# ISO Iowans



## Constance (Jan 4, 2008)

As you all know, I'm writing a book about my dad's life growing up on a farm in Iowa. It's going well, but it's been a long time since I've been there, and I need some help with the dialect and local colquealisms. 

For instance, do you say:

"I'm gonna plow that field," or "I'm going to plow that field"...
"That fella's plumb lazy," or "That man is very lazy"...

I remember they call soda "pop", but anything else you can think of would be a help.


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## pacanis (Jan 4, 2008)

Hmmm, I say, I'm gonna (do something) and I'm from PA. I call a Coke pop, but 2 hours south of me in Pittsburgh they call it soda..... and say gumband rather than rubberband..... I'm not sure dialect is state specific.


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## jennyema (Jan 4, 2008)

They call soda "pop" all over the midwest.

I grew up in Iowa but not on a farm.  We called the thing over your head a "roo-uf" and the white stuff from a cow "melk."

But living in Boston has cleared my memory bank of much else ...


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## Barbara L (Jan 4, 2008)

James has a definite mid-west sound in his speech.  It isn't strong enough to call an accent, but there is a definite difference.  One of the things I have noticed, mainly with men, is what I call the "mid-west pause."  Not all men talk that way but my dad (from central Missouri) and James (from Ottumwa, Iowa) both do it.  My dad is especially bad about it.  You think he is finished talking, but he is just pausing for a breath (or 7).  It always irked him that we would start talking when he wasn't finished.  It was so hard to tell sometimes though!  James takes shorter pauses than my dad does, but there is still a pause.  Not in every sentence, of course, but pretty much at least one per (if it were written) paragraph.

Speaking of James, he just got home from Columbia and wants to take me to Taco Bell (woohoo!), so I will see if he has anything to add when we get home.

Barbara


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## pacanis (Jan 4, 2008)

Ottumwa, Iowa.  Why does that ring a bell?
Was "Radar" from there?


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## Constance (Jan 4, 2008)

Could be, Pacanis. Ottumwa is just south of Des Moines. My dad grew up in Bondurant, which was just north of Des Moines. 

Now that I think about it, Barbara, my dad did that to some degree.

Jenny, that really helped. I'm thinking of the accent of the North Dakotans and Minnesotans and moving south. 

You all have helped with the dialogue...Thank you very much!


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## Angie (Jan 4, 2008)

Constance said:


> As you all know, I'm writing a book about my dad's life growing up on a farm in Iowa. It's going well, but it's been a long time since I've been there, and I need some help with the dialect and local colquealisms.
> 
> For instance, do you say:
> 
> ...


 
Hmm...I've lived here in Iowa all of my 36 yrs...

I'm gonna plow the field...well, I don't plow fields but if I DID...
That man is lazy.
We drink pop
We wear tennies, not sneakers.
We WASH our clothes.  We don't warsh them.

Throw more at me!

Oh...and I write like I talk...if that helps any.


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## Angie (Jan 4, 2008)

pacanis said:


> Ottumwa, Iowa. Why does that ring a bell?
> Was "Radar" from there?


 
I love M*A*S*H...Radar was from Ottumwa.


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## pacanis (Jan 4, 2008)

Thanks, Angie! I haven't had time to Google it yet, but it was going to bug me all night if I didn't find out 

That's another one you mentioned, too.  People in Pgh, PA say warsh, people up here by the lake say wash. I just think this dialect is an interesting topic. Kind of like Michael and his pronunciation polls... pecahn, pecaan, pehcan.... whatever   Accents are one thing, but people in the southern part of my state have the same accent as I do, they just talk differently. I wonder if the different dialect holds true, or rather the pronunciation of words holds more true through other states. No matter what part of the stae you are from.  Hmmmm


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## Constance (Jan 4, 2008)

Thanks for the reply, Angie.

Would you say pickin' or picking? 

Gunny sack or toe sack?

Black top or hard road?

Do you say, "You bet'cha"?


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## Angie (Jan 4, 2008)

Constance said:


> Thanks for the reply, Angie.
> 
> Would you say pickin' or picking?
> 
> ...


 
Picking

Gunny sack

Black top

You bet'cha I say you bet'cha!

We also have roofs...like Ruhf...not rooof.
We have creeks, not cricks.
We also eat tomatoes, not tomahtoes.

Keep 'em comin'!


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## suziquzie (Jan 4, 2008)

I thought only my St. Louis and vicinity relatives "warshed" the clothes. 
They drink "sodi-pop"
I didn't really think anyone east of IL warshed anything. 
When I lived in Indiana a year, they "ran the sweeper" when they vaccuumed. 
And when asked a the grocery store if they had any frozen tortellini, they reply,
"Turtle-what!?!?"
I can't type that accent.


