On Regions...
zombiegirl
beating the drum of the lifelessin a dry wasteland Veteran
As many of you know, I recently moved from the Northern US to the SW and am constantly navigating the language differences. I often have to ask others to repeat themselves and others often ask the same of me. Not only are there accent issues and a bunch of terminology issues, but I generally get asked after about one sentence, "So, where ya from?"
So, when a Texan called me a Yankee and wouldn't accept my denial, I felt I had to research it and stumbled upon this amusing aphorism by E.B. White:
To foreigners, a Yankee is an American.
To Americans, a Yankee is a Northerner.
To Northerners, a Yankee is an Easterner.
To Easterners, a Yankee is a New Englander.
To New Englanders, a Yankee is a Vermonter.
And in Vermont, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.
Oh man, humans are a funny bunch. I've learned that wherever you're from, you learned the correct pronunciation and terminology, no ifs, ands, or buts. It is a bother that everyone else the whole world over feels the same though...
Comments
I'm in NM, and I've never heard the term "Yankee", nor has anyone asked me where I'm from. You must have an unusual accept, ZG. But in southern NM, where you are, there must be a lot of Texans, due to the oil and gas development, and they're a breed apart. So everyone here keeps telling me.
Everyone has an accent, some are just easier to identify than others. I've never heard of a form of American English, for instance, that is "accent-free".
Far northern midwest in the US tends to have a very interesting mix of accents. Even within my state in MN, people who live in the southern half can immediately tell I am from the NE corner section of the state. We live very near the Canadian border, and even though we do not have easy access (we are about 12 miles from the border but it's a couple hour drive to get to a border crossing) we have an odd mix of Minnesota/Canada/Scandinavian in our accent.
I have a hard time even visiting sections of the south because I have a hard time resisting the urge to want to say "COKE IS COKE!!!! Sprite is not coke. So stop calling it that!" But perhaps they get annoyed at my calling all facial tissues "kleenex" lol
I suspect you'll adjust in time, @zombiegirl
Even when I spent time with my aunt in Florida, by the time I left I had already adopted some of her accent and terms.
Hm. I love pie, especially key lime. I'd definitely eat that for breakfast. Vermont sounds like my kind of place.
Save a slice (or 2 or 3) for me!
Where I come from (western NYS), soft drinks are called "pop". Then when I moved to the D.C. area, they were called sodas (which to me was a "phosphate"). Now out here in Colorado, I'm once again hearing "a bottle of pop".
A hot dog in western NYS was called a "hot" or a "red hot" (there were also "white hots".
When my mother moved to Florida and asked for a "hot", they asked, "A hot what?" And in Maryland they had something called a "half smoke".
Let's not forget bologna being called "jumbo" in New England states. Always makes me laugh!
And you guys say we British talk funny.....!
The aphorism regarding The UK and America - "Two nations divided by a common language" - seems to be as appropriate for the internal lingual aspect of the USA too, it seems!
I moved from Australia to North Carolina. Now that was a culture shock! A couple of times people looked at me like I was an alien when I started speaking to them.
I actually got to the point where I faked an American accent - especially when spelling my surname (sorry, last name!)
I also had a lot of trouble talking to people where English was their second language. They had learnt the language based on an American accent so couldn't understand a lot of what I said. I actually had a lot of trouble with the word "water" for some reason?
FWIW, we in Aust call Americans "seppo's" I.e. Septic tanks = Yanks.
@Bunks, the other day, I was out to dinner here with a friend, and a woman walked in and was clearly Australian. Poor girl got stared at by everyone, all of us clearly thinking "whoa, what is such an exotic Australian doing in northern Minnesota!?" LOL it made me think of you.
We tend to blend a lot of our words together. "I don't know" became "I dunno" which here comes out more like "I unno"
One of my favorites is my friend Jen who is from eastern Ontario. I don't know if all Canadians say it the same, but she says "about" as "aboot." It just cracks me up, I love it, so I say it all the time and drive my husband nuts, poor guy. When we are going shopping I always tell him "yay! We are going Oot and Aboot!" As opposed to how it's usually said here, which of course is Owt and Abowt.
I've now been in the deep south US for 16 years and although I know the slang pretty well, and like @karasti said...things get blended here...the accent is still hard for me. I have trouble understanding the country Mississippi accent and bec I lack one (grew up in Florida)...people ask me all the time where I'm orginally from. The accent here is adding extra 'R' sound to everything.
I drive a Burick. (Buick)
I'm going to get my herr done today. ( hair)
I burned my err with the curling iron. (ear).
I want merronaise on my sandwich. (Mayo)
BTW...no morning potluck here is complete without a breakfast pie. ..
.. (quiche)
I like the actor in the old TV series LOST. His name is Desmond I guess from Australia, because the plane crash on LOST that put them in a deserted island flew out from Australia.
He would always say 'brutha' and I loved that.
@Dakini Haven't seen you in a while! Good to know you're still around.
