Essential English phrases

A drinking fountain. Rhode Island and Wisconsin are the two places in America that say this, and asking for a 'water fountain' marks you out immediately.

Federal Hill, the historically Italian district up Atwells Avenue from downtown, marked by the pinecone arch. 'On the Hill' means dinner. Not to be confused with College Hill, which is always said in full.

A package store — a shop licensed to sell spirits, wine and beer. Rhode Island supermarkets do not sell them, so you learn the word fast.

Milk mixed with coffee syrup, and the official state drink of Rhode Island since 1993. Autocrat is the brand. Every supermarket carries the syrup; almost nowhere outside the state does.

A milkshake — specifically ice cream blended with milk and syrup. A 'coffee cabinet' is the local order. Ask for a milkshake in Rhode Island and you may get flavoured milk with no ice cream in it.

A stuffed quahog — the big local clam, chopped with breadcrumbs, peppers and chouriço and baked back in its shell. The state's defining bar snack.

The hard-shell clam that the whole state's food is built on. Note the pronunciation — the first syllable rhymes with 'go', not with 'kwa'.

The local hot wiener, sold since the 1920s and confusingly named after New York. Ordered 'all the way' — meat sauce, onion, mustard, celery salt — and traditionally lined up along the cook's forearm.

Heading south to the beaches — Narragansett, Matunuck, Charlestown, Westerly. It is thirty to forty-five minutes and it is what half the state does on a summer Saturday.

A roundabout. New England says rotary and the road signs say rotary; nobody here will know what you mean by roundabout.

The signature Providence event: about a hundred braziers lit on the three rivers through downtown on summer and autumn evenings, with music and boats. Free, and the thing every resident takes a visitor to.

911 for emergencies, (401) 272-3121 for the Providence Police non-emergency line. 401 is the area code for the entire state — one code, one million people, and locals wear it on t-shirts.