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## pacanis (Jan 4, 2008)

I run the sweeper when I vacuum.
I vacuum when I run the Food saver


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## Angie (Jan 4, 2008)

I vacuum...and sweep and dust.  I also vacuum the carpet, but some older folks around here vacuum the rug.


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## Barbara L (Jan 4, 2008)

Yes Radar was supposed to be from Ottumwa.  James said that they had a big "M*A*S*H Day" celebration in Ottumwa one year.  They invited the M*A*S*H actors to come for it.  The only one who refused to come was "Radar!"

Barbara


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## QSis (Jan 4, 2008)

Angie, do you say "crick" for "creek"?

Lee


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## Angie (Jan 4, 2008)

QSis said:


> Angie, do you say "crick" for "creek"?
> 
> Lee


 
Creek.

My husband grew up in California and he went crickin'...


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## Dave Hutchins (Jan 4, 2008)

I was born and raised in Des Moines Iowa and we sweep the floor with a vacume sweeper, and a crick is still a crick. Soda is acceptable for pop, and we mash the starter on the car to start it . and some of us Iowaowins still go courtin with my sweety.  Pigs are called hogs and they make the smell of money to a farmer to every body else they stink. Cows are called a milk factory and a steer is T. Bone on the hoof. and we do not talk of sheep we are a beef, pork, and corn state and very proud of it.


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## Angie (Jan 5, 2008)

Dave Hutchins said:


> I was born and raised in Des Moines Iowa and we sweep the floor with a vacume sweeper, and a crick is still a crick. Soda is acceptable for pop, and we mash the starter on the car to start it . and some of us Iowaowins still go courtin with my sweety. Pigs are called hogs and they make the smell of money to a farmer to every body else they stink. Cows are called a milk factory and a steer is T. Bone on the hoof. and we do not talk of sheep we are a beef, pork, and corn state and very proud of it.


 
Isn't funny how you were raised 2 1/2 hours from me and we talk differently!  Could be a generation gap to blame as well!


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## Constance (Jan 5, 2008)

St. Louis is only an hour an a half from here, and "you bet'cha" we speak differently. We do "warsh" clothes (fortunately not on a scrub board like my grandma) and run the sweeper. 

Dave, have you ever been out in a cornfield on a still, hot, humid summer night to hear the corn grow? You can actually hear it pop and rustle as it grows.


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## Constance (Jan 5, 2008)

A few more questions...

Do you call the suspenders on your overalls galluses? 
What do you call baby pigs? 


Can you think of any dishes your mother made that had nicknames? 
(ex: around here, stewed tomatoes with bread used to be called "Poor-do" because poor people could make do with a meal of it.


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## jennyema (Jan 6, 2008)

I was born in Minneapolis and lived there before moving to Iowa (with a brief stop in Fargo in between!).

In Minneapolis and Fargo they said "you betcha" but In Cedar Rapids they definitely did not.

I spent many happy hours at Minnehaha "crick" in Mpls. but in CR it was a "creek."

To my ears, the Minnesota/ND/Wisconsin accent is somewhat different than Iowans'.  In Mpls there are longer vowels "oooooh my" and a lilt at the end of a sentence that makes every statement sound like a question?  Perfect for Jeopardy.


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## Angie (Jan 6, 2008)

jennyema said:


> I was born in Minneapolis and lived there before moving to Iowa (with a brief stop in Fargo in between!).
> 
> In Minneapolis and Fargo they said "you betcha" but In Cedar Rapids they definitely did not.
> 
> ...


 
HEY!  I'm in Cedar Rapids! (Marion..)  I say You Betcha, but I don't know how many others do...

There is a HUGE difference in the accent between us and WI/MN.  I have relatives in WI and we alway make fun of them driving their cah, where we drive a car.  And in Minnesoooda...nuff said?


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## JoAnn L. (Jan 6, 2008)

I am a born and raised Iowan and I wash my dishes in the zink instead of the sink.


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## Angie (Jan 6, 2008)

Constance said:


> A few more questions...
> 
> Do you call the suspenders on your overalls galluses?
> What do you call baby pigs?
> ...


 

Baby pigs?  I think they are just baby pigs.

What the heck are galluses???

I'm gonna post some questions on my family website.  My mom's 7 bro's/sis's check it daily and will be happy to add info!


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## Angie (Jan 6, 2008)

Oh, and I carry a purse.


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## jennyema (Jan 7, 2008)

Angie said:


> HEY! I'm in Cedar Rapids! (Marion..) I say You Betcha, but I don't know how many others do...
> 
> There is a HUGE difference in the accent between us and WI/MN. I have relatives in WI and we alway make fun of them driving their cah, where we drive a car. And in Minnesoooda...nuff said?


 

Right next door!

