At work today I was shooting the breeze with one of my patients, a pleasant 81 year old man. I asked him about his children. The conversation went like this:

Mr. F: One of my sons lives in South Carolina

Me: Where abouts in South Carolina?
Mr. F: Durham

Me: Oh, that’s in North Carolina! I used to live in Chapel Hill, about 8 miles away. I love it

there! Have you been to visit?

Mr F: [tersely] Yeah, it was ok. I like Pascoag* bettah!

Another thing about Rhode Islanders- They rarely hesitate to take a left in front of you when you are the first ones at an intersection when the light turns green. A driver actually once gave me the finger because I wouldn’t let him cut me off, when I was going straight and he was trying to take a left.

Also they believe in the conservation of “R”s:

R’s are neither created nor destroyed.

Although they often leave them out of words, you will notice they insert them into other words where you might not expect them.

For example:

1. Mistah DeRoser ate all of his peas!

2. Pameler and Jennifah ahe gonna be pahtners faw this assignment

and here is a great one I overheard at my last job

3. I love the show “The Biggest Losah” but I hate to watch it because I’m the biggest gainah!

*Small town in northern RI, pronounced PASS-coe