I have a Chicago Urban accent, even though I was born about 80 miles east. I say pajamas with the middle part sounding like jam. Does that put you off?
We often don't trust or respect each other if our accents or word choices are different. When I moved to New York State, I had to learn to talk differently. If I didn't, people in NYS would assume my IQ was lower than it actually is. I kid you not! Ask any Southerner, they get judged the hardest. But then again, they judge right back.
Within each dialect there are upper and lower class differentiations. There are racial and ethnic distinctions as well. Judging each other based on preconceived nonsense is the national pastime. Human beings are a cruel bunch.
In my heart, my mind, my dreams, I loudly talk Chicago Urban with a whole lotta slang. I'm "in your face" proud of it. I'm never more relaxed than when I'm talking to my people from South Bend.
If I have written about this before, please don't judge me too harshly.
I was born in Chicago and have grown up in the suburbs so I might sound similar to you.
ReplyDeleteI have a daughter-in-law from China and a daughter-in-law from Rwanda so our family has several different accents. One of my sons and his wife will move to Texas this summer so their children will have Chinese/Chicago/Texas accents eventually! Interesting post, Colette!
What fun!
DeleteI reckon there's more than 25 regional accents in our shrunken group of islands, pathetically labelled the United Kingdom, more appropriately Disunited (Scotland is trying really hard to secede from the union - and good luck to them; if they manage it they'll reverse the Brexit referendum and rejoin the European Union).
ReplyDeleteSome UK accents - especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland - are not only impenetrable but depend on a 10% different vocabulary. Ironically, given the discussion you and I had about synonyms for "little", Scotland is almost permanently wedded to "wee" meaning "small"; it sounds and looks childish yet even people in authority use it. Scotland also has words England hasn't found a need for; a "bawbie" is a generic term for any coin, typically copper, of low value.
I left Yorkshire for London aged 25 with a fairly strong West Riding accent (Yorkshire is England's largest county and, for administrative purposes, is divided into three ridings - a word which dates back to the time when we were all speaking Old Norse.). Cumulatively I lived in and around London for 32 years, split in the middle by the six years I spent in Pennsylvania. I didn't actually adopt any Southern England locutions (typically "barth" instead of "bath", the latter with a short a) but my WR accent did start to fade into a sort of neutral non-accent.
In the USA I needed to pick up the variants in the US vocabulary to make myself understood though where I thought the US had got things hopelessly wrong (eg, using "insure" and even "assure" instead of "ensure") I would seek to teach its citizens the error of their ways by saying "ensure" in a louder voice than usual. I also persisted with "schedule" instead of "skedule", eventually causing others around me on the magazine to sub-consciously adopt it orally and then to curse me roundly. Foolishly believing that just because they were in the majority they were right. Later these same folks no doubt voted for Trump
I'm laughing out loud as I read this. I'm sure they hated you for correcting them, ha. You're lucky you didn't get punched out.
DeleteNo punching. My height was one factor but I was also held in awe for other reasons, pollysyllabilism being the main one. Strange really, given that most of them had been formally educated for at least a couple of years more than I had.
DeleteI never thought about this before, but it makes me realize that I speak New Jersey, always have always will. I'm a Jersey girl, even after spending the past 52 years on the west coast, those first 18 years cemented my talk. I love thinking about this, Colette!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it. I find regionalism to be fascinating.
DeleteI have lived in four of these sections. I suppose I sound funny to all of them.
ReplyDeleteHa! I've lived in Northern Indiana, Southern Indiana, Washington State, San Francisco, New York State, and now down to Florida. I pretty much don't feel like I belong anywhere.
DeleteIf I hadn't had 7 years of speech class I too would have a midwestern accent. If I say Pop then everyone asks, where are you from immediately.
ReplyDeleteI've lived in the PNW, the east, Mid-Atlantic (DC area) and now the south. I always tried not to judge southeners But accent aside they have been the most rude people I've ever met and while their accents makes them sound like they aren't too bright I was gob smacked by how rude EVERYONE is here.
It so disappointed us!!! So who cares how they talk if only they were friendly, nice and smile.
I'm sorry to hear that.
