A Guide to the English Language - Rhode Island Style:

Most out-of-towners are familiar with the Boston accent, but few may know how to speak "Rhode Islandese." There is so much more to it than dropping the letter 'r' from the end of words. We hope that the following list will help you get the hang of the language:

All set
When one is done or ready. As in when a waitress brings your food and asks "All set?" or when you're ready to leave, "I'm all set tah go."

Blinka
Turn signal in your car.

Brar
Female undergarment. "I have to buy a new brar. The straps on this one have had it."

Bubbla
That's a water fountain to westerners and southerners. Around here, you drink from a bubbla and throw coins in a fountain.

Cape, the
Massachusetts has two capes: Ann and Cod. Only the latter is "the Cape."

Carriage
What you use to wheel your groceries around in the soopah mahket.

Coffee Milk
You've heard of chocolate milk, well Coffee Milk is the state drink of Rhode Island. Instead of chocolate syrup to doctor up their milk, citizens of Rhode Island use Coffee Syrup.

Coffee regulah
Coffee with 2 creams and two sugars. Not to be confused with a 'regular coffee' which would be a medium bodied unflavored coffee. Ordering a "Medium hazelnut regulah" will get you a hazelnut coffee with cream and sugar.

Common
The green in the center of a town. So called because it was once land held in common for residents to use for cow-grazing.

Cumbie's
A Cumberland Farms mini-mart. "Go down tah Cumbie's and pick up a pack ah gum."

Digga
A fall. "He slipped and took a digga."

Feecha
What comes after the pre-views. "Feecha pitcha."

Foddy
The number aftah 39.

Gahbidge
Back in the day, locals would divide their waste into to piles rubbish (or trash) an gahbidge. The former was 'dry' and would be taken to the town dump. The latter was 'wet' and would be picked up by local farmers to feed to their animals.

Gahkablahka
Traffic tie-up caused by people looking at an accident on the other side of the road. Coined by WEEI traffic reporter Kevin O'Keefe, who also came up with "stall 'n' crawl," "cram 'n' jam," and "snail trail."

Grinda
A sub or hoagie. Spelled 'grinder' on the menu.

Guy
Greeting between young men not acquainted with each other, as in a bartender asking "Whaddle it be, guy?" The term can only be used between peers or from a superior to a subordinate. If a teenager calls a middle-aged man "guy," he is being deliberately offensive. Can be interchanged with 'buddy' or 'pal' as in "Hey buddy! You catch the Pats game last night?"

Jimmies
The chocolate things you put on top of your ice cream cone. The colored ones are "sprinkles." While some hold that "Jimmies" is a racist term (after Jim Crow -laws), in New England, that is not the case and there is no racial connotation. The story goes: In the early 1900s, the Just Born candy company developed a topping called chocolate grains. The man who ran the machine was Jimmy Bartholomew, thus the product became known as Jimmies. Jimmies was a registered trademark until it expired in the 1960s. While there are many claims to the origins, it's current use in New England has no racial undertones.

No SUH!
"Really?" or "What did you say?" Often answered with "Ya huh!"

Packie
A package store. Where you buy beah.

Pissah
Cool. Often paired with 'wicked.' "Jimmy's got a wicked pissah new cah!"

Quahog
hard shell clams. Also, here's news from the fictitious town of Quahog, RI. Home of the Family Guy.

Rotary A traffic circle. Typically where many (at least 5) main roads come together. They are not to be confused with roundabouts which are cute, dainty little things used to calm traffic in subdivisions.

Scrod
A small ambiguous piece of fish that could be cod or haddock. Some folks say "scrod" is a young cod, while "schrod" is a young haddock. There is basically no difference; it is whatever was available at the fish pier that day.

Suppa
Meal served at around 6:00pm.

Tahnic
A carbonated beverage such as Coke or Sprite. You'll have to ask for "tahnic watah" if that is what you want.

Wicked
A general intensifier. Very. "Erin is wicked cool."