American Accents in the Golden Era

[scottyrocks]

A lot of that quiz was phraseology, and not just pronunciation.

 

[HudsonHawk]

A lot of that quiz was phraseology, and not just pronunciation.

Yeah, that was the point, I think. It's really about dialect, not necessarily accents. Though the two are certainly related.

 

[Young fogey]

Voices and accents

The quiz is mostly phraseology. I've lived in several places, around Philadelphia the longest, but don't have a Philadelphia accent. It placed me squarely there with Yonkers and Providence as runners-up.

 

[MikeKardec]

I certainly don't remember any Canadian saying "aboot" during the time my family lived there.

While I went to college with a couple of Canadian girls who "abooted" to a laugh out loud extent ... none of the guys laughed, however, because they were breath-takingly beautiful. Women might not have treated them so gently.

My Dad (from a French Canadian family) grew up in North Dakota, a place that is sort of teased for it's accent (think the movie "Fargo") and that shares many vocal mannerisms with Canada. In his day, however, that Scandinavian "Fargo" accent barely existed. It came in when the Norwegians appeared seemingly some time after WWII. Most of his contemporaries were British or Germans. My cousin from that area, who must be in his 80s, talks so stunningly fast and with such precision the locals who have taken on the more Canadian or Norwegian style can't keep up with him. Their style is so slow and their sound so distinctly different, it's a wonder they can understand him at all.

I have often wondered if the "flat" California accent isn't just a mash up of all accents to the point where they just disappear ... the "pink noise" of language. It is interesting that most English speakers sound like Californians when they sing. Perhaps it's the end of the Frontier, the elephant's graveyard of language the place where all accents go to die. Obviously, I'm talking about California up to about 1975. I don't know what you call Moon-Unit Valley speak!

 

[HudsonHawk]

While I went to college with a couple of Canadian girls who "abooted" to a laugh out loud extent ... none of the guys laughed, however, because they were breath-takingly beautiful. Women might not have treated them so gently.

Every Canadian I've ever known said "aboot". Every one of them denied that they said "aboot".

 

[LizzieMaine]

Every Canadian I've ever known said "aboot". Every one of them denied that they said "aboot".

French Canadians don't say "aboot". They say "concernant", blown thru their adenoids.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Every Canadian I've ever known said "aboot". Every one of them denied that they said "aboot".

[video=youtube;BRI-A3vakVg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg[/video]

 

[HudsonHawk]

French Canadians don't say "aboot". They say "concernant", blown thru their adenoids.

French Canadians don't even admit to being Candadian, do they?

 

[Nobert]

My Dad (from a French Canadian family) grew up in North Dakota, a place that is sort of teased for it's accent (think the movie "Fargo") and that shares many vocal mannerisms with Canada. In his day, however, that Scandinavian "Fargo" accent barely existed. It came in when the Norwegians appeared seemingly some time after WWII.

I thought the accents in Fargo were supposed to be mostly Minnesotan (albeit exaggerated almost to the point of caricature), where there is definitely a Norwegian influence.

 

[Nobert]

French Canadians don't even admit to being Candadian, do they?

They do, but there's a decided line in the sand drawn between Quebecois and "Anglos." Quebec has come close to seceding at least once, I think.