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We got an e-mail today from a national travel magazine fact-checker wondering about local lingo. Some of the terms are definitely things we're familiar with, but..."the prairie"? Huh. Let 'er rip, cats and kittens.
Some of this list earns a hearty "hee."
Any excuse to post an only-connect skyline shot
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Hizzonerable Leperchaun King, Lord of the Munchkins!
With the exceptions of 7 and 8, those are right outta 1983.
I'd say yes to all except 3 and 6.
Lame, lame, lame. Does that magazine really think those tidbits mean anything at all? I'd fire the editor for sheer laziness.
Ugh ... When are people going to wake up and realize that all cities have some regionalisms and that doesn't make 'em special, nor are they often that particularly interesting.
.... although I have described more than one person over the course of my life as 'a real deese and dose kinda guy' ... it wasn't necessarily meant to be a compliment.
Oh, and Hizonner refers to the first schmuck, not the second one.
1. No
2. Yes, but stereotypically
3. Yes but I say "with everything"
4. Only to Daley I
5. No
6. No
7. Yes but it's not all that funny anymore
8. See above.
Thank you, that will be 100 dollars for my time.
i think calling chicago chi-town is like calling san francisco 'frisco.' out of towners do it, thinking they're being hip and trendy, and the locals try and keep their eyes from rolling all the way back into their head.
Oh I amend my answer from #1 to "yes" no one says chi-town in chicago.
When I was a kid in Englewood, New City and even in my High School years in Bridgeport, any vacant lot that you could play ball in was called a prairie. My wife, who is into prairie restoration and native plants, finds it hilarious when my friends from the old neighborhood and I use the term prairie to refer to a brick strewn, weed infested patch of open space.
Come on, really? No one here calls it Chi-Town. That's like California residents saying "Cali"; they just don't do it.
As far as "'dragged through the garden' refer to a hot dog with all the trimmings" goes:
My dad and uncles always say that in reference to an Italian Beef as referenced here: "Why don'tchu dip dat in de river and drag it tru da garden"... You know, extra au jus and peppers etc.
And I like to refer to the mayor as "THE HONORABLE Richard M. Daley" but that's probably just a personal preference.
5 and 7 look right to me... don't know about the rest of them.
Yes to 1, 3, 4 and 7. I've heard "The Hawk" used as a nickname for Andre Dawson but never for the wind off the lake.
1. i've never heard anyone from chicago call the city "chi-town"
2. used only by older newspaper columnists or sports talk radio hosts.
3. supposedly, but i've never heard anyone use it in real life
4. only sneed
5. no.
6. no.
7. yes, but really any ol' girl from lincoln park that dresses the part. pony tail through the back of the hat is more of a requirement than good looks or being upwardly mobile.
8. see above. and instead of the pony tail, it's wearing cargo shorts and a college hoodie when it's 5 below zero.
The term "prairie" IS a unique Chicago term for an empty city lot. Perhaps WAS is a more accurate way to put it.
The best way to understand "prairie" in this use is to note that it almost always referred to NEVER DEVELOPED city lots. Thus, the lots in question actually looked like a natural prairie.
Thus, because of the mini-wilderness provided by
"prairies," these lots were great for boys exploring, building forts, catching spiders and rats, and just hanging out.
For these reasons, "prairie" was probably one of the twenty most common nouns used throughout the childhoods of tens of thousands of Chicagoans who grew up on the South Side in the 1920's-1970's. Example: Question: "Where's Murph?" Answer:"I saw him in the prairie next to Gavin's house." Oh, and adults used "prairie" also.
I am not sure how much it was used on the North Side, since whenever I've heard it used recently it was from another guy from the South Side recounting some incident from thirty years ago.
Picture a Chicago street grid, with sewers, streetlights, sending paved roads further southward. Then picture the newly-laid-out blocks filling in with two flats or single family homes. T
The "prairies" were the leftover lots that, for some reason, did not get developed for a decade or two. Or three. Who knows why. Maybe some legal dispute. Or somebody went bankrupt. For whatever reason, some lots stayed in their virgin "prairie" form as they had existed for centuries.
Other prairies showed scars, including old plow tracks, of the farms that exisited on the sites, since the developers in the early and mid 1900's were buying out farmers right and left. Farmers were making a fortune selling their land from Bridgeport to Mount Greenwood.
