Different words for the same thing: Here are five and a half regional variations in what Americans call common things
Lesson summary
Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. JR is the producer and he has uploaded this full lesson to PlainEnglish.com/519. That’s where you’ll find today’s step-by-step walkthrough video, the exercises, translations, transcripts, and more.
Today we’re taking a break from the big issues of the day and we’ll have a little fun. This all started when I learned the word for “water fountain” in Spanish…or at least in Mexican Spanish. I thought it was kind of a funny word, and I was joking with JR about it.
And he asked me, well what’s the word in English? And I gave him the two most common varieties, and then a really funny one that they only use in a few places. And that got me thinking about how some places in the U.S. call the same thing by different names. So this became a daylong conversation with JR, and now it has turned into Plain English lesson number 519. Because we can’t be serious all the time, right?
The expression we’ll talk about is “change your ways.” And we have a song of the week, and the song is all about someone who is unlikely to change his ways. Let’s get started.
What’s in a word? Maybe the place you grew up
We all know that certain things are called by different names in different countries. In America, you take an elevator; in Britain, you take a lift. In Canada, they say “washroom;” in America we say “rest room.” In Australia, you wear a “thong” on your feet, in America…well, I’ll stop there .
But even within the U.S., some words are different, depending on where you live. And even though media is now much more national, these regional variations persist. In 2016, the author Josh Katz wrote a book called “Speaking American” that highlighted these differences. And today’s lesson draws on a few of the examples from that book.
Let’s start with the example I gave you just a moment ago. If you’re thirsty in a public place, you can buy a bottle of water. But you might also want to look for one of those metal machines that give you free water. You know the kind. You bend over, you press the button, you put your lips uncomfortably close to the source, and you drink in some fresh, free water; hopefully it’s cold. What’s that machine called?
In the south and east of the United States, that’s called a “drinking fountain.” In the west and parts of the Midwest, it’s called a “water fountain.” I say “water fountain” because that’s what they call it where I grew up. But this is a little silly. Almost every type of fountain is a water fountain. I mean, the fountains outside the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas are water fountains! What you really want is a water fountain you can drink out of, so shouldn’t it be called a drinking fountain? Maybe I’ll change my ways .
But one word I’ll never say is “bubbler.” And they only say “bubbler” in two very small pockets of the United States. They say that in a small corner of Wisconsin and they say it in Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts in the Northeast. The weird thing is that these regions aren’t close to each other. But two pockets of the United States call a drinking fountain a “bubbler.”
Here’s another one that surprised me. What do you wear on your feet if you want to go for a jog? These shoes are white, rubber, and they lace up. Some places call them “sneakers,” while (I thought) only a few places call them “tennis shoes,” even if you’re not playing tennis, and even the shoes are not really designed for tennis.
It turns out that the vast majority of the U.S. calls them “tennis shoes,” while only the northeast calls them sneakers. I’m in the minority here calling them sneakers. A funny note about this one: in Hawaii, they just call these “shoes.” Of course…because if you’re in Hawaii, why would you wear any other type of shoes?
Imagine the weather is warm and you’re outside and you see small little flashes of light hovering in the air. It’s coming from a bug—but what is that bug called? In the middle and south of the U.S., that is a lightning bug. But in the west and the northeast, it’s called a firefly. I remember this one from when I was a kid. My parents called them “lightning bugs,” but everyone around me in Connecticut called them “fireflies.”
If you have a house and you’re moving, you might want to get rid of a lot of stuff. This isn’t common in big cities, but in smaller towns and suburbs, it’s common to put up a sign announcing that you’re selling a lot of items. And—this was before the days of Facebook Marketplace—you would put up posters with your address and the dates and times. And you’d spend the whole weekend trying to sell old sweatshirts and chairs and glasses and records and knick-knacks.
In most of the U.S., that’s called a “garage sale.” In the southeast, they call it a “yard sale.” In a small part of Wisconsin, they call it a “rummage sale,” because you rummage through other people’s old stuff. And in a teeny-tiny part of the northeast, which happens to be where I grew up, they call it a “tag sale.”
I laughed out loud when I saw this, because it’s true. I haven’t heard the word “tag sale” in forever! But it’s a good term, it’s what they call it in Connecticut. And it’s a good compromise between “garage sale” and “yard sale.” I mean, not everyone has a garage. Not everyone has a yard. But at all these sales, you put a little tag on all your items with the price. And so I wish “tag sale” could bridge the sharp divide between “garage sale” states and “yard sale” states. Sadly, though, this is confined to just one tiny little place in the northeast. What a shame!
But now for the epic battle of local language. This is something that divides Americans like no other word, I think, in all of English. What do you call a carbonated beverage like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Sprite, Mountain Dew, or Fanta? The official industry term is “soft drinks.” This is the neutral, official term that you would read in a business report or maybe on the menu of a large chain restaurant.
But what do we call it in everyday life? In the west and the northeast, and in a few other pockets, we call it “soda.” This is the correct term in my opinion! But in a large part of the north, like the upper Midwest, they call it “pop.” Like, “I’d like a can of pop.” Or, “Oh, I’m not feeling well. I think I drank too much pop.”
I will never forget the first time I heard this term. I was on the school bus. I was ten, maybe twelve years old. A kid had moved to our town from Illinois, in the Midwest. And he said the word “pop” in a sentence and nobody had any idea what he was talking about. To him, it was normal to say “pop” and strange to say “soda.” For us, it was the opposite. We literally could not believe that they called it “pop” in Illinois.
Now the really strange thing is what they call it in the south. Are you ready? Here is what they call Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sprite, root beer, ginger ale, orange crush, Fanta, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi. This is what they call it in the south: Coke.
It doesn’t have to be Coca-Cola! They call every type of soda “coke.” In fact, it’s common to say, “What kind of coke do you want?” And it’s common for someone to answer, “Pepsi.”
How do you say, “caramel”?
Now here’s one that’s a word we all use, a spelling that we all use, but a pronunciation is different. If you take sugar and heat it up and you melt it into a liquid, you have a made a delicious topping or ingredient in candy. Some people say, “caramel,” with three syllables. “Caramel.” But other people say “caramel” with just two syllables, like that “caramel.” I say it with three syllables, but a lot of people say it with just two.
By the way, this is such an eerie coincidence. I was reading a book, in English, the night before I wrote this lesson. And in the book, one of the characters was talking about visiting a relative, and the relative taught him to say “bubbler” just like they say in Rhode Island. And I thought, that is so weird! I was already planning this lesson in my head. It was a sign that I had to do it!
Learn English the way it’s really spoken