And for the record, I damn near live in Texas. You don't know desolation until you take a scenic drive through West Texas, seriously... And actually, I encounter a lot of different accents here because it IS is an oil town. A lot of people move here looking for better opportunities.
@karasti "Coke" is the one that gets me too! If I say "pop" and they say "What?" I will clarify with "soda" but NEVER "Coke" unless I actually want a Coke. Which is almost never. Typically, I order a root beer (pronounced "rut" lol).
@vinlyn I wouldn't have thought that "pop" made it as far west as CO. Guess it's just north enough.
For the record, I've learned I pronounce almost any word with an "A" oddly, or so says my friend from Louisiana. And "Os" and "Es" sometimes too, lol. Even "leg" (I say "lay-g" not "leh-g"). I seriously never knew I had such an accent before, but it's apparently a real thing. I also learned that I have a much worse accent than my fiancee, who grew up in the Detroit area. I grew up in the sticks with a high Scandinavian/Dutch population, so I guess it can't be helped... I recently bonded with a girl from Minnesota because of our similar accents, lol.
There is a German Comedian now living in the UK (brave of him!) but actually, listening to his accent, you wouldn't immediately place him as German.
Maybe that's how he gets away with it....
.
very self-deprecating humour BTW.
Federica, I had the funniest moment in Berwick-upon-Tweed once with my sons, asking for coffee "ta-GOH" (i.e., "to go"). We had a number of crazy seconds where the shop-woman had NO idea what I was saying, until I said, "oh, oh... TAKE away! A TAKE away cup of coffee!" It was great.
... and karasti, I LOVE Minnesota! Was on tour there for about a week with an Irish piper, and we went everywhere: From Minneapolis, to St. Cloud, up to Bemidji, back down to Oak Grove south of Minneapolis. I loved the state. I could really live there... probably would, but my mom's old and in Maine etc....
In the north of England its ' pop ' too.
In the south it doesn't seem to have a generic name.
Just coke or fanta or ones that Americans may not have not heard of like Tizer or Vimto.
Vimto is sweet and vaguely fruit flavoured so its considered a health food...
In the winetr folk drink it with hot water..I kid you not.
My favourite is when a friend of my parents, who has as thick a Geordie accent as you might ever find, was in a hotel in Spain and was asking for Honey.
It took 20 minutes for a waiter to finally get it.
But only thanks to the translation skills of a fellow Brit at an ajoining table.
For my American buddies, this is a really thick Geordie accent....And it may be all in the name of comedy - but trust me, he's not kidding
@federica That guy is hilarious. I've just been watching clip after clip. The one where he's on the Graham Norton show telling his funny story about the guy from Kent... had me in stitches!
FWIW, I live in Vancouver, Canada and I'd say that 90% of people call it "pop." I think most Canadians do, to be honest.
I also pronounce "leg" as "layg," say "bayg" instead of "bah-g," "tah" instead of "to" (but only when "to" would be in between words), "moun'in" instead of "mountain," "liddle" instead of "little" and stuff like that. Oh - and when speaking fast, "you" turns into "cha" or "ya" depending on what sound comes before it (e.g. "Nice tah meetcha" "Whatcha up to?" "Do ya know where tah go?"
When travelling abroad, Americans ask if my fiancee and I are from the Midwest! Only upon realizing that the only city in the "Midwest" that we know of is Chicago will they relent
To quote Family Guy " The Canadian accent , whats that all aboot ?"
I think a lot of it shows a Scottish influence actually. After the Highland Clearances millions of Scots went to Canada or Australia.
>
What did you call me....?"
The funniest thing is....Guess where I was born....?!
@federica That's crazy Kent!?
Yup. Sadly, the part I was born in has now been grouped in and is considered part of "Greater London" but when I was a girl, it was still very much within a separate county, in Kent.
Bromley, to be precise.
What surprised me one time was that I was in the deep south and started talking to someone and they said, "You have a Rochester, NY accent. Are you from there?" And I was from that area...but I was not aware there was a Rochester accent.
Its common to find English people who claim to have no accent..its means one of two things.
Either they speak R.P. ( received pronunciation...think Stephen Fry or the Queen ) and they think that is accentless because its not regional..or they have a Berkshire/ Yorkshire/ Cornish / Tyneside accent but they can't hear it themselves because all their family have it too...
@Eugene hi! I live about 3 hours ENE of Bemidji. I like living here, but sometimes the winters can get long and wearing. As I get older I might find myself being a snowbird, lol, at least somewhat. I love the distinct change of seasons but wish they were more balanced, instead of 6-7 months of winter.
If you (whoever) have ever seen the Fargo movie or tv series, people from that area do somewhat talk that way, no matter what they tell you
It's exaggerated of course on tv, but it's still accurate. Lots of "Ya, you betcha" and "oh geeeeez, it's a cold one today, ain it?"
I find accents fascinating.
So does Bemidji still have the giant Paul Bunyon and his blue ox?
Where I am some As are pronounced very high I don't know how to render it with letter.
Staaar Caaar Faar
@vinlyn, lol, it does.
