Wayne

I enjoy visiting various parts of the USA not only for the history and the various sightseeing interests, but also to hear the accents. The clear midwestern accent typical of national newscasters is what I like best.

I don't like the New England (especially Mass) accents that add an "r" and the end of a word when none is there, and delete the "r" when it should be pronounced. I'm reminded of JFK's famous way of saying "Cuber" for Cuba, and of the many words I hear that delete the "r" at the end such as "chowdah" or "papuh" for chowder and paper. Or the elimination of the "r" in the middle of the word in favor of what can best be called a nasal hack -- as in "hat" for heart, or "kah" for car.

What accents do you like and dislike the most as you've traveled around?

TxTravelPro

I think all accents are great!
For Men, I find New York accents are s-e-x-y! But NOT for women!
I have a Texas accent. It's not as bad as some but I can pump it up if it suits my purpose.
I conduct boring automation seminars and I have found that I can keep things light by using a heavier Texas accent.
I throw a y'all or fixin' here and there and it keeps the New Yorkers laughing a while. And if they're laughin' they ain't sleepin'.

LilyLace

A deep masculine TEXAN accent is the sexiest! Honestly all accents are great! I love to hear the differences!

capri767

I love men with southern accents...very sexy.When I say southern,I mean southern..not hicksville.Im from the South and there is a distinct difference between the two.

Cassandra

You don't honestly think there isn't a midwestern accent? To many ears, much of the midwest has exceptionally broad and flat vowels, overly "growled" R's, and in some areas (around Chicago), the vowels shift so that midwest comes out "mudwust" and "slept" comes out "slapped." Traditionally it has been the mid-Connecticut accent that is, supposedly, the standard for broadcasting.

In addition, you have to be careful talking about New England accents, because there's a huge difference between northern Maine, Massachusetts north shore, urban Boston, Providence, Fall River, and then Vt. and NH, whose speech would probably sound unaccented to you. "Park the car in Harvard Yard" is the standard test phrase (although a real Cantabrigian would tell you you can't possibly park there), and it can sound like anything from pock the caw to pahk the cah... to pack the keh to perk the caer, depending.

It's the same with the south, once you learn to hear the differences between the Carolinas, "Tinnisee," Awkansaw, and TEXsis. A good ear can hear the difference between mountain and flatland and coastal speech in the same state.

What bothers me is the nasal sound you can get in almost any city's version of a regional accent. What charms me is the soft version of the same regional accent that you might get out in a more rural area. What is unacceptable is to make assumptions about any accent -- that a southern accent means someone's stupid, that a New York accent means someone's crude or pushy, that a JFK/New England accent means someone's nasty or worse, or that a Californian accent means someone is a Valley Girl at heart.

greybeard

I am English and blessed/cursed with an immaculate boarding school accent, and like TxTravelPro
I have been known to turn it up for effect. Travelling round the Deep South last summer I had some amusing conversations.

Heading towards New Orleans we stopped at the information office on the MS~LA State Line. I was greeted by an immaculately dressed and coiffured woman in her sixties; obviously a real Lady of the Ole South. I straightened myself up and addressed her in my best public school English. She called over her shoulder to her colleague in the back room,

?Sue Ellen, git yur arse out here, we have Prince Charles!?

In southern Tennessee, looking for the Shiloh battlefield I stop at a roadside shop that is little more than a tin shack. The assistant listens politely and then says,

?Honey y?all speak su funny I cint unnersand a wurd y?all ses.?

Two nations separated by a common language! Travel is wonderful, Greybeard

artisland

In the urban northeast you can sit next to young black men engaged in a conversation and not understand a word they say. Their hip talk with every other word a slang word and the stress and intonation is truly baffling. I'm almost jealous I did'nt have a secret language when I was younger. I think it's wonderful the english language is so rich that it can be molded in so many ways.

Shane

I agree with artisland. I have a tough time understanding what a lot of urban blacks say, almost as if we speak two different languages. As for Britons, I find most talk at a much faster pace than I'm used to. Ditto for New Yorkers. The southern accent is the most pleasant to hear with the upper Mid-West American a close second. The upper Mid-West accent is easier for those from other regions to understand.

