American Accents in the Golden Era

[HudsonHawk]

You said just what I did with different words. Vyl and your vull are the same pronunciation.

Ah, ok. When I see "vyl" it's pronounced like...well..."ville".

 

[Nobert]

Last summer, at a Ruby Tuesday's in West Virginia, the waitress asked if we wanted "liemon" with our waters. That was a vowel elongation that I had not expected.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Last summer, at a Ruby Tuesday's in West Virginia, the waitress asked if we wanted "liemon" with our waters. That was a vowel elongation that I had not expected.

Do you mean "lie-mon" as in "lie on the floor" or "lee-a-mon". The latter is the classic southern drawl, creating extra syllables in words.

 

[Nobert]

Do you mean "lie-mon" as in "lie on the floor" or "lee-a-mon". The latter is the classic southern drawl, creating extra syllables in words.

Well, it sounded like "Lie-mon," to my Yankee ears. That can play a part too, I suppose, what you're used to hearing. Just as the English and French heard the same Native American tribe as "Chippewa," and "Ojibwe," respectively.

 

[sheeplady]

Appalachia (pronounced 'apple-atcha' NOT 'apple-laysha' like them people on the weather channel insist on pronouncing it) is one of the very last holdouts for a specific accent.

We proudly end our sentences with prepositions.

Most upstaters I know pronounce the word "apple-atcha."

We also end a lot of our sentences that are a question with the word "at." "Where's my coat at?" "Where'my meetin' you at?" "Where you at?" I've noticed this is starting to die out except among the inner city youth I meet, who tend to be mostly latino or black. I'm not sure if that is due to class or race, but it's getting rarer I hear that on a regular basis.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most upstaters I know pronounce the word "apple-atcha."

We also end a lot of our sentences that are a question with the word "at." "Where's my coat at?" "Where'my meetin' you at?" "Where you at?" I've noticed this is starting to die out except among the inner city youth I meet, who tend to be mostly latino or black. I'm not sure if that is due to class or race, but it's getting rarer I hear that on a regular basis.

We say "Apple-ate-cha" -- I never heard it said any other way until I got cable TV.

I knew older people -- as in born in the 19th Century -- when I was growing up who'd say, in a perfect Titus Moody voice, "Where ye be?," instead of "Where are you?, but that usage is entirely extinct now.

Listening to Titus Moody -- or any other character Parker Fennelly ever played -- is a good way to get a feel for what the real turn-of-the-century Maine accent sounded like. He wasn't putting on a dialect, that was his real speaking voice.

 

[rjb1]

Has everyone had a look at the dialect map referred to above? I think it's remarkably accurate, at least for the Southern region, and I'm curious if everyone thinks it's mostly-right for your own area.
For example, the boundary between the South Midland sound where I live, and the Southern Appalachian area that plain old dave is referring to, is remarkably accurate. Marvyl (for Maryville) is the way people say it there, and Nashville (just like it's spelled) is the way we say that here.
Before seeing the map, I commented that the way Buster Keaton said "window" was close to, but not exactly the same as, how we would say it in the South Midland area. Note that his family came from mid-Indiana, which is on the border of the Upper Midland and South Midland areas. (seems about right to me - and I would not have noticed Buster's pronunciation as being odd)
I think (and solicit plain old dave's opinion) that the Southern Appalachian area people would be more likely to say "winder" for "window" than those of us in Nashville and the South Midland area.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Has everyone had a look at the dialect map referred to above? I think it's remarkably accurate, at least for the Southern region, and I'm curious if everyone thinks it's mostly-right for your own area.

I think they're quite conservative about where they draw the geographical line between Boston English and New England English -- I hear straight working-class Boston accents right up the I-95 corridor as far north as Portsmouth, New Hampshire. My best friend comes from that area, and speaks distinct Boston -- she grew up calling carbonated beverages "tonic," whereas I grew up calling them "soda." That's the classic shibboleth for figuring out which type of New England accent you have.

I've never met a "tonic" speaker who was born in Maine, but I know many from New Hampshire.