I first saw Babe and his ox when I was 10 -- 54 years ago!
@Bunks said:
This British/Oz sound-alike nicknames with a twist is way too complicated for Americans, who need every brain cell they have to understand reality TV.
The 'arse that jack built
One of Britain's strangest linguistic features, somewhere between Sheffield and Chesterfield, people stop saying house and say something that sounds a lot more like 'arse. It's an isogloss, a kind of linguistic boundary which Ian calls the house / arse interface, and with his friend the musician Ray Hearne and linguist Kate Burland in tow, he sets out to track it down.
A tour of the British Isles in accents
These places are not that far from each other.
In London its 'ass...unless you speak RP in which case its hice...
This thread has turned out so fun!
@federica I read a book once that took place partly in an oyster house in Whitstable, Kent and that's about as much as I know about it! Lol. (Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters, in case you're curious.) Sarah Waters has such a lovely style, Whitstable sounded amazing and dreary all at once... much like most people would probably describe their birthplace.
(The novel is quite a bildungsroman.)
I do all of this! Although, I never noticed it until someone pointed it out. Most double Ts are Ds. Little is liddle. Rattle is raddle. etc.. But then there's words like "mitten" which is pronounced "mih'in" or "button" which is "buh'in." Do you also do the glottal stop? (Glottal stop=when you totally ignore the consonants and just replace them with a pause, almost like a breath of air.)
@Jeffrey I totally forgot you were a Michigander too. I know the video that the guy in your video references and I talk pretty similar to her... midwestern version of a valley girl accent and all...
I know that oyster house in Whitstable @zombiegirl..It has a kind of basement with wooden covers which are lifted to reveal the living oysters ..the sea runs beneath the building.
The view from the restaurant windows is the grey immensity of the North Sea and the Thames estuary. Its a haven for seabirds.
The nearest town of any size is Canterbury , as in Chaucer, where the 'Holy Blessed Martyr ' Thomas a Beckett bled out his life before the high altar after he was struck down by the King's Knights.
@Zero, I'm from the midpoint between Chesterfield and Sheffield and I can definitely confirm the 'arse label as in are you coming round our 'arse.
My Scottish mate and I were in the pub and I asked him what he'd been doing today and proceeded to say I've been watching Hoose, took me a while to realise he meant House.
A usual phrase in my neck of the woods....
"I'm fixin' to" As in...getting ready to, going to, having the intention.
I'm fixin' to go to work. ....... I'm fixin' to tell her I can't go to the party.
I'm fixin' to smile the rest of the day ..
..
Some people have criks in their neck. In western NYS, we had a crik flowing through our back yard.
We old hippies remember the Country Joe and The Fish anti-Vietnam war song ' Fixin' To Die ' @Vastmind.
" and its 2 3 4 what are we fightin' for ?
I don't know and I don't give a damn
Next stop is Vietnam.
and its 6 7 8 open up the Pearly Gate.
Ain't no time to wonder why
Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FyyT2jmVPAk
Bristol, Dublin, and Edinburgh...
@zombiegirl Yup! Tons of glottal stops. Same here - I never thought much of it until a bunch of Californians I met in France were like "Sooo where in the Midwest are you from?" and I was all "Uh... Vancouver is in the West-west..." "Oh, I thought maybe you meant a Vancouver in the Midwest somewhere."
Btw, how do you pronounce "Vancouver?" People who are from around here tend to say it more like "Vang-coover" (vs. Van-coover). Since we seem to have similar accents, I'd like to see if it's just a Vancouver thing or if it has to do with the "Midwesternness" of our speech.
hmmm..she isn't very good at some of them..Her RP is poor. Her London is not much better than Don Cheadle's. Her Welsh is good.
Her Lancashire very bad. Her Yorkshire is dodgy.
Her Highland accent is poor. ( And btw Robert Burns was neither a 'sir' NOR a Highlander. )
Her Northern Ireland is good.
I would kill her, slowly, if she tried that during any party I hosted.
Or slowly rotisserie her in a gas regulo 7 oven....
My reaction was similar..she isn't even any good at it.
Someone like Timothy Spall or Mark Strong are so good at accents.
I thought Spall was a Brummie for years because of Auf Weidersen Pet, and that Strong was a northerner due to Our Friends In The North..and they are actually both cockneys.
As of course is Philip Glenister, Fire up the Quatro !
@Invincible_summer I definitely say "Van-coover." But aside from that, it's odd how similar our accents are considering that Vancouver is nowhere near Michigan. But then again, when I lived in Detroit, I knew quite a few Canadians and even made a few trips to Windsor on occasion. I almost never heard a noticeable accent (maybe just a few words here and there), but I guess all that really means is that they have a Midwestern accent, lol.
I've been thinking about the things I say and had a horrific realization today. I think I started saying stuff like "You betcha!" and "Okie dokie" to kind of mock some of the weird things my mom would say... but then they actually became part of my common vernacular. Oi... I really say these things. Often.
Don't know what her Bristolian accent sounds like but it's certainly not that of a native of Bristol, lol.