Between northern and southern China, there are many linguistic differences.  Differing dialects aside, there are also general lexical differences- similar to the “soda” and “pop” phenomenon in the US.  If someone says they’ll give you something 晚一点 (a bit later) in the north, they’d say 迟一点 (a bit later) in the south.  What people down south refer to as 雪糕 (ice cream) is more commonly referred to as 冰淇淋 (ice cream) up north.  One of the most interesting misunderstandings that I had down south was when I was first picked up from the airport, people were saying how that area always 塞车 (had traffic).  I misheard this as 赛车 (car racing) and couldn’t imagine how there could possibly be car-racing with so much traffic.  It wasn’t until later that I realized that 堵车 (traffic) isn’t a common phrasing in the far south.  Phrases that I have seemingly left behind in Beijing include 倍儿 (really) and 瞧你 (look at you!).  Alas, I will have to work more on my 白话 (common speech, used here to mean Cantonese).

晚 wan3 – late
迟 chi2 – late (usually used for 迟到 – to be late)
雪糕 xue3gao1 – ice cream (lit. snow cake)
冰淇淋 bing1qi2lin2 – ice cream
塞车 sai1che1 – to have bad traffic
赛车 sai4che1 – to race cars
堵车 du3che1 – to have bad traffic
倍儿 bei4er (sounds like “burr”) – really, very
瞧你 qiao2ni3 – (lit. “look you”) look at you!
白话 bai2hua4 – common speech, here meaning Cantonese