As some of you might know, I have been fascinated with some of the language used in this wonderful state of Pennsylvania. The first I'd like to share is "all."
It is used in replace of the word "empty." For example;
If someone has a bag a chips, and I'm curious if the bag is empty or not, I will ask the person holding the chips, "are those chips all?"
That means; Are those chips all gone? or Is that bag of chips empty?
I have no clue why they don't just use the words that actually ask the question. but, everyone in PA understands what the other person means. So I guess it doesn't matter that words are left out of the sentence. But it does make it difficult for me to understand what everyone is saying! Haha
ok that's it for now. We'll be blogging more soon I'm sure.
rock on!!
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Okay well you've got "all" and we've got this one in the Pacific Northwest: When something is broken, or dirty, or any myriad of things which would cause it to be better somehow if you did something about its current state, people say it "needs ____ed." Such as, "the dog has been cooped up all day, it needs walked." Or, "This stupid ipod is broken, it needs fixed." or "The car is dirty, it needs washed." I am trying to understand why people in this part of the country have abandoned the verb "to be". Clearly, here, in the Pacific Northwest, the answer to that age-old question, to be or not to be, is NOT.
PS. I started a family blog yesterday. mainink.blogspot.com :) There's not much on there yet.
A few years ago I took a trip back to Hacienda Heights. A friend of mine from here in Kansas City went with me. After we had been in town a couple days I overheard him on the phone with his cousin, he was say "They sure like to use the word THE an awful lot..."
It seems odd, but it's true. Especially when we're talking about our freeway system. We say "The 60", "The 210", etc. Here in Kansas City we don't even say "freeway". We say "I-435", or "40 Hwy", etc.
I was just talking to someone else about it the other day. :)
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