HPPR Arts, Culture & History

THANKSgiving in the Panhandle and ThanksGIVing in Kansas – speaking of food on the High Plains

High Plains Public Radio | By Quentin Hope

Published November 22, 2013 at 1:01 AM CST

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Residents of the Texas Panhandle are more likely to use the more southern pronunciation of emphasizing the THANKS in Thanksgiving (light blue shading).

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Most people across the High Plains will recognize “bear claw” as a type of pastry (red shading), especially in northwest Kansas. The same holds true for most of the rest of the country, unless you’re a far northeaster up in Maine.";s:3:

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The southern reference to just “slaw” for coleslaw (red shading) extends northward up through much of the High Plains region.";s:

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“Crawdad” (green) is the preferred term in Kansas and Oklahoma for freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters while the Louisianan term “crawfish” (red) extends up through other areas of the plains until they become “crayfish” (blue) in North Dakota";s:3:"uri";

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People are generally more likely to make a distinction between the terms “dinner” and “supper” in the northern plains (greenish shading) than the southern plain where it’s more likely that no distinction is made (reddish shading).";s:3:"uri

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There’s more likely to be something definitely called “frosting” on a cake in most of Kansas (reddish shading) than something that’s interchangeably frosting, icing or something else.";s:3:"u

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You’re more likely to make a trip to the “groshery” store in western Kansas (bluish shading) rather than the “grosery” store as you would in the Texas Panhandle (reddish shading).";s:3:"uri

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At the store you’re more likely to pick-up a jar of “may-uh-naze” in the Texas Panhandle (bluish tint) rather than “man-aze” as in western Kansas (reddish tint).";s:3:"uri

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And in Texas and Oklahoma you are more likely to be eating “pi-KAHN” pie (greenish shading) than “pee-KAHN" pie (bluish shading).";s:3:

If you live in the Texas Panhandle you’re more likely to be discussing plans for THANKSgiving rather than ThanksGIVing, as you might it Kansas. There’s commonality in how we speak across the High Plains but also differences. Click through the slide show above to view some food-related differences in pronunciation and usage across the region.

The data for these maps is from the Harvard Dialect Survey conducted by Bert Vaux while a professor of linguistics at Harvard. The survey covered 122 questions, mainly investigating phonological differences (e.g. the vowel used in the word "aunt") and lexical variation (e.g. the word for the wheeled contraption used to carry groceries at the supermarket). It concluded in 2003. The maps shown here were generated from the data by Joshua Katz, a PhD student in the Department of Statistics at NC State University. Maps for all 122 questions in the survey can be seen here.

Bert Vaux is continuing his dialect studies with an on-line survey with new questions. You can take the survey and contribute to his database by clicking here. Professor Vaux is now a Reader in Phonology & Morphology and Fellow & Director of Studies in Linguistics at King's College, University of Cambridge.