Friday, December 01, 2006

Vermont-isms

Anyone who has moved around a bit knows that different parts of the country have different customs if you will. For instance, in Ohio, Pepsi or Coke is referred to as "pop" whereas in California it's called "soda" or even "Coke". Which I've always found weird. A conversation with certain people in Cali could go something like this:

"Would you like a Coke?"
"Sure."
"We have Mt. Dew, Sprite, and Pepsi. Which would you like?"

It's strange. Vermont has some weird ones too, let me tell you. They have something called a Creamee, Creamy, or Creamie, depending on where you buy one. This is also known as soft-serve ice cream. When we first got here and someone asked if I liked them, I thought they were referring to Krispy Kreme, lol.

In Vermont, when someone says they're "going to camp" they don't mean the deal that you do in the fourth or fifth grade where you go off to cabins and sing songs. This means: going camping as in a tent, camper, or RV. I was confused about this one for the entire first summer we were here.

They also have a winter tradition of snow with maple syrup and dill pickles. I have no idea why and as it sounds gross to me I've never tried it out.

C also told me of another Vermont-ism last night that I've never heard but seeing as how he's talked to about 90% of the state's population in the last 3 years, he's heard it all. Anyway, they like to say, "...I weren't..." about stuff. In case you're clueless here, that's never proper grammar. It should be I'm not, or I won't, or I wasn't. He said it's impossible to correct them too. They just don't understand it.

Something else I find funny is that as soon as the temps get above 50 degrees you'll see all kinds of people going around in shorts and t-shirts. My threshold for being cold has risen a lot since living here but 50 degrees is still jeans and sweater weather in my book. However, around 65 I can stand wearing something like capris and short-sleeved shirt like yesterday. In Cali, if it got below 70 degrees I was hauling out my jeans and sweatshirts hoping I'd survive the "cold".

Oh, and if you're not from here, you're considered a "low-lander". I was called a low-lander during our first spring when I was talking to the guy that mowed our lawn about the bears that lived on our road. He thought it was funny that I thought that was so neat and called me a "low-lander". Interesting considering I moved here from Cali and that's by no means a "flat" state, lol.

And another one is that they think you're weird if you prefer bottled water. I, personally, can't stand the tap water at our house. It tastes dirty to me. People here can't understand why we installed an under-the-sink water filter. Oh well.

They also have an un-official state car which is the Subaru because they all come standard with 4 wheel drive. You can also travel to anywhere in the state on snowmobile trails. They have snowmobile crossing signs on the road for just this purpose. Billboards and neon signs are against the law. If you're buying anything alcoholic everyone you're with has to show I.D. even if they're not buying or drinking it.

That's all I can think of right now but that's quite a lot anyway.

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