Grillin’?

Do you grill? Cook out? Barbecue?

No, this isn’t a pop quiz. It’s a just-for-fun poll. You see, when I first moved to North Carolina, I discovered my western vocab need some tweaking. The conversation went something like this.

Setting: apartment parking lot

Characters: friendly neighbor; Diane, a clueless newcomer

Neighbor: Hey, Diane! We’re grillin’ tomorrow. Why don’t you come on over?
Diane: Ummmm, what’s “grillin'”?
Long pause…
Neighbor: What? We’re cooking out on the grill!
Diane: Oh, a barbecue!
Neighbor: No, we’re having hamburgers.

On this day, I learned North Carolina cookouts are seldom called barbecues. Instead, the word barbecue is reserved for a scrumptious pork sandwich! So what do you call cooking out on a grill in your neck of the woods?

Smiles,
Diane


6 thoughts on “Grillin’?

  1. Funny! I always called bbqs Sloppy Joes until I moved to West Michigan! In my husbands family bbqs are ground beef with barbecue sauce! We call it a Cookout when we are really grillin’!

  2. My husband (from Upstate New York) calls it grilling. I (from Missouri) call it barbecuing.

    Honestly, I’m not sure what anyone else calls it down here in South Texas. 😉

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