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OT: Fun with linguistics

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UConnChapette said:
I can relate, as a former "worsh" and "ant" sayer. I have been in CT long enough now that I say Aunt, to which my sister who is still in Nebraska always replies something to the effect that I am hoity toity. And I now say soda, not "pop", which amuses my Nebraska nieces.
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I remember the first couple of time I took my kids back home. They were asked if they wanted a "pop". They looked at me???? I said yea you guys want a soda(r). Now in some places down south, they ask you if you want a coke. Then what kind?

My kids kind of think of their cousins as a little "hicky". And I think the cousins view them as a little hoity toity.

UConnChapette said:
The biggest argument I ever got into in college was based on regional differences. I mentioned I missed my mother's goulash once. My roommate who was from Minnesota didn't know what I was talking about. I explained it as a one pot meal with ground beef, tomatoes, pasta, corn, onions... to which she said "OH, you mean hot dish!". Neither one of us was willing to back down! Hot dish? Really? But, what do you expect from someone from a state that takes great delight in noshing on lutefisk!
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umm goulash doesn't have corn in it. hello?? ;) Speaking of which I haven't had that in many years. I should make some. (our's was always just beef, macaroni, and sauce - maybe some onion)
 
Ozzie Nelson said:
You lived in the Buffalo area!! (East Aurora for me)
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Niagara Falls for a while, then longer in Grand Island.

Have been reading Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield thriller series. She's the only fictional character I've encountered who hails from Buffalo. A current-day Seneca, she lives in what the author calls Deganawida, which appears to be part of Tonawanda.
 
It misplaced me in the Chicago/Wisconsin area. I am born/bred in CT. I guess I have a place to go if I get kicked out of CT.
 
There is a section of CT that has an accent that sounds a bit Midwestern. I've found that mostly in the central part of the state, especially around Waterbury.
 
alexrgct said:
There is a section of CT that has an accent that sounds a bit Midwestern. I've found that mostly in the central part of the state, especially around Waterbury.
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I grew up in Southington...one town over....
 
Icebear said:
Watching too many episodes of Masterpiece Theater or BBC programming might be the source. ;-) Many dialects of British English do not pronounce the "h" in similar words.
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Oh, if only my TV choices were that intellectual!!!

I guess I should be thankful that I don't sound like Eliza from "My Fair Lady" and embrace my oddity:)
 
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i found the answers quite obvious, which i assumed meant i was simply giving the correct "american" pronounciations.. turns out i was right, because they pegged me as growing up in north jersey, where only the "real american" is spoken.
 
There was a linguist, I believe at Penn, who had thousands of hours of recordings from Philadelphia residents. I think he could place people not only in the right neighborhoods, but within a few blocks of where they lived. For those familiar with Philly, the South Philly and Northeast accents clearly stand out. Coming from Connecticut, I was the guy with the accent.
 
How about the little candy pieces that are put on ice cream?

Do you call them "shots" or "sprinkles"???
 
JS said:
Niagara Falls for a while, then longer in Grand Island.

Have been reading Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield thriller series. She's the only fictional character I've encountered who hails from Buffalo. A current-day Seneca, she lives in what the author calls Deganawida, which appears to be part of Tonawanda.
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I read all the Jane W adventures a few years ago. I think of her among my very favorite fiction characters.
 
What's with your avatar, wire chief? You look like Bishop Fulton Sheen...
 
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justML said:
How about the little candy pieces that are put on ice cream?

Do you call them "shots" or "sprinkles"???
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I believe those are called "jimmies". :rolleyes:

Actually I use sprinkles. Well I use the word, I would never put sprinkles on ice cream.
 
justML said:
How about the little candy pieces that are put on ice cream?

Do you call them "shots" or "sprinkles"???
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Before I was New England edumacted after moving here from good ol Nebrasky, I would have said sprinkles. Now I call them jimmies if they are the multicolored kind. Shots if they are chocolate. Or maybe the other way around. I don't know, I only get "crunchies" on my Carvel at the XL Center. Don't ask me. I am just as confused by it as you!
 
MilfordHusky said:
There was a linguist, I believe at Penn, who had thousands of hours of recordings from Philadelphia residents. I think he could place people not only in the right neighborhoods, but within a few blocks of where they lived. For those familiar with Philly, the South Philly and Northeast accents clearly stand out. Coming from Connecticut, I was the guy with the accent.
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After three years at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, with lots of kids from the South, my New England boy can fairly easily identify accents from North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee and rural Georgia (most Atlantans don't have accents).
 
meyers7 said:
Says I don't have an accent. Midlands (PA through IL). Exactly right. A very cunning test.

Although I do have a midwest accent. Such as "warsh", as in wash my car. And "aunt" is pronounced ant (as in Atom or Adam). My kids tease me about it quite often since they were raised out here in the east.
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One of my favorite family stories growing up -

We moved from CT to KY in 1965. Shortly thereafter, some family - specificially, my great aunt Katherine, old maid school teacher from Worcester, MA - came for a visit. One of the neighboring children said, in her earshot, "oh, that's your "ant"?". My great aunt drew herself up, and frostily said, "An ant is a bug what walks!"
 
JS said:
I'd say the test got me right as Inland North. I take that to mean west of the Northeast, but not as far west as North Central.
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I'm Inland North, too, and wondered where that is.

I looked on the site for an explanation of the regions but didn't find one. Maybe it's website talk for "not on the Atlantic coast, not in the Midwest, not in the South." Not really flattering to be a "not"!
 
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UConnChapette said:
Before I was New England edumacted after moving here from good ol Nebrasky, I would have said sprinkles. Now I call them jimmies if they are the multicolored kind. Shots if they are chocolate. Or maybe the other way around. I don't know, I only get "crunchies" on my Carvel at the XL Center. Don't ask me. I am just as confused by it as you!
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I never realized the difference until I ordered ice cream in Boston with "shots". The kid cracked up laughing asking what those were. I tried to clarify with "sprinkles" which just brought more giggles.

That was my first introduction to "jimmies".
 
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BooRadley said:
It seems to mistake coastal Connecticut for Inland North.
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Yeah, it did that for a number of people here. Same for Mrs. JS, who grew up in Fairfield.

It pegged me perfectly as Inland North, based on the map icebear found.

220px-Inland_North.gif

That little blue splotch covers both of the Great Lakes cities in which I learned to speak my current mixture of English and menacing guttural sounds.

While Connecticut is home to a mixture of accents, I'd venture to guess that the accents of the coastal areas are harder to place, and thus more easily confused with those of another relatively "neutral" area, because of the historically higher mobility and education of the residents along the shoreline.

Also was interested in the suggestion that, in the early 19th century, the building of the Erie Canal provided an enhanced mobility of accents between here and the Great Lakes (Inland North) region. Draw a line from the Inland North cities eastward, travel Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal (low bridge, everybody down), and you end up a likely UConn fan. That's roughly the story of my life, from there to here.
 
meyers7 said:
My mom always called them "poorboys". Have no idea why?
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Courtesy of wikipedia:
There are countless stories as to the origin of the term po' boy. One theory claims that "po' boy" was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benny and Clovis Martin (originally from Raceland, LA), a former streetcar conductor.[2] In 1929, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company, Martin served his former colleagues free sandwiches.[2]Martin’s restaurant workers jokingly referred to the strikers as "poor boys", and soon the sandwiches themselves took on the name.[2] In Louisiana dialect