My New England friends - you know what three word question is being asked if I say "jeet?", right?

Anticipation…

@Zen that’s only one word! I think the first word is did….

“jeet?”
“no, joo?”

yes, i know what it means, and I’m not from New England

Did you eat?

That’s pretty funny. I’m not from New England, but I’m pretty sure I’ve heard some slack jawed yokels around here say that.

Similarly, do my Chicago friends know what room I’m speaking of when I say “frunchroom”?

I spent years in NE and never heard anyone say “Jeet.” Maybe I hung around with the wrong folks.

I’m from Pittsburgh – here we take it a step farther: “Jeet jet?” (Did you eat yet?)

But the proper response is most definitely, “No, joo?”

I didn’t realize that existed anywhere outside of Pittsburgh…

I’ve lived in CT for 12 years, and haven’t heard that!

Yup.

“Jeet?”
“No. Joo?”
“Howsabout a burgah?”
“That’d be wicked cool.”
“S’awright, let’s book.”

I grew up in Medford, five miles outside of Boston.

Sadly, this is how we spoke as kids.

@cprevite, kids? This is how I still speak, even after transplanting myself to upstate New York. :-)

It sounds like a term that should be found in Strine, and I swear it was in a Strine dictionary my grandmother had. Only this site seems to agree that “Jeet jet?” is Strine and not just Atlantic coast US.

There were other contractions, too, such as:

“egg nishner” (air conditioner),
“G’dye, myte” (Good day, mate),
“Strine” (Australian),
“Emma Chizzit (How much is it?)
“Wyne chevva cold share” (Why don’t you have a cold shower)
“Rye-Wye” (railway, also Railway, a sub-dialect of Strine spoken by trainmen)
“Kanivan airman pickle semmitch, pleez?” (Can I have a ham and pickle sandwich, please?)

In Strine a lot of things are shortened, such as arvo (afternoon), barbie (barbeque), servo (service station), mozzie (mosquito), sunnies (sunglasses), brekky (breakfast), footy (football), pressie (present/gift), Brissie (Brisbane), Tassie (Tasmania), Aussie or Ozzy (Australia), uni (University), chockie (chocolate), bickie (biscuit), rego (car registration), journo (journalist) and trackies (track suits).

But names tend to get longer, as in Tommo (Tom), Johnno (John), Jacko (Jack), and Davo (Dave).

@Darwin I wonder if certain cultures have more of a tendency to shorten phrases, like South African?

Yes.

@cprevite, would that be Meffah?

@andrew – I don’t know much about South Africa, but I do know that Australians love to be casual. That preference plus their linguistic inheritance from Cockney and Cornish forebears combine to create what we know today as Strine.

This site discusses South African English and gives a brief dictionary of their phrases. From what I understand, South African English borrows a lot of words from various African languages as well as the various non-African immigrants and Afrikaans.

@Jeruba: Yup, Meffah born and raised.

hung out at the pahk, went to the Voke, took the T into town or to Hahvahd Square to Mystery Train records or the Tasty…

ah, memories

@cprevite and @Jeruba : Natick hea. Mass born and raised. Love the memories. I live in the south now. Funny how as soon as I hit home my accent returns and I feel at home.

Quincy. Say “Kwinzee.” After college it was ten years in Cambridge. Now I’m in California. “Back home” is still Cambridge, not Quincy, but my childhood memories are of the South Shore.

@Jeruba: All my former Grossman family (here comes Grossman; there goes Grossman) lived in Quincy.

@gailcalled: Grossman the hardware store?

Same question as @cprevite…. any relation to Grossman’s hardware? That brought back memories!

It used to be Grossman lumber and building supplies and real estate. As the enormous number of older family members died off, the company must have changed its orientation. Reuben, the progenitor, immigrated and had nine children; the men and the husbands of the daughters and the next two generations mostly went into the business.

The trucks were orange. The family started in Quincy and founded a synagogue, children’s summer camp and a cemetery( in Sharon, Ma). It was a privilege to be a part of that clan during my first marriage. I still stay in touch with a few Grossmen. And, oy, the family seders; 200 or so people. Those who led the service were heckled by those who wanted to eat. “Skip a few pages.” “Read faster.” “Enough already. Elijah is starving.”

@gailcalled: Oh, wow! What a great story. I used to go to Grossman’s in Somerville all the time. Such a great place. Fantastic customer service.

Then Home Depot opened up all of 400 feet away. Not sure if that’s how all the Grossman’s met their fate, but it buried the one near me.

So gail…is it safe to say you married your first husband for his wood?

sorry, that was bad

@cprevite.:Ach I expected better of you.

@gailcalled: sorry; it’s late and I have a belly full of lamb. It was low hanging fruit, I know.

We bought lumber for my father’s projects at the Grossman’s just off Quincy Square (*Quinzee Squeeah”). I was sorry when it closed. “Here comes Grossman” and “There goes Grossman” on the orange trucks were some of my early excited “I can read everything” experiences as we drove around town.

@Jeruba: Did you know any of the sisters, cousins,and aunts, who really did add up to dozens?

I heard many a conversation @les many in the frunchroom growing up in the Chicago area that went something like this:

“Jeet chet?”
“No, joo?”
“Naw, I’m gon dontha store firra sammich an’a pop!”
“Lemme go witcha!”