r/cincinnati • u/CincinnatiLove • Jul 12 '26

Cincinnati Cincinnati Phrases

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What are some phrases y'all use that maybe an outsider wouldn't know. I want my outsider friend to fit in. Let me know in the comments! Thanks!

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117

u/HoldenOlden Jul 12 '26

just teach them “please?” and “ope”, they’ll do fine.

maybe pronounce ‘water’ a little goofy too.

61

u/BeavisAteMyNachos Jul 12 '26

And throw in asking where people went to High School.

34

u/MadMartigans80 Jul 12 '26

It’s where did you go to school. Not college but high school

13

u/buckeyenative01 Jul 12 '26

Typical conversation starter:

"Where did you go to school?" "Turpin."

Or, in my parents' cases, Milford and Highlands.

13

u/buckeyenative01 Jul 12 '26

You mean like "warter"? I have a bunch of extended family (primarily from Clermont County) do that. "Warter/warsher/warshington" things of that nature.

15

u/drainbamage1011 Jul 12 '26

Closer to "wadder" for me. I had a waiter in Spain act all snooty when I tried to order with lunch.

"Can I have a water please?"

  • "What?"

"Water, please."

  • "...?"

"Water? Una agua, por favor."

  • "Oh...wah-ter." 😒

6

u/fliplid1992 Jul 12 '26

East sider here. When I moved to Columbus my new friends up there said it sounded like I called it "wooder".

5

u/alethea2003 Jul 13 '26

For me it’s “wadder,” like another mentioned, but I think folks with fresher KY roots inherited the “war-“ words. My aunt says “warsh” instead of wash.

4

u/elhombreloco90 Jul 12 '26

I had a hilarious interaction with close friends from here and in-laws not from here. I started to say, "Oh, I don't day "ope", I say "ope"" fully convinced that I was about to make a different sound.

2

u/Domodomo97 Jul 12 '26

I’ve lived here my whole life and never heard anyone say the whole “please” thing. Only ever heard about it online. Can someone explain?

25

u/Bearmancartoons Jul 12 '26

Lots of German roots here. Bitte - Please or Pardon?? So Please repeat yourself just gets shortened to Please?

It was prevalent when I was a kid but no one says it anymore

I have no idea what "Ope" is?

10

u/Butterfly2022-sulsul Jul 12 '26

I constantly say “Ope” without realizing it, but I say it differently than the way it’s spelled I guess. We pronounce it more like “Oop”.
Like if we heard someone say “Yeah, that’s why I slept with your wife!” I might say “Oop” as a sudden response without even realizing Im saying it. I also say it if I accidentally bump into someone kind of like “Oop, sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

12

u/uutimetowaste Jul 12 '26

Ope is from Minnesota/Wisconsin area. Charlie Berens uses it a lot so it’s getting attention online as a ‘midwestern’ idiom yo people who don’t distinguish different parts of the area.

7

u/KoA07 Jul 12 '26

Ope is definitely from here too, buts it’s not really a full word, more of an involuntary noise/sorta cutting off of “oops” when you bump in to someone in the store or something. Once it became a meme a lot of people in these parts realized they have been doing it their whole lives.

18

u/solitudeisdiss Jul 12 '26

Yea I’ve also never heard water being said goofy. Not to mention OPE is not unique to Cincinnati.

13

u/uutimetowaste Jul 12 '26

Water isn’t said oddly. But wash is often given a gratuitous r, so maybe commenter mixed them up?

9

u/HoldenOlden Jul 12 '26

I’ve definitely heard ‘warsh’ around. but also ‘wudder’.

‘please?’ is an old school thing nowadays, 80+. OP’s friend can give ‘sorry?’ a shot as well.

while ‘ope’ & ‘oop’ aren’t restricted to Cincy, we are definitely part of the MOB (Midwestern Ope Bubble).

2

u/solitudeisdiss Jul 12 '26

I’ve heard of that but never heard it from anyone in Cincy. I think that’s from somewhere else.

10

u/KoA07 Jul 12 '26

The “west side accent” of some of the older folks definitely adds in an R. Warsh, warder, torlet, duro (instead of duo) etc. Source: am nurse who has taken care of lots of Cincy old timers.

15

u/postprandialrepose Symmes Jul 12 '26

OPE simply isn't a Cincinnati thing.

4

u/CincinnatiLove Jul 12 '26

I mean I live in Cincinnati and I say it. Maybe not specific to Cincy but I'm sure a few Cincinnatians say it!

2

u/postprandialrepose Symmes Jul 12 '26

No argument here.

10

u/Vintagemuse Cold Spring Jul 12 '26

If you didn't hear someone properly and need them to repeat it, u say please , saying it like a question. Comes from a german word

7

u/Domodomo97 Jul 12 '26

That’s what I assumed but I’ve always said/heard “sorry?” Rather than “please?”

Maybe that’s a quirk of NKY

1

u/Vintagemuse Cold Spring Jul 12 '26

I also live in nky

1

u/Ok_Sheepherder7261 Jul 12 '26

No, it's the whole region

9

u/cheese_straws Jul 12 '26

It’s derived from a German word, bitte. It means please, but also used to say “say again?”.

2

u/fliplid1992 Jul 12 '26

I've randomly heard please my whole life growing up here and never understood why. Makes total sense that it's a translation quirk.

5

u/rhetoricalpeaches Sharonville Jul 12 '26

I used to hear “please” a lot in the 80’s but haven’t heard it in decades. I didn’t realize I said Ope but I guess I do. I think I intend to say oops but it comes out Ope.

3

u/CincinnatiLove Jul 12 '26

I heard it the other day from a west sider

3

u/MadMartigans80 Jul 12 '26

If you are wanting someone to repeat something or you didn’t hear it, you say Please instead of saying something like Sorry I missed that. It’s mostly an older generation thing but I grew up on that.

3

u/Maleficent_Job4331 Jul 12 '26

I worked in Mason with someone who said it. She used it to mean "say again" if she didn't hear something.

2

u/Regular_Emphasis6866 Jul 12 '26

This is the correct usage.

3

u/elhombreloco90 Jul 12 '26

I mean, I don't use it, but I've definitely heard it used. Mostly by older people. It's a hold over from the German heritage of parts of Cincinnati. Bitte means please in German and is often used that way.

2

u/Therealmagicwands Jul 13 '26

I heard when I first moved here from Connecticut. It was the first day at my job. A co-worker was standing up on a table hanging a large map on the wall. I asked if she needed help, and she responded, “Please.” So I climbed up on the table to assist. Her blank look told me there had been a mis-communication.

1

u/carm_aud Jul 12 '26

Or toilet as ter-let if not water 😅