Remember those maps illustrating differences in word choices and pronunciations between different parts of the United States that flew around the Internet back in June? Well, imagine someone took some of that information and a whole lot of new information, added just enough snark and created a video highlighting the ridiculous rather than informative qualities of the differences? That’s exactly what Mental Floss did, and not surprisingly, fans are enjoying the content.
The official title of the above video is 107 Regional Slang Words, and while it touches on the old favorites like pop vs soda vs Coke vs soft drink, it also makes a few detours to discuss contradictions most of us never even knew existed. For example: did you know people in Canada call the garbage disposal the garburator? Or how about that people in Minnesota call rubber bands “rubber binders”? That’s right. I find “rubber binders” so ridiculous, I had to throw quotation marks around it.
Host/ young adult author John Green took a break from the grind last week when the show covered bizarre celebrity arrests, but as you can see, he’s back in the above video. Given the material, that’s a good thing too. Some of the fill-in and other Mental Floss projects hosts bring a really unique and exciting energy to the table, but none of them are ever able to match John’s frenzied momentum. He gets through so much material so quickly while inserting just the right number of jokes to keep it interesting. He’s got a great sense about when to linger and when to keep going.
If you’re looking for some more Mental Floss fun, you can check out the below video too. This one features 50 great facts about the United States. It was created for the July 4th holiday, but America, like beautiful women and fresh out of the oven cookies, is worth celebrating every day.
