Oh! Don't get me started.
See, the problem is I'm a Cincinnati Krauthead. My mother came from Northern Ohio. My Dad grew up here, in Cincinnati, specifically on the north side. That's significant if you know Cincinnati.
My northern relatives think I talk like a hillbilly. When I go to the KY/TN border to visit KYHillChick's family, they see me as a fast-talking Yankee.
To make matters worse, being a Northsider whose father spoke German before learning English, I've got all these little quirks that make people scratch their heads.
"What can I do to ya?" is "What can I do for you?"
"Please?" means "Repeat what you said. I didn't understand." It's funny, because that one did not come from my Dad. We're protestants, and "Please?" is an affect from the Westside Catholic Germans, but there were so many of them teaching school in my day it was bound to be that I'd pick it up. The Westsiders have their own set of quirks, and you can usually tell East, West, or North siders if you listen to them for a while. South? That's Kentucky, and they all talk like hillbillies.
"Run over by a beer wagon," means "Died an untimely death of unnatural causes." At least on the north side. I had a boss from up around Wapakoneta, Ohio and he had the same thing-- big Hessian community up there.
Northsiders go to the Pony Keg, not the Convenience Store. It's from a "pony," a small barrel of beer the workmen would put on their shoulder and take home at night.
"That's all." is a common way of ending a conversation. It's from "Das ist alles." If you're not clued-in it sounds like we're cutting you off, but it's meant to be more like "See ya later."
My father's ending vowels were always indistinct and mine end up equally confused. "W" is pronounced "Dub. . . " and what comes next is anybody's guess. It could be "ya" "ah" or something else, but it is never "Dubble-You."
