Dailey Bailey: If Every State Had One Official Word, What Would It Be?

Slate.com just released the results of an informal study that asked, “If every state had one official word, what would it be?”

The results include a ton of regional slang, most of which you’ve never heard of. I’d even bet the people IN most of these states have never heard Slate’s pick for their “official” word.

Tennessees word is:
whirlygust (noun): a strong wind
Just as we were about to complete the house of cards on the back porch a whirlygust rolled through and ruined everything.

I have never heard that before… And I was born and raised here.

Some are spot on, though. Hawaii’s official word is “aloha” . . . Indiana’s is “Hoosier” . . . and Massachusetts’ is “wicked.” Those are all slam dunks.

For California and Pennsylvania, one region of the state won over another. California’s word is “hella,” which might be more of a Northern California thing . . . and Pennsylvania’s is “yinz,” which is a Western Pennsylvania term for “you guys.”

A few of the weirder ones are: “Glawackus” in Connecticut, which is the name of a mythical local monster . . . “kybo” in Iowa, which is what they call a port-a-potty . . . and “shucky darn” in Kansas, which is a way of saying “wow!”