Patrick's Place

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Saturday 6

1. When you want to refer to a Coke or Pepsi generically, would you be more likely to say “soda” or “pop”?

I grew up saying "pop" but when I went to college, I had to learn to say "soda" or people laughed at me. Once I left that state and moved 75 miles south, I was back to "pop" with great relief. I still say "soda" in combination with other words sometimes though: "soda can", "case of soda", so it's a hard habit to break.

2. When it comes to meal at midday, would you be more likely to say “lunch” or “dinner”?

If it's hot, at least a little fancy, and homemade, it's "dinner." If it's a sandwich or other cold, or fast-prep, food, it's "lunch." And if it's cold, or fast-prep food in the evening, "supper." I'm not nearly this careful, really, but that's how I grew up. Since I work till 9 some nights I often screw up and say I'm going on my "lunch break" at 5.

3. When it comes to the final meal of the day, would you be more likely to say “dinner” or “supper”?

Oops, jumped the gun. A hot, fresh, complete meal is "dinner" and cold, leftovers, or quick-prep is "supper," though again, I'm not orthodox in my speech habit about this.

4. Do you call the interstate a “highway” or a “freeway”?

I grew up with all main roads with numbers being "highways." If there was differentiation between "highway" and "interstate," we just named the road: "I-70" or "The Valley Highway" or "6th Avenue." Then I went to college and learned that the interstates were "freeways," which I found weird, but tried to blend in. THEN I moved to this state where there is a major distinction between "freeways," "tollways," and numbered roads--"routes" (short 'o': "rowt", not "root"). Some of the old, old roads are "highways" as well as numbered "routes." And all the interstates have names (a couple of Presidents as well as a few locally famous folks) AND numbers, so listening to traffic in the Giant City To The East is like listening to a foreign language until you figure out all the names--some of which even have nicknames!--and what number matches the name. I'm still not entirely sure after 20 years where some of these roads are.

5. Are you more likely to refer to a vacuum cleaner as a “sweeper” or a “vacuum”?

No, they are "vacuums" unless I'm in England with my family there, where they are "Hoovers" even if they aren't branded. "Sweepers" are those little self-propelled things used in restaurants to clean under tables during the day, though I just recently found this out when I kept calling the one we have at work the "thingie."

6. When you cook food outdoors over the fire, do you call it “grilling” or “barbecuing”?

"Grilling." And we do it on a "grill." "Barbecue" to me is a specific type of food involving slow-cooking with sauce over heat, or the cooker used to make it. I don't make (or eat) barbecue very often; way too intensive and fussy for me to spend time making, and usually a nightmare of a mess to eat.

And here's one for fun:  how do you pronounce the work "creek" as in a small flowing stream? My sister and I fight about this one endlessly because I think she sounds intentionally hick-ish now, even though we grew up saying it the 'real' way. It comes up because she lives about 50 feet from a really lovely rocky creek. ;-)