Today at work by the garbage compactor there was an end table waiting to be disposed of. On the return slip, the reason read "Top has huge galge." I snickered at first, until I realized that 'round these parts, it's typical for midwesterners to pronounce 'gouge' as "galj" instead of "gowj", and 'galge' was just a phonetic transcription of the common pronounciation.
The more I think about it, most words with the "ow" sound tend to get pronounced "al". The word 'cowelling' gets pronounced "cal-ling" instead of "cow-ul-ling". And I realize that I tend to do this as well.
Yeah, I know. I'm a hick. :-) I love Ohio.
The more I think about it, most words with the "ow" sound tend to get pronounced "al". The word 'cowelling' gets pronounced "cal-ling" instead of "cow-ul-ling". And I realize that I tend to do this as well.
Yeah, I know. I'm a hick. :-) I love Ohio.
posted by Grover at 3/01/2005 09:50:00 AM
10 Comments:
Accents vary so very much from place to place that I try hard not to correct people on pronunciation of words (that last long word is often mispronounced, not least by me).
I was asked just recently by an american lady whether or not I had "that cute British accent"...
"Which one?" was my first thought. London alone has at least 5 distinct accents that I can think of, and each of them has local dialects...
My accent is North London, educated. With a bit of the posh british accent mixed in. (I associated with too many rich folk whilst studying.)
Anyhoo, it's what you mean, not how you say it. ;)
When I first moved from Ontario out to British Columbia, people used to tease me about the way Ipronounced certain words. After being away from Ontario for almost 15 years, I've pretty much lost the little accent I did have.
I never really think I have any accent (who does?), until I go out to New Jersey and really listen to myself as opposed to the natives. It's frightening how much I sound like a hayseed.
I am suddenly recalling an old sitcom episode where two Londoners meet and start comparing accents, guessing each others' end of town down to which floor of which building.
I wouldn't like "Spice World" nearly as much if the girls weren't British. Sporty's accent
is my favorite. :-)
London accents are indeed quite strong, and vary considerably mile-by-mile. So yeah, you can tell what district they come from by the accent. But then, I think that's true for New York aswell.
Spice World.... I thought they burnt all evidence of that film. ;)
Sporty (Melanie Chisholm) is from Liverpool, and thus has a remnant of the scouser accent. An accent I can't stand... LOL
I suppose my accent would be nearer Baby Spice (Emma Bunton) as she was born and raised not 2 miles from here. Though I think my accent is a bit posher, education has that effect.
Gee, what does that say about me? I love Spice World. :-)
Maybe it's my predeliction for the underdog, but I have a definite thing for women with grittier and edgier accents...Aussie, Scouser, Scottish. I'm also a sucker for the slightly more posh accents.
Orb, do you have a webcam or microphone? With all my linguistic posts, I'd love to speak with you directly over Yahoo IM and compare just how different our versions of the same language are.
The grittier accents are pleasent to an extent I suppose. I'm very sensitive to accents, I can normally tell where someone was brought up fairly accurately, within the uk, or outside...
But, that sensitivity also leads to me being easily irritated by some accents. Some of the american accents wind me up. The only ones that don't at all are the californian accents, LA upwards, and most of the west/central northern states. I've yet to review Ohio accents in detail. Though you get a reasonable idea from how people write when they use slang.
Haven't got a mike or camera setup atm, will have to sort a mike at some point. I try not to get on the wrong side of the lens. ;)
Hey, my fellow hick, redneck, slang speaker!
Karl, then you would definitely not want to hear me speak! I'm a true Texan (Southerner). When I lived in Denver I got all sorts of comments on my accent, I of course had never noticed. I adore Australian and English accents, the English as long as it's not uppity.
Here in the South it's always interesting when people just make up their own words for stuff. Greatness. You can find them all in a redneck dictionary somewhere I'm sure.
Andy, every time you say Ohio I think of Drew Carrey and Cleveland Rocks, and start singing the song. Yeah, I don't get out much. ;)
Fortunately (?), we are fairly heavily exposed to the major american accents here via TV. So in many respects I am used to the Texan accent. Can't say it's a favourite, especially seeing as how the main example I get bombarded with is the commandering chief. He certainly makes up words a lot. Our satirists rip the living s*** out of him for it.
Believe me, ours do too. The other day, I heard a bit of what Tony Blair has to go through once a week...basically getting ripped to shreds by Parliament. I'd love to see Bush sweat it out every week like that.
Ah, the great tradition that is PMQ (Prime Minister's Questions). A compulsory slot in this country's political system. Half-an-hour of crossbench questions from all to the prime minister. Mainly from the opposition head. Presently it's at midday on Wednesday's, and is televised live always, probably on the web as well.
It's a bit sick and silly really, it's like watching schoolchildren calling each other names.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/4229411.stm
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