Leona

From what area did the word "nucular" (for "nuclear") come? Is it that neighborhood immediately surrounding 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

cfc

I really dislike this sort of thread, because it automatically invites judgmentalism, as if one person were the judge and whole areas of the country were wrong or bad.

When someone says an accent is pleasing or easy to understand, they declare that to be a standard from which all others should try not to deviate, instead of being more honest and saying "pleasing TO ME" or "easy FOR ME to understand."

And last but not least, this is far from the first time anyone's posed this question, Wayne. If you're really interested, you could search and find the old threads. Same problem with them.

rb_travelerxATyahoo

I was hospitalized in a rural Virginia hostpital for ~2 months after a serious bicycle-truck crash. Because I was going "stir-crazy" in the room, they would roll my bed down to the end of a hallway where I could "people-watch". Many of the very nice and friendly locals would stop by to chat & ask about me. Many would comment on my "yankee accent" and ask where I was from. I would INSIST that I was from various places all within 100 miles and that I had no accent, but indeed talked JUST like they did, before admitting that I was from the southern foothills of the Adirondacks.

"What accent?"

Loki

Love "Nawallins" or Savannah (a la Midnight in the garden...).

obxgirl

rb_trav, Where in Virginia were you hospitalized???

(off topic) Just saw your post about the Old Town Holiday Inn. Totally ironic. Of course Alex was just sorta old and dumpy back then!

placeu2

I was born and raised in Wisconsin and am currently in the Chicago area. What accent are you talkin about....lol.

I can put on a great Fargo if needed.

I like this thread and celebrate the differences. I have a friend who is from cajun LA country. He has a touch of french cajun accent that the ladies love!

carolyn

Nucular is a close cousin to relator.

And ah don't have an accent. It's the rest of y'all that tawk funny.

J_Correa

Different accents are one of the things I like about travelling around the country. Of course, being a Californian *I* don't have an accent, everybody else does

About 10 years ago my mom, my uncle, and I travelled to Tennessee to visit family. When we got there, several of the neighbors came over to meet us. After the introductions were made, the neighbors were just looking at us, kind of like they were expecting something to happen. My aunt laughed and told us that they were all waiting for one of us to say "you guys" because they think it's funny. We had a great time on that trip. Everywhere we went, as soon as we openned our mouths, people said in that soft, flowing Tennessee accent "Y'all aren't from around here, are ya?"

janeygirl

I'm another one born and raised in Wisconsin. I never heard my accent until I was helping a French friend pronounce a few words and when she repeated them to me, the upper-midwest accent came through loud and clear!

rb_travelerxATyahoo

(obxgirl: It was then called Walter Reed Memorial Hospital (not Military!) in Gloucester, now called Riverside/Gloucester, I think.)

We had a suspect, and when his lawyer came to upstate NY to take a deposition from me, he commented on "y'alls accents". I immediately corrected him:

"When I'm down in Virginia, it's ME who has an accent; when YOU come up HERE, it's YOU who has the accent; it's always the locals who all talk "normal"

Also remember being shamed at age 18 when my date thought my "Adirondack Hillbilly" accent (had pernounced theater as "thee-8-er") was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

Johanna1

My father was a Marine and while stateside, we lived in Hawaii, California, Missouri and Colorado. Everywhere I went I was told I had an "accent," which appears to be a combination of Southern California Valley Girl and midwest twang. My husband is from NE Pennsylvania, and I have to say that the accent from that region is one I find somewhat unpleasant. It's sort of a combination of New Jersey and Brooklyn, and VERY nasally, especially noticable when the women speak for some reason. If the speaker is also cutting their sentences short, the effect is sort of rude sounding (as I have told DH many times). He has been here in the DC area for over 20 years, so his accent has mellowed quite a bit. When we first met, I could not place the accent and actually asked him what country he was from! We still laugh about that.

Cassandra

Let's not forget "suit" to mean "suite", as in a matched set of furniture to go in a particular room --i.e., "bedroom suit." Then there are the questions like whether you pronounce the "t" in "often," how many syllables there are in "mirror," whether you add the word "before" when you say something like, "I've never seen that [before]" and whether you add "with" at the end of a sentence like "Is Pat staying at home or will he come [with]?"