Thanks! Yes, as I suspected, in Kentucky, "the City" does not usually mean New York City, despite the decidedly red tint on the map in the OP article [see question 95]. That was a badly colorized map. I also suspect that the way the question was evidently asked (multiple choice, feeding the answer of New York City, listing only certain cities by name, none of which are in KY) biased the response. In casual conversation, around here, "the city" never means New York City, and you couldn't hear the capital C, even if there were one.
Let's see... there are a number of instances where my usage doesn't fit the map, at least not entirely. Map 1 puts me (i.e. Cincinnati, Ohio) in "carmul" territory, but I've always said "care-a-mell." Maybe because it's a word I've rarely heard outside of TV commercials. I pronounce "Bowie knife" as "boo-ie," but that's because I read or heard somewhere that that's correct and trained myself. I probably learned it from a history teacher. To CorporalCaptain: On the "slaw" map, the question isn't whether you always call it slaw, just whether it's an allowable alternative. So the red areas are those where people use both terms interchangeably, which fits with my experience locally. For map 7, I think I'd be more likely to say just "you" than "you guys." I seem to tend toward the Southern influence for "pajamas." Not surprising, since my father was a Cincinnati native (right on the border) and my mother was Virginian. I'm not actually sure how I pronounce "pecan." I seem to use two or three of the options interchangeably, but I think I tend toward the New England pronunciation for some reason. Although in the context of "pecan pie," my first impulse seems to be to go with the "red" version, fitting the map. On map 11, I don't fit any of the options. I think of the drink as "cola," though I recognize "pop" as a vernacular alternative. To me, "Coke" is a brand name, not generic. But then, I've never been a drinker of the vile stuff (cola/soda of any kind, not just Coke) and never will be. I don't think I was at all familiar with crayfish/crawfish/crawdads until my Louisianan biology teacher talked about the different names for them. On map 13, I think I'm in the "no word for this" category. Although if pressed to describe such an area, I'd probably call it a circle. On map 14, Cincinnati seems to be in a little enclave of "sear-up" in a sea of "surrup." That fits with my usage and my experience. I say "sear-up" but I've often heard people use the other pronunciation. I grew up calling long sandwiches subs or submarines, but there are some local restaurants that call them hoagies. I use "water fountain" and "drinking fountain" interchangeably, which fits the map. I called them "gym shoes" in school, but now I tend to go with "sneakers." Again, Cincy seems to be in an enclave of blue in a sea of red -- which sort of corresponds to how we've voted in the past couple of presidential elections. Both probably have a common demographic cause. I've always used "highway" and "freeway" interchangeably, which doesn't fit anything on the map. It never occurred to me that there would be a substantial distinction between them. But now that I think about it, there are some local roads that are called highways but have stop signs and intersections -- though we also have freeways that are named the Such-and-Such Highway. "The City" is where The Tick lives, of course. But seriously, since I've lived my whole life inside the limits of the largest city within eighty miles, I have no reason to think of "the city" as meaning anything other than Cincinnati.
Right. Drilling down into the actual data, I see that that is really the question (see #89). My issue was that the secondary article we were first looking at in the OP put a different spin on the question in its caption ("The South is also really into slaw. The North and West call it coleslaw."), as if the question could determine whether we were "into" using it that way, and showing a preference in usage, which wouldn't be the same question.
The funny thing is that if you live in New York City "The City" doesn't mean New York City, it means Manhattan.
I don't think we take road terminology seriously. When I lived in Cincinnati, there was this tiny cul-de-sac that barely had 5 houses off a main street. It was called an avenue
It also sounds stupid to us native Northern Californians. I've been hearing it off an on for over thirty years, and every time I do, it makes me question the intelligence of the user. I've also noticed that as people age, that "word" (if that term even applies) falls into disuse. It's more of a younger person thing.
Good god. I just looked up hella, because I had no idea what it was (well, except that I'd have guessed correctly). I just don't know what to say, except that the word facepalm comes to mind.
If you head south all the way down Ohio Avenue in Clifton, it will reach a dead end beyond which is a set of close to 100 steps. Descend those steps, and you'll find yourself descending a shorter, extremely steep Ohio Avenue which terminates when it reaches West Clifton Avenue. Across W. Clifton is a shorter stairway, at the bottom of which is an extremely short cul-de-sac only as long as the churchyard adjacent to it... and named Ohio Avenue. I think Ohio Ave. must have been built and named back when foot travel was more common than car travel, so that three stretches of road with two intervening staircases could be considered a single continuous thoroughfare. Or maybe it was originally a continuous road but other roads and landscaping were constructed in ways that interrupted it, so it became fragmented. Although the latter seems unlikely given the geology.
Seems mostly accurate to me too. I didn't look through all the maps, but some I found interesting. #50 - What word(s) do you use to address a group of two or more people? The "y'all"/"you guys" split was entirely predictable, but Kentucky was a weird anomaly, being about the only area that says "you all". #103 - What do you call the thing from which you might drink water in a school? I find it absolutely hilarious that people in Rhode Island and eastern Wisconsin call it a "bubbler"! #105 - What is your generic term for a sweetened carbonated beverage? Didn't surprise me at all, and I saw a similar map years ago, although the isolated area for "soda" around St. Louis caught me off-guard. (Lived there from 1997-2006.) Always been "Coke" in the South! #106 - What do you call the act of covering a house or area in front of the house with toilet paper? I had no idea that "rolling" was a distinctly Southern term! Most of the rest of the country uses "tp'ing" or "toilet-papering".
Having lived in multiple states all across the country, I've encountered most of these terms. I still say "Coke" and "y'all" from my southern days, but I've picked up saying Freeway from living in California (whereas before, I called them interstates, not highways). In California, highways can definitely have stoplights and turns and etc. I'm surprised one of the options for drive thru liquor store isn't "Beer Barn", which is what I've always called them!
You mean KY is one of the few states, if not the only one, that says "you all" as the predominant option? Maybe, I didn't check all that. "You all" is certainly spoken a lot outside KY, but in KY 40.33% prefer it, but only just slightly edging out "y'all" at 39.00%. Of course, I simply can't pass up the chance to mention that the Florence Y'all Water Tower is in Northern Kentucky, plainly visible from both I-71 and I-75. It's a hoot!
^I vaguely remember hearing about the origins of the FLORENCE Y'ALL water tower while the initial debate was going on -- or maybe I learned about it after the fact, since I would've been fairly young at the time. What boggles my mind is that it warrants its own Wikipedia article.