Name Wars...

So many terms, especially those relating to food, seem to be geographically dependent. One community might say "hoagie," while another would say "grinder" (I'd probably say "disgusting," but that's beside the point). Trying to pinpoint an isogloss is no easy feat, but many researchers are attempting to do just that. Other times, words may be used interchangeably, even if they technically are two distinct items. An example of this is "club soda" and "seltzer." Although often used as pure synonyms, club soda actually contains sodium, while seltzer is salt-free. But for purposes of this discussion, they would be considered synonyms based solely on how they are used by native speakers.

"Dinner" vs. "supper" is a common battle in these wars. While both refer to the evening meal, it seems that dinner is unquestionably favored in nearly all of NY and NJ. New England, certain parts of the Midwest, and much of the South, however, seems to prefer supper. Often, a "dinner" to them is something fancy...an excursion to a popular restaurant, for example.

"Drinking fountain" vs. "water fountain" and "grocery store" vs. "supermarket" are two other examples. Also, I've heard that "sprinkles" (in Northern NJ) are often referred to as "jimmies" in southern parts of NJ. This would at least parallel my experience since I'd never even heard the term "jimmies" until hearing it in a linguistics course a year ago.

Many times, the words seem to be generational in addition to geographical. And finding clear cut geographical boundaries does not always seem so easy.