Thus, I suppose that "prairie" was a misnomer for the land that served as farmland for a while. You'll have to forgive us kids for that mistake, especially because a neglected patch of farmland starts looking like a thousand-year-old Illinois prairie after just a few years.
Eventually, all of the "prairies" were developed. Decades, later, when some of the buildings on the sites were demolished, people just used the term "vacant lot."
Meanwhile, some of the people who used the term "prairie" grew up and moved out to places like an Orland Park subdivision, where new "prairies" exist.
There, if you stand outside on a warm summer night and listen, you will hear a woman's voice in the distance. "Justin!" she calls. "I told you not to play in that prairie."
When I was growing up on the south side, we had an empty lot at the end of our block. It was overgrown with weeds, tall grass, and some trees. Everyone in the neighborhood call it (and other lots like it) the prairie. Kids would set up hideouts hidden between the trees. People would walk their dogs around the prairie.
The prairie was turned into a parking lot a few years ago.
1. i'm a south side girl (i mean, boy) and i do use "chi-town" occassionaly - not verbally but in written form. i never heard the word growing up but i like how it looks on 'paper'.
4. yes
2,3,5,6,7,8 - no. maybe because of 1.
(Maragaret, i heart you. thank you. Also, when is Olivia coming out with her PR4 piece?)
Good info on praries, Ward up & Jackson. I pretty much agree with what everyone else said. Wasn't there a big discussion re: Chi-Town awhile back? I'm not a native and even I cringe at that.
"The Hawk" is used to describe the winter wind coming off the lake. It's also used to nickname Andre Dawson, Ken Harrelson, and used as the name of that League of Chicago Music venues series two years ago.
Chuck is right. The term "the Hawk," is one I hear a few times per year working on the South Side from older African-American residents of the South Side, in particular those living east of the Dan Ryan.
The last time, a man walked in the door from outside and said something like "That Hawk is too much today," without the need to explain himself anyone.
Lou Rawls, who I believe grew up in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood, gave the term some national notice in the introduction to one of his songs.
1. Yes, Chi-Town is used by lots of chicagoans. Confusion on this is usually due to a generational divide or cultural differences, as it was originated and mostly used by younger people and people of color. "The 'Go" is the truly garbage nickname that is indeed grounds for slapps to the face.
2. it's a "dees, DEM and dozes guy"
3. That is what it refers to however no one under 50 would say it i don't think. North Side too- south side's more about the polish and putting tamales in solo-cups.
4. It's the first, but is used for both. "King" is used more frequently i think.
5. heard it a few times
6. Yes. Described very well above. To add one thing though- ownership of prairies was determined by who lived closest to it. For example: "meet me at the praire" "which prairie?" "mike's prairie".
7. yes
8. yes, but exists exclusively in blogs and things. "douche-bag" in practice, please.
I think the cool kids call it "Chi-Twon", now, at least if you believe their tattoos. I've always been fond of calling it "Chill" or even better "The Windy".
Yea I use the Hawk too! as in its Hawking out there!. Or the Hawk was wit a brotha! meaning you have just come in from the cold. Or better bundle up cause the Hawk is roll'n!
2) I've commonly heard, "He's a dees, dems & dozes KIND of guy".
There's a generational shift of it's use as well.
Image this: A Chesterfield smoking, Brylcreem wearing, Thermos carrying, white socks & black Thom McAnns wearing guy who may or not be named Jerry, because that's the name on his blue & white striped workshirt, holding a rolled up Sun Times, waiting for the Green Hornet.
Ask Jerry where he's going, and he'll tell you, "my brudder's late, I gotta go to da plant".
He is a dees, dems and dozes kind of guy.....
His brother-in-law Pete, who owns the Pontiac Granville that he usually rides in to work, had car trouble this morning, and is at the Aamco on Cicero avenue, waiting for his cousin Jimmy to figure out if he needs a torque converter or a rebuilt trans.
Pete went all the way to see Jimmy, because Jimmy has two semesters of DeVry auto mechanics under his belt, and it's always best to trust a classic to a professional. Now, Pete is really a dees, dems and dozes kind of guy.
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say most of those terms, at least in normal conversation. I feel like hizzoner is used by certain hack journalists in Chicago. "run it tru da garden" seems to only be used in an ironic way and I've only heard it for italian beef. it makes just as much sense for hot dogs though. I think people do use Chad and Trixie though.
