English might officially be the prevalent language in America, but the truth is that we speak American – and different parts of the country speak it far differently. The internet has brought us closer together linguistically, letting regional words and phrases spread spread everywhere. But still, if you say certain words to a Nebraskan, you’ll probably get a pretty confused look in return.

Bubbler

filckr/Indigo Skies Photography This is a cute term, and it’s actually what the device’s inventor called it. But we know it better as a drinking fountain or water fountain.

Chughole/Chuckhole

flickr/The Tire Zoo We call it a pothole…or any number of various obscenities.

Coke

flickr/Henrik Hodne You can call it soda, you can call it pop, but calling every fizzy cola drink a “coke” is just wrong.

Devil Strip

flickr/John Lamb That strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk. We call it…uh, that strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk?

Devil’s Darning Needle/Mosquito Hawk/Sewing Needle/Witch Doctor

flickr/Sarah Murray All of these wicked-sounding names have been assigned to the utterly harmless dragonfly.

Duck Bumps

flickr/Fuschia Foot We know them as goosebumps.

Fence Lifter

flickr/Canadian Pacific We tend to call heavy rain a downpour.

Grinder

flickr/jeffreyw This is a mostly Northeastern term; we call them submarine sandwiches, or just subs for short.

Johnny House

flickr/Suren Karapetyan We call them outhouses here.

Pitch-In Dinner/Scramble Dinner

Sharyn Morrow We refer to them as potlucks.

Rolling

flickr/Jim Hickcox This is what we know as TPing.

Run

flickr/RLEVANS In Nebraska, it’s called a creek or a crick, depending on which part of the state you’re in.

Shopping Buggy

flickr/Gayle Nicholson These handy contraptions are called shopping carts here.

Spicket

flickr/Brian Schoonover Nebraskans call these spigots, though people as close as Iowa and Missouri use the work “spickets.”

Standing On Line

flickr/Susan Sermoneta We’re more familiar with standing IN line.

Yinz

fickr/Elly Blue This is the plural form of “you;” here we typically say “you guys” or “you all.”

N’at

flickr/PA Resources Council N’at, like yinz, is mostly a Pittsburgh term, but it’s also used in parts of the Appalachians. It’s a shortened form of “and that.” We might say “and stuff.”

Have you heard any other regional terms from elsewhere in the county that we usually don’t hear here in Nebraska? Let us know in the comments.

filckr/Indigo Skies Photography

This is a cute term, and it’s actually what the device’s inventor called it. But we know it better as a drinking fountain or water fountain.

flickr/The Tire Zoo

We call it a pothole…or any number of various obscenities.

flickr/Henrik Hodne

You can call it soda, you can call it pop, but calling every fizzy cola drink a “coke” is just wrong.

flickr/John Lamb

That strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk. We call it…uh, that strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk?

flickr/Sarah Murray

All of these wicked-sounding names have been assigned to the utterly harmless dragonfly.

flickr/Fuschia Foot

We know them as goosebumps.

flickr/Canadian Pacific

We tend to call heavy rain a downpour.

flickr/jeffreyw

This is a mostly Northeastern term; we call them submarine sandwiches, or just subs for short.

flickr/Suren Karapetyan

We call them outhouses here.

Sharyn Morrow

We refer to them as potlucks.

flickr/Jim Hickcox

This is what we know as TPing.

flickr/RLEVANS

In Nebraska, it’s called a creek or a crick, depending on which part of the state you’re in.

flickr/Gayle Nicholson

These handy contraptions are called shopping carts here.

flickr/Brian Schoonover

Nebraskans call these spigots, though people as close as Iowa and Missouri use the work “spickets.”

flickr/Susan Sermoneta

We’re more familiar with standing IN line.

fickr/Elly Blue

This is the plural form of “you;” here we typically say “you guys” or “you all.”

flickr/PA Resources Council

N’at, like yinz, is mostly a Pittsburgh term, but it’s also used in parts of the Appalachians. It’s a shortened form of “and that.” We might say “and stuff.”

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