11 Words Nutmeggers Use That Out-of-Staters Don’t Understand

Say “the Mixmaster” in Connecticut, and people know you mean the I-84 and Route 8 interchange in Waterbury.

Out-of-staters hear words like that at a diner counter and just nod along.

Here are the words Nutmeggers use that out-of-staters don’t understand.

1. Apizza

Apizza is the New Haven name for coal-fired, thin-crust pizza.

You say it ah-beetz.

Read the word off a menu first, and you’ll often say it wrong.

New Haven has 63 pizzerias within 20 square miles.

The same page calls Wooster Square the birthplace of apizza.

The New Haven Museum opened an exhibit called “Pronounced Ah-Beetz” in October 2025.

2. The Merritt

When you hear “the Merritt,” it means the Merritt Parkway, a scenic highway in southwestern Connecticut.

The parkway takes its name from Congressman Schuyler Merritt, who pushed for the beautification of the area.

When the parkway opened in 1940, the speed limit was 40 mph.

Trucks aren’t allowed on it, with few exceptions.

The ban also covers RVs, buses, and cars towing trailers.

If you’re towing a trailer, you’ll need another route.

3. Tag Sale

Garage sale or tag sale?

You’ll hear tag sale in Connecticut and western Massachusetts, according to a syndicated word column.

It’s also a New Haven term for a sale that private individuals hold to sell things they no longer use.

Other places say yard sale, stoop sale, or jumble, so you may know it by another name.

4. First Selectman

Many out-of-staters hear first selectman and expect a council seat, not a chief executive.

In Bridgewater, the first selectman is the town’s chief executive officer, an elected job.

Bridgewater’s first selectman oversees the day-to-day operation of town government and presides at Board of Selectmen meetings.

The Connecticut Mirror reports that Scotland’s former first selectman listed his duties as including cemetery sexton, highway supervisor, and tree warden.

The selectmen and town meeting form runs more than half of Connecticut’s 169 towns.

Weston’s Town Charter sets up a Board of Selectmen made up of the first selectman and two more selectmen.

You’ll see first selectwoman on Weston’s website for its current officeholder.

New Hampshire towns have boards of selectmen too, so you may hear the title outside Connecticut.

5. Grinder

Sub or grinder?

Yankee magazine says Connecticut and Rhode Island say grinder more than anything else for a large sandwich on a long roll.

It adds that grinder is also common in Vermont, New Hampshire, and western and central Massachusetts.

The name may come from the tough Italian bread, since you’d have to grind your teeth through it.

If the story holds, you can thank Connecticut for the word sub.

A grinder reportedly became a sub because it resembled the submarines at a nearby naval shipyard.

6. The Mixmaster

The Mixmaster is the nickname for the interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 just west of downtown Waterbury.

The name comes from the complex web of highways, ramps, local roads, and rail that make it up or pass below.

The stacked highway was an engineering feat when it opened in 1968.

Regional planners say it no longer meets highway design standards and is often crowded.

State repairs are meant to extend its life for an estimated 25 years, after which planners say a more permanent solution will be required.

If you’re driving through Waterbury, you’ll want to pick your lane early.

7. Steamed Cheeseburger

If you order a steamed cheeseburger, you're getting beef cooked in steam instead of on a grill.

Ted's Restaurant in Meriden, which opened in 1959, steams its burgers instead of grilling them.

The cheese melts in the same steam, and the owner says it comes out almost like a fondue that covers the whole burger.

The owner says steaming lets fat and oil escape while the burger stays moist.

He says the method dates to the early 1900s in Middletown, where cooks steamed cheese for construction workers.

8. Gold Coast

You may know the Gold Coast as a former British colony in West Africa, now part of Ghana.

The state has a Gold Coast too.

The state's tourism site calls Greenwich the largest town on it.

Merriam-Webster defines a gold coast as an exclusive residential district.

That is the meaning you'll want here.

9. Connecticut-Style Lobster Roll

The state's tourism site says lobster lovers here overwhelmingly love their rolls served hot with melted butter.

It calls a hot, buttered lobster roll Connecticut-style, so you know what you're getting.

You can still find a cold roll, since many places offer one.

Staff at Liv's Shack in Old Saybrook wear shirts with a "No Mayo" logo.

As local lore tells it, the lobster roll got its start in the 1920s, when a traveling salesman at Perry's Restaurant in Milford asked for a lobster sandwich to go.

10. Nutmegger

Why would a spice name a state's people?

Nutmegger is what you call a native or resident of Connecticut.

Merriam-Webster labels it a nickname.

The Connecticut State Library says the Nutmeg State name stems from a claim that early residents made and sold wooden nutmegs.

That claim rests on the reputation early residents had for being ingenious and shrewd.

You might expect a firm origin, but the accounts give no time or place for such sales.

Another account says buyers may have cracked nutmegs like walnuts instead of grating them, then called them wooden.

11. Land of Steady Habits

You may know the state as the Nutmeg State, but Land of Steady Habits is a nickname for it too.

You can check the 1951 Dictionary of Americanisms, which ties the phrase to the strict morals of the state's people.