Is it creek or crick?

No matter what part of the United States you were born or raised in, each person possesses different phrases and manners of speech that is indicative to one's particular hometown and state.

I remember when I was younger, my friends and I would often spent many of our summer hours out playing in the woods where we would often build forts and walk aimlessly down the train tracks.

One day after we returned home, and during the time in the evening when the street lights light up the block, my friend's father asked us where we have been all day.

After we told him, he simply pointed toward the back of the woods and said, "Oh, you were over there by the 'crick.'"

After I left my friend's house, I went home and my own father asked me the very same question, "Where have you been?"

I told him the same answer and he returned by pointing towards the woods in a different direction, and replied, "Oh, down by the 'creek.'"

This presented a quandary in my young mind and for many years I thought that there was a difference between the words 'creek' and 'crick,' because where my friend's father pointed was where the water ran more narrow and my father pointed in a different area where the water ran at its widest point.

I kept this mode of thought for many years, until one day I realized that the words meant the same thing, and all that differed was their regional usage.

My friend's father was born around the Linton area and my father was born in Pennsylvania and over the years, I learned that depending on where someone was born, they would possess different ways of expressing the same object and they would have different phrasing for expressions.

Since I have returned to Linton, I have noticed more of regional words and variances of pronunciations when I talk with different people in town.

For example, I was covering a certain meeting and to make sure I quoted everyone accurately, I brought my iPad with me to record.

After the meeting I was going over the recording and I kept pausing on one particular expression not knowing what to make of it.

After recording the meeting I went back to office and began to listen to recording and I came to a point in the recording that I could not quite understand.

The speaker, from what I heard, said, "a-wersh."

I probably went over this section of the recording at least five times before I finally became frustrated.

I shuffled into my editor's office, both defeated and embarrassed and meekly asked,

"What is 'a-wersh?'"

She paused and looked me for a moment and then replied, "Oh, 'a-wash,'" which, unbeknownst to me, means "to make even," or "having everything come out without loss or gain."

After I finished the story I sat at my desk and thought of regional words that I often say, that is different from the rest of the country.

In terms of soft drinks, I would remember simply referring to all soft drinks as Cokes, regardless of the brand. I thought back of the times when, going through the drive-through, the employee would ask me which type of Coke that I would like to order -- which became very frustrating later in life when the attendant simply hand me a Coke when I really wanted a Dr. Pepper instead.

The same could be said for facial tissues; everyone I knew would always termed them as Kleenex, also regardless of the brand.

Another regional example is the expression "lightning bugs," and after 28 years I have rarely heard them be referred as "fireflies."

Growing up, my mother always frequented "garage sales," despite the fact that the sales took place in someone's lawn.

Another example is when you drive, you do so on the "highway," instead of the "freeway," and while you are driving you may pass a "semi," instead of a "lorry."

The examples listed above are common expressions from the Midwest whereas the other examples are taken from other regions around the United States.

The New York Times recently comprised a dialogue map which enables users to input the expression they most often say and then it correlates, with surprising accuracy, what part of the United States the expressions are most common and what part the US that the user has lived.

If you are interested in the test you can visit: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.htm....

The science behind why we say certain words is due to our childhood experiences. When a child is first learning how to speak, they learn by the act of mimicking what people are say by using the words and phrasing they frequently use.

In doing so, a child learns by retaining the manners of speech and the phrasing of certain words, and will get praise when he or she will say the "correct" word with the "correct" pronunciation.

This is how language and regional pronunciations have been able to survive over the years and to this day, still continues to thrive among communities.

Even the word meaning, people of Indiana, "Hoosier," according to a study in etymology (the study of the origin of words) by Jeffrey Graf, is thought to be a combination of words.

"When a visitor hailed a pioneer cabin in Indiana or knocked upon its door, the settler would respond, 'Who's yere?' And from this frequent response Indiana became the 'Who's yere' or Hoosier state.

"No one ever explained why this was more typical of Indiana than of Illinois or Ohio."

There are other theories Graf proposes such as: Indiana river-men would often be successful in "hushing," or brawling, and subsequently they would be known as "hushers" which eventually became Hoosiers.

If you are wish to learn more on Graf's study check out http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/internet/extra/hoosier.html.

The wonderful attribute that language provides is it gives people a sense of regional identity and heritage.

No matter what part of the United States that you may travel, each locality possess its own words and ways of speaking that is partially unique from the rest of the country.