My office was having a "potluck" luncheon today (everyone brings a dish to share). I called it a "carry in," and no one understood what I meant. One person thought I said "carion." Someone else said, "I've heard of 'take out' but not 'carry in.'"

Is this a Midwestern colloquialism? What do people call this type of meal in your area?

P.S. Asa has also heard "bring-a-dish" as a synonym.

As a 75-year-old midwesterner I can assure you that it must be only very restricted regionally

But thank you for it

I welcome further input; how common do you judge the expr; do you find this usage in your slang dict; about how old is it etc--Thanks all

I just received, yesterday, volume one of the DARE (Dictionary of American Regional English, A - C. Looked up carry-in, and here's what:

quote:

carry-in n, also attrib chiefly IL, IN, OH See Map and Map Section
A potluck meal.

Citations from throughout the '60s. Naybe not the Midwest, but part of it. One thing one notices when perusing dialect maps is that the isoglosses differ on a word by word basis.

Speaking as an Ohioan, Sunflower, yes, "a carry-in dinner" is a common expression -- in Southern Ohio where I lived most of my life...not sure if it's used in Columbus or not. Caterwauller?

zm: Thank you for that; it's evidently a newcomer as it gets only one hit on Onelook

The term also refers to the practice of carrying merchandise (eg, for repair, into an establishment

... covered-dish dinner ... potluck .... fiesta de traje

( traje ... = "I brought ... ")

While I was raised in Wisconsin, I have lived in Illinois for a long time. I have never heard of "carry in." Perhaps that's because I've always lived in an urban area of Chicago.

Zmj, is that book related to this one that I had posted about?

Sunflower, so great to see you posting again!

is that book related to this one that I had posted about?

No, that book is published by John Benjamins Publishing (a Dutch company that specializes in linguistics books that are very good but quite expensive) and seems to be a book of articles about a particular American regional dialect. The book I posted about is a dictionary of regional American English dialects published by Harvard (three volumes so far up to the letter O and edited by Frederic Cassidy.

quote:

three volumes so far up to the letter O and edited by Frederic Cassidy.

That's interesting! It reminds me of a project that we all know and love. Perhaps we should tell our fellow OEDILFers to ask Harvard to publish their As and Bs.

In the South, it is "covered dish" or "pot luck"... never heard of carry-in... I like to learn something new everyday.

zm: Thank you for that link to "isogloss" As I get only 13 hits in OneLook, I assume it's eithr a fairly late term or it's fairly obscure

Anyone know it's age

I learned isogloss back in the '70s. It's a fairly standard term in dialectology, dialect geography, or areal linguistics. Probably dates back to the '30s or '20s. The Linguistic Atlas of the United States was started back then. Might've been coined by Jules Gilliéron even earlier. He is the father of dialectology.

While I've not studied such things, I'd guess that isoglottic patterns in the USA would show two trends: an overall melding of patterns, and a contrasting group of regionalisms in relatively isolated areas which see little in-migration or exodus. How about it, zmj?

The dialects in the North Central region are experiencing a vowel shift not unlike the great one that happened a while back (in England) between Middle and Early Present-Day English. The common-sense view of dialects is that they are disappearing at present due to the media, but this doesn't seem to be happening. Dialects are changing, as does language (even the standard ones) everywhere. Regional dialects in Germany, France, and Italy seem to be doing OK. Dialects in the US aren't as diverse owing, I think, to their relative youth. The areas settled in the 17th centuries have more diversity than those settled in the 19th. Once the US Empire goes the way of the British and Roman ones, we may experience even greater diversity in the English languages. You and I probably won't be around for that though.

quote: One person thought I said "carrion."

ON A CARRIER WHO DIED OF DRUNKENNESS.

John Adams lies here, of the parish of Southwell,
A carrier who carried his can to his mouth well;
He carried so much, and he carried so fast,
He could carry no more--so was carried at last;
For the liquor he drank, being too much for one,
He could not carry off--so he's now carrion.

(taken from The Humourous Poetry of the English Language by James Parton

But pardon me; I digress.

quote:

Originally posted by Kalleh:
Perhaps we should tell our fellow OEDILFers to ask Harvard to publish their As and Bs.

To publish their A’s and their B’s
Is a project predicted to please
The OEDLIF’n wizards
With overstuffed gizzards:
A Harvard approval ? A breeze.