Jimmies (1954); American Chop Suey (1938, 1939)

[Frank Abate]

My two cents on this:

DARE has jimmies as "esp NEast" and notes trademark status.  They have
evidence from other places than just Boston area (Philly and Milwaukee), but
as with all such, it may be because someone who was from E Mass, or went to
college there, still used the term in an area they had moved to.

My experience with this word is that it was unknown to me until I got to
Mass and started to hear it from people from E Mass, including SE Mass, near
Providence, RI, which is a strongly r-less region, to be sure, and different
from Boston "propah" re dialect, though with many similarities, of course.
In SE Mass, and of course a few miles away in RI, you hear what is referred
to as the Rhode Island dialect.  It has distinctive character, and after a
while you can detect differences from the general Boston-area speech.
Boston is some 40 or so miles from this area, and until very recently there
was no commuting from there to Boston, until a train (in the past 15 years
or so) made it possible to live in Attleboro, Mass., for example, and
commute to Boston for work.  So as regards native dialect the two areas are
largely distinct, in that they each have their own set of sounds and special
vocabulary that does not cross over much.

But they DO say "jimmies" in SE Mass for the stuff you sprinkle on or dip
ice cream into, as in the Boston area.  They also say "fudg-icle" for the TM
ice-cream-like product, with no "s", and think you weird if you say
"fudgsicle", even though it is spelled that way right on the wrapper, and
the rest of the country says it as it is spelled.

One of the oddest (to me) things about SE Mass is their pronunciation of the
word "loam", the kind of dirt that is best for topsoil.  They say "loom",
rhyming with "gloom".  DARE records this pron, marking it as "scattered, but
more freq NEast esp freq among speakers with little formal educ."  Well, I
can tell you that my former father-in-law, born in Attleboro, with a BA from
Providence College and a law degree from Georgetown, says "loom", so it is
not a matter of education necessarily, but more about whether you want to
sound like a local or not.  If you want to buy good topsoil in the Attleboro
area, I'd advise that you ask for "loom".

After a while, with certain words, one learns that it is better to adopt the
local preference, if one takes up residence in the new place.  So despite my
Midwestern upbringing, I now, living as I do in New England, say "soda"
instead of "pop", and "grinder" instead of "sub", because otherwise you have
to explain yourself, and that gets tiresome.  You can buy a sub at Subway
here, but everywhere else the signs and labels read "grinder", as on the
ones sold at (Boston-born) Stop & Shop, the ubiquitous New England
supermarket chain.  Here, a hoagie is a well-known Philly-style sandwich
only, and most people here could care less about a po' boy, if they ever
heard of it.

Frank Abate