How to talk right in Chicago

August 20, 2003 | from an e-mail

[Davea]

How about "cut tru the gangway"

[Charles Henrickson]

A beef: An Italian beef sandwich. "I'll take a beef wid sweet peppers and hot peppers, extra juice, some fries, and a large ruht beer."

[mhking]

Thunder Chicken - A tricky one depending on what side of town you lived on. A Thunder Chicken could be a Thunderbird or also a Firebird TransAm wit da big fricken' decal on da hood.

Thunderbird

"Deuce and a Quarter" - Buick Elektra 225

[Chi-townChief]

How about when a GTO drove by in the mid-60s: "HEY, nice GOAT!! DAT is FINE!!"

[brewcrew]

Up here in Chicago's northernmost suburb, Milwaukee, we say stuff like:

Come over by my house and whistle me out so my mudder can see who I hang by. And,

Trow da cow over da fence some hay once. And,

(said to the bus driver) Punch me longer, I'm goin' down by Schuster's, down where da streetcar bends da corner around once, donchaknow.

Our vernaculars have a lot in common.

[habs4ever]

ping

[Lurker]

The forgot: "Soutside" as in the southside of Chicago. This is as opposed to the "Nortside" of course.

Also: Fronchroom as in "Why dontya come sit in the fronchroom witme."

Regards,

L

[mhking]

I got one for you: Remember going to the old Chicago Stadium for a Black Hawks game just to watch "the ethnics" from Hegwisch fight?

[habs4ever]

There must have been more gas at a Bears game from all dem peppers and sassage than any Mobil station in town...

[LibKill]

Other places have their own dialect.

East Texas.

"Wadder", water.

"Foot feed", gas pedal, accelerator.

"Killin'", fuhgedaboudit.

"Purdy", pretty.

"Dang", $%^&*&#$!

"Needed", deserved. (Conditional upon placement) as in "He needed killin'.

[brewcrew]

And isn't "oil" called "awl" in Texas?

[Charles Henrickson]

D'Edens, d'Kennedy, d'Stevenson, d'Ike, d'DanRyan: Expressways, i.e., Interstate highways. Do not use the numbers (e.g., I-94, I-290, I-55) or else people will not know what you're talking about. "So ya take d'Ike outbound till ya come ta. . . ."

[Charles Henrickson]

D'Outer Drive: Lake Shore Drive.

[Charles Henrickson]

Wrigley: What dumb sportscasters who are not from Chicago call Wrigley Field.

[Eaker]

School is in sessin, pisan.

[Lazamataz]

Dese friggin Chicahgo people. Dey donn know howta tawk right, aight?

[LibKill]

And isn't "oil" called "awl" in Texas?

Yes it is. As in:

There was a lady who bought a car and drove it for a couple of years, to her job as schoolmarm, and to church once a week. Total distance, 7 miles a week.

One day it started making funny sounds. She drove to a mechanic's garage and the mechanic started by checking the engine. He pulled out the dipstick, it was bone dry.

Ma'm, when was the last time you put awl in your engine?

(reply) Awl? Awl?

(Yes, she was blonde. So sue me.)

[Milwaukee_Guy]

No way, cheesehead (said with regional affection!) -- born and raised in BERWYN!!!! Illinois, with a husband raised off Division, bubbler is NOT a Chicago phrase -- no one south of South Milwaukee (we live in Milwaukee now)used the phrase bubbler -- threw us for a loop when we moved here -- had no idea what anyone was talking about. We said drinking fountain. (Though, in retrospect, Webster's dictionary does recognize bubbler in their definition as a drinking fountain.) Go figure (another Chicago phrase!)

Milwaukee Guy's gal

[TheyConvictedOglethorpe]

D'Edens, d'Kennedy, d'Stevenson, d'Ike, d'DanRyan: Expressways, i.e., Interstate highways.

An' when yer comin' in on da Ike, waach out when ya go troo da Strangler.

[Charles Henrickson]

U.S. Cell Block Field or U.S. Sell-your-soul Field: The ballpark officially called U.S. Cellular Field, formerly known as da Noo Kaminski Park, where drunken bums still fight in the stands or on the field.