of flip flops and lollipops

~ jama
“Merry Go Round” by Michael Young.
WHERE I COME FROM
by Sally Fisher

We didn't say fireflies
but lightning bugs.
We didn't say carousel
but merry-go-round.
Not seesaw,
teeter-totter
not lollipop,
sucker.
We didn’t say pasta, but
spaghetti, macaroni, noodles:
the three kinds.
We didn’t get angry:
we got mad.
And we never felt depressed
dismayed, disappointed
disheartened, discouraged
disillusioned or anything,
even unhappy:
just sad.

~ from Good Question, Bright Hill Press, 2015.
“Spaghetti” by Michael Serafino.

*

They say variety is the spice of life, and this is certainly true when it comes to regional vocabulary. Don’t you love how there are different terms for the same things, and what you choose to use signals where you’re from?

“Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” by Holly Ellsworth-Rose.

I smiled and nodded in recognition while reading this poem — and fondly thought about my late mother-in-law. A staunch New Englander, for her it was ‘pocketbook’ not purse, ‘divan’ not couch, ‘bubbler’ instead of water fountain. We never had trouble communicating, but our use of different terms kept our conversations lively and interesting.

Marrying a New Englander came with its own vocabulary lesson. ‘Jimmies’ instead of sprinkles. ‘Grinder’ for sub sandwich, ‘down cellah’ for basement, ‘ayuh’ for yes. And what’s up with “wicked” to intensify everything (the Massachusetts relatives really went to town on that one)?

“See-Saw Margery Daw”/The Little Mother Goose by Jessie Willcox Smith (1918).

As an avid word lover, I enjoy getting to know others through their colloquialisms. I’m usually surprised upon hearing “teeter-totter.” After learning See-Saw Margery Daw in childhood, I thought everyone called it a seesaw. I do cringe whenever anyone says ‘sucker’ instead of ‘lollipop’ (a much cuter word to begin with). 🙂

I think the funniest instance of learning a new term for a familiar object was when my Medieval English college professor — who’d moved to Hawaii from Pennsylvania — waxed lyrical about being able to wear ‘flip-flops’ to class. Flip-flops?! Locals always called them zoris or “rubba slippahs.” Everybody wore them, but nobody called them flip-flops! We teased him a lot for that. Now that I’m a mainland girl, I call them flip-flops. What’s this world coming to? 😀

“Flip Flop Beach II” by Paul Brent.

As for ‘pasta,’ I do think common usage for some words is determined by popular trends and certain time periods. Like the poet, we always said ‘spaghetti, macaroni, noodles.’ Somewhere along the line (maybe in the 70s) it became cool to say ‘pasta.’ It was sophisticated, aligned with status cookbooks and elevated the speaker from a mere eater to a gourmand.

Ultimately, the true test of ‘sanity’ is what one calls a soft drink: soda? pop? coke? tonic? My MIL called any carbonated beverage ‘tonic.’ We always drank ‘soda’; ‘pop’ just seems wrong — instead of a sugary beverage, I think instead of weasels, corn, Boston, breakfast tarts or surprise quizzes.

“Coca Cola” by Myroslav Mykolaienko.

The English language is truly fabulous — rich, varied, colorful, nuanced, endlessly fascinating. What about you? Sneakers or tennis shoes? Faucet or spigot? Stoop or porch? Fridge or refrigerator?

Are there any particular terms you use that would surprise us? Please share. 🙂

It’s all good in the end. Vive la différence!

*

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*

Lovely and talented Margaret Simon is hosting the Roundup at Reflections on the Teche. Do swing by there to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being shared around the blogosphere this week. Happy March — and enjoy your weekend!

*Copyright © 2025 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

36 thoughts on “of flip flops and lollipops”

  1. Jama, this is just delightful! Growing up, we said:

    lightning bugs
    merry-go-round
    teeter-totter
    lollipop
    mad
    sad

    My New England grandmother never said, “We’re going to the store,” she said, “We’re going to the grocery.” 🙂

    Being an Air Force brat, I’ve never felt that I’m truly “from” any one place. I think we picked up colloquialisms from different regions and we said zoris too! When we moved to the midwest (I was 11) no one knew what I meant when I said zoris. After awhile, a lot of people called them thongs, but that changed when “thong” took on a new meaning, and I call them flip-flops now too.