 

[rjb1]

Wow - I never knew that any people asked for "tonic" when they really wanted a "coke".
Around here you might try to find some sort of tonic for a health problem at a drugstore, or possibly, if you're pretty old, you might put some on your hair, but it's not something in either case that you would be eager to drink.

 

[plain old dave]

We're right on the line between "coke" and "pop" as a generic for any Coke/Pepsi/RC/Whatever....

Gold star for the first poster that can place the pop that's best by taste test.

 

[vitanola]

Most upstaters I know pronounce the word "apple-atcha."

We also end a lot of our sentences that are a question with the word "at." "Where's my coat at?" "Where'my meetin' you at?" "Where you at?" I've noticed this is starting to die out except among the inner city youth I meet, who tend to be mostly latino or black. I'm not sure if that is due to class or race, but it's getting rarer I hear that on a regular basis.

Reminds me of the splendid ice wines made by the Cheat Winery, Appalachian Contrôlée.

 

[sheeplady]

We're right on the line between "coke" and "pop" as a generic for any Coke/Pepsi/RC/Whatever....

Gold star for the first poster that can place the pop that's best by taste test.

There's a line between Buffalo and Rochester in NY. West it's pop. East it's soda.

This got me right down to where I am from: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0

 

[Nobert]

There's a line between Buffalo and Rochester in NY. West it's pop. East it's soda.

This got me right down to where I am from: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/12/20/sunday-review/dialect-quiz-map.html?_r=0

I took that test a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, according to it, I'm either from Buffalo, Rochester, or possibly Honolulu.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I took that test a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, according to it, I'm either from Buffalo, Rochester, or possibly Honolulu.

I'm either from Maine or New Orleans. No wonder I liked "A Confederacy of Dunces" so much.

 

[Nobert]

Just took it again, this time I'm either from Boston, Providence or Yonkers (although the entire state of Maine showed up dark red on the map, so I'm getting closer to home).

I cheated a bit though. When asked what I call an elongated sandwich, I said "Italian sandwich" suspecting what they were fishing for. The first time I said "sub" since an Italian is not, strictly speaking, just any sandwich on an oblong bulky roll.

 

[HudsonHawk]

We're right on the line between "coke" and "pop" as a generic for any Coke/Pepsi/RC/Whatever....

Gold star for the first poster that can place the pop that's best by taste test.

RC Cola and a Moonpie!!!

And maybe some Viennas (pronounced vie-EEN-as) and saltines and you're ready to fish.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just took it again, this time I'm either from Boston, Providence or Yonkers (although the entire state of Maine showed up dark red on the map, so I'm getting closer to home).

I cheated a bit though. When asked what I call an elongated sandwich, I said "Italian sandwich" suspecting what they were fishing for. The first time I said "sub" since an Italian is not, strictly speaking, just any sandwich on an oblong bulky roll.

If the oil doesn't leak thru the bread and run down your face while you're eating it, it's not an Italian.

 

[plain old dave]

RC Cola and a Moonpie!!!

And maybe some Viennas (pronounced vie-EEN-as) and saltines and you're ready to fish.

Outstanding... One of the buildings in downtown Maryville still has the Golden Age "Best By Taste Test" ad painted on it.

Would take the text, but it insists I need to upgrade my browser. Which there's nothing wrong with.

 

[Virginia Creeper]

Neat. The quiz sheeplady linked to showed me as most likely being from Buffalo, Rochester, or Pittsburgh. The first two are, geographically speaking, not terribly far removed from the part of Canada I was born and raised in.

 

[Nobert]

Neat. The quiz sheeplady linked to showed me as most likely being from Buffalo, Rochester, or Pittsburgh. The first two are, geographically speaking, not terribly far removed from the part of Canada I was born and raised in.

Somewhat Torontoish Ontario? The Great Lakes region seems to have a sort of identity that transcends national borders. And, as a linguistic side note, I've known some Canadians who get their hackles up when it is suggested that they all say "aboot."

Pittsburgh's kind of interesting, since it has a dialect that is seemingly totally idiomatic to that city. Any western Pennsylvanians who would care to weigh in on Pittsburghese?