The Talk

Here's an interesting video about what Americans say and how we say it.  At present, Americans are generally intelligible to each other, and with greater intercommunication, perhaps no dialect will go so far that it might as well be another language.

What's fascinating about dialects is how you barely notice yours until you go somewhere else. And then, sometimes, you say what others say to mix in, but feel weird about it.  Sometimes it's not too hard, but there are other cases where I don't think certain words could ever come out of my mouth.

I grew up saying pop, and I still feel a little strange saying soda. (When I was a kid, a soda was pop with ice cream in it.)  But I can't imagine ever saying Coke for some generic carbonated beverage.

I say sub--submarine sandwich is too formal.  I can imagine saying hero, but not hoagy. Po' boy is out of the question.  (I thought po' boys were something specific, not subs, but I guess they can be considered such.)

I usually say tennis shoes (and you don't have to play tennis to wear them, any more than you have to put gloves in your glove compartment).  Sneakers is okay, though gym shoes sounds weird.

I probably say freeway most of the time, though I use it interchangeably with highway.  I suppose freeways used to be particular types of highways--ones without tolls--but where I grew up I don't remember any tolls anyway, so maybe it made no difference. I never say expressway, though I've got nothing against it.

I would say you guys when referring to several people (though even that sounds a little weird).  I would never say y'all, no matter how long I lived in the South, and you'd have to put a gun to my head to make me say yous.

The only part of the video I didn't quite get was the various words for subway.  Terms like the T, BART, the Metro or the El (or L) seems to me proper nouns based on the locality, not generic dialect for all subways.  I've used these terms when I was in those towns, but I knew enough to refer to the subway when I was in other cities.  Or do, say, Bostonians ask where the nearest T station is in New York?