US regional dialects

DavidT · Post by **DavidT** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:31 am

fearfaoin wrote:...I have a friend from Asheville who can't seem to end a word in a fricative...

There are some things a true Southerner doesn't discuss in public.

chas · Post by **chas** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:59 am

Wormdiet wrote: My girlfriend says the word "across" as "acrossed" or "acrosst." Anybody able to figure that one out? She's from Maine, so that might have something to do with it.

I always thought of acrost as more of a Vermont thing; I've got a lot of family from Maine and NH, but it's only the Vermonters I've heard in that part of the country who say acrost.

To add to Brad's list of colorful phrases. From the South:

Busier'n a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest
Nervous as a cat covering up sh*t
Nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs
'Bout as useless as tits on a boar hog

Some New Englandisms (not sayings so much as vocabulary):

got an edge on (drunk, strictly Maine AFAIK)
wicked (very)
pisser (beyond wicked, also used differently, mostly near Boston)
wind tunnel (airhead)

Non-geographic

As sharp as the leading edge of a basketball

izzarina · Post by **izzarina** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:11 am

Congratulations wrote:
bradhurley wrote:Some people from Texas (and maybe other southern states) pronounce the word "mischevous" as "mis-CHEEV-ee-us."
Guilty. I grew up saying "mis-CHEEV-ee-us," because it was the only way I'd heard it pronounced. In high school, one of my teachers said "MIS-chiv-us" a few times, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I had to ask her what that word was (in private), at which point my backasswardness turned my cheeks a bright red.

Wow...I am hardly a southerner,and I think I've always said "mis CHEEV-ee-us". I didn't realize it was a regional thing...maybe it has something to do with most of my family being from the south.

Wanderer · Post by **Wanderer** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:18 am

Congratulations wrote:
bradhurley wrote:Some people from Texas (and maybe other southern states) pronounce the word "mischevous" as "mis-CHEEV-ee-us."
Guilty. I grew up saying "mis-CHEEV-ee-us," because it was the only way I'd heard it pronounced. In high school, one of my teachers said "MIS-chiv-us" a few times, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I had to ask her what that word was (in private), at which point my backasswardness turned my cheeks a bright red.

Merriam Websters calls "mis-CHEEV-ee-us" an accepted pronunciation.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=mischievous

Pronunciation: 'mis-ch&-v&s, 'mish-; ÷mis-'chE-vE-&s, mish-

(emphasis mine)

Congratulations · Post by **Congratulations** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:20 am

Wanderer wrote:
Congratulations wrote:
bradhurley wrote:Some people from Texas (and maybe other southern states) pronounce the word "mischevous" as "mis-CHEEV-ee-us."
Guilty. I grew up saying "mis-CHEEV-ee-us," because it was the only way I'd heard it pronounced. In high school, one of my teachers said "MIS-chiv-us" a few times, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I had to ask her what that word was (in private), at which point my backasswardness turned my cheeks a bright red.
Merriam Websters calls "mis-CHEEV-ee-us" an accepted pronunciation.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=mischievous
Pronunciation: 'mis-ch&-v&s, 'mish-; ÷mis-'chE-vE-&s, mish-
(emphasis mine)

A pronunciation \mis-'chE-vE-&s\ and a consequent spelling mischievious are of long standing: evidence for the spelling goes back to the 16th century. Our pronunciation files contain modern attestations ranging from dialect speakers to Herbert Hoover. But both the pronunciation and the spelling are still considered nonstandard.

I can live with that.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:22 am

Wanderer wrote:
Congratulations wrote:
bradhurley wrote:Some people from Texas (and maybe other southern states) pronounce the word "mischevous" as "mis-CHEEV-ee-us."
Guilty. I grew up saying "mis-CHEEV-ee-us," because it was the only way I'd heard it pronounced. In high school, one of my teachers said "MIS-chiv-us" a few times, and I had no idea what she was talking about. I had to ask her what that word was (in private), at which point my backasswardness turned my cheeks a bright red.
Mirriam Websters calls "mis-CHEEV-ee-us" an accepted pronunciation.

Merriam-Webster has succumbed to exhaustion. I wouldn't go so far as to call it accepted, but rather as being nonstandard but widespread in use. You hear it fairly often enough in the north, too.

But that's just me.

Edit: never mind, Wanderer. Just read the link. Note to self: peruse first, post later.

djm · Post by **djm** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:23 am

MischievIous - Well, if it ain't, it orter be!

djm

Post by **Nanohedron** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 8:30 am

Walden wrote:
jsluder wrote: I admit that I'm completely ignorant about ASL. What comprises an "accent" in sign language? The use of slang? More (or less) exaggeration in hand motion?
Well, if someone uses the sign for y'all a lot, we figure probably not a Massachussetts accent. If he uses the middle finger a lot we suspect Los Angeles or maybe New Jersey.

I.D.10-t · Post by **I.D.10-t** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:01 am

chas wrote: To add to Brad's list of colorful phrases...

More pathetic than a one legged cat trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:06 am

chas wrote:To add to Brad's list of colorful phrases...

I've always liked "Katie, bar the door!", but I don't know anyone who
really uses it anymore.

chas · Post by **chas** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:11 am

Wanderer wrote: Merriam Websters calls "mis-CHEEV-ee-us" an accepted pronunciation.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=mischievous
Pronunciation: 'mis-ch&-v&s, 'mish-; ÷mis-'chE-vE-&s, mish-
(emphasis mine)

John Smith

Pronunciation: LUX-ur-ee YOT

DCrom · Post by **DCrom** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:03 pm

Wanderer wrote: Merriam Websters calls "mis-CHEEV-ee-us" an accepted pronunciation.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=mischievous
Pronunciation: 'mis-ch&-v&s, 'mish-; ÷mis-'chE-vE-&s, mish-
(emphasis mine)

That was the only way I'd ever heard it, growing up. But my grandmother was from Oklahoma (actually, a large percentage of her generation in our part of California were from Oklahoma or north Texas).

I was measured as "40% Dixie", FWIW. I'm surprised it wasn't higher - I grew up with a mixed California/Oklahoma dialect, and if I spend time in the south I revert to full-on "Oklahoma" (I get asked if I'm from Oklahoma or Texas - generally Texans guess "Oklahoma" and vice-versa)

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:11 pm

Well I just got 40% Dixie.

Many of the options were not what I would choose so I had to go with the closest..and I am a long way away.

Slan,
D.

Black Mage · Post by **Black Mage** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:25 pm

I'm 41% Dixie, 59% Yankee...which is kind'a weird because I have no southern blood and was born in Pennsylvania. MAybe has to do with the fact that I live in Utah and the western dialect is kind of a melding of the two.

Or maybe I'm just taking this quiz wal too seriously.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 6:02 pm

fearfaoin wrote:
chas wrote:To add to Brad's list of colorful phrases...
I've always liked "Katie, bar the door!", but I don't know anyone who
really uses it anymore.

The lady who sits next to me at work uses it.

I scored a 29%, for a solid Yankee rating. That was because I'd just come from speaking for an hour to some people on whom I wanted to make a good impression.

Ah'm bay-ack in mah comfert zone tuh-day, though. I ah-gree with "Ann" be-in' 2 syll'bles. My ree-al na-ame hay-as fahve syll'bles, thuh lay-ast 2 be-in' e-in "Ay-yun." Most ever'body cayn't get but 3 out uv th' whole blessit mess uv i-yit.