Living in New England: they talk funny!

There are many aspects of life here that are so unique from other parts of the country, and I want to share those things with my family, and perhaps with you- if you have never been here. I thought it might be helpful to do some posts called : Living in New England that highlight quintessential New England sights, events, situations, and experiences.
I also know of many people who have lived here, in New England, their entire lives and perhaps don't realize that some of the events and sights that I will describe don't happen elsewhere in the country. Or, maybe you are originally from New England, but have moved away... I hope these posts will bring back some fond memories for you. In any event I wish to share New England with you through the eyes of this Southerner.

photo:  teacollection via google images

Please note that this post is said tongue-in-cheek as I come from the land of funny speak! 
A perfect example of this is a story that happened many years ago, not long after we had moved to Dallas -  Dan and I were at a hardware store in Garland, Texas.  An employee of the store helped us carry something out to our car, our brand new Ford Explorer, and he asked how we liked it, "We loved it" we replied. 
Then he asked... "Is is Spicy?"

"I'm sorry, what???" I said.  "Is it Spicy?"  

"Excuse me?" I said again.  Again he asked.... "Is it Spicy?"

At this point I'm thinking this is some kind of new slang lingo I'm unfamiliar with, so I mumble something and said, "Yes," not having a clue what I was saying yes to. About 20 minutes later on our drive home I looked at Dan and said.... "Ohhhhhh, he was asking is it SPACEY?!!!!!!!!!!" Like did the SUV have a lot of room, but said in Texas-speak it sounded like "Spicy"!!

photo:  Marc Creedon via google images

fast forward to New England:

In NE you hear things like:   dollah for dollar, sar for saw, cellah for cellar, pahk the cahh for park the car, watah for water.........................

Dan occasionally uses a park-and-ride bus when he has to go to Boston Logan Airport.  On one such return trip home he was the sole passenger on the big bus.  He sat up front and chatted with the driver.  (note:  Dan is the much friendlier half of this marriage.... even in an empty bus I would have probably sat in the last seat staring out the window, lost in thought decorating some room that didn't exist!  Dan is more social;)  So in his conversation with the bus driver the driver was explaining some of his past jobs.  He told Dan that he used to drive a "chattah" bus.  We had only lived in New Hampshire for several months when this encounter took place and while Dan had never heard of a "chattah" bus he assumed it must be some kind of a tour bus that went to different restaurants that served the area's famous chowder.   After several more references to the "chattah" bus, it finally became clear to Dan and he said, "oh,  you mean CHARTER bus", and the driver said "yeah, that's what I said... CHATTAH bus."

Dan laughingly said, "You talk funny!"  To which the bus driver laughingly said, "You listen funny!"

touche' !!!