“To make a grade”
I am from the southern United States. I’ve lived in many states in the South but I’ve lived in the panhandle of Florida for the longest amount of time, but I now study in a University in the northwest. I was chatting casually with a friend and asked him, “What did you make on the assignment?” He told me and then kind of chuckled and was curious as to why I phrased it like that. He said that saying “what did you make…” rather than “what did you get…” sounded weird to him and that he had never heard that before. Of course I have said the latter before, but I usually say the “make” variant. I also would say in response to a question like “what did you get on the assignment?” with an “Oh, I made an 85.”
“He ate two plates!”
I was in my Spanish translation class and the professor brought up some translations for an exercise. It was basically some sentences in Spanish that displayed why you cannot literally translate everything from Spanish to English. One of the examples was “Se comió dos platos” which translates to He/she ate two plates which refers to a quantity of food portions and is totally normal in Spanish. My professor (a native English speaker) asked the class “would we say in English that we ate two plates?” Thinking this was a trick question, I replied with, “Yes!” and my friends said “Huh?” in confusion basically exclaiming that what I said was odd. They explained that they wouldn’t ever say that, while I explained that my family and I and everyone I know back home would say something along the lines of “Damn, he ate two whole plates!” If they were surprised at the quantity of food someone ate, or I would say, “I ate two plates.” in response to someone asking me how much food I ate.
These things really surprised me as I had no idea that these things weren’t said by everybody. I tried to look online to see if both of these examples of minuscule dialectal differences had been documented before, but I had no luck in finding any information. (Perhaps because they are quite obscure)
So, what I would like to know is:
Where are you from?
Have you heard these before?
Do you use these phrases?
Do you have any commentary to add this? If so, please do so! I am fascinated.
24 comments
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Both of your examples are common and my default here in Texas. But we are very akin to the South in a lot of ways despite being Southwest.
Arkansas here and yes both used. The grade though, to make the grade feels earned, whereas get seems more ‘i didn’t study and this is what I got/was given’.
I’d say not uniquely southern. I grew up in New England and have heard and/or used them all my life.
Not sure if they’re unique to the south, but I definitely use both of those phrases!
DAE think this reads like a ChatGPT text? “Now I study in a University in the northwest”? There’s really weird and atypical syntax throughout this.
Anyway, no, those are not southern idioms. I’m from the Midwest and lived half my life in the South. Bless your heart.
I lived in and around Atlanta for 17 years and for a year and a half in tallahassee. I’ve never heard the first one but the second one was pretty common.
New Englander here; I’ve never heard “made an A”, only “got an A”.
“Ate two plates”? I understand it from context, but “Had two plates” seems more inline with something I’d hear at Thanksgiving.
I’ve personally never heard either of these
I wouldn’t say “make a grade” but I have heard it before.
I would probably say “he had two plates” because he didn’t actually eat the plates.
I’m from virginia and I would say these. I would also say got a grade but make a grade also sounds correct. I would say I hear got a grade more often but if I heard someone say made I would not think it strange.
I don’t think these are particularly southern phrases, just colloquial.
I’ve lived in both Kansas and Oklahoma and wouldn’t be surprised to hear either phrase in either place, although we might say, “He ate two plates worth.”
Bless your heart
In Michigan, you got an A, you didn’t make an A.
I’m lost on the plate thing, so I’m guessing we don’t say whatever you’re trying to describe. If we got more than one plate, we just say “he got seconds” or thirds, etc.
Yes, I never even thought about it, but I would definitely say both of those!
Old Hat is another one
i have a friend from rural georgia who says “made a-“ and i had pretty much the same reaction as your friend the first time i heard it.
New Englander here. Indeed, I wouldn’t say “make a 90” or whatever the grade was. To make *the* grade is grammatical for me and would mean to pass an examination. That is, “everyone who got a C or better made the grade.”
I’m not sure if you mean to say that “two plates” is a fixed phrase for you and an expression of eating a lot generally. If someone ate two plates’ worth of food I would absolutely say they ate two plates’.
Y’all is a common one, same as Buckeroo
These statements are universally used by everyone.
Source: I’ve spent my entire life in Mississippi.
Wait a minute….😐
“Make the grade” is not specifically southern.
“Ate two plates” sounds Texan to me, but not really in wide use outside of the South.
Both are perfectly understandable to non-Southerners.
We say that here in Tennessee
I’m from a southern area, all of my family is from the south. I have said and heard both of these before without really thinking about it, but they probably are southern. I guess making a grade is kind of like making groceries (which may be even more localized to the New Orleans area, so not sure if related/relevant). Two plates also sounds like it would be a southern or possibly common black phrase (without any negative connotation), which often get intertwined.