1. Crush
What it means to everyone else: The kid whose name you wrote all over your notebook in seventh grade.
What it means in Virginia: Waterman’s Crush Fest. Where fun people imbibe a citrusy alcoholic beverage so awesome, it gets its own festival.
2. NOVA
What it means to everyone else: Some sort of really bright star in outer space or something. I don’t actually know, taking an 8 a.m. Astronomy 101 class wasn’t the best idea.
What it means in Virginia: What everyone calls the Northern, DC-metro area of Virginia. It’s basically where half of the entire state lives.
3. DMV
What it means to everyone else: The place you have to take an entire half day off of work to stand in line in order to get the world’s worst license mug shot taken of you just to hide it from everyone you know until you have to do it again in four years. Otherwise known as Hell On Earth.
What it means in Virginia: The abbreviation for the tri-state region of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, otherwise known as DelMarVa.
4. Ponies
What it means to everyone else: Baby horses.
What it means in Virginia: Those amazing feral creatures that roam Chincoteague and are absolutely not afraid to bite you if they’re not the mood to be cooed at.
5. Slug
What it means to everyone else: That gross, slimy snail without a shell that you step on in the summer while barefoot, and then you have to cut your foot off in order to recover.
What it means in Virginia: To be lazy. If you’re taking your time getting around to something, you’re “sluggin’ it.”
6. D.C.
What it means to everyone else: Capitol Hill, The White House, and every episode of Scandal.
What it means in Virginia: To the people in NOVA, D.C. means traffic, traffic, and more traffic. It’s also where you and/or your neighbor go every day for work.
7. Tyson’s
What it means to everyone else: Some people might think of chicken products. Others might think of TKO-Mike.
What it means in Virginia: If you’re a NOVA resident, Tyson’s Corner is where you end up for all things shopping and dining related no matter how many times you say you’re going to avoid it. Quit fighting it. They have conveyor belt sushi trays, for crying out loud!
8. Mount Vernon
What it means to everyone else: That place where George Washington lived. Also where Nicholas Cage uncovered awesome secret passages in the basement.
What it means in Virginia: That place where you went for every single school field trip where, much to your dismay, you found no secret passages.
9. Kirk
What it means to everyone else: The captain of the starship USS Enterprise, obviously.
What it means in Virginia: Instead of “freaking out” in Virginia, you “kirk out.”
10. Bamma
What it means to everyone else: An abbreviation for Alabama or an Alabama sports team.
What it means in Virginia: Someone who is homely and has very little taste or style.
11. Shenandoah
What it means to everyone else: A folk song you learned when you were a kid that you probably forgot most of the words to by now.
What it means in Virginia: The breathtaking Shenandoah Valley. Who needs a Grand Canyon?
12. July Fun
What it means to everyone else: Barbecues on the 4th of July.
What it means in Vermont: Pony swim!
13. Oysters
What it means to everyone else: Snotty looking seafood you can get fresh sometimes if you travel somewhere that has a coast or are willing to pay an arm and a leg to be imported.
What it means in Virginia: The freshest, most delicious staple food in the world. They’re so good, they created the world’s only museum dedicated solely to their favorite shellfish on Chincoteague Island.
14. Busch Gardens
What it means to everyone else: A plot of land dedicated to growing flowers and shrubbery?
What it means in Virginia: Drinking your way through Germany to work up the nerve to ride The Griffon, probably the most terrifying rollercoaster ever.
15. Triangle
What it means to everyone else: A three-sided geometric shape. Also, the world’s easiest instrument to play.
What it means in Virginia: The Historic Triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.
16. Silver Line
What it means to everyone else: The bright side of things.
What it means in Virginia: The metro rail that seemed like it would never be completed. And even after it’s completed, it still isn’t completed. By the way, you’re never getting home.
17. Colonial Williamsburg
What it means to everyone else: That historic place in Virginia that seems like it might be cool to visit someday. If you like pantaloons and watching butter churn.
What it means in Virginia: That place your parents took you every year for a day trip instead of Busch Gardens like you begged them. (“But please, dad!?! We’re so close!!”) And then you ended up having an awesome time anyway. (The pantaloons are cool!)
18. Kings Dominion
What it means to everyone else: The immediate residence or possibly the throne of some sort of king, and who cares since we don’t have those?
What it means in Virginia: Only the best amusement park in the world, even if it is filled without more people from out-of-state than Virginians. And look! You can see your car from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
19. Mount Trashmore
What it means to everyone else: What your kitchen looks like after cooking a holiday dinner.
What it means in Virginia: The most epic park made up of trash ever.
20. Air And Space
What it means to everyone else: An expansive area filled with oxygen.
What it means in Virginia: Planes! Rockets! IMAX! All thanks to the Air and Space Center.
21. Bay Bridge Tunnel
What it means to everyone else: A means to crossing a body of water. Nothin’ special.
What it means in Virginia: The most exciting yet somewhat terrifying and longest 13 minutes you’ve ever tried to hold your breath.
22. Thanksgiving
What it means to everyone else: Turkey, parades, football, and fist fights at the family dining table. What? Don’t tell me my grandmom is the only one who knows how to throw a right hook across the cranberry sauce?
What it means in Virginia: The roots of Virginia! Put aside all the myths you’re about to complain that the textbooks lied about or left out and take it to your history teacher. The fact remains that the first Thanksgiving in North America was held here in Virginia at Berkeley Plantation in 1619, and Virginians are proud. Gobble, gobble.
23. George Washington
What it means to everyone else: The first president of the United States, the one with the wooden teeth.
What it means in Virginia: The Virginia boy who went on to lead the Revolution and help set the framework for what became the Constitution and the country. Also, he didn’t have wooden teeth.
24. Arlington
What it means to everyone else: A memorial cemetery.
What it means in Virginia: A memorial cemetery so powerful you can’t even begin to understand it until you see it for yourself in person.
25. Tobacco
What it means to everyone else: That stuff that your parents used to smoke.
What it means in Virginia: The way your grandparents and your parents earned a living.
26. Beach
What it means to everyone else: The most wonderful way to spend a warm, summer day in the sun.
What in means in Virginia: Brace yourselves. The tourists are coming.
27. Love
What it means to everyone else: A strong feeling of affection towards someone.
What it means in Virginia: It’s not just a feeling. It’s in the air. It’s a way of life. Because Virginia really is for lovers.
What other words mean something different in the Virginia? Tell us in the comments below! 
