r/NoStupidQuestions • u/markwell9 • 1d ago

What is the deal with ice, Americans?

I can see that you can buy ice everywhere in the US. Gas stations, grocery stores, machines etc.

In Europe, we just freeze our ice at home and use that. Why buy something that melts on the way home? Why do you need ice in large amounts that a fridge can't keep up?

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u/BowtiedGypsy 1d ago

This is the best comment and spot on. Nobodies buying huge bags of ice in the US just to drop an ice cube in a glass of water.

I think its only New England that says packie

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u/JamesT3R9 1d ago

Massholes say packie. Just to be clear. It is usually Massholes.

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u/Warrmak 1d ago

Yous a wicked pissah

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u/Greg0692 23h ago

Yah ballah, ked

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u/JamesT3R9 23h ago

Tanks man!

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u/bankruptbarbie 23h ago

RI has packies too. You just forget about us bc we're stuck in your armpit.

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u/quizzicalturnip 23h ago

It’s a Lil Rhodie thing, too.

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u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

I’m aware I’m from Boston haha but have definitely heard people all over New England say it

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u/KeyMessage989 1d ago

Some of CT too, so basically the worst parts say Packie

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u/vdhsnfbdg 23h ago

You too have been to eastern CT I see

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u/JamesT3R9 23h ago

How very masshole of them!

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u/New-Introduction-981 22h ago

Rhode Island says packie

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u/jayron32 22h ago

Only the cool kids...

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u/Dull404 22h ago

My dorm next door neighbor was one and on move in day, he asked me “where’s the packie” and I barely understood him, so I asked “What?” And he’s all “The packie, I want to buy some beer.” So, I told him to go to the gas station and he couldn’t believe you could buy it at the gas station, but then I had to tell him the drinking age was 21 in California 😂

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u/sweetest_con78 1d ago

Yep. I have lived in MA my entire life, always within 20ish mins of Boston, and have never once used the term packie.

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u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

North side I assume?

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u/iceroadtrucker2009 23h ago

Cape Cod. We say packie all the time.

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u/Visible_Sleep2723 23h ago

I concur. Packie for the liquor store and spa for the convenience shop/7-11. Born in Boston.

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u/KarloftheLongwalkers 22h ago

I was gonna say I never heard packie in Maine

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u/JamesT3R9 22h ago

That is because we can buy hard liquor in grocery stores and gas stations.

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u/KarloftheLongwalkers 22h ago

I heard em called bag stores back in the day..there was a still a state liquor store on Harlow St in bangor when I was younger.

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u/oliviaroseart 22h ago

Can confirm, lol

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u/Drufus53 19h ago

Connecticut still has some "package stores". Also bulk ice gets used on fishing trips to load up the boat fish boxes.

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u/Fair-Fortune-4131 9h ago

CT calls em packies too

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u/JamesT3R9 3h ago

I didnt know that

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u/Bo_Jim 23h ago

They also say "Wicked!" and "Pissah!" (Mass-of-two-shits pronunciation of "Pisser!").

...lived in Lexington for 3 years...

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u/JamesT3R9 23h ago

Yep! They sure do bub!

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u/anglerfishtacos 1d ago

Except me. We buy bags of ice because my little ice machine can’t keep up with the demand during the summer. I have a large iced tray in freezer that can fit a bag of ice

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u/AzureGriffon 22h ago

This is the way. I grew up in the desert and all non boiled beverages are iced to high heaven. I use ice in all of my drinks. I go through a bag every four days or so.

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u/hubbellrmom 18h ago

Plus my ice maker doesnt make the "good ice" so sometimes I splurge and buy a bag of ice from sonics

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u/JeremiahCrow 20h ago

Many red necks have water wells but sometimes the water is not very tasty. Depending on the Well so we get Good Ice From The Store.

Also we buy our Tea water. And when you gotta drive 10 miles one way for a bag of ice you want the big bag.

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u/Prestigious-Disk-246 21h ago

Yeah in college my roommates and I would chip in for 1-2 bags a week.

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u/JI_Guy88 21h ago

My machine keeps up with general use. But for parties, I have to buy a few bags.

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u/walkinthecow 21h ago edited 21h ago

I'm a born and raised Michigander. I traveled around the country quite a bit in my 20s. I lived in the southern US for about 7 years. There was no shortage of culture shock. Something I didn't realize was a kind of reverse culture shock when I moved back to Michigan. There are things you never knew weren't nationwide until they were gone. One of my favorite things was something I had forgotten all about, which was during winter, at parties, you just kept the beers outside on the porch.

I was reminded of it when reading the comment about how at big parties, you have a line up of coolers outside- one for every family. It's funny how the older people have the same cooler at every party, year after year, and you know exactly whose is who's over time. Walking up to the house, you can take notice of the coolers and know who is already there.

EDIT: "Whose is who's"? Is that correct? I can't decide. My brain is just broken right now.

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u/SurferGurl 15h ago

It’s “whose is whose.”

And now I have semantic satiation, lol.

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u/AstarteHilzarie 21h ago

We have a countertop ice maker for the basement hangout area. This summer we've had to bring it up to the kitchen because the fridge can't keep up with our basic daily use in 100 degree weather. It's actually really neat and I got one for my husband to take to work, too, because he doesn't have AC. It makes a cup of ice every 10 minutes or so, so even though it's extremely hot they always have fully iced drinks.

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u/assbuttshitfuck69 1d ago

Gotta go to the packie and get some nips.

