10 Words And Phrases People In Iowa Just Don’t Understand

Part of growing up in Iowa is going somewhere else in the country, like the South or the Northeast, for the first time and realizing you don’t know what the heck these people are talking about. Sometimes, the regional slang is so bad, you can go through a whole conversation with someone and not have understood a word they said – you just smile and nod. Much like “Yinz,” “Fixin to” and “N’at,” here are 10 words and phrases that people from Iowa just don’t understand:

Eneko Lkmbrr/Flickr

No, no, no. It's carry out, take out, to go, ANYTHING but take away.

Bradley Huchteman/Flickr

Leave it to the New Englanders to make things more complicated than they need to be. It's a sandwich or a sub, people.

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Rex Sorgatz/Flickr

Pop is a noun here in Iowa. Get used to it.

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Kevin Trotman/Flickr

If you call a shopping cart a buggy in Iowa, expect to get a confused, somewhat concerned look.

Rachel/Flickr

Yeah, we wear thongs, just not on our feet - we call those flip flops or sandals - like normal people.

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Richard Kelland/Flickr

It's a fridge - why do we need to call it anything else?!

Quinn Dombrowski/Flickr

Goose bumps, goose pimples, chicken skin - anything but duck bumps, please!

Steven Depolo/Flickr

Okay, admittedly there are places in northern Iowa that call it a hot dish, but for the most part, it's called a casserole in Iowa.

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Neil Conway/Flickr

IT'S CAR-MUHL, JUST STOP.

d76/Flickr

Ever been to Wisconsin? It's pretty nice besides the fact that they call drinking fountains "bubblers."

To be fair, though, we Iowans have some pretty weird slang of our own – like “crick,” “warsh,” “padiddle,” “cornhole,” or my personal favorite: “kybo.”