1. Deep Dish
What it means everywhere else: Pizza Hut’s super thick-crusted pizza.
What it means in Illinois: Thick crust? In the immortal words of Danny Zucco, don’t make me laugh, ha-ha. A thick crust isn’t what makes a deep dish pizza deep dish pizza and if you don’t know that then you’ve never had it.
2. Fork & Knife
What it means everywhere else: The utensils used to eat your steak last night.
What it means in Illinois: The utensils used to eat your deep dish. If you don’t need tools to get through your pizza, then you’re not doing it right.
3. Hot Dogs
What it means in everywhere else: Everybody’s favorite all-American food found at every baseball stadium around the country.
What it means in means in Illinois: Everybody’s favorite all-American food, made even better with Chicago-style flare. And don’t you DARE put ketchup on it.
4. Sears
What it means everywhere else: The department store your dad used to drag you to when he had to buy some tools.
What it means in Illinois: The Sears Tower, now called some ridiculous name like The Willis Tower or whatever. All I know is that it will always be The Sears Tower and no super-sized antenna will steal its thunder.
5. The Blue Brothers
What it means everywhere else: With Jim Belushi and Dan Akroyd as original members form the world-famous Blues Brothers band.
What it means in Illinois: The world-famous Blues Brothers, perhaps the most successful band of all time formed off of a television comedy sketch, and hometown heroes who were sent on a mission from God.
6. Cubs
What it means everywhere else: A baby bear.
What it means in Illinois: One of the most American baseball teams in the entire MLB, definitely with a pretty underwhelming record. But, if nothing else, you can definitely tell who is a true fan and who isn’t, curse be damned.
7. Bulls
What it means everywhere else: Stubborn animals people are always unleashing in china shops for some reason.
What it means in Illinois: The Chicago Bulls of legend. Derrick Rose has no thorns.
8. Diners
What it means everywhere else: Where you eat when you want pancakes for dinner.
What it means in Illinois: Where you eat when you want some of Illinois best and signature dishes like Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket, as featured on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives.
9. Starved
What it means everywhere else: How you feel by the end of the day when you had to work through lunch.
What it means in Illinois: Starved Rock State Park, one of the most popular sightseeing spots in the state with the most majestic views.
10. Salty
What it means everywhere else: What your food tastes like when you put too much salt on it.
What it means in Illinois: What you tell someone they are when they should be embarrassed or feel stupid for something.
11. Lincoln
What it means everywhere else: The car that Matthew McConaughey didn’t drive to be cool, he just did it ‘cause he liked it.
What it means in Illinois: Abraham Lincoln, the most pivotal president in the history of the United States, and Illinois native. That’s why the state is home to more Abe Lincoln sites than anywhere else in the world, including the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.
12. Ketchup
What it means in everywhere else: A tomato based condiment, used often for dunking fries and topping hamburgers and hot dogs.
What it means in means in Illinois: Pure blasphemy when used to desecrate a hot dog. Coincidentally, Illinois is, however, home to the world’s largest bottle of ketchup which also functions as a water tower.
13. Twinkies
What it means everywhere else: The questionably delicious spongey cake food product that people either love or hate.
What it means in Illinois: The questionably delicious spongey cake food product that people either love or hate created right here in River Forest in 1930. You’re welcome, America!
14. Wayne’s World
What it means everywhere else: The Saturday Night Live skit turned movie franchise featuring the best use of Bohemian Rhapsody in a film.
What it means in Illinois: Aurora, Illinois. The hometown to slacker-basement-entrepreneurs Wayne and Garth. Party on forever.
15. Cheap Trick
What it means everywhere else: That band from the 80s with that “I Want You To Want Me” hit.
What it means in Illinois: Illinois boys who got themselves their own official day in the state. April 1st might be known as April Fool’s Day around the rest of the country, but here in Illinois, it’s officially Cheap Trick Day.
16. Wrigley
What it means everywhere else: Chewing gum.
What it means in Illinois: The best baseball stadium in Major League Baseball.
17. Green Bay Packers
What it means everywhere else: The NFL team for the city of Green Bay.
What it means in Illinois: The rivals of the beloved Chicago Bears. You want to know why the fans call themselves cheeseheads? Because even they know they’re as moldy as their team.
18. Casimir Pulaski
What it means everywhere else: An excellent Sufjan Stevens song with a confusing title.
What it means in Illinois: Casimir Pulaski Day, the statewide holiday honoring the Polish officer of the Revolutionary war. This basically means a day off of school for some and where no one can go to the bank. You might get some pretty good Polish food out of the deal, though.
19. Garden
What it means everywhere else: The plot of flowers you have in your back yard.
What it means in Illinois: The Garden Of The Gods Wilderness, 3,300 acres of land and rock that will leave you so zen, you’ll forget anything and everything about life in the city.
20. Lalapalooza
What it means everywhere else: A huge music tour from the 90s that you went to a few times when it came to your city… If you could only remember…
What it means in Illinois: The massive music tour started in the 90s turned Chicago event and festival. Nope, you won’t remember a thing from this one, either.
21. Springfield
What it means everywhere else: The hometown of The Simpsons.
What it means in Illinois: The Illinois city marked as the birthplace and historical center of Honest Abe, the Henson Robinson Zoo, and Knights Action waterpark.
22. Route
What it means everywhere else: The roads you take to work every day.
What it means in Illinois: Route 66. One of the most scenic, historic, and awesome byways and roadtrip adventures in the country.
23. Gym Shoes
What it means everywhere else: Shoes you wear to the gym.
What it means in Illinois: What they call sneakers instead of sneakers, mainly around the Chicago area.
24. Cornfields
What it means everywhere else: What you find out in the country or when you watch Children of the Corn.
What it means in Illinois: What you find almost everywhere, considering that nearly 80% of the state’s land area is dedicated solely to farmland. And you thought Chicago was a big deal…
25. Jazz
What it means everywhere else: A style of music that you respect but probably don’t know nearly enough about.
What it means in Illinois: Living in the state that gave birth to the term “jazz” itself by the likes of Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa, two of the greats, locally and nationally.
26. Nabisco
What it means everywhere else: Cookies!
What it means in Illinois: The Nabisco factory in Chicago which stands as the largest bakery in the world at 1,800,000 square feet of sugary goodness.
27. Pumpkins
What it means everywhere else: What you can’t wait to pick and carve every Halloween.
What it means in Illinois: The land of the pumpkins, Morton, IL, which is the pumpkin capital of the world. More than 85% of packaged pumpkin comes from here, which means your Thanksgiving pumpkin pies are almost all thanks to Illinois.
28. Joliet
What it means everywhere else: A woman’s name.
What it means in Illinois: One of the world’s most notorious prisons. It’s an Illinois city, too, but mainly the prison which was a part of everything from Bob Dylan songs to Blues Brothers storylines and will go down in history as one of the roughest and toughest correctional centers ever made.
29. Shake
What it means everywhere else: What you did to a Polaroid picture. You know, back when there were Polaroid pictures.
What it means in Illinois: A Cake Shake from Portillo’s, the only shake on Earth worth Vincent Vega’s time and hard-earned five dollars.
30. Illinois
What it means everywhere else: A midwestern state where Chicago is located.
What it means in Illinois: The best state in the union. From the hills of the countryside to the hustle and bustle of the big city, the beaches of Lake Michigan to the river valleys and everything in between, filled with history, fun, and world-famous food, Illinois has it all. It’s like a little piece of every state all wrapped into one.
What other words mean something different in the Illinois? Tell us in the comments below! 