    And though I’ve lived in the midwest for basically forever, I’ve persisted in calling it “soda” instead of “pop.”

    When I went to college in a small town, I realized that rural folks/farmers called lunch “dinner” and dinner was “supper.” Never got used to that, and never changed the names of my meals. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. So interesting, Karen!! Had to smile at the mention of thongs. 😀 Yes, seems their primary meaning for most has nothing to do with footwear. Your mention of lunch being called dinner reminds me of the British — the working class often called their midday meal dinner, and supper was referred to as “tea.”

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  3. Jame, “The Merry Go Round” by Michael Young is entrancing, almost like one of those 3D pictures. The “language rules” in “Where I Come From” exactly mirror my childhood. I would add, we could “dislike” something, but were never allowed to say “hate.” Truly a very different time! Today, when I go back to my hometown, I notice many of these phrases have faded. Perhaps widespread access to television made us all a little more uniform?

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Yes, I think you’re right — with the internet and multiple media outlets, some of the colloquialisms have faded, only to be replaced by what everybody’s calling it on Tik-tok, etc.

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  4. What fun, Jama! I’m from Missouri (natives say Missoura), which must be Sally Fisher’s neck o’ the woods, because put me down for teeter-totter, merry-go-round, and — sorry because it does sound GROSS now — sucker. Definitely pop. Going to the store. Divan. Flip-flops. Trying to think of a regionalism — and product of its time — that isn’t covered here — growing up in the 50s and 60s, nobody said BUTT. Rear end was a popular euphemism. My dad said derriere. Also reminded of rooming in college with a hispanic girl from Texas, who had no idea what I meant when I said something was “dyed in the wool”. Ain’t words the best?

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    1. “Divan” sounds so formal — and less comfortable than a couch or sofa to me. 😀 I’ll excuse your use of sucker and pop only because I like you. 😀 I don’t remember hearing “butt” used during the 50s or 60s either.

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  5. Love this poem!

    I’m a pop/drinking fountain/gym shoe Chicagoan. (Funny that I thought bubbler was just a weird Wisconsin thing.)

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    1. Drinking fountain — yes, I’d forgotten about that one. Don’t remember saying gym shoe growing up; it was always tennis shoe. Sneakers is all I say now, although I remember a transition period of learning to use it as it came into vogue. Now people use brand names too, throwing them around like status symbols. My Hokas or Adidas, etc. BTW, do you pronounce “Adidas” with the accent on the second syllable? I’ve been surprised to hear British people say, “Ah-dee-DAHs.”

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  6. I love words too! Here in NYC we say Stoop because our brownstones have long stairways called Stoops. I believe it’s a Dutch word from when we were New Amsterdam. By the way, I would love to recommend Sofia’s Stoop Story 18th Street Brooklyn by Maria LaPlaca Bohrer, a great picture book. Also, in NYC we say hero for Sub! The funniest was my mom,who came from Southington CT, who called winter boots Arctics! I also remember visiting Boston, one of my favorite cities, and asking for the subway! I immediately identified myself as a Yankee! Up there it’s called the T!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. How fun, Joanne. Thanks for recommending Bohrer’s book — will look for it. We say sub here, rarely do I hear “Hero.” Now, calling boots “Arctics” is new to me. Wow.

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  7. Jama,

    What beautiful art to go along with your interesting poem and story. I am a boston transplant from the midwest and reaalted to your Bah-ston words.

    We used to say milk shake, but here they said “Fribble”. “Sub” became “grinder” and route (rowt) became (root).

    It is interesting and your poem captured it perfectly.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fribble is totally new to me. What a fun word! It’s sub here too, rather than grinder, and I think I hear “root” more often than “rowt.”

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  8. Ha! A ‘Where I’m From’ poem never fails to disappoint. I love this one. I too married a New Englander and gained a new vocabulary. The artwork that illustrates this post is fantastic! Now, I’m craving a lollipop!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Jama, great post and questions. The end of Fisher’s poem is sad and telling. Many of us don’t grow up with a wide range of emotions allowed.

    Here are a few of mine: tennis shoes Faucet, porch, Fridge, sucker, merry-go-round, teeter totter, and macaroni and spaghetti (as a child we didn’t say pasta).  

