OK, folks, I must ask you something. This is prompted by Bruno's post in which he referred to "THE interstate", but it's about how I refer to that major road that connects states here in the U.S. All of my life, I have referred to that highway without prefacing "interstate" with the article "the". I have figured that it's just a dialect quirk of people raised in Smyth County, Virginia. However, after careful observation, I realize that it isn't. We have folks on this board from lots of places, so I am taking advantage of the vast knowledge of dialects within the U.S. and asking: Do any of you know someone who refers to interstate in the same way--or at least an area in which the same thing is done? We talk about everything here, why not this, heh?
Susan

Perhaps this will help:
Why highways are named like they are

Or maybe, not so much.

Well, growing up in the sticks of Nebraska, where there's only one interstate, everyone generally says "the Interstate"

Everywhere else I've lived the interstates have been referred to by either number ("Take 90 down to xxxxx") or I-xx (I - 94, I-55, I - 70, I - 88 and on and on...)

Uh...is that what you're asking? Am I understanding the question? (Yep. Answer first, ask questions later. That's me.)

Good 'ol I80 brandmanjr.

Mitchell

Susan and I got on Interstates 81 and 40 tonight to come to Knoxville, therefore, the highway we used was THE interstate.

And on a similar note....is it pronounced creek or crick?

Tony a lot of the older folks still call Eastman Chemical, "The Eastman"..as in he works down at The Eastman. and I take the Interstate to get to Erwin to work.

The Interstate. And creek.

The interstate is the common term around these parts but since we have 4 interstate highways in St. Louis we usually just say I-64, I-55, etc. or just the number alone, ie. Take 44 to the Hampton exit ..`.

I vote for creek.

I vote for THE creek!
Susan

Mitchell, I believe there are a few places that use "Crick" and Nebraska is one of them. I've heard and said it both ways.

There's also the discussion over the words roof/root (the O sound as in "food" or "foot".)

Other words to consider:
get
pecan
lawyer
been
coupon

Then you can get into the old discussions:
soda vs. pop
bucket vs. pail
bag vs. sack

and the eternal:
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
or
Breakfast, Dinner, Supper


If you're into this sort of thing, check out this pretty interesting website on Dialect/Linguistic survey:

http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

I'm usually UP a creek!

We call em' cricks up here in Tater Acres.

Ha, ha, ha! I went to the dialect site and to the Missouri page. They didn't even touch the "Missoureee-Missouraaah" issue. I say Missoureee. Like Mississippeeee. Long E, like eek.

I say creek, in a town where there is only one interstate near by like Excelsior Springs, that is "The Interstate", here where there are 2 interstates close to my house and another just across the river, I use I-whatever the number is.

Thanks, Susan for getting this going. There is a whole science now recognizing the American dialect and it is amazing. I went to the first half of first grade in Pennsylvania and we moved to Missouri. I have spent a lot of time in Texas during youthful summers and every now and then I slip into some Texas deal like y'all or over yonder, back younder. Even in my family there are those that say, "ambulance" in a different way.

Lots of laughs in my youth about how we all pronounce things and different names for things. Like supper/dinner. I always thought that it was a southerner/yankee thing because Galen's family were definitely along the Yankee background and mine from the West and South.

I will be visiting that site again.

MBfromKC

Here's what my learned friend says about the interstate

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zNdIAbfdQUI

Hey, Mother Bear, my parents were born and raised in southwest Missouri, and I never realized that it was pronounced any other way than "Missourah" until I went to school (in Texas), where everyone said "Missouree". When I asked my folks about it, they said that natives used the 'ah' pronunciation and everyone else said 'ee'. Although since then I have heard some pronounce it "misery"....
Oh, and "the interstate", and "creek". I don't think you'd say "I'm taking interstate to Chicago". Sounds like a non-English speaker without the article in there.

St. Louisans and most people in the Yankee-influenced part of the state call it "Missouree".
Folks in the rural and western parts call it "Missourah".
Personally, I figure the original Indian pronunciation is closer to the St. Louis version. That's the only reason there would be an "i" on the end to begin with instead of an "uh".
Also, inhabitants are called "Missourians". This doesn't work too well with an "uh" in the middle..."Mis-zuh-ruh-uns"? Sounds like a digestive problem.

In Alabama, that big race track is the Talladeega Superspeedway. Everywhere else, it's Talladega (pronounced Talla Day Ga).

Regional differences are one of the many great things about our country.
Happy Inauguration Day, Y'all!

Thanks Tom, same to you!

Oh, happy, happy Inauguration Day!
Susan

Tony and I have decided that if one of us gets elected President of the US (actually, neither of us plans to run for the office any time soon), we only want Webb and the Beatnecks to play the inaugural ball. We don't need Sting, Beyonce, or Stevie Wonder--just Webb.
Susan

Vienna or VIEENA? Had an epiphany one day that I had been calling those sausages by the wrong name. I switched to the pronunciation Vienna (like in Austria). Must be all that book LARNING, but old habits die hard.

Brenda

I have always called them ViEEEna sausages. Some get it, some don't. That was the way my PaPaw said it.

I like the ones in bbq sauce..

BBQ sauce Vieenie Weenies are great!
S.

dang, now I'm hungry

I took a poll among my third-period English 10 Pre-Advanced Placement students to find out how they pronounce "Vienna". Here are the results:
Of the 19 students in the class, 15 pronounce it "Vee-enna".
Two pronounce it "Vye-eenie".
One doesn't eat Vienna Sausages, so he couldn't care less how the word is pronounced.
And the last kid didn't vote either way, because she just didn't raise her hand at first and she thought that voicing her vote after all that was said and done would throw the survey and rob it of its legitimacy.
Susan

dang, now I'm confused

Well I'm from MissourEE but my mother is from Kansas and she says UH. But then she also wOrshes things instead of wAshing them. Interstate here (Houston), since there are two major ones, is called either I-10 or I-45 or just the numbers. Same goes for Highway 59 or just 59. We do the same for the loops since there are now 3 of them. What gets me about interstate is I thought it was one that ran through several states and intrastate ran only in one. If that is true, then I-45 should be i-45 since it only goes from Galveston to Dallas! Personally to me THE interstate is and always will be 66, even though they called it route, (root or rout?) because it was the most famous road through my hometown. Now if Kansas is ASS, why isn't Arkansas ASS as well?

Just be careful when saying "Norfolk"