The word Meme
Age: 39
Where you grew up: northern Ohio
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks: Creek (pronounced as written)
2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called: cart
3. A metal container to carry a meal in: lunchbox
4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in: skillet
5. The piece of furniture that seats three people: couch or sofa
6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof: gutters
7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening: porch
8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages: pop (but I don't use the upper Midwestern pronunciation "pahhhhp" - it's really just pop)
9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup: pancake
10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself: hoagie
11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach: swim trunks
12. Shoes worn for sports: tennis shoes
13. Putting a room in order: cleaning up
14. A flying insect that glows in the dark: lightning bug
15. The little insect that curls up into a ball: roly-poly
16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down: teeter-totter or seesaw
17. How do you eat your pizza: with my hands, cut into triangles, pointy end first, or with a knife and fork if it's too floppy/greasy/messy to pick up
18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff: garage sale
19. What's the evening meal?: dinner
20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are: basement
21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places: water fountain
22. What do you call newly laid grass? sod
23. What do you call the floor of a house above the basement? ground floor or first floor
24. What do you call the mechanical means of travelling up and down in a building: elevator or escalator
25. What is the thing that takes away pencil marks on paper? eraser
I think the regional variations in American vocabulary are pretty cool. I'll be sad if they totally disappear to Midwest TV announcer speak and universal Internet speak.