Terms Which Have Disappeared

[BlueTrain]

I also live in Fairfax County, Virginia, in West Springfield, to be precise. But I never thought Jed Clampett had an accent, unlike other members of the cast of that program. In fact, I thought Miss Hathaway (Nancy Kulp) had the strongest accent but it probably wasn't her normal voice. But Donna Douglas was from Louisiana and her stage accent may have been closer to her own, though it's been a while since I've seen an episode.

One of my aunts, who lived in Carroll County, Virginia, had a funny way of speaking. It's hard to describe but she ended sentences with an upwards inflection instead of the other way round. That's probably a poor description of it but Mexican Spanish I believe has the same curious thing. Unfortunately I don't know any technical terms for describing speech.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

she ended sentences with an upwards inflection instead of the other way round.

You mean, like every twenty-something does? ARRGGGGH! That drives me crazy (maybe this belongs in the "So trivial, but it really ticks you off" thread.)
Are they trying to assure themselves that you are listening to them? Is it that they asking for encouragement? Or is it merely that they haven't any confidence in what they are saying and want you to confirm their statements somehow?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I noticed that among a lot of kids as far back as the eighties -- it was the popularity of "val-speak" or "mall speak" among TV show and movie characters of that era that seemed to be the main influence. Linguists believe it evolved, for the most part, on the West Coast and then spread.

The trend now is in the opposite direction -- many young women, and not a few young men, I know end their sentences with a drawn-out, slightly raspy *downward* inflection. The linguisitic term for this trait is "vocal fry," and it's also been spread by TV and movie characters. The kids I work with like to mock this habit, which shows up in many of the "indie movies" we show, and we'll frequently pass the time looking out at the sidewalk and criticizing the attire of tourists in "vocal fry" style: "Ohhhh--myyyyy--gawwwwd, does his wife knowww he goes out in public like thatttttt...I meannn ser'uslyyyyy..."

 

[hatsRme]

As I posted this on another thread, it occurred to me that I may need to post this here as well. (Honestly, I didn't peruse all the previous pages; apologies if this is a repeat.) The term may not have disappeared as has the product, (Pride was discontinued years ago, you can still find Joy in stores, and in your heart) but for those of us of a certain age...

A picture of my Pride and Joy...

 

[HudsonHawk]

I also live in Fairfax County, Virginia, in West Springfield, to be precise. But I never thought Jed Clampett had an accent, unlike other members of the cast of that program.

I think my wife means it just in a general sense, that the old Florida Cracker accent creeps back in. You don't hear it much anymore, as Florida has become so homoginized, but certain things are very pronounced. You eat "bald" chicken an check the "awl" in your engine.

The only authentic Florida accent I've ever heard on screen was Jean Smart in a version of The Yearling (which is set in rural central Florida) a few years back. I don't know where she's from, but she nailed the accent.

 

[Zombie_61]

I noticed that among a lot of kids as far back as the eighties -- it was the popularity of "val-speak" or "mall speak" among TV show and movie characters of that era that seemed to be the main influence. Linguists believe it evolved, for the most part, on the West Coast and then spread...

"Valley Girl" speak and "Surfer Dude" speak were fairly prevalent here in southern California in the 1980s and early 1990s, and the linguistics coach I mentioned in post #2684 said most people who study language believe they did indeed originate here. She also said that, except for people whose families have emigrated here from other countries and for whom English is not their first/primary/native language, most native Californians don't have much of an accent per se, but that we tend to talk faster than most people around the world and runallofourwordstogetherasaresult. <--- That was "run all of our words together as a result," for those who don't speak Californian fluently.

 

[BlueTrain]

Fer sure.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Another California characteristic is slurring the ends of certain words, so west coast becomes wes' coas' for example. Steve Martin said he took voice lessons and this was the hardest thing to overcome. He still finds it an odd, stilted way to speak but no one has ever mentioned it to his surprise.

 

[Stearmen]

I'm going to crown you!

 

[Zombie_61]

Another California characteristic is slurring the ends of certain words, so west coast becomes wes' coas' for example. Steve Martin said he took voice lessons and this was the hardest thing to overcome. He still finds it an odd, stilted way to speak but no one has ever mentioned it to his surprise.

I hav n ide wha you'r talkin abou.

 

[Fading Fast]

I haven't visited California enough to offer a comparison opinion, but New Yorkers talk incredibly fast as well. When I first started working in NYC in the '80s, I immediately noticed the difference from Central New Jersey (where I grew up) when I was in a deli getting breakfast and I realized that people were order breakfast as one word - coffeeregularblueberrymuffinwithbuttertogo.

