They also missed another nuance of soda/pop/coke - tonic.

In and around Boston, if someone offers you a "tonic," it is logical to say back, "Yes, ginger ale (or coke or root beer or... etc), please." It confuses the heck out of the non-locals and is dying out, but can still be found there.
Jill Smith | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 6:09 am | #

And another: what do you call a sale to get rid of your junk? Yard sale, garage sale, rummage sale, tag sale?

Does motorcycle rhyme with sickle if you're not Arlo Guthrie looking for a rhyme for "pickle"?
Phantom Scribbler | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 9:52 am | #

I have never heard of "tonic" in that way before...interesting.

PS, yes, motorcycle rhymes with sickle where I'm originally from...
Mel | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 11:39 am | #

A rubber band in Pittsburgh is a gumband. A water fountain in northern Minnesota is a bubbler. There are tones of wonderfully idosyncratic local words--that's why I find this little quiz so fun.
dr.m | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 1:06 pm | #

OH MY GOD, someone else in the world who says "gumband" (or at least knows that I'm not insane when I say it). Finally.
JM | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 1:53 pm | #

Motorsigh-kel.
Ce-MENT.
Flip.
Teeter-totter, but sometimes see-saw too.

Then there's the pail/bucket thing (for me, a pail is metal and smaller on the bottom than the top, a bucket is (usually) plastic and less likely to tip).

Oddest regionalism I've heard, limited to Minnesota: that green, mint-flavored ice cream with the bits of chocolate in it (which I call mint chip, and have seen as variations on chocolate chip mint, mint chocolate chip, etc.) is called...

...peppermint bonbon. No lie.
Rana | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 3:27 pm | #

Soft drink! Literal translations from French are the way to go.
wolfangel | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 3:43 pm | #

What about "water fountain" vs. "bubbler"? I heard it refered to as a "bubbler" when I moved to WI - and I had *no* idea what the person was talking about the first time I heard it. Those WI people say the strangest things.
comebacknikki | Homepage | 04.16.05 - 4:24 pm | #

Motorcycle doesn't rhyme with sickle.
Ce-MENT.
Flip the switch (never HEARD of the others!).
See-saw (never heard teeter-totter!)

Wicked cool tests, though.
New Kid on the Hallway | Homepage | 04.17.05 - 9:58 am | #

teeter-totter where I come from! switches are flipped.
soda or coke, never pop.
dish cloth or dish rag?
sofa or couch or davenport?
dinner or lunch?
dinner or supper?
it needs doing or it needs done?
Another Damned Medievalist | Homepage | 04.19.05 - 10:24 am | #