Do you speak American?

[Jeff Stallard]

I hate to tell youz guys this, but Ohio, where I live, is the standard toward which journalists strive. Someone figured out that the Ohio dialect is the least different from all the rest, so now journalists are taught to speak like Ohioans (not hilljack Ohioans mind you).

[susnfx]

"Regional" is a real generalization. There are differences in pronunciation between northern and southern Utah. However, I've noticed something interesting there, too. There are certain long-time families in southern Utah who pronounce words differently than other long-time residents (by long-time I mean several generations). For instance, I have a friend who has lived in southern Utah all her life who pronounces corn "carn," yet other friends in the same small town who have also lived there all their lives pronounce it "corn."

Susan

[burnsbyrne]

The big changes were apparently divided by the Ohio river. This should be very interesting.

Since I LIVE on the Ohio River, I can attest that it IS interesting. The dialect here is very interesting, that's for sure

Here in northeast Ohio we hear the beginning of the dialect change just south of Columbus. Certainly Athens county sounds quite Apalachian.
Mike

[jbarter]

Perhaps we should set up a separate section of Clips & Snips for people to record their speaking voices.

[susnfx]

Perhaps we should set up a separate section of Clips & Snips for people to record their speaking voices.

Back in the days when there were lots of folks frequenting the chat room, and on an evening when the regular chat room was down, a substitute room was set up somewhere else - I forget how it was done. Anyway, in the temporary room we had the option of microphones and we were able to talk to each other. It was really interesting to hear the voices of people whose posts you'd been reading and with whom you'd been chatting. A couple of brave folks even played a tune or two!

Susan

[avanutria]

I set up one of those in about September/October of 2003, but aside from the odd two or three people who would try it if I bullied them, there was a decided lack of interest. I don't recall the program name, though, and I'm no longer on broadband so I wouldn't be able to host it again.

I believe I got to hear Alan and Karina, though, and play a tune with Alan.

Edit - Susan might be thinking of the Yahoo chat room. It's always been set up within Dale's 'chiffandfipple' Yahoo Group, it's just a matter of joining the group and entering the chat (and asking someone to come too if you don't want to be talking to yourself). Sometimes the first time you use it you have to download a small addon for your browser. It supports text chat and voice chat.

[Wanderer]

I used to do this almost every night with Yahoo chat in a musicians room.. We'd each take turns playing tunes on our instruments. 99% of the time it was me and 10 rock guitars

[Darwin]

"For instance, I have a friend who has lived in southern Utah all her life who pronounces corn "carn," yet other friends in the same small town who have also lived there all their lives pronounce it "corn."

Wow! There's one of my old pronunciations that I'd forgotten about. I also used to pronounce "horse" (but not "hoarse") as "harse", and "for" as "far" (but not "force" as "farce"). I don't think these came from my family, any more than "idear" and "warter" did. The problem is that I grew up in oil camps that were full of folks from all over the South. I once had a kid threaten to beat me up if I didn't stop pronouncing "oil" as "oy-yil" and start saying "awul" like he did. I think his folks came from Tennessee, while my family was from East Texas.

My wife and her next younger sister mostly share a kind of standard Taipei Holo pronunciation, but the last time I saw the sister, I realized that she uses a more southern pronunciation of the word for "thing". (mngh-kia~ instead of mih-kia~). Don't know why.

[DCrom]

My wife and her next younger sister mostly share a kind of standard Taipei Holo pronunciation, but the last time I saw the sister, I realized that she uses a more southern pronunciation of the word for "thing". (mngh-kia~ instead of mih-kia~). Don't know why.

Heh.

Talk to my older daugher and you'd wonder if her folks were from the UK - for no apparent reason (other than her own amusement) she often affects a pseudo-british accent (she's actually had people ask if she was from England).

If we manage to vacation in England and/or Ireland this year (we're trying) I'm betting her "accent" will disappear as fast as her fad of using Spanish words disappeared when we visited Mexico a few years back - local folks either catching on (and laughing) or thinking she *was* a local and firing machine-gun Spanish at her.

FWIW, my mother's younger sister is also prone to similar pseudo-british pronunciation. Could it be a family weakness (that only manifests in the female line)?

[mvhplank]

[snip]

FWIW, my mother's younger sister is also prone to similar pseudo-british pronunciation. Could it be a family weakness (that only manifests in the female line)?

Don't know about your female relatives, but I was in danger of the same behavior just because I wanted to be Emma Peel.

M

[DCrom]

[snip]

FWIW, my mother's younger sister is also prone to similar pseudo-british pronunciation. Could it be a family weakness (that only manifests in the female line)?

Don't know about your female relatives, but I was in danger of the same behavior just because I wanted to be Emma Peel.

M

I don't think #1 Daughter even knows about the Avengers.

I'm now torn between renting some DVDs to show her - and praying she never finds out about the luscious (and dangerous) Emma Peel. She's already got the attitude and some of the habits - if she starts wearing black leather catsuits my parental paranoia will likely go terminal.

[teeisblue]

I'm glad for the clarification, because I initially assumed this was just another unusual American town name, like Desolation, Forgiveness, or Butt Creek.

More unusual American names... Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. I swear.

[Darwin]

[snip]

FWIW, my mother's younger sister is also prone to similar pseudo-british pronunciation. Could it be a family weakness (that only manifests in the female line)?

Don't know about your female relatives, but I was in danger of the same behavior just because I wanted to be Emma Peel.

M

I don't think #1 Daughter even knows about the Avengers.

I'm now torn between renting some DVDs to show her - and praying she never finds out about the luscious (and dangerous) Emma Peel. She's already got the attitude and some of the habits - if she starts wearing black leather catsuits my parental paranoia will likely go terminal.

We got the whole set a while back. Frankly, it was much worse than I remembered--much. Worse than "The Man From UNCLE", I suspect.

[Lorenzo]

"Do You Speak American?" That was a good program...I mean that was gnarly dudes, dudettes.

"Lady down south gave me a lip pincher on the cheek, I flashed a little color, and she said, "God blush you!" Rad, man...to the max. Full-on! I mean Phat! A good ripper! I said, so ya wanna go grind? What a dance'n bomb. We really carved it up, man, she was so dialed-in! Got me all amped up, I mean like kinda got me outta the green-zone."

[Steven]

I'm glad for the clarification, because I initially assumed this was just another unusual American town name, like Desolation, Forgiveness, or Butt Creek.

More unusual American names... Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky. I swear.

In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (the home of most of the Amish people living in the state), there are three towns strung out along a particular stretch of road. First you go through Bird In Hand, then Intercourse, then Paradise.


Steven