Review: Limited Edition Jelly Donut Oreo & My Upstate NY Vocabulary
JFG Nation, I’m from Upstate New York. As a result, I have some regionalized verbal traditions beaten into my head. That circle thing you drive around? I call it a roundabout. Two houses on opposite diagonal corners of a street? That’s kitty corner to me. I call it a bathroom, not a restroom, and not a water closet, you maniacs.
But the JFGal pointed out something recently that I say that is clearly wrong, and that I wasn’t sure whether it was a Upstate NY thing until I heard another Upstater say if: if I need to cross a street or am pointing to something across the street, I will actually SAY the word “acrossed” or “acrost.” I recognize both are not words. But I will say, “we need to go acrossed the street.” “Hey, look at that thing acrossed the street.” “I’m going to go acrossed.” I have a graduate degree, folks.
It’s something I’ve said all my life so I can’t change now. Or rather, I refuse to! STOP TRYING TO CHANGE ME, JFGAL.
I mean, west coasters and southerners say weird things all the time. Deadspin Funbag recently had a letter where a guy said it drove him crazy because his GF would offer him a bread basket at a restaurant and ask “would you like a bread?” Would I like A BREAD? What are you, 5? It’s “a piece of bread” or “some bread.” Modifiers and quantifiers are important people. Otherwise you sound like Borat. “I vould like a sex!”
What say you, JFG Nation? Any verbal ticks or regional vocabulary out there that you’ve just accepted? “I know I’m wrong but I’m going to keep saying it this way anyways.” Comment below.
Today’s junk food: Limited Edition Jelly Donut Oreo!
My friends at Walmart sent me these Jelly Donut Oreos. I know I’m a week late on this release. I know I could’ve just driven to a Walmart and purchased these last week. What do you want from me? I’m all about NOT spending money. These are exclusively at Walmart.
DO THESE TASTE GOOD? Yes.
WHY OR WHY NOT? The first impression I got when I opened the package and sniffed was “hmmmm these smell exactly like a box of powdered sugar or glazed donuts from Entenmann’s. That sort of baked confectioner sugar smell is hard to mistake; it was subtle here.
I tried the “Jelly” creme by itself – raspberry/grape-ish in flavor. It had an extra semi-familiar donut flavor to it….and it was again that confectioner sugar taste again. The purple center tasted like raspberry and confectioner sugar.
The non purple creme was confectioner sugar tasting as well, with no berry taste. Didn’t really taste like the standard Oreo creme either. Just tasted like confectioner sugar which, for anyone who has had it before, isn’t all that great tasting alone.
Eaten all together, it’s clear these didn’t taste like a jelly donut, but I think it’s fair to say these tasted like jelly donut FLAVORED cookie. I.e. A Golden Oreo with an homage to jelly donut. The overall flavor was tasty but muted – Golden Oreo with the essence of Jelly Donut. Imagine taking a Golden Oreo wafer, dipping it in a bit of jelly and then rolling the whole thing in confectioner sugar. That’s what this was.
I don’t hate the hustle, Oreo. Tasty cookie.
ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW? Boston creme pie donuts next, folks. Let’s do this, Oreo.
PURCHASED AT: Sent to me, but available at Walmart.
WHERE FOUND IN STORE? N/a
COST? N/a
Sincerely,
The JFG
Discuss - 9 Comments
These Oreos look…interesting. So funny about regional words and phrases. My husband hates when I, a Southern California girl, call him “dude.” I think “stoked” might also be primarily a West Coast thing, but can’t be sure.
Boston Cream are my absolute favorite doughnut! Not sure how they would translate in an Oreo, though, because the iconic part is that creamy custard filling.
As for regional colloquialisms, you brought one up inadvertently through what you call the sugar. It’s “powdered sugar” in some areas, “confectioners’ sugar” in others, and “icing sugar” across the pond. 🙂
Here in the South, there are lots of weird distortions of words – “winder” for window, “mirro” for mirror, “alls” instead of all, “warter” instead of water … it’s bad.
Oh my gosh, I don’t know if it’s a southern thing, or a Texas/New Orleand thing, but people around here say “put it up” instead of “put it away”, as in “I’m going to go put up my laundry. What does that even MEAN? Up where?
Also, when asking for clarification, they don’t ask “What?” Or “pardon?” It’s “do what?” That is another that totally bugs me, and makes no sense.
Ha ha- actually, “put it away” doesn’t make any more real sense than “put it up”. It’s just that you learned the first phrase as a tiny child and know exactly what it means in regard to what you do with laundry, but not the second one. At an early age, you learned the meaning of the entire phrase. Someone who never heard the idiom before would be asking “put it away? huh? How far away? Did you mean throw it away in the trash can? Send it far far away by UPS?”.
Idioms don’t have to make sense objectively. The individual parts don’t always tell you much about what the whole phrase means.
Oreos should make a variety pack. Coffee & Donuts Oreos
I’m from Western Mass, and we all say “acrossed” as well. A sub sandwich will always be a “grinder” to me, and I use the “bathroom” as well. In the any store i push a “grocery carriage”.
I live in Texas now, where every soda is called a “coke”, you push the “buggy” in grocery stores, and tons of other things I just can’t adapt to. Especially y’all. Just can’t do it.
When I first got to TX, I asked a classmate where I can find a good grinder here. She said, “like the app”? Lol
I live in a touristy area and spent years working in tourist-y industries (heck, I work in a fast food joint literally right on the corner of two bridges with international airports on the other side). Heck, I’m a rare Florida native – everybody is from somewhere else and brings their vernacular. I’ve had to get used to “pop” and “washroom.” and such. I don’t even know what the real local language is.
“Boston creme pie donuts next, folks. Let’s do this, Oreo.” Amen and HALLELUJAH!
I grew up in the Central NY/Syracuse area (which is its own thing. Upstate is really Watertown but to a Manhattanite upstate is Poughkeepsie) and I say drinking fountain, soda, grocery cart, and bathroom. If I think about it, I probably pronounce “acrost” and a friend gives me crap for how I say calendar. Certain parts of CNY say ” so don’t I” when they agree with you. Many CNY folks also have their own pronunciations for Italian foods and it drives me crazy. Moozarell (mozzarella), rigot (ricotta), managot (manicotti). They hate words that end in a vowel yet look at me like I’m crazy when I say I want some Tostit fajit flavored chips with sals and avocad.