. You can't believe how many new Traffic Reports I had to train and get to understand that mess.

 

[easyas123]

Chickeneckers & The Pennsylvania Navy - folks headed out of PA into DE & MD to crab.

Feltonese - language folks from southern half of Kent County, DE speak

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

When I lived in LA I fell into that habit.

Take the 405 to the 101 to the 134 to the San Fernando exit. “The” was used not only for Interstate designated freeways, but for US and state highways too.

That's how the newbs do it. But the old timers still use the names of the freeways and interchanges. Only they use colorful slang terms for the interchanges. Well you take the Hollywood Freeway through the stack to the Santa Ana Freeway. Stay on the Santa Ana through Malfunction Junction. Then you exit Harbor Blvd. if you reach Orange Crush, you've gone too far. Of course those used to numbers are like What in Zee Heck? But fortunately the old names are also still on the signs. So you can in fact follow directions either way.

 

[Aladora]

Here in Michigan we pretty much say Up North to anything that is north of us.

Here on Vancouver Island we call any place north of Victoria (Southern tip of the island) is "Up Island".

 

[holden]

If someone says they are going to the beach, they are definitely not from around where I live. We go “down the shore.”

 

[Lumpy1106]

Chickeneckers & The Pennsylvania Navy - folks headed out of PA into DE & MD to crab.

Feltonese - language folks from southern half of Kent County, DE speak

DW has a couple, what I would call "mixed idioms".
Rubbinneckers - people who slow traffic to look at something. She swears it's like a guy who is rubbing his sore neck from craning around to look, but I am pretty sure she is referencing the actual term, RUBBER neckers.
Not batting with a full sea bag - crazy, not all there. I get it, but I have no idea how she got there - I had never heard that one before!

 

[SC Minnie]

My mom grew up on a farm. She says that the mid-day meal is lunch, the evening meal is supper... and "dinner" is the main meal of the day, regardless of time. She says on the farm "dinner" was often lunch, but now for most people, it's supper.

Yeah, growing up in small town SC, lunch was the noon time mean unless it was Sunday. Sunday dinner was right after church and the main meal of the day. When DH (from Cleveland) and I were dating he was always confused on what time the meal was when my mom would say 'y'all come by for dinner'. He would just ask, so what time do we need to be there?

 

[RedAngie]

Here we do say the parkway (garden state parkway) and the turnpike (I95), plus other highways that have names vs, numbers, but those with numbers are just 80, 280, 78, 46, 17, 3….

I think the Garden State Parkway, the NJ Turnpike, and “the expressway” (Atlantic City Expressway) officially have NJ Route numbers, but absolutely nobody uses them.

I just looked it up. The GSP is Route 444, NJT is Route 700, and the ACX is Route 446. Those numbers appear nowhere on signs, they just officially exist on paper in some highway commission office.

 

[mjkacmom]

I think the Garden State Parkway, the NJ Turnpike, and “the expressway” (Atlantic City Expressway) officially have NJ Route numbers, but absolutely nobody uses them.

I just looked it up. The GSP is Route 444, NJT is Route 700, and the ACX is Route 446. Those numbers appear nowhere on signs, they just officially exist on paper in some highway commission office.

I had no idea!

 

[RedAngie]

LSS - the guy in the helicopter did not have time for the long-winded freeway names, and a lot of people (myself included) thought the names were silly anyway (San Diego freeway does not go all the way to San Diego - for example). SO, to shorten the report and get reports to the most stations, he just shortened it to the number. THE 405, THE 5, THE 101, etc

Nothing I’ve ever read gave a logical reason for “The 405” being called the San Diego Freeway.

The only explanation that made a small bit of sense was for travelers from Northern California going to southern Orange County or San Diego. It was supposed to be a quicker way to bypass downtown Los Angeles. But as it turned out, it’s often more congested than just staying on I-5.

 

[holden]

I forgot one!

People who go "down the shore" for the day are known as "shoobies." The term refers to people who use to visit the Jersey shore for the day and store their shoes in a shoebox when they were on the beach.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Nothing I’ve ever read gave a logical reason for “The 405” being called the San Diego Freeway.

The only explanation that made a small bit of sense was for travelers from Northern California going to southern Orange County or San Diego. It was supposed to be a quicker way to bypass downtown Los Angeles. But as it turned out, it’s often more congested than just staying on I-5.

Because originally it was a bypass that if you were going through to San Diego, you could use it as a short cut. Note that I-5 south of where I 405 cuts in at the El Toro Y is also the San Diego Freeway. I-5 just north of that is the Santa Ana Freeway until Malfunction Junction (East LA interchange) where the Santa Ana freeway follows the 101 from there. I-5 continues north of there as the Golden St. Freeway. Of course your next question is how did I-5 get three different names? The reason the names often don't quite line up with the numbers because the numbers have changed in spots due to many of the freeways and their names predating the interstate highway system. And yes, Development along I-405 in the mean time now means it's the busiest and most congested Interstate in the U.S. It's quicker just to stay on 5 these days.

 

[snowwite]

We also used to shout “Padiddle” and hit the roof of the car when we saw a car with only one headlight. Not sure why, but it was a game as to who could spot one first.

We had that and punch buggy when you saw a VW bug. You got punched in the arm usually by a sibling who then shouted no punch backs! Ow

 

[JulieBeeRN]

We had that and punch buggy when you saw a VW bug. You got punched in the arm usually by a sibling who then shouted no punch backs! Ow

Oh yeah, Slug bug!! Fine times to basically smack the other person in the car.