The names we give things...

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Just finished hanging up the telephone with my sister in law, and she was telling me they just bought a new couch and chair for their downstairs sitting room, and then the bells and whistles went off! Hey, I thought, this will make for a fun topic!

I'll start!

Just a few things I can think of right now where most everybody has their own name for it/them. :)

- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport?

- Is it dinner or supper in your home?

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge?

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer?

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers?

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties?

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky?

- Is it a telephone or phone?

- Is it a washing machine or washer?

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt?

- Are you a pop or soda drinker?

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children?

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear?

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers?

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants?

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel?

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins?

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket?

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin?

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen?
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport? Couch

- Is it dinner or supper in your home? Supper

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge? Fridge

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer? Freezer

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers? Pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties? Panties... sometimes underpants

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky? Soother!

- Is it a telephone or phone? Phone (usually)

- Is it a washing machine or washer? Washing machine

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt? Cigarette

- Are you a pop or soda drinker? Pop

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children? Toilet-train

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear? Long-johns

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers? Both!

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants? Rubber pants

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel? Tea-towel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins? Both! Bad habit (I know), because they are NOT the same

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket? Diaper pail

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin? Spanking

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen? Silverware
 

Littleboylost

Long road but the path ahead holds hope.
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport?

Davenport? Seriously I may have to start calling my Couch a Davenport.

- Is it dinner or supper in your home?
Supper

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge?

fridge
- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer?

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers?
Pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties?
Undies

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky?
A Dude. (From a Ukrainian term duditza)

- Is it a telephone or phone?
Phone or cell

- Is it a washing machine or washer?
Washer

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt?
Smoke

- Are you a pop or soda drinker?
Pop
- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children?
Potty
- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear?
Long Johns

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers?
Training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants?
None never did lol

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel?
Tea towel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins?

Diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket?

Pail

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin
Didn't but we got a spanking, whoooing or a tanning.


- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen?

Cutlery

And my addition

do you say a Highway or a Freeway?

highway
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Just a few things I can think of right now where most everybody has their own name for it/them. :)

- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport? I call it a couch. My Granny called it a davenport, and my Nana called it a sofa.

- Is it dinner or supper in your home? It's dinner.

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge? Fridge

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer? Freezer

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers? Pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties? Panties

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky? Pacifier

- Is it a telephone or phone? Phone

- Is it a washing machine or washer? Washer

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt? I don't - so no word

- Are you a pop or soda drinker? Soda

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children? Potty train

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear? Neither - so no word

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers? Training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants? Plastic pants

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel? Dishtowel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins? Diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket? Pail

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin? spanking

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen? silverware
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
do you say a Highway or a Freeway?
Highway

- Do you go to town, up-town, or downtown?

- Do you wash, scrub, clean, or mop your floors?

- Is it a wash-line or clothesline?

- When you're hungry, are you hungry, starving, or famished?

- Do you buy ground beef or hamburger?

- When doing bedding, do you strip the bed, wash the sheets, change the bed, or change the bed clothes?
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
- Do you go to town, up-town, or downtown? To town (usually)

- Do you wash, scrub, clean, or mop your floors? Wash

- Is it a wash-line or clothesline? Clothesline

- When you're hungry, are you hungry, starving, or famished? Starved or starving

- Do you buy ground beef or hamburger? Hamburger

- When doing bedding, do you strip the bed, wash the sheets, change the bed, or change the bed clothes? Strip and change
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport?

Davenport? Seriously I may have to start calling my Couch a Davenport.

- Is it dinner or supper in your home?
Supper

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge?

fridge
- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer?

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers?
Pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties?
Undies

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky?
A Dude. (From a Ukrainian term duditza)

- Is it a telephone or phone?
Phone or cell

- Is it a washing machine or washer?
Washer

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt?
Smoke

- Are you a pop or soda drinker?
Pop
- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children?
Potty
- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear?
Long Johns

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers?
Training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants?
None never did lol

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel?
Tea towel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins?

Diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket?

Pail

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin
Didn't but we got a spanking, whoooing or a tanning.


- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen?

Cutlery

And my addition

do you say a Highway or a Freeway?

highway
LOL, about the Davenport! I know, sounds so sophisticated, doesn't it! :)

Love your name for a babies soother!
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport? Couch

- Is it dinner or supper in your home? Dinner but used to be supper growing up

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge? Both

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer? Freezer

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers? Pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties? Chones (slang from my husband's Hispanic background.

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky? Pacifier or binky

- Is it a telephone or phone? Both

- Is it a washing machine or washer? Washer

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt? Don't smoke

- Are you a pop or soda drinker? Soda now, pop growing up.

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children? Potty-train

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear? Long-johns growing up, long underwear now

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers? Training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants? Vinyl

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel? Dishtowel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins? Diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket? Neither

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin? We were given spankings

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen? Silverware
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
Freeway, but like most true Californians, the freeway is designated by number. For example, "Are you getting on 99 at Herndon?"

