Talk:Colloquialism/Archive 1

Is this substantially different than slang? (anon)

I've listed on wikipedia:duplicate articles

• Slang is the language usage of a particular group of people, while colloquial is closer to conversational. So "yur" is a colloquial form of "your", not slang. Tom Sawyer is colloquial, but not heavy in slang. e.g its moi and not its me KellyCoinGuy

I don't understand this distinction. Don't all words have a limited scope of people who use them? Isn't slang also used in conversational speech? Isn't "yur" just a phonetic spelling of a de-emphasized "your", rather than a separate word? --DocumentN 03:07, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

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Should this be moved to wiktionary:Colloquialism?

Noldoaran 21:56, Nov 27, 2003 (UTC)

• Not necessarily... although there should be an entry there, this article has a lot of legs, as it could start listing colloquialisms... KellyCoinGuy

Colloquialism,- A long, confection covered, cream filled type of pastry sometimes referred to as a maple bar...I doubt this 'maple bar' type of confection has ever been referred to as a Bear Claw, even in New England. A bear Claw is a more flat, rounder jagged (possibly filled with some soft sweet filling) pastry, usually fried, which resembles a Bears paw.

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The most interesting question is where do colloquial phrases go? In wikitionary or here? We have Category:English phrases here in Wikipedia, but no such category for colloquial expressions. It would be really nice to have such a collection somewhere... is there already a place? KellyCoinGuy

"immaculate conception"

What are the two meanings of "immaculate conception"? Is the religious meaning the formal meaning or the colloquial meaning? --Gbleem 05:03, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

I removed this as both it and the other example are not correct. Rmhermen 17:11, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

• Examples

Does anyone think some examples of colloquialisms would be helpful he? Yayaja67

External Link

Why is figarospeech.com in the links for this page? Are all colloquialisms figures of speech, or are all figures of speech colloquialisms? Atreys 16:57, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Dressed for Bear

What on earth does this mean? I've never heard this phrase before. 199.91.37.33 (talk) 15:09, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

I suspect this is a variation on "Loaded for Bear". If you are hunting bear, you typically want heavy-duty ammunition and "loaded for bear" is used figuratively to refer to a situation where someone brings the "heaviest" resources available to a situation. Like maybe hiring F. Lee Bailey to contest a parking ticket. Wschart (talk) 12:54, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Coke?

I've lived in Georgia since birth, and most of the people I know refer to all dark carbonated beverages as "Coke." Others have also mentioned that at a restaurant, they will often ask what type of "Coke" you want when you order it in that manner. Similarly, if someone offers you a beverage at their house and you ask them what types they have, they will oftentimes respond, "Coke and Sprite," even if they have Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Ginger Ale, Sierra Mist, and/or other types of coke. If you asked someone here (in Athens, GA or surrounding areas, including most of Atlanta) what type of coke they have in a restaurant, they would certainly respond with "Diet, Cherry, Mr. Pibb, Pepsi, Sprite, Fanta, etc." (or whatever they have in the store). However, never in my life have I heard anyone refere to coke as "dope." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.33.111.197 (talk) 18:43, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

My entire life, I have lived in Northern Florida - which is obviously part of the "Southern United States" - and I've NEVER heard of someone calling any form of soft drink other than Coca-Cola "Coke." I've only EVER - even in visiting other areas and through visitors from other areas - heard them called "soft drinks," "fountain drinks," or most commonly "sodas."

The word "Coke" IS very commonly used, but only when referring specifically to Coca-Cola. I have relatives in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, other areas of Florida, and Alabama. I've visited all of these areas as well as the Carolinas, Louisiana and Texas, and I guarantee that if you were to visit Florida or any of those places, go to a restaurant and ask for a "Coke," you would get: a Coca-Cola, a response of "We don't have Coke, we have Pepsi...?" or possibly (and unknowingly) a Pepsi or RC Cola in an unmarked glass. If you were to ask "What kind of Coke do you have?" you would get a very confused look or a reply of "Regular and Diet" or possibly "Regular, Diet, and Cherry."

Now I cannot speak for all of the "Southern U.S.," but I can surely speak for my area of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. There may be parts of Northern Alabama, Arkansas, Virginia, Oklahoma, or West Texas that use the term "Coke" to refer to sodas, but I find it VERY doubtful, and I don't really even consider those areas part of the South. There could also be small parts of other Southern States that use this umbrella word, but I also find that doubtful.

