A man at a Phoenix taco stand waits for his food with his arms crossed, sizing up how long the line will take. Nobody taught him that. Queens did. You can pick out a New York transplant from across a parking lot, years after they signed a lease somewhere warm. These are the habits that…
A Floridian can order lunch, gripe about the bugs, and give you directions without saying one word a Northerner recognizes. It sounds like English. Kind of. These are the everyday words Floridians say that leave Northerners doing a double take. No-See-Ums Floridians warn you about the no-see-ums before they ever mention the sharks. They’re biting…
Pennsylvania’s woods look about as threatening as a state park picnic. That calm is exactly what gets newcomers. The Allegheny hardwoods and the Pocono ridges hide a long list of things that can turn a nice hike sideways, and none of them care that you just moved here. These are the woods hazards transplants keep…
Think you talk like a Texan because you watched a few episodes of “Friday Night Lights”? You don’t. Forget the drawl. What gives a transplant away is the handful of words that mean one thing to a Texan and something else to whoever’s stuck behind them at the H-E-B checkout. These are the sayings that…
Every Florida transplant has a first-week story about an animal. Usually it involves a scream, a broom, and a neighbor who wandered over to laugh. What looks like an emergency to somebody fresh off I-95 is just a Tuesday to anyone raised in Florida. These are the creatures that rattle newcomers while Floridians shrug them…
Think you speak the same English as a Pittsburgh native? You don’t. Somewhere between the Liberty Bell and the Terrible Towel, the language splits in two, and most visitors never catch the switch. These are the Pennsylvania sayings that leave other Americans smiling and completely lost. 1. Yinz Yinz is how western Pennsylvania says “you…
New York City runs on a set of habits the other forty-nine states would never sign off on. Some of them look rude to a visitor from Kentucky. Most of them just save a few seconds. And in NYC, a few seconds matter. These are the things New Yorker City residents do that baffle the…
Buying a house in Virginia sometimes comes with a rulebook many people never read. That rulebook belongs to the homeowners association, and it can outrank your own plans for your own yard. Miss one line, and the board mails a fine instead of a welcome basket. These are the Virginia HOA rules that blindside new…
A cousin visits from Ohio, orders a burger, and asks what “animal style” means. All the Californians at the table go silent. Nobody raised in California would ever ask that. These are the phrases that separate a California native from everybody else. 1. The 405 Ask a Los Angeles native for directions, and they’ll route…
Think a fresh tan and a pair of flip-flops make you blend in? They don’t. These are the phrases that mark a once-northerner in Florida in week one. 1. What’s a Lanai? A newcomer stands on a screened back porch and calls it a patio. Wrong word. Down here, that screened space off the back…