Going downtown; but when we would visit my Nana, "downtown" was reserved for where she lived, and "to town" was the larger city about half an hour away.

Sweep then mop the floors

Clothesline

I start out hungry, then progress to starving

hamburger

change the sheets
 

ahhjeez

Active Member
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport? couch

- Is it dinner or supper in your home? dinner

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge? fridge

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer? freezer

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers? pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties? underwear

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky? We called it a suckra

- Is it a telephone or phone? phone

- Is it a washing machine or washer? washing machine

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt? butt

- Are you a pop or soda drinker? tonic

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children? potty-train

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear? long johns

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers? training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants? rubber pants

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel? dishtowel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins? diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket? diaper pail

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin? We didn't, but if we did we'd call it a spanking.

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen? silverware drawer
 

ahhjeez

Active Member
- Do you go to town, up-town, or downtown? downtown

- Do you wash, scrub, clean, or mop your floors? mop

- Is it a wash-line or clothesline? clothesline

- When you're hungry, are you hungry, starving, or famished? starving

- Do you buy ground beef or hamburger? both

- When doing bedding, do you strip the bed, wash the sheets, change the bed, or change the bed clothes? strip the bed
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport? Couch

- Is it dinner or supper in your home? Dinner but used to be supper growing up

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge? Both

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer? Freezer

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers? Pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties? Chones (slang from my husband's Hispanic background.

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky? Pacifier or binky

- Is it a telephone or phone? Both

- Is it a washing machine or washer? Washer

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt? Don't smoke

- Are you a pop or soda drinker? Soda now, pop growing up.

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children? Potty-train

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear? Long-johns growing up, long underwear now

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers? Training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants? Vinyl

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel? Dishtowel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins? Diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket? Neither

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin? We were given spankings

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen? Silverware
Chones... now I know a new one! :)

Like yourself, I, too, remember calling long-underwear, long-johns, when we were kids! And snow pants were waterproof pants in our house!
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
- Do you call it a couch, sofa, settee, chesterfield, or Davenport? couch

- Is it dinner or supper in your home? dinner

- Is it a refrigerator or fridge? fridge

- Is it a deepfreeze or a freezer? freezer

- Do you wear pants, slacks, or trousers? pants

- Do you wear underwear, underpants, undies, or panties? underwear

- Baby has a soother, pacifier, or binky? We called it a suckra

- Is it a telephone or phone? phone

- Is it a washing machine or washer? washing machine

- When you smoke do you have a cigarette, a smoke, or a butt? butt

- Are you a pop or soda drinker? tonic

- Did you toilet-train or potty-train your children? potty-train

- In the winter do you wear long-johns or long-underwear? long johns

- Toilet learning toddlers wear training pants or soakers? training pants

- What are the pants that mothers use over cloth diapers... rubber pants, plastic pants, waterproof pants, baby pants, vinyl pants, or diaper pants? rubber pants

- When drying dishes, do you use a tea-towel or dishtowel? dishtowel

- When changing a cloth diaper, do you use safety pins or diaper pins? diaper pins

- Where do the wet and dirty diapers go, into the diaper pail or into the diaper bucket? diaper pail

- When your children were bad, did you give them a spanking, a whoopin', a paddling, a tanning, or a lickin? We didn't, but if we did we'd call it a spanking.

- Is it a silverware drawer or cutlery drawer in your kitchen? silverware drawer
Suckra... I've never heard of it before, but am so happy I started this conversation, because I've learned a few new words! :)
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Freeway, but like most true Californians, the freeway is designated by number. For example, "Are you getting on 99 at Herndon?"

Going downtown; but when we would visit my Nana, "downtown" was reserved for where she lived, and "to town" was the larger city about half an hour away.

Sweep then mop the floors

Clothesline

I start out hungry, then progress to starving

hamburger

change the sheets
We kids used to draw opposition every now and then for using the term, "starving", yet it never curbed us from continuing it's use! So stubborn kids are! LOL!
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
When my step-father joined the family he forbade us saying, i'm starving. Instead we had to say:

i'm satiated.
Goodness, I remember having a friend who came from a religious family, and it was almost stuffy at her house, due to all the properness. I always felt like I had to watch everything I did and said.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
I call it a couch, but I remember my great-grandmother and my great-great-grandmother calling it a davenport.

I lived in Davenport, Iowa once, though. They had a billboard that said Davenport and had a picture of a couch. I wonder how many people got the reference.

Dinner or supper. Interchangeable.

Usually fridge.

Freezer

I either wear slacks or jeans. If I am speaking generically, I say pants.

If I am talking to my kids, I say undies. If I am talking to my hubby, I use panties.

My oldest kids used a paci, but my youngest didn't use any at all, which was so much simpler. No looking for lost ones!

Phone

Washer

I say coke as a generic term (though I don't like Coke, strangely), but I have lived around people that say pop or soda. I have had to adjust my verbiage because when I say I want a coke, people actually think I want Coke. I usually try to remember to say soda, since that seems to be the way that Iowans refer to it.
 
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