Hey, Yous Guys, Here are Jack’s Favorite ‘Buffalo-isms’

Like every city, Buffalo has some of its own slang terms to describe places, things, food, etc. I've lived in Buffalo pretty much my whole life, but I'm still amused by my fellow citizens' way of speaking sometimes.

I never thought I had that much of an accent until my husband -- a New Jersey native -- and I started traveling more. Buffalo natives often speak with a hard or flat 'A' -- for example, "bagel" is pronounced "BAG-al" and "plaza" is "PLA-za." -- so people in other cities would curiously ask me, “Wow, that's a interesting accent -- where are you from!?”

Here are some of my favorite Buffalo-isms.

• Yous -- as in, “Hey, are yous guys going to the Bills game?”
• Cheektovegas -- because that's so much cooler than Cheektowaga!
• Unnecessary pluralization -- Target becomes Target's in this area.
• Pop -- no, not soda!
• Western New York -- but the rest of the state calls us Upstate New York.
• B-lo, Bust-a-flo, Barf-alo -- any nickname for our beloved city.
• Timmy Ho's -- instead of Tim Horton's. Not that anyone outside Western New York/Upstate New York and Canada knows what Timmy's is anyways!
• Putting "the" in front of highways -- The 90, The 990, etc.
• Lawn fetes -- I think we're the only city in the world to use this term!

Personally, I love our Buffalo language, so all I gotta say is, if you find people making fun of Buffalo and all our "-isms," give them a big plate of wings (you know we don't call them Buffalo wings around here!), and that might help them shut their traps!

What's your favorite Buffalo-ism? Tell us in the comments!