Because of that, I learned to prepare my order in my head first so that I could spit it out and, after awhile, I didn't have to prep, it just happened. In 1991, I went up to Maine on a short vacation and my first day there, walked into a sandwich shop, looked at the board, figured out my and my girlfriend's order, said hello to the counter girl and fired out a two sandwich plus sodas order in NYC fashion. When my machine gun stopped, and I saw the WTF look in the girl's eyes, I realized what I had done.

After that, I returned to normal people talk speed for my time outside of NYC. Let me be clear, I would have responded as that girl did if I hadn't been in NYC for years and not picking up on speed talking that one isn't regularly exposed to is not a sign of anything other than not being familiar with it - I am not disparaging her or anyone in any way. It's just funny how regional differences pop up in the quirkiest ways.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Every great once-in-a-while an accent can be a complete mystery. Some time around 1980 there was a young female server at our local Bob's Big Boy restaurant who spoke with what sounded to me like an Irish accent. When we asked her about it, she told us that she had grown up in southern California, was the only person in her family who spoke that way, and had no idea where her "accent" came from.

Several years ago a good friend asked me why I sometimes spoke with a hint of a "southern drawl", and I had no idea what she was talking about. My wife even supported her observation, but never thought to ask me about it. After it had been brought to my attention I started "listening" to myself and eventually realized they were right, but that it only happened occasionally when I was very tired or sleep deprived. The thing is, no one in my family ever lived in the "American south", so I have absolutely no idea why it happens.

A "drawl" is simply elongating words, making a single syllable word into two syllables by drawing out vowel sounds. It's common in most Southern accents, but not exclusive to them. Perhaps you have a bit of a drawl when you're tired or speaking lazily, and people just automatically associate that with a Southern accent.

 

[BlueTrain]

While there really is a drawl in Southern American speech, it is, I think, used intentionally for effect and not comic effect, either, but rather for emphasis and perhaps very consciously. It seems to also be used to draw out the sound of the first word in a sentence, as if to give the speaker more time to compose their thoughts. I don't think all words can be spoken with a drawl, like the word "think," for instance. Some words seem to lend themselves to a drawl when used at the beginning of a sentence, like "Well," which is a curious word in the way it is usually used. "Now" is similar but used less often. I do not know if other Western languages have similar words.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I used to know a working-class Alabaman who had for some incomprehensible reason moved up here. He took two minutes to say what could be said in 30 seconds.

I tend to talk very fast myself, but that was largely an effect of my years in radio. When you've got to say what you've got to say in a proscribed amount of time, you tend to ramp up the WPM. Floyd Gibbons and Walter Winchell were notorious for this in the Era -- but they also had extremely precise diction. No matter how fast they talked you could understand every word. It's the fast talkers with poor diction who are difficult to follow.

 

[BlueTrain]

It's the fast talkers with nothing to say who are difficult to swallow.

 

[scotrace]

Radio wrecked my ability to read fast. Doing commercials, we were taught to say each word individually, even if speaking quickly. The habit became so ingrained that reading a book is a long process. I read at spoken word pace.

 

[ND1SU]

I have lived in Indiana for 17 years now, and I am assured by several people, both in Indiana and back in North Dakota and Minnesota, that I have not lost my Minnesota accent. I consider this a good thing!

 

[Zombie_61]

A "drawl" is simply elongating words, making a single syllable word into two syllables by drawing out vowel sounds. It's common in most Southern accents, but not exclusive to them. Perhaps you have a bit of a drawl when you're tired or speaking lazily, and people just automatically associate that with a Southern accent.

That's entirely possible, and that what I'm saying and/or what we're hearing is nothing more than our southern Californian interpretation of what a southern drawl sounds like.

Then again, if it quacks like a duck...

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

This will hearken back to an earlier post I made concerning mom and pop grocery stores in small towns. My own small-town home town (I haven't lived there since 1971), is lucky enough to have a group called the Oakmont Historical Society. One of their activities is a lecture series on the history of the area. This YouTube link is to one on the mom and pop groceries now extinct there. Maybe the charm of the lecture will be lost to non-natives, but it is well done, and worth a look if you have a nostalgia for small towns and the people who make them what they are.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Here is another term, once common in everyday speech in the U.S., but now incomprehensible to people younger than 30. Simon and Garfunkel captured in in "Punky's Dilemma" on their Bookends album.

"Draft Dodger"