13 Words Missourians Use That Out-of-Staters Don’t Understand

Order an Imo’s pizza in St. Louis, and it comes topped with Provel.

Out-of-staters ask what that is, and it’s not the only Missouri word that stumps them.

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

1. Hoosier

Hoosier usually means a person from Indiana, as the Riverfront Times defines it.

In St. Louis, it means a country bumpkin instead.

St. Louisans treat it as an insult.

So if a St. Louisan calls someone a hoosier, you won’t need to ask where that person is from.

2. The Boat

Mental Floss lists going to the boat as St. Louis slang for a casino trip.

If a coworker invites you to the boat this weekend, you may not be heading out on the river.

You’ll want to ask which casino before you say yes.

3. The Bootheel

The Bootheel is the state’s southeastern corner, which juts into Arkansas.

The name comes from the way the corner looks like the heel of a boot on the rest of the state.

The state archives credit landowner John Hardeman Walker with getting the area inside the state’s borders.

So when a Missourian says they grew up in the Bootheel, you’ll know to look at the far southeastern corner of the map.

4. Toasted Ravioli

Toasted ravioli is fried ravioli, even though the name says toasted.

St. Louis Magazine says Lou Oldani picked toasted so the name wouldn’t suggest fat fried or greasy fried.

Where it began is a matter of polite debate.

Two restaurants both promote themselves as the birthplace.

If someone at your table orders T-ravs, the fried kind is on its way.

5. Provel

Provel is a cheese Imo’s describes as a smoky blend of cheddar, Swiss and provolone.

You’ll find it shredded for sprinkling on pizza and salads.

St. Louis Magazine reports that the trademark application described the name as letters without meaning.

6. Gooey Butter Cake

Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis dessert, and one baker’s daughter told FOX 2 hers was baked in a square and dusted with powdered sugar.

If you ask who baked the first cake, the answer remains unclear.

The consensus is that a south St. Louis German-American baker made it by accident in the 1930s.

That account comes from an article by the Missouri Historical Society.

Some think the baker reversed the proportions of butter and flour.

The Danzer family tells it differently in a 2006 submission, saying Johnny Hoffman made the cake by mistake.

In that family account, Melba Danzer named the cake when she tried the final batch.

7. Warsh

Warsh is wash with an extra r, which St. Louis Magazine ties to an intrusive R in St. Louis speech.

You can hear it in St. Louis, though it seems to fade a little more with each generation.

National Public Radio (NPR) reports that the leading theory credits Scotch-Irish settlers who moved to the South Midland starting at the end of the 18th century.

That extra r can turn Washington, D.C., into Warshington.

Two language writers found it in an 1897 poem about a doctor in Indiana.

8. The Lake

If you hear a Missourian say they’re headed to the lake, many mean the Lake of the Ozarks.

A Lake of the Ozarks resident told a boating magazine that, to her, the place will always be the lake.

The column’s writer concludes that the LOTO nickname, short for Lake of the Ozarks, is here to stay.

A St. Louis public radio report says the lake stretches 92 miles from end to end.

The same report says the lake has more shoreline than the coast of California.

9. Bread Co.

Bread Co. is short for St. Louis Bread Company, the original name of Panera.

Many St. Louisans still call Panera Bread Co.

So if a friend says they’ll meet you at Bread Co., you’re headed to a Panera.

10. Versailles

Versailles, Missouri, took its name from Versailles, France, the city’s history page says.

Residents of the county who were descendants of the French possibly chose the name.

KBIA spells the state’s pronunciation vehr-SAYLZ.

When you say it aloud, make the ending rhyme with sails.

11. Nevada

Nevada, Missouri, shares its name with the western state, but you’ll want to say Ne-VAY-dah, the Riverfront Times says.

In 1855, a special commission of non-residents selected the town site.

Clerk D.C. Hunter, a former California gold-seeker, suggested the name after Nevada City, California, the city’s history page says.

12. New Madrid

New Madrid is a Missouri town, and the earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 took its name, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says.

The county's website says locals pronounce the town MAD-rid rather than mad-DRID.

If you say the first syllable of Madrid like the word mad, you'll sound like a local.

The town began in 1789 as Nuevo Madrid, a Spanish name.

13. Kearney

Kearney, Missouri, is pronounced Carney, the Riverfront Times says, like the word for a carnival worker.