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Where I’m from, we didn’t have fireflies, but we did have a historic carousel. The merry-go-round was on the school playground. We ate pinto beans with ham hocks, and drank pop for a special treat. The DQ was only a couple of blocks away, so we had Dilly Bars and Mr. Mistys in the summer.

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  11. Love learning and thinking about words. I come from lightning bugs (although I wrote a story about fireflies much to my daughter’s chagrin), faucet, lollipop, purse, merry-go-round, and soda. There was a lot of PA Dutch vocabulary where I grew up – my mother would say it’s time to redd up before gallivanting off. Thanks for the lovely pictures, too.

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    1. “Redding up before gallivanting off” is new to me. Fascinating! Kind of reminds me of going “holoholo” in Hawaii.

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  12. Mahalo for these smiles and ooohs of recognition, Jama! Loved your “flip-flops” instead of “rubbah slippahs”! Our girls didn’t even have a word for fireflies, having grown up in Hawaii, ya? 😉 Aloha!

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  13. Pingback: Word Fun–Can You Relate? | Marcie Kremer Romance

  14. Oh, what a fabulous post! And the art is all especially lively, too. Do you know the PBS radio show, “A Way with Words?” It’s all about all of this, and I love it.

    I have never heard “bubbler’ – ha! I will say that if you are anywhere near Georgia (I grew up in FL, born in TN, and we’ve lived in Georgia, NC, and SC) – what you northerner-ish folks refer to as “pop” or “soda” is simply called a Coke, no matter the brand. Crazy, I know. But there’s the Coca Cola Museum in Atlanta and all….

    In the summer, we were our flip flops to watch the lightning bugs. ;0) xo

    (PS – I’ll never forget going to college in SC after growing up in FL, and my roommate would say, “Can I carry you to the store?” Turns out she wasn’t bragging on her biceps; “carry” means to give someone a ride!)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. LOL! Oh, those are some good ones, Robyn. Never heard “carry you to the store” OR that all sodas are called Coke. And I hadn’t heard of the PBS show, “A Way with Words.” That sounds fun and interesting — will have to check it out. Thanks!

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  15. I love the poem, and I loved the entire post and all the comments. Such fun to read. I have lived in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Colorado, New York, and California. Almost all the words are part of my vocabulary, although I never picked up bubbler. Thanks for an entertaining post.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Wow — you must have a very colorful vocabulary, having lived on both coasts as well as in the middle of the U.S. You must be a good conversationalist, being able to use certain words depending on who you’re talking to. I love the flexibility and adaptability of the English language!

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  16. I enjoyed reading Sally’s poem. When I was in basic training in Texas, people kept telling me I had an accent. That surprised me because I didn’t think people from the Mid-Atlantic states had an accent. I was brought up saying see-saw, spigot, and tennis shoes. We never had pasta, it was always spaghetti or macaroni. : )

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    1. I agree — I don’t think there’s a distinct Mid Atlantic accent (at least any I’ve yet detected). I’ve never used spigot, though . . . 🙂

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  17. I can relate as someone who grew up in NH, and has lived in New England for most of my adult life.

    We had rotaries, not roundabouts; lightning bugs, not fireflies; jimmies, not sprinkles, and merry-go-rounds, teeter-totters and grinders (not subs or hoagies)

    Flip flogs were “thongs” (not underwear)

    Both of my parents, born in the Boston area, said tonic, which sounded odd (we said soda).

    Please pass the clicker (remote).

    As Italians, we didn’t say pasta, more the specific type (like tortellini, or spaghetti/linguini, etc.)

    And last, but not least, the all-important adjective for all: wicked!

    Wicked good post, Jama :)!

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    1. Is “wicked” still widely used up there? Len doesn’t seem to think so, but I disagree. I remember thinking jimmies was strange but cute. Clicker is a good one — almost forgot about that. Thanks, Maria!

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  18. Jama, I had a few moments to read and write back to Poetry Friday friends. I loved your post on local wording. In Central New York we called black and white baked goods “Half Moons” so when I moved to Long Island I laughed that their wording was so different for these baked gooda and not as delicious as the upstate NY items. We drank soda at holidays and gingerale was the medicine we used with tummy aches. I never heard jimmies because I grew up with sprinkles. There are more fun terms used. The poem was fun to read and your thoughts brought back memories.

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