They drive "cahs" out here!  "Toyoters," in fact.

I honestly cannot recall ever in my life saying "you betcha."  

Have never heard of "galluses."

In Minnesota they call casseroles "hot dishes," but don't know if Iowans do that.

When I lived there, it was popular to serve bread (ala Wonder bread) at every meal.

They also eat Maidrite sammies.


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## Constance (Jan 7, 2008)

I guess you have to have worn bib overalls to know about galluses. Galluses are the straps that you throw over your shoulder and hook to the bib. If you get the strap twisted, they ask you if you're expecting lightening. Don't ask me why.


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## JoAnn L. (Jan 7, 2008)

*From Iowa.*

I always call a head scarf a babushka and boots were always galoshes (not sure of the spelling). My mom always said handbag instead of purse. In her day they didn't have shoulder bags.


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## jennyema (Jan 7, 2008)

Constance said:


> I guess you have to have worn bib overalls to know about galluses. Galluses are the straps that you throw over your shoulder and hook to the bib. If you get the strap twisted, they ask you if you're expecting lightening. Don't ask me why.


 


For some reason I wore overalls quite regularly in high school.  My mother was horrified (as I am now) , but it was the 1970's ....


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## Angie (Jan 7, 2008)

Jeeze..what a bunch.  This is what I've gotten for replies so far from my family's website!!!!!!!


From Aunt Marge:
  1920's???? Just HOW OLD do you think we are????? 

From Uncle Randy:
  We had to walk to school and it was uphill both ways , and you spit yur skoal out the winder when the teacher wasnt looking.
We grow corn for ethenol and beans for methane..

And from DAD:
 I think baby pigs were what we called the grade school girls from Clarksville, and soda ? who the **** ever heard of soda ?It's pop here in God's country. As far as purses vs. handbags I've been hit by a lot of purses but never a handbag. Also, we don't grow any colquealisms here in Iowa just corn and beans.
Love ya, 
DAD



I tried.  I guess I need to make a phone call to Gramma instead!


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## Constance (Jan 7, 2008)

Your family sounds great! 

Actually, it was the 30's, not the 20's, but I imagine Gramma is the one to talk to about old sayings or other things she remembered or heard from her family.

Thanks for the smiles!


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## Uncle Bob (Jan 7, 2008)

Constance said:
			
		

> Dave, have you ever been out in a cornfield on a still, hot, humid summer night to hear the corn grow? You can actually hear it pop and rustle as it grows.


 
I've heard this many times (in Missssippi) I tell people about it and they laugh. 'Tis true however!!


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## Barbara L (Jan 7, 2008)

I found a website once that had a webcam recording corn in some field in Iowa.  It said at the site that you could see the corn growing!  I didn't watch long enough to know if it was true or not.  I had already planned to watch some paint dry.  

Barbara


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## Angie (Jan 7, 2008)

Constance said:


> Your family sounds great!
> 
> Actually, it was the 30's, not the 20's, but I imagine Gramma is the one to talk to about old sayings or other things she remembered or heard from her family.
> 
> Thanks for the smiles!


 
Grampa RIP was born in 1910 and Granma was born in 1919.  I'll get some good stories from her...she was a child of 12 and had 8 of her own..all on the farm!  Grampa was one of 9 and was a farmer his whole life.


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## Dave Hutchins (Jan 7, 2008)

Yes I have heard the corn grow> I was raised on a acerage and we raised corn and it is true in July nights when it is unbeliveable hot you can here the corn grow.and the smell of growing corn is sublime  Dave


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## suziquzie (Jan 8, 2008)

Dave, I can hear it too, I have a cornfield for a next door neighbor. 
However nothing sounds colder in the fall when its dried out right before harvest, and that frigid north wind starts ripping through it in November. 
I'd like to hear it grow again soon!


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## Constance (Jan 8, 2008)

So, has no one else heard of galluses? Not even you, Bob?


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## Uncle Bob (Jan 8, 2008)

Constance said:


> So, has no one else heard of galluses? Not even you, Bob?


 
 Yes Miss Connie, I have heard the term, but only as a reference to "suspenders" or "braces." I personally have never heard the term applied to bib over-alls. When I think about it, I do'nt know what you call the "straps" on over-alls. I've just always called them straps. I do have several pair, mostly camouflage. However; I do have a very pretty brown pair I wear when I take my best girl out on the town!


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## Constance (Jan 8, 2008)

I wore Osh Kosh bib overalls to work in when I had the greenhouse business. After 22 years, I became very proficient at throwing that first gallus over my shoulder when I pulled them up.


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## Angie (Jan 8, 2008)

My Wisconsin cousin said that us Iowans put our "pop" in a "sack".


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## jennyema (Jan 9, 2008)

Sack.  Absolutely.  A brown paper sack.


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