As diverse and "local" as I'm sure the Chicagoist posters and staff are, I'm thinking we're not collectively able to speak for the habits of most Chicagoans. I grew up here and have never heard half of these but it appears others have. Who knows? And who, today, is the average Chicagoan anyway? There are probably scores of residents who couldn't tell you what a hipster is but feel right at home talking about "the hawk." Like many have said already, it probably depends on where you live, among other factors.
On the "dees and dem" issue, I think that's just a generic way to refer to the ache-scent that you'll hear a lot rather than a literal phrase that supposedly is tossed around every day. Steve Dahl does a great example of it as he impersonates Drew Peterson, if you happen to be a listener.
Why Am I Here
you are as they-not I- say, "spot on"
;-)
My mother had told me that the empty lot across the street from her when growing up was referred to as "the prairie" although I believe that term hasn't been used since the 1940s-1950s when she was growing up on the south side.
As for the rest, I have NEVER heard anyone in my day to day activities use any of these terms.
1. Would you agree that while the term "Chi-Town" means "Chicago," it's rarely spoken by a resident?
I'd say so. I've only ever heard it used by out-of-towners and suburban kids trying to be cool -- and failing miserably.
2.Does the term "dees and doze guy" refer to a working class local who speaks with a Chicago accent?
That's a new one to me.
3. Does the term "dragged through the garden" refer to a hot dog with all the trimmings
I've never heard the term. I've always thought you ordered a Chicago-style hotdog "with everything."
4. Does the term "Hizonner" refer to the mayor, usually the first Richard J. Daley but sometimes current Richard M. Daley?
I've heard it used for both, though I prefer simply using "The mayor" or, if you want to attach a Chicago accent, "da mare".
5. Does the term "The Hawk" refer to the wind off Lake Michigan, especially in the winter?
That's a new one to me. Could it be a Southside-ism? The only thing I call "The Hawk" is Ken Harrelson.
6. Does the term "the prairie" refer to an empty city lot?
I think so. It's not commonly used on the North side, though I used to refer to my grammar school's playground as a prairie.
7. Is the term "Trixie" a derogatory term for pretty, shallow, upwardly mobile young women in the Lincoln Park neighborhood?
Indeed it is.
8. Is the term "Chads" a derogatory term for attractive, shallow, upwardly mobile young men in the Lincoln Park neighborhood?
Never heard this one before. I guess the term "trixie" does need a male counterpart, though.
Lou Rawls refers to the wind as "the hawk" in his great 1966 song "Dead End Street." As wonderful as the late Lou was, I don't use the term, and when Bobby Cray uses it in his song "I'm In a Phone Booth, Baby," he's making an homage to Lou, but still it sounds twee.
I commend the use of the term to people from, say, Frisco, The Big Apple, or Beantown, but cannot endorse it for Chicagoini.
so when joking around about the use of "Hizonner", do you guys say it more like 'hizannah' or is that me falling prey to that annoying 'r' dropping I occasionally succumb to due to growing up listening to Boston accents. Because I swear I've heard it said like that before in that nasally Chicago accent (or am I just hearing things when I hear old guys talk).
THe Hawk is definitely a wind though and a brutal, cold bitter wind. The Hawk is that wind that somehow manages to to find that one weak or open spot in your jacket or hat or any other article of clothes. The Hawk hunts down that bare skin and attacks. BRUTAL!
...Never heard prairie used in that way? No one says that now? Hogwash. This Christmas ask one of your real boomer relatives about it. That is to say, your south side relatives. Northsiders are so much more cultured. They don't know about "Joe Go under the sidewalk." up north, either.
What about "gangway," "viaduct," "front room," and "what do you have a taste for?" All Chicagoisms I had never heard before moving to the Windy City. Oh, and "jag-off"--a true classic.
i never heard of a gangway until i moved to chicago, but i think "front room" and those weird preposition phrases "what do you have a taste for," "we're going by joe's house/you wanna come with," and "come here once" are remnants of german translations. 'cause we say that stuff in SE wisconsin, too. and i was told a lot of german words/phrases end sort of backwards in prepositions.
and i love "jag-off" and "jagbag." those always make me laugh. what about "jamoke" or "jabrone?"