Vocabulary

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of eating with a fellow pastor and his family.  It was a great, encouraging time to be with another family who, like us, are busy with kids, ministry, and life in general.

When we first coordinated our get-to-together, I asked for clarification when they recommended us coming for dinner.  "Do you mean dinner-lunch or dinner-supper?"

This led to a conversation while there about the unique vocabulary of the area in which we all now live.  James and I had assumed (wrongly) that it was just us who had to get accustomed to the northeastern Missouri way of referring to things, blaming our southern upbringing.  But this family is originally from Wisconsin and they have the same problems, so apparently this are just has special ways of speaking.

For example:

This is not a vacuum...

this is a sweeper.

This is not a toilet...

this is a stool.

This is not a potluck...

this is a carry-in.

This is not lunch...

this is dinner.

This is not dinner...

this is supper.

This is not a snow plow...

this is a blade.

This is not a driveway...

this is a lane.

This is not a coke (as it in in TN) or a pop (as it is in KY and WV)

this is a soda. 

And those are just the ones I can think of, off hand.  It's fascinating to me that our country is so large and diverse that there are so many different words used to describe the same item.  Enjoy your daily lesson in the northeast Missouri dialect.  :)