I don't know who came up with this idea that Southerners refer to all sodas as "Coke" but I cannot stress enough the fact that I live in the South and have never in my entire life (other than on this Wikipedia page) heard of this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.178.246.56 (talk) 21:52, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

• I moved to South Florida in 1982 and was amazed that people referred to all types of pop as "Coke." "Get me a coke, Mike." "What kind do you want?" "Sprite, Mountain Dew...doesn't matter." So I can vouch that the coke colloquialism in South Florida definitely did exist, although it has seem to have dissipated in use. Also note the use of "pop" which indicates my move from the mid-west. 65.11.168.132 (talk) 06:23, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

I grew up in Kansas City using "Coke" to refer to soda generically. My Mother was from Northern Texas, so perhaps that is where it came from in my case. "Bottle of pop, Bottle of coke," were used interchangeably. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rogimoto (talk • contribs) 19:16, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't know much about Northern Florida, but I can say to a great certainty that "Coke" is used for soda generally in the vast majority of the South. I am from Texas and currently live in Alabama, and have been to every single Southern State, and have heard this usage in all of them, with the possible exception of the parts of Florida now populated by Yankee transplants, and likewise some of the larger cities in Georgia and Texas. It is not uncommon for my request for a "Coke" to be answered with, "what kind?", to which "Diet Coke", "Sprite", or "Dr Pepper" would all be acceptable answers. Perhaps y'all ought to travel a bit more throughout the South! 130.160.232.176 (talk) 19:22, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

I have lived several different places in the southern United States (various parts of Arkansas and Georgia mainly) and soft drinks were always referred to as "coke", no matter what the brand. This is likely because Atlanta, Georgia is the home of Coca-Cola, and therefore was the first soft drink with wide appeal in the region. Cardsplayer4life (talk) 09:36, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

I've lived in the south for all but 2 of my 29 years and i can say with 100% certainty that referring to all brands of soft drinks as "Coke" is perfectly acceptable. Like several have said, if you ask for a coke, you'll be asked what kind. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.111.55.86 (talk) 11:04, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

In the 1980s, this Tennesseean was amazed discover that Cleveland, Ohio had one brand of "coke." It took some time to figure out that they believed the word to mean only one specific carbinated beverage. --J —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.6.71.5 (talk) 18:31, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

The map says Bexar county in Texas uses Coke predominantly, but I have never heard anything other than "drink" or "soda" the entire time I've lived here. I've also never been asked to clarify what soda I want when I ask for a coke. I dunno, maybe they polled one person from each county as their sample size. Sabar^Cont 05:31, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

The map data for each county is still available at the source. Most (if not all) county's color are based upon several responses. Cardsplayer4life (talk) 08:13, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Not sure if this is relevant, but I think southerners' references to soft drinks as "Coke" (regardless of how widespread it is) may be more accurate than the other posters here may be giving the region credit. the Coca-Cola Company licenses/markets all varieties of soft drinks; there is a Coke "version" of every soft drink. Southerners (assuming this articles' claims are true) have merely elevated the brand "coke" to the same status as Kleenex or xerox. --66.66.229.100 (talk) 23:36, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

You mean genericized trademark? - 68.228.87.40 (talk) 04:45, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

As far as the "Stimulants" that are referred to, Coca-Cola contained Cocaine in the original soft-drink mix. Thus the "Dope" reference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.219.168.33 (talk) 03:07, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Well Coke was originally tonic/drink with ingredients such as coca and the kola nut, hence the name Coca-Cola. It was carbonated since at that time people believed carbonated drinks could improve your health (similar to how radium water was drank for supposed health benefits). It did not have cocaine in it as many might assume. - 68.228.87.40 (talk) 03:38, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

I have lived in TN and I was the only one that called it "pop". Everyone else there called it "Coke". But, that is of course, MY experiences and not yours. Microsoft Word XP says that colloqualism is when "two possessives" modify one noun, like in the headline.99.254.204.28 (talk) 19:53, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Microsoft Word XP, not to put too fine a point on it, is a poop-butt.HeadsCanBeLargelyAkin2Wholes 18:01, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Is poop-butt a technical term? Cardsplayer4life (talk) 06:01, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

I've lived in New England my whole life, and only heard "soda." I guess the map confirms this, but I was surprised to see that the article says that it's occasionally called tonic? I've never heard that. And I always thought that "pop" was like an old-fashioned word.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.92.131.10 (talk) 21:04, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

I've always heard "soda" being used for any type of soft drink/fountain drink, and "coke" for Coca-Cola. We used this in Texas and in California too. I had a teacher from Michigan who wasn't that much older than us, and she used "pop" as a generic term for soda. She thought it was pretty weird that we used "soda", and we thought it was weird that she used "pop" (this was back in middle school a few years ago). And looking at the previous comment, I think the usage of these terms has changed among younger generations, and many people (in Tennessee or South, etc.) might now use "coke" differently. (If someone were to poll for the term usage, they'd have to block (separate) for different age groups). - 68.228.87.40 (talk) 04:45, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

Quality

This is a bad quality article, with badly structured sentences and poor explanations. Could someone with knowlegde of the subject rectify this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.42.89.161 (talk) 22:43, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

where on wikipedia can I find an explanation of what

use of the phrase so-n-so "has an attitude" conveys or is supposed to convey? I'm looking for like an article about what I think is called "colloquial language". but "colloquialism" ain't it. anyone? also "it's not an exact science." well, I guess more things oughtta be. HeadsCanBeLargelyAkin2Wholes 01:08, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

en or us?

Although this is en.wikipedia.org the examples are exclusively US. It would be great if editors from other English-speaking countries (the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc.) would expand the section to make it less US-centric. If that would make the section too long then it would be better to omit some of the US examples than to use that as a reason to exclude a broader cross section of examples. --Vaughan Pratt (talk) 18:50, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

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