Tomato, toe-mah-toe

Where did you grow up: Southern California

WHAT DO YOU CALL:

1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
Stream (or if smaller, creek)

2. What the thing you push around the grocery store is called.
Shopping cart

3. A metal container to carry a meal in.
Lunch pail

4. The thing that you cook bacon and eggs in.
Frying pan

5. The piece of furniture that seats three people.
Sofa or couch

6. The device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof.
Gutter

7. The covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening.
Porch

8. Carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages.
Cola (even if it isn't cola-flavored)

9. A flat, round breakfast food served with syrup.
Pancake

10. A long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself.
Sub

11. The piece of clothing worn by men at the beach.
Bathing suit

12. Shoes worn for sports.
Tennis shoes

13. Putting a room in order.
Cleaning

14. A flying insect that glows in the dark.
Firefly

15. The little insect that curls up into a ball.
Pill bug

16. The children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down.
Class-one lever.  Or teeter-totter

17. How do you eat your pizza?
Start at the narrow end, eat the crust last.

18. What's it called when private citizens put up signs and sell their used stuff?
Yard sale

19. What's the evening meal?
Dinner

20. The thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?
My last house, the furnace was in a closet.  And the thing under the house was a crawl space.  But the answer you're looking for is:  Basement

21. What do you call the thing that you can get water out of to drink in public places?
Drinking fountain