by Grace Pappadellis ’29 on October 2, 2025
Campus
I’ve been on campus just about a month now, and it is evident that the words that mean something to me might mean nothing to someone else. I’m not referring to greatly important words—like having a kind conversation, respecting each others’ opinions, or sharing special details about oneself with friends. I am talking about words we use every day, common colloquialisms, nicknames, slang, and our own ideas of what certain words mean.
To toss out an example, a few evenings ago, my roommate, who is dear to me, stood in the laundry room doorway and spoke the words, “When my friends and I play billiards.” The chuckle I let out was not prompted by any sort of silliness, or never hearing the word before, I had just never heard someone use it in lieu of “pool,” never mind as if it was second nature to her.
Following this interaction, I also learned some people say “script” instead of “cursive” and others refer to the post office as a “package store.” “Rotary” or “roundabout?” How about “water bubbler” or “water fountain”? Although these variations in words aren’t remarkably important, I find it remarkably interesting that we can say all these different words, yet we are referring to the same things.
Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to meet my close friend’s family for dinner in Providence. We shared pizza and pasta at a wonderful Italian restaurant, and started talking about Rhode Island jargon. I was pleasantly surprised when my friend’s father brought up the term “grinder” as a popular term for “sub” in Rhode Island. As Massachusetts people, we discussed that we’ve heard “grinder” plenty of times in our neck of the woods—oftentimes more than “sub.” In fact, I have fond memories of my parents ordering meatball grinders from our local Italian restaurant or sharing grinders with my elementary school soccer team.
We use words all the time, unaware of their meaning in other places, or if they mean the same thing at all. We eat certain styles of food, oblivious to their true significance. Here in Rhode Island, calamari is topped with hot peppers, clam chowder has clear broth, and pizza has no cheese! You may have never known that these styles of beloved food items came from Rhode Island, similar to “carriage” referring to a grocery cart, and “cabinet” meaning a milkshake.
Going to college in itself is a privilege, as well as going to a new place or exploring a city much different from your own. Before college, I’d been to Providence numerous times, and aside from my home state of Massachusetts, Rhode Island was my most-visited state. However, as a younger, less culturally adept person, I never picked up on vocabulary differences, varying phrases, and subtle accents. Looking back, it feels as though I was unmindful of the way people talked, or at least less observant, to a fault. It is so cool to notice these things. Even small things. It makes for not only an enjoyable, satisfying experience, but an authentic one, too.