Monday, January 31, 2011

Sledding or Sliding What Do You Call It?

Alrighty, when you live in Minnesota, you find that they talk a bit…differently than most places. I learned that very quickly after I moved here from Washington.

Now that it’s winter I hear talk of sledding and sliding. I bet you are thinking what I usually did when I first started hearing them talk about it.

Sledding here isn’t getting a child’s sled and going up and down a hill. Sledding in Minnesota refers to what people do when they ride on a snowmobile. Interesting, huh? I always thought it was called snowmobiling.

snowmobile Free Digital Photos

What do you think of when I say, “Do you want to go sliding?” Do you think of the shiny metal slide you burn your legs on in the middle of summer? Well, you’d be wrong. Sliding here in Minnesota refers to taking one of those plastic child’s sleds you go down a hill on. I always thought that was called “sledding”.Slide

Free Digital Photos

What is it with the people here in Minnesota? How do they say such different things than the rest of the US? Or is it just me? It seems so odd. I mean, it’s a sled. Why wouldn’t you use the verb form of the noun and call it sledding? Same with the snowmobile.

What do you do? Do you go sledding on a snowmobile or sliding on a sled? I’m really curious.

13 comments:

nomo wino daph said...

LOL, unfortunately, we don't know what that white stuff is around this part of the south.

Hope you have a great week!!

collettakay said...

In PA, you go snowmobiling on a snowmobile and sledding on a sled.

In fact me, hubby and the girls went to my mom and dad's yesterday and went sledding. AKA sled riding.

Shell said...

I'm going to be lazy and ditto the comment above me b/c I'm from PA, too!

Liz Mays said...

I'm with you completely! I don't get it.

Sliding also gives me a picture of some Christmas movie where they slide on their feet on ice outside the church...maybe A Christmas Carol?

Fran said...

That is so weird - I lived in Michigan for 6 years before moving to WA and we always called Snowmobiling on a snowmobile and Sledding on a sled. Sliding is well... sliding down the metal slide. I'm going to have to ask my friends that live in St. Paul about this! haha

It's Something Beautiful said...

Hahaha, I loved this:
"Alrighty, when you live in Minnesota, you find that they talk a bit…differently than most places."

I've lived in Minnesoooda my whole life and I'm not sure where the sledding thing came from, but I do call it going snowmobiling. I've heard the sledding thing a lot though. I think it depends who you talk to. If you talk to someone who has snowmobiles that go a lot, then they call it sledding. If you talk to someone like me, who doesn't own them or get the chance to go out a lot, you call it snowmobiling.

www.life-itssomethingbeautiful.blogspot.com

Daenel T. said...

Hahaha It's the same way here in Pennsylvania. I've also noticed around here that it depends upon *where* in Pennsylvania you are.

Rebekah {honeyandcheese} said...

I always thought sledding involved, well, sleds. And that sliding involved, you know, slides.

But since I've never actually been on a sled, I'm hardly qualified to give an opinion.

I've never built a snowman, either.

{I’m on my own personal blog hop, trying to send smiles to strangers and turn strangers into friends: http://www.honeyandcheese.com/2011/01/12/the-ultimate-blog-hop/}

Sorta Southern Single Mom said...

I'm with you... I go snowmobiling on a snowmobile and I go sledding on a sled (or at least I did when I lived above the Mason Dixon Line!)... and sliding... I don't think I do that... I slide down the slide!

Unknown said...

Just don't start a conversation about Duck Duck GREY Duck!

Anonymous said...

Yes please same ask Maine!

Anonymous said...

You slide down a hill on your butt or sled. You snowmobile on a gas powered device with tracks but you are so free on a 1920s runner sleds that takes you forever

Anonymous said...

Yes! In Maine we call it "sliding".

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