Illinois slang: regional words, sayings, and how locals talk.
This page collects regional vocabulary from Illinois: slang you'll hear in conversation, sayings that travel through families, and pronunciations that mark a person as a local. Pick a city to narrow the list, or keep "All cities" to see the full Illinois picture.
31 wordspage 1 of 2
A pounded-thin breaded pork cutlet on a small bun.
Chicago accent for 'front room'.
Chicago roast-beef sandwich on French bread.
Chicago hot dog loaded with all the veggies.
Chicago grilled Polish sausage sandwich.
Summer farm job pulling tassels off seed corn in the Corn Belt.
Illinois slang is the set of dialect words, regional sayings, and local pronunciations used in Illinois but not in standard American English. This page lists them with meanings, examples, and the type of each word.
Words and phrases associated with Illinois include jagoff, pop, ope, gym shoes. Open any entry above to see its meaning, type, and where in Illinois it is used.
"jagoff" is listed on Dialectly as a regional word connected to Illinois. Each word page shows the full set of states and cities where it is recorded, plus a map.
Like every region, Illinois keeps vocabulary and pronunciations that mark a speaker as local. Standard American English levels these out; a regional dictionary like Dialectly records them before they fade.