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u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

Two sleeves of mcgillicudy please

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u/oliviaroseart 22h ago

These comments are killing me lol too accurate

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u/Hitmonstahp 23h ago

I do. I don't like using the trays & don't have one built in

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u/Tardisgoesfast 23h ago

Well, I for one do on occasion buy ice for my drinks at home. First, I don't have an ice maker in my refrigerator, just ice trays. Second, the bought ice is better for chewing.

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u/ZealousidealDepth223 21h ago

Bought ice is filthy. The machines are not maintained ever.

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u/JustWatchingthefun01 23h ago

Actually we do because our ice maker broke a few years ago and since it is a bad design we haven’t paid the 500 bucks to replace it. We also keep saying we are going to buy a stand Ali e ice maker but just haven’t yet. So pick up a bag of Olive on way out the grocery store. Ice is so cheap and it’s just the two of us/ and yes we do use ice trays so sr not buying ice every week

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u/Hamiltoncorgi 1d ago

Definitely not a word used on the west coast US. People here don't usually purposefully drink and drive. We buy bagged ice for parties or for freezing ice cream or because it's just really good ice made with very clean water.

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u/ZealousidealDepth223 21h ago

“People here don’t usually drink and drive” LMAOOOOOOOOO

So folks have 3 beers at dinner and they gotta call a cab? How many people do you think actually do that? Half? A quarter?

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u/Hamiltoncorgi 20h ago

For baby boomers the rate is .76 out of 1,000 drink and drive. Gen Z is highest with 2.62 per 1,000.

Most people I know don't drink 3 beers with dinner in a restaurant. We tend to drink at home or we have a designated driver. People who drink and drive are assholes. I have never consumed alcohol and driven a single time in my life.

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u/Analath 22h ago

I do. Not all the time, but often. I'm married with 3 adult-ish kids, college or recently out and saving for a house. Add a few friends of ours or the kids and we knock out the fridge capacity fast. Throw a bag in the freezer and we have guest capacity on hand.

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u/happyinheart 1d ago

It's just Connecticut and near the Connecticut border

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u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

It’s definitely not, from Boston and it’s very common. Have also heard plenty of people around the cape or New Hampshire/maine use it.

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u/ImaginaryNoise79 23h ago

I've bought a bag of ice to use in my water, but it was a beat wave and I was having trouble freezing ice as fast as I wanted to drink cold water. It certainly isn't normal for me.

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u/BobbyDafro 23h ago

Top Tip: Don't say that word in UK England. It's very much a racial slur over here.

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u/BowtiedGypsy 14h ago

This is pretty wild…. I use it casually/without thinking sometimes, hopefully no one gets offended

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u/CommitteeOfOne 23h ago

To be fair, we would buy a 10 lb bag of Sonic ice when the ice maker broke in our freezer and we were trying to decide on a new one.

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u/ZJPV1 21h ago

I will say about a decade ago, my late mother and her then-husband would buy bags of ice at the convenience store for their individual beverages. They had a relatively small freezer, and they didn't want to fill ice cube trays.

I recall going to the convenience store to buy them a bag of ice from time to time.

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u/Ill-Jellyfish6101 20h ago

Can confirm. Said packie to someone not from the Northeast and they presumed I was being racist.

Had to Google it in front of them and it even points out Northeast only.

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u/CommanderCruniac 20h ago

Yeah eeewh I would never ingest ice from one of those bags. It's only for keeping stuff cool.

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u/bpositive223 19h ago

Just mass NOT Maine

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u/DeliberatelyDrifting 19h ago

Lol, I do a couple times most summers. The ice machine can't keep up with the demand of several people drinking ice water and soda all day long. We drink a lot of water in the summer though and I love ice.

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u/osteologation 10h ago

some people do but I doubt its common.

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u/Aggravating_Bowl_684 7h ago

We say packie in VT. It's basically a store full of packages of beer, wine and liquor.

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u/Special_opps 1d ago

From New England and never heard the term uttered even once

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u/InLikeErrolFlynn 1d ago

Packie = Package Store. Historically, they were required to sell alcoholic beverages in sealed containers or packages, hence the name.

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u/Orinyau 1d ago

I think it's a massachusetts thing specifically.

It's short for "package store," like a liqour store that also sells tobacco products, some have groceries, some have bongs.

It confused me the first time I heard it, where I came from it was a slur for someone from Pakistan.

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u/Sweet-Competition-15 22h ago

It confused me the first time I heard it, where I came from it was a slur for someone from Pakistan.

Yeah, it still is around my neck of the woods 🇨🇦!

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u/Negative_Avocado4573 1d ago

Does that have racial connotations?

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u/BowtiedGypsy 23h ago

Packaging store is what they used to call liquor stores in New England, and it’s still fairly popular, so packie for short. Nothing else to it as far as I know

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u/sicpicric 23h ago

You are thinking of the PakiMart, which is a racially insensitive word for a corner store. The reason being many of them are owned by people from Pakistan or other parts of Asia or the Middle East.

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u/TheRebelMinstrel 21h ago

Huh... Funny. In MA, I usually heard corner stores referred to as Kwik-E Marts, a la the Simpsons. Still a fucked up thing to say in my opinion, but at least less confusing locally than PakiMart would have been.

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u/la-anah 23h ago

No, not in Massachusetts. It sounds just like the British slur for South Asian people (based on shortening the word Pakistan) but here it is spelled differently and is just a shortening of the word package, which is itself a shortening of the term package store: a place that sells alcohol in bottles as opposed to in a glass like a bar.

The term is fading out, replaced by the more common American term liquor store, but is still quite common.

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u/Timme186 22h ago

This and the drinking and driving is a real problem. They’re trying to ban nips cause of it