We Had No Idea That People Called Sneakers Something Different Outside Of The Northeast

A couple weeks ago, we dug into the world of the classic Italian sandwich, undoubtedly a New England thing. Earlier this week, we talked about American Chop Suey, another New England favorite and its small variations. But as we get away from food, we stumbled across this fun fact, people in New England (and the rest of the northeast) call those popular shoes that Nike and Reebok make SNEAKERS but the rest of the country? Not so much.

Shared on Twitter by Elizabeth Minkel, here's a map that proves we truly are a different breed here in the northeast. Almost the entire rest of the country refers to sneakers as TENNIS SHOES, even if you're not playing tennis! A couple of cities in the midwest, Chicago and Cincinnati, call them gym shoes. They must be so fit. And finally, Hawaii breaks from the rest of the pack and just calls them SHOES.

Do you feel any different? Is this another thing that you just didn't realize we had a different name for up here in the northeast? Keep this in the back of your mind when you're visiting California. Don't go the nearest store and ask for a pair of sneakers...apparently, they won't know what you're talking about.