12 Things Washingtonians Say That Leave the Rest of the Country Lost

Say Sequim with two syllables, and a Washingtonian knows you’re visiting.

Washingtonians pick up words like that early, and they stump just about everyone else.

Here’s what Washingtonians say that leaves the rest of the country lost.

1. The Mountain

When you hear “the mountain’s out,” it means Mount Rainier is visible again after the clouds, fog or rain clear.

A university folklore archive records the saying from an informant who grew up in Puyallup.

The informant described it as what you say when you can finally see the mountain after the rain clears, and explained the nickname as a matter of Rainier being the main mountain around.

2. Sequim

Sequim is pronounced “Skwim,” one syllable, according to a HistoryLink essay, so a local may notice you’re visiting if you say it with two.

The name comes from a poor English approximation of the Klallam word for a hunting ground.

The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission’s 2010 correction says the name apparently means a place for going to shoot.

Both sources treat the popular translation of the name as a mistake.

3. Seattle Freeze

The Seattle Freeze is a reputation, and a 2020 Mossback’s Northwest column describes newcomers getting smiles and nods, then wondering whether an invitation will ever follow.

If you’ve ever waited for a neighbor to knock first, you’ve felt it.

The phrase didn’t appear until the early 2000s.

A 1920 Seattle Times story already described Seattle people as too cold and distant.

That story covered a Chamber of Commerce plan called Talk to Your Neighbor Day, which the column says appears to have been a flop.

4. Puyallup

If you’re sounding out Puyallup, it’s pronounced “pew-AL-up,” according to Seattle Met’s pronunciation guide, which adds that nobody gets it exactly right.

The Lushootseed original sounds closer to “pooh-AL-up,” but that language can’t be fully written in the Roman alphabet.

5. Geoduck

If you’ve only seen geoduck in print, Dictionary.com gives the American pronunciation as “GOO-ee-duck.”

The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound says the word has been spelled several ways, including gooeyduck and gweduck.

It traces the word to a Lushootseed term meaning dig deep, though the meaning is uncertain.

Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1881 and traces it to Lushootseed, a Salishan language of the Puget Sound region.

6. Cascade Curtain

A 2004 magazine essay says Eastern Washingtonians wryly call the divide across their state the Cascade Curtain.

If you’re crossing the Cascades, you’re crossing that curtain.

The curtain is imagined to divide two vastly different peoples.

7. Spokane

Spokane rhymes with "pan," not "cane," according to the same Seattle Met guide.

The common mistake, spo-KAINE, isn't far off from the original Native name.

8. Sunbreaks

Sunbreak is a Western Washington weather term for "a small window of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy day," according to KING 5's weather terms guide.

If your forecast promises sunbreaks, expect clouds with small windows of sun, not a sunny day.

A FOX 13 Seattle forecast from September 30, 2026, ran under the headline "Seattle weather: Morning clouds to afternoon sunbreaks Wednesday."

The forecast itself calls for more sunbreaks into the afternoon, along with dry skies.

9. Eastside

The Eastside is an informal term for the towns east of Seattle across Lake Washington.

According to Seattle Met, Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Mercer Island, Sammamish and Issaquah are the obvious members.

If a friend invites you to the Eastside, ask which Eastside they mean.

King County Council Member Claudia Balducci said by email that residents elsewhere in Washington use Eastside to mean the eastern half of the state.

She often avoids the mix-up by saying East King County.

10. Puget Sound Without "The"

When you say Puget Sound like a local, there's no "the" in front, according to a 2016 story from Seattle public radio station KUOW.

A columnist quoted in the story says the extra "the" sounds wrong to him. He calls it a California habit that came in through broadcast, and says people have said Puget Sound since early settlement.

11. Convergence Zone

If you're new to Western Washington, the same KING 5 guide defines a convergence zone as localized rain from wind circling the Olympic Mountains and meeting over Puget Sound.

The National Weather Service calls it the Puget Sound Convergence Zone.

The zone generally forms north of Seattle, though it may move as far south as Boeing Field or SeaTac Airport.

It can produce a narrow band of showers, thunderstorms or snow.

A 2018 FOX 13 story quotes a meteorologist on the Puget Sound convergence zone and says the rain is usually more intense right over Snohomish County.

12. Evergreen State

If you call your state the Evergreen State, you're repeating a nickname Gov. John H. McGraw used in his 1893 inaugural address, according to a Senate bill report.

C.T. Conover, a Seattle realtor and historian, gets credit for the nickname, which he gave the state for its abundant evergreen forests.

The Legislature has considered the nickname for official designation but never adopted it.