Florida has 'jiffy feet.' America's Top 10 misunderstood phrases, slang meanings revealed

Don't get "put out" if you don't know what some of the following misunderstood phrases mean.

Because you're not alone.

Thanks to social media, instant messaging and pop culture, trying to figure out if people mean what they're actually saying if you hear a "strange" or "weird phrase" can be pretty challenging.

Language learning app Preply revealed America's Top 10 misunderstood phrases and the meanings behind them. Read on for a crash course on popular slang from Florida and beyond.

What are America's Top 10 misunderstood phrases?

In an October 2023 survey that was republished this April, Preply measured the “hardest to understand states” by measuring how confused the rest of the country was by each state’s slang words.

According to Preply, these are the Top 10 misunderstood phrases across the U.S. as of April 2024, from No. 10 to the No. 1 hardest phrase to decipher in America:

10. "Blucifer" from Colorado

• What it actually means: It's the blue mustang sculpture outside Denver International Airport.

• What most respondents thought it meant: a blue devil since "Lucifer" is a name synonymous with Satan

9. "Put out" from Missouri

• What it actually means: You are angry.

• What most respondents thought it meant: a vulgar way of saying you agree to something sensual

8. "Borrow pit" from Montana

• What it actually means: A ditch along the side of a road

• What most respondents thought it meant: a donation box

7. "Grinds" from Hawaii

• What it actually means: food or a meal out

• What most respondents thought it meant: slang for someone who works hard every day

6. "Dirty bird" from Kentucky

• What it actually means: It's slang for KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.

• What most respondents thought it meant: a derogatory insult

5. "Gnarly" from California

• What it actually means: used to describe particularly large waves in the ocean

• What most respondents thought it meant: slang for the word "cool"

4. "Grill" from New York

• What it actually means: staring rudely

• What most respondents thought it meant: to ask a lot of questions

3. "Carry" from Mississippi

• What it actually means: to drive someone

• What most respondents thought it meant: to have a gun on your person

What 'carry' may mean in Florida: State allows permitless concealed carry. Here’s where to safely bring a concealed gun

2. "Right out straight" from Maine

• What it actually means: being very busy

• What most respondents thought it meant: telling the truth

1. "Taverns" from South Dakota

• What it actually means: a Sloppy Joe sandwich

• What most respondents thought it meant: a bar or club

Where does Florida rank in 'hardest to understand states' slang survey?

In the October 2023 Preply survey measuring the “hardest to understand states,” Florida ranked in the Top 20. The phrase "jiffy feet," created in and mostly used around the Jacksonville area, stumped 43% of the people surveyed.

What does the phrase “jiffy feet” mean to you, if anything? To people from Jacksonville, it doesn’t mean having great dance moves – which is what most respondents who took the Preply survey thought it meant.

What is the meaning of jiffy feet?

The phrase “jiffy feet” refers to the layer of dirt and dust that adorns the bottom of one’s feet after prancing around driveways, streets, dirt roads, gas stations or really anywhere barefoot.

It perfectly reflects the tendencies of “beachnecks” (proud beach-dwelling rednecks), who live around Atlantic, Neptune and Jacksonville beaches, to ditch their shoes – especially on beach, boat and pool days.

For example, if you’ve ever spent a Fourth of July biking up and down First Street, you probably had jiffy feet by the time you were walking back home from watching fireworks on the beach.

In a FLORIDA TODAY Facebook post, social media users referred to "jiffy feet" as "7-Eleven feet," "Circle K feet" or "gas station feet."

Where did the slang term 'jiffy feet' come from?

The First Coast slang phrase is built on a slang word that also comes from the Jacksonville area. A “jiffy” or “jiffy store” refers to any gas station or quick stop-style store. For most Duval residents who have been in the area in the last 40 years, “jiffy” is to a quick stop as Kleenex is to a tissue.

This is because of an Orange Park-based chain of convenience stores called Huntley’s Jiffy Food Stores that had the bulk of its 342 stores in the Jacksonville metropolitan area. The chain of stores was bought out twice and any quick stop store that used to be a Huntley’s Jiffy is now a Circle K.

“Jiffy feet” became a popular saying around the Jacksonville area some time in the ‘70s according to reporting by Co-Owner and Editor of The Jaxson Bill Delaney.

“By the 80’s and 90’s, the term was in use in other parts of Florida as well, including Daytona Beach, Ocala, and the Panhandle as far as Pensacola, and even in some other Southern states,” Delaney wrote in an article on jiffy feet for The Jaxson. “At least initially, the term’s geographical range likely correlated with the presence of stores named ‘Jiffy.’”

What slang words are specific to Florida?

Here are some other Florida phrases and words that are common in the local lexicon. This is certainly not a comprehensive list. Vote for your favorite at the end of the list!

• Florida happy meal: A Florida happy meal is just easier than saying “I’m going to the jiffy for beer, a lottery ticket and cigarettes.”

• Jit: It stands for “Juvenile in training.” Urban Dictionary has a more colorful description for the meaning of the word. If anyone calls you this, you’re being insulted.

• Noseeum: This is what we call the little invisible bugs, actually midges, that decorate our legs with itchy red bumps in the summer. If you’ve never met a noseeum, just know they’re like the really annoying sidekick of mosquitoes.

• Snowbirds: Hordes of northerners that flock to Florida beaches every winter.

• Florida bath: Don’t feel like showering off the chlorine after your pool day? No worries! You don’t have to. You took a Florida bath.

• Square grouper: Every once in a while, if you’re fishing or swimming in the right place at the right time, you could come across a square grouper. This is the name that the US Coast Guard working in the waters around South Florida gave to overboarded bales of drugs. It’s also the name of the Florida bar where Alan Jackson shot his “5 O’Clock Somewhere” music video.

Can't see the poll? Click here to cast your vote. The results may surprise you. Bet. (That's slang for OK or approve.)

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Top 10 American slang words, list of weird Florida phrases, meanings