Part of growing up a Floridian, for me anyway, was going somewhere else in the country like the Northeast or Midwest, or even a Southern state for the first time and realizing you don’t know what all these weirdos are talking about. I have a hard time thinking of any slang that’s unique to all of Florida, not just one part, like Miami or some of the northern areas, but maybe y’all (or you guys) can think of some.
In the meantime, here are some words that you’re definitely not going to hear us use.
- Pop
Flickr/Rex Sorgatz Soda or coke are acceptable. Say pop, and everyone will know you’re not from around here.
- Hoagie or Grinder
Flickr/Bradley Huchteman Publix hoagie would just sound dumb.
- On Line
Flickr/Charlyn Wee You can say you’re waiting “on line,” but we’re going to assume you’re waiting for a video to buffer. We say “in line.”
- Thongs
Flickr/Fuschia Foot We have thongs here, but they don’t go on your feet.
- Chughole
Flickr/Doug Stop trying to make “chughole” happen, Kentucky. It’s not going to happen. It’s always going to be pothole everywhere else.
- Rummage Sale or Jumble Sale
Flickr/mike wright If I saw this sign, my first thought would be that someone just put three random words on a poster. Here we usually call them yard sales or garage sales.
- Carry-In or Hot Dish
Flickr/Steven Depolo This will always be a casserole.
- Yinz, N’at
Flickr/Oka Tai-Lee Pittsburghese. Yinz = y’all, you all. N’at = and stuff. As in, when yinz going to start speaking English n’at?
- Shopping Carriage
Flickr/Kevin Trotman It’s definitely a cart. If you say buggy, I’ll know what you mean, but “carriage” will make you sound crazy.
- Cabinet
Flickr/new1mproved Everyone’s going to think you hit your head if you call a milkshake a cabinet here, Rhode Island.
- Duck Bumps
Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski It’s goose bumps, silly. You know, like one of the best book series ever?
- Tump
Flickr/kylesteed Some of the more Southern states (that are north of us) say tump or tump over to mean fall over.
- Whirlygust
Flickr/Kim Seng I guess country folk use this in some places for a strong wind, but I’ve never heard it here (and we have plenty of strong winds.)
- Hoss
Flickr/Jeremy Keith This is a Texan word for partner or friend.
- Bubbler
Flickr/d76 Can you believe some parts of the country call these bubblers? Actually, it is kind of cute, but we’ll stick with water fountain.
Do you disagree with any on this list or have any others we might have forgotten? If you can think of any Florida slang, please share it!
Flickr/Rex Sorgatz
Soda or coke are acceptable. Say pop, and everyone will know you’re not from around here.
Flickr/Bradley Huchteman
Publix hoagie would just sound dumb.
Flickr/Charlyn Wee
You can say you’re waiting “on line,” but we’re going to assume you’re waiting for a video to buffer. We say “in line.”
Flickr/Fuschia Foot
We have thongs here, but they don’t go on your feet.
Flickr/Doug
Stop trying to make “chughole” happen, Kentucky. It’s not going to happen. It’s always going to be pothole everywhere else.
Flickr/mike wright
If I saw this sign, my first thought would be that someone just put three random words on a poster. Here we usually call them yard sales or garage sales.
Flickr/Steven Depolo
This will always be a casserole.
Flickr/Oka Tai-Lee
Pittsburghese. Yinz = y’all, you all. N’at = and stuff. As in, when yinz going to start speaking English n’at?
Flickr/Kevin Trotman
It’s definitely a cart. If you say buggy, I’ll know what you mean, but “carriage” will make you sound crazy.
Flickr/new1mproved
Everyone’s going to think you hit your head if you call a milkshake a cabinet here, Rhode Island.
Flickr/Quinn Dombrowski
It’s goose bumps, silly. You know, like one of the best book series ever?
Flickr/kylesteed
Some of the more Southern states (that are north of us) say tump or tump over to mean fall over.
Flickr/Kim Seng
I guess country folk use this in some places for a strong wind, but I’ve never heard it here (and we have plenty of strong winds.)
Flickr/Jeremy Keith
This is a Texan word for partner or friend.
Flickr/d76
Can you believe some parts of the country call these bubblers? Actually, it is kind of cute, but we’ll stick with water fountain.
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