Is This You? Colloquialism vs Formal Language

And then the rancher’s wife said, “That’s how my freezer got delivered to the brothel!” 

Colloquialisms are quaint little words or sayings that are specific to an area. In Nevada, hearing that a rancher’s wife found her new freezer was delivered to the local house of ill-repute is pretty funny. But talking of the ladies of the night in this state is akin to talking of gambling and the Burning Man festival. But! Yes, a colloquial “but.” I can only imagine the state of affairs of a freezer being delivered to the wrong tent to a Sheik in Saudi Arabia. 

It's fun to look at the words we have in our vocabulary. We should giggle when we hear Nevada as Navaada! But we get our little cackles up instead. And rightly so. Last week I was talking to someone from Ohio and on the end, I pronounced the “O.” I was quickly corrected that is it OhiA. “O” or “A,” we are a picky bunch of Americans. Or is that AMARACONS! HAHA

In the past we all have run into someone with a name that makes us scratch our heads. I heard the newest and most popular name for a female dog is Luna. Come on, that is just something from the 60’s and Haight-Ashbury. Little and big girl dogs need to be Molly or Buttercup or Scampie. Luna? Not. At least the boy dog names were normal: Duke, Sampson, Butch! Now those are colloquial names. 

On the other side of the coin is formal words and phrases. Not politically correct ones. That opens a whole other can of worms, or box of shredded wheat. Formally speaking is, in general terms,well…uppity. Ask becomes, inquire. Use becomes, utilize. I know this one is probably more regional than what we Westerners would consider uppity. Aunt becomes Oaunt! With a pinched nose sound and feel. Saying “My Onunt Suzanne,” to me is “Auntie Suzie.” All language though is something that makes the world go around.

A tidbit I learned from my other half as he was a pilot, was that all pilots and air traffic controllers, worldwide are required to speak English. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires pilots and controllers to demonstrate English language proficiency, but it doesn't necessarily mean they must be native speakers, according to the aviation subreddit. I, of course, replied that if I were to ever find myself in Bogga-Bogga land without knowing the language, all I would have to do was make my way to the airport, sneak into what I suppose would be one of the most highly secure areas of an airport, the control tower, and in the middle of the room, wave my hands like crazy and say, ”Okay, who here speaks, ENGLISH? And where is the bathroom?!” Sure, sure, not a problem.

In most cases, I think the ease of speaking as plain as possible is preferred. I can’t speak, or sadly, understand, a lot of what many city folks are saying. That would go too for someone with a deep southern accent. I would love to know what some of the words of the Cajun-Louisianan mean, or what those with diverse L.A. dialects are saying. I also wonder if they would say the same about me and my crick instead of creek. Or saying really, really old tough lamb for dinner instead of mutton is the fare for the evening.

One of the coolest words or descriptions that I think has become somewhat universal, especially at some holidays is. Oh, are you going to be surprised!? It’s

Tur-duck-hen. Some years ago this wasn’t even a thing. Now you say you are serving a tur-duck-hen and it seems normal. Can you imagine grandma Adeline in the 1920’s coming in to cook Sunday dinner and serving a chicken that she chopped it’s head off of that afternoon and stuffed inside a duck that grandpa JJ shot down with his ole 20-gauge Winchester that morning over the pond on the back 40, and then stuffed those two inside little Willy’s 4-H prize winning turkey? Oh don’t worry. Willy did not have to “dispatch” Luna his pet turkey, but he ate to his heart’s content.

Or would that be consumed? No, consumed becomes, “Naw, we ‘et him Ma!”

Never be afraid to speak up. Life is more colloquial than formal.

Trina lives in Diamond Valley, north of Eureka, Nevada. She loves to hear from readers. Email her at [email protected]

Really!