Rfalconcam Forum

AKA-Regional dialects in the US...

OK...the boundary is a bit more complicated than North/South.  I grew up in Brooklyn and, although most people don't pick up on it now, I did have a truly Brooklyn accent, with a hint of my mother's Bronx accent.  I pronounce striped as one syllable.

Regional dialects are very interesting.  Once upon a time I worked as an oversize load escort driver and ran into all sorts of accents on the CB.  One that I always found interesting was the very blurry line between a true down-east Maine accent and what is often thought of as classically Canadian.  Not much difference between Eh-ya?  and Eh?

Anyway...I ran across this very interesting map and pronunciation guide done as a hobby.  

http://aschmann.net/AmEng/ (http://aschmann.net/AmEng/)

All sorts of fascinating tidbits if that's your sort of thing...like there's a correlation between a New Orleans accent and a Brooklyn accent.  Go figure!

My goodness, who put that together!!!  :scaredblue:

Aaah, but the Maine (and New Hampsha) expression is AY UH  ;)

I am rarely stumped by a regional pronunciation, but I have to say I was totalled by the guy who asked me (at my post as Home Depot Garden Cashier in WestbyGod Virginia), where the flares were.  I dutifully replied that they were in Aisle ten, the safety aisle. 
Seems the chap was looking for FLOWERS.

Wow, is that a map or a puzzle?


I wonder if he ever worked at RG&E, the local pare company. As you know, their Beebee station is not too far from the Kodak tare.

Oh, my. Look at the hare. It's past my bedtime.

 :rofl:
Carol

Ok, that was good! :clap:

That's the part that was funny...I had finished escorting a load of steel in Portland Maine and needed to get to somewhere in way north interior Maine to pick up a machine in the morning.  I don't recall the town...I just recall taking I-95 so far I was seeing signs for New Brunswick, then got off and went further north.  Anyway, it was late & I was yakking with any truck driver willing to talk.  Every last accent sounded exactly alike-I asked where in Maine they were from-one was from Bah Hahbah, the rest were from Quebec.  They actually joked-"can't you tell the difference between Ay-yuh and Ay-yuh?"

Years ago, during the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland, I volunteered to work with a group that brought kids from Belfast to Dublin for a bit of R&R. We picked up our bunch of ragamuffins from the train station, and then had to take them to buses for the trip to the final destination.

As we walked, one little tyke cosied up alongside me and asked "Where are the turrets?" (Or at least that's what I thought she said.)

My heart sank for the poor child, having to live a life surrounded by gun turrets, tanks, soldiers. So I quietly reassured her:"Don't worry, love. There are no turrets around here."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she clutched my hand. I am thinking by now that I have made a friend.

Her words, however, became more clear with her next statement:

"Miss! You don't have any TER-lets here? But I need to pee!!

That's how my grandfather pronounced it...he also did the "earl" for oil Brooklynism!  His father was Welsh, but his mother was Irish with a brogue as thick as soda bread, from what I hear.

Speaking of Irish brogues...in all my life the only accent I was completely unable to decipher was a woman with a Canadian-Irish brogue.  Could not understand a single word!

Another "language/accent" story... I was out in County Kerry with two friends some years back. One friend, Irish. The other, English. We sat by the fire at a little local pub where an old gentleman engaged us in conversation. The English girl remained silent while the Irish friend and I chatted away. The old fellow eventually tipped his soft cap and left, at which point our English friend commented that she was very impressed by our grasp of the Irish language when we responded to the old lad. Which is when we had to tell her: "Jenny, he was not speaking Irish - he was speaking English!"

In (Northern?) Virginia, that's pronounced OLE...  Change th' ole in the corr.
Carol
WV