It’s funny how your childhood experiences form who you are as a person. Friends, classmates, your parents, other relatives, even the TV shows and music that you listen to… all of these have a profound influence on your thoughts and overall worldview as an adult.
This, I think, is what makes life interesting and hilarious. There are infinite personal variables that make each of us unique. To keep this post as short as possible, I’ll focus on just a few linguistic differences that I’ve noticed along the way:
I have a drawl… or so I’ve been told. Everyone around Chicago thinks I’m from the south. However, when I lived in Texas, MANY friends knew I was from Chicago because, to them, I speak like one of the Saturday Night Live “Super-fans”: “Coa-tch Dit-ka”, “Po-lish Saas-idge”, “Da bairs” (in case you are wondering, all S’s are strong and drawn out. thank you very much).
When in college in Southwest Missouri, I became friends with an Australian couple (Hi, Lisa!). From time to time I tried to impress them by trying to speak Aussie. I was informed, however, that “bloody good” was from European English and also wasn’t a very nice thing to say in Australia. 
Another silly regional oddity are the terms in the U.S. for soft drinks. I grew up with the term pop but in other parts of the U.S., fountain drinks are called cola, soda, soda pop, or maybe even soda water. In Texas (just so you know ahead of time) when you visit a restaurant, your waiter will ask you if you would like a coke. If you answer “Yes,” their next question will be “What kind? Pepsi? Dr. Pepper, 7up?” Craziness!
Probably my favorite is the term of endearment for the fellow whom we looked forward to seeing on a daily basis in the summertime… especially in the impressionable grade school years. Chicago Blues great John Brim wrote and recorded a song in 1953 dedicated to this legendary figure. He was just as great as the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny or even Santa Claus… maybe even greater. He would stop by on hot summer days and bring happiness to all boys and girls with a quarter or two in their pocket. You knew he was coming because music and the ringing of bells followed him wherever he went. No matter what was going on you picked up his signal, stopped whatever you were doing, and ran to and fro frantically, concerned that you would miss his visit if you were not adequately prepared. Most kids knew him only by the name that was printed on the side of his magic sleigh. Some kids didn’t have a name for him. Then there were kids like me who made up a name for him because we knew no better.
Probably the most common name for him is the Ice Cream Man. I’ve also heard him described as The Good Humor Man, The Eskimo Man, Mr. Softee, Mr. Whippy, and so on.
Because my Ice Cream Man rang a bell, I called him… The Ding-Ding Man.
