Just what defines a Flatlander

[Winnipesaukee Divers]

Real New Hamphireites drink "Tonic"... Ya, don't even try to make scenes of this one either... My wife's families were the original settlers of Hampton and being true New Hampshiretes they don't mind setting you straight on the proper enunciation of terms. Coming from Vermont, where we don't have an accent, I find this a bit odd.

You’d think after forty-seven years I would have developed some sort of acceptance of the language over here, but, it still glares in my ears.

[BroadHopper]

While boating up in Nova Scotia one year, I stop at a marine store and ask for a 'pop'. The guy behind the counter says I must be from Na Hampsha. Enough said!

[tis]

That's funny. I never heard people here ever use "pop". We used "tonic" when I was very small but at some point it turned to "soda."

We used to have supper and now we have dinner. We used to have cellars and now we have basements. We used to have dooryards and now we have what, yards? We used to have piazzas (sp?) and now we have porches. All the old Yankee NH ways gone I guess.

[Slickcraft]

It does appear that the flatlanda phenomena is somewhat seasonal in nature; many appeared with this warm weather about the same time as the mosquitoes.

[Rattlesnake Guy]

I grew up in NH drinking "tonic". When I started traveling in my 20s for work, I changed what I drink to "soda" to be understood in most regions of the country and to stop having to explain why I would want to drink tonic. My cousin's out west drink "pop". Never heard it here in the Granite State. Now I drink Diet Coke with my 1200 calorie sandwich.

[BGB2]

A "flatlander" is someone like me who used this forum to help decide where to retire. After realizing that I'm a "flatlander" and maybe a "swamp yankee" and that my wife is a "Masshole" with "red neck" roots, I decided the lakes region is my favorite place to visit, but it will never be home.

[WinnDixie]

[ Now I drink Diet Coke with my 1200 calorie sandwich.[/QUOTE]

Oh do I hear you, Rattlesnake Guy!! This native coming up from the flatlands will be turned loose in Sawyers very soon now...and the order will be.."a lobster roll, onion rings, a peppermint stick sugar cone, with chocolate jimmies...and a Diet Coke"!! Ah, sweet denial!

[Newbiesaukee]

Wikipedia agrees with my perception...so I must be correct.

"A pejorative term for a person who lives at lower altitude, used by those living at higher altitudes."

The urban dictionary is more humerous (and less "G" rated so check out the link: (hope it works)

"http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flat+lander"

(not really a link..you need to cut and paste...I hate technology)

[jmen24]

Growing up I would spent lots of time at my grandparents house. Living there was my great grandmother that was born at the turn of the century. It was always refered to as tonic, if I was mowing the lawn and it was 150 degrees, it was a tonic that I was offered, not water. My family did not say "pop", but I knew a few that did. Now it is soda for me, but I rarely request it that way, mostly it is a Mountain Dew or Coke or Cherry Coke.

My thought on the "cella" is this, being right around 6 feet tall I can't stand up straight in my grandparent's "cella", I can however in my basement.

The porch has always been a porch for me as that is what my grandparents called it. And I will tell you one thing, if your screen door don't creek when it opens and slap when it shuts, you ain't from around here.

[Argie's Wife]

And the "Other" category is:
Soda Pop (Midwest)
Soft drink (W Coast)
Tonic (Boston)
Co-cola (Deep South)
Fizz, Fizzy Pop, Fizzy Drink
Dr Pepper (Texas)
Pepsi (South)

(Source: www.popvssoda.com)

[LIforrelaxin]

Little did I know the conversation I was starting... what a thread.... I think I am going to go grab, a ummm, well you know, ahhh... hummm,,,,, a soda, pop, tonic, sorta thing, but definitely not moxie....

[jrc]

If you go to the Market Basket in Concord the aisle sign still says Tonic over the aisle with Coke and Pepsi. I don't know if they have Moxie.

[jmen24]

Originally Posted by jrc

If you go to the Market Basket in Concord the aisle sign still says Tonic over the aisle with Coke and Pepsi. I don't know if they have Moxie.

Yes, they do.

[SIKSUKR]

I'm going with soft drink.

[Begonezvous]

I grew up in Northeast Mass and my family always called it Tonic. My wife grew up in the same town and she claims to have never heard the term. Go figure.
I was in Iowa for work and asked the office manager where i could find a soda machine. "why do you need a sewing machine?" she asked. When I explained that I wanted a diet coke, she said "oh, you want a pop".

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Actually it doesn't matter what you call me ..... so long as you don't call me late for supper

[ApS]

Originally Posted by Rattlesnake Guy

"...I grew up in NH drinking "tonic"...I changed what I drink to "soda"...My cousin's out west drink "pop"..."

The Soda Pop Board of America liked Cola in the 1950s:

[Argie's Wife]

WOW... and I thought marketing directed at young parents was bad today...

"Start Junior on Cola now so that he will be accepted by his peers when he's a teenager."

Makes me sorta glad my kids hate the stuff - "Eewwww! Bubbles!"

[eillac@dow]

Growing up south of Boston, it was always known as Tonic.

Sometimes today, I catch myself not using the word "tonic" and it kills me to lose that terminology.

I think I may be one of the few in my area that use it. Hope not!

[Lucky1]

Flatlanders: noun, associated with elves, Santa, Easter Bunny, Toothfairy, etc.

[trfour]

However, I do know all about folks from MA. getting a little ticked off from being called folks from Massa'chewsus!

I'm a very proud and was born at Boston's MEMorial Hospital a while back in 1944, [ In The AM ] so's I was wide awake at the getGo! I hit the ground running in Southy, no LESS!

OH, were them ever the days...

[ApS]

Originally Posted by tis

That's funny. I never heard people here ever use "pop". We used "tonic" when I was very small but at some point it turned to "soda."

We used to have supper and now we have dinner. We used to have cellars and now we have basements. We used to have dooryards and now we have what, yards? We used to have piazzas (sp?) and now we have porches. All the old Yankee NH ways gone I guess.

"Piazza" is the correct spelling. I remember all those other expressions, too—but I lived in Tuftonboro, not Wolfeboro—where all those flatlanders live.

Member Newbiesaukee must not have read any newspapers' comic sections: I remember where I first saw flatlander used—many years ago:



I don't think there are any flatlanders who appreciate my idea of comfort when viewing Lake Winnipesaukee's vistas from my own acre of lakefront property.

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by Acres per Second

"Piazza" is the correct spelling. I remember all those other expressions, too—but I lived in Tuftonboro, not Wolfeboro—where all those flatlanders live.

Member Newbiesaukee must not have read any newspapers' comic sections: I remember where I first saw flatlander used—many years ago:



I don't think there are any flatlanders who appreciate my idea of comfort when viewing Lake Winnipesaukee's vistas from my own acre of lakefront property.

LOL! You nouveua riche really chap my hide, with all them fancey, schmancey amenities.

Or maybe not - maybe it's just jealousy or class envy. Some don't even have upholstery. I think this is a flatlander after eating a pepperoni piazza that didn't agree with him. And he's setten on his veranda.