DeleteI met a customer at an art show who claimed she could listen to me and tell me where I was from. At the moment she knew I was NE Ohio, but she could narrow it down in time. She wandered my booth, asking me questions about growing up. We exchange childhood stories. After some time she said Akron, Ohio. She left, but was in and out all afternoon, asking a new question. Then she said "North Hill". And I said yes. "Will you get this narrowed to the street before the show ends?" Probably, she said. It was her job; what she did. And while we were packing up she stopped one last time and said "North of North High School, but there are too many streets and I'd just be throwing a dart." In fact we grew up on the last street in North Hill.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've always wondered, on reflection, was who taught us language? Our Mother spent all her life In Cleveland, Ohio and Dad in Irish coalminer Altoona, PA.
Oh wow! That's remarkable. I think our language is often shaped not only by our home life, but by our peer groups in school. In junior and senior high school, we all so desperately want to fit it.
DeleteWhat was her job that required such an interesting skill?
DeleteShe was a police detective in Chicago.
DeleteI don't know how else you would pronounce pyjamas.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was born closeby and has lived here all his life in Alberta, but has a little bit of an accent because he spent so much time in Holland. He pronounces all of the letters, as the dutch do.
In Eastern New York State they call them pa jahh mas. I didn't know that about the Dutch.
DeleteThis has really led me down a rabbit hole, wondering how to characterize my accent. I don't think I really have much accent, aside from occasional use of the word "y'all," but I suppose an expert could find one in there somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI bet your British friends think you have an accent. lol
DeleteHa! I have German ancestors who lived in Eastern New York State. I say pa jahh mas, but I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. My parents were born in Minnesota. Now I live in Washington State, 25 miles from British Columbia. As long as I have lived here, I have been asked where I am from when people hear my voice. People have guessed Canada, Ireland, and Scotland.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a medical transcriptionist, I loved hearing all the ways that English is spoken both by those born in the U.S.A, those from other English-speaking countries and those whose first language is not English. I'm tuned to regional accents and like to guess which part of the country a person is from.
I just remembered that I have also been asked if I am from Chicago (-:
Born and raised in the Bay Area! That must have been amazing.
DeleteI'm surprised the map only shows 4 dialects for NY state. I grew up in the NYC metro area and everyone can identify someone from Brooklyn from someone from The Bronx from someone from Long Island.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in three different parts of the state and have had to adjust to many dialects and learn several names things like sub, hero, bomber, and wedge or soda, pop, soda pop.
But apparently I am like a chameleon and adapt quickly and revert back to whatever region I re-visit.
In Ithaca, NY subs are called Gyros (pronounced Heros).
DeleteFascinating that you had to talk differently in NYS to be treated as intelligent! There's still a lot of prejudice about regional accents in the UK. Queen's English is still regarded as the norm and anyone with a regional accent is seen as a bit lacking. You won't find many regional accents on the BBC.
ReplyDeleteIt actually sounds quite similar. I wonder if it is the same around the world.
DeleteI have only lived in the mid-west; born and raised in Chicago and to the western burbs as an adult. I play around (a lot) with dialects because I work on the phone. I try to sound like I'm from everywhere, yet no-where. LOL Plus I have an actor in the family, words and sounds are our playground. :-)
ReplyDeleteDo you say "You guys?"
DeleteI would dispute the suggestion that regional accents are rare on the BBC. For ideological reasons the Tories are attempting to close the BBC down and in desperation the BBC is trying to prove its commitment to linguistic diversity. The plum job on BBC News has recently gone to Chris Mason a guy who was born where I come from, the long-standing senior foreign correspondent, Orla Guerin, comes from Northern Ireland, and the senior international editor, Lise Doucet has the most weirdly modified Canadian accent I've ever heard. More than that, many more more people of colour are being employed - some with impeccably hoity-toity south-eastern accents, others with Asian and Caribbean twangs.All very welcome as far as I'm concerned. Just recently the popularity of Netflix's The Crown series has re-exposed the viewing population to just exactly what the Queen's English actually sounds like; I have lived through the Queen's entire reign and I'd forgotten just how those twittery, pinched sounds used to grate my teeth when I was young. Very wisely she modified her spech as she got older.
ReplyDelete