The Word Meme
May. 2nd, 2010 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperxGakked from a bunch of places, but ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hobbituk 's version of it:
Where you grew up: Alabama
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Creek or Stream
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called: Cart
3. A metal container to carry a meal in: Do they still make lunch boxes in metal?
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Frying pan or skillet
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people: Sofa or Settee but this is not precisely a regional thing. It's a result of my having had an Interior Design History professor in college who had a conniption fit if we ever dared use the word "Couch" in association with a sofa. Couches were chaises. Sofas and settees were the 'acceptable' terms. His horror of the word rather stuck so despite it commonly being called a "couch," I find that my hyper-insistent ID Professor's hissy-fit stuck and I consistently refer to it as a 'sofa'.
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: Gutter and downspout... and I key that on about a million elevations and roof plans at work so it practically types itself for me and usually involves the terms "system" and "splashblock" or "boot - see civil drawings for storm water tie-in"
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Ah, the curse of architecture. It depends upon what exactly the area is. If it's covered it can be a porch, with screening then a "screen porch" with glazing then "sun porch" or "conservatory" ... or it could be a loggia (depending on the architecture) or a pergola or a deck or a patio or a veranda or a gazebo. Each has a slightly different meaning. So, really, it depends.
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Coke. All of them. Except if I'm somewhere other than the South where they would simply give you a Coke if you asked for a coke. In those circumstances I usually ask for what sort of soft drinks they have. (But I've also managed to go 2 years avoiding all carbonated beverages -- with a 95% success rate -- so it's not much of an issu any longer.
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: pancakes
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: a sub... unless there are shrimp involved. Then it's a Po-boy
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: swim suit. They're all swim suits. Men or women. I suppose I occasionally say swim trunks. But usually they're just all swim suits.
12. Shoes worn for sports: Nike, Keds, Reeboks... strangely it's usually a proper noun. Generic term? I suppose I use tennis shoes or sneakers, but truly? Most of the time it's a proper noun... sort of like Coke, I suppose.
13. Putting a room in order: something I suck at doing... Oh, okay, in a pinch: cleaning-up or straightening-up
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark: lightening bug or firefly
15. The little insect that curls up into a ball: Roly-Poly (which is also the name of a roll-up sandwich chain in which case I order the Hot-n-Honey, the Cuban, or the Thai Chicken Salad >;)
16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: See-saw
17. How do you eat your pizza: with fingers and butter-garlic sauce?
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff: Garage Sale or Yard Sale... Unless someone is dead (or being inaccurate and pretentious) in which case it's an Estate Sale.
19. What's the evening meal?: Dinner
20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: Basement?
21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: water fountain (if it isn't electric) or water cooler (if it is). However, again, blame being an architect and having to think in terms of how to specify them on plans so that there are differences to contractors who bid the job. As a rule in speech the terms are interchangeable.
22. What do you call newly laid grass? Sod
23. What do you call the floor of a house above the basement? First floor. Back to the curse of architecture, if we use both "basement" and "first floor" on a plan it's because we're trying to delineate between what is the main entry level (i.e. the first floor) as opposed to simple elevation and what comes first.
24. What do you call the mechanical means of travelling up and down in a building: an Elevator or (if it's movable steps) an escallator
25. What is the thing that takes away pencil marks on paper? an eraser
hobbituk 's version of it:Where you grew up: Alabama
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Creek or Stream
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called: Cart
3. A metal container to carry a meal in: Do they still make lunch boxes in metal?
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: Frying pan or skillet
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people: Sofa or Settee but this is not precisely a regional thing. It's a result of my having had an Interior Design History professor in college who had a conniption fit if we ever dared use the word "Couch" in association with a sofa. Couches were chaises. Sofas and settees were the 'acceptable' terms. His horror of the word rather stuck so despite it commonly being called a "couch," I find that my hyper-insistent ID Professor's hissy-fit stuck and I consistently refer to it as a 'sofa'.
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: Gutter and downspout... and I key that on about a million elevations and roof plans at work so it practically types itself for me and usually involves the terms "system" and "splashblock" or "boot - see civil drawings for storm water tie-in"
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: Ah, the curse of architecture. It depends upon what exactly the area is. If it's covered it can be a porch, with screening then a "screen porch" with glazing then "sun porch" or "conservatory" ... or it could be a loggia (depending on the architecture) or a pergola or a deck or a patio or a veranda or a gazebo. Each has a slightly different meaning. So, really, it depends.
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: Coke. All of them. Except if I'm somewhere other than the South where they would simply give you a Coke if you asked for a coke. In those circumstances I usually ask for what sort of soft drinks they have. (But I've also managed to go 2 years avoiding all carbonated beverages -- with a 95% success rate -- so it's not much of an issu any longer.
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: pancakes
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: a sub... unless there are shrimp involved. Then it's a Po-boy
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: swim suit. They're all swim suits. Men or women. I suppose I occasionally say swim trunks. But usually they're just all swim suits.
12. Shoes worn for sports: Nike, Keds, Reeboks... strangely it's usually a proper noun. Generic term? I suppose I use tennis shoes or sneakers, but truly? Most of the time it's a proper noun... sort of like Coke, I suppose.
13. Putting a room in order: something I suck at doing... Oh, okay, in a pinch: cleaning-up or straightening-up
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark: lightening bug or firefly
15. The little insect that curls up into a ball: Roly-Poly (which is also the name of a roll-up sandwich chain in which case I order the Hot-n-Honey, the Cuban, or the Thai Chicken Salad >;)
16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: See-saw
17. How do you eat your pizza: with fingers and butter-garlic sauce?
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff: Garage Sale or Yard Sale... Unless someone is dead (or being inaccurate and pretentious) in which case it's an Estate Sale.
19. What's the evening meal?: Dinner
20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: Basement?
21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: water fountain (if it isn't electric) or water cooler (if it is). However, again, blame being an architect and having to think in terms of how to specify them on plans so that there are differences to contractors who bid the job. As a rule in speech the terms are interchangeable.
22. What do you call newly laid grass? Sod
23. What do you call the floor of a house above the basement? First floor. Back to the curse of architecture, if we use both "basement" and "first floor" on a plan it's because we're trying to delineate between what is the main entry level (i.e. the first floor) as opposed to simple elevation and what comes first.
24. What do you call the mechanical means of travelling up and down in a building: an Elevator or (if it's movable steps) an escallator
25. What is the thing that takes away pencil marks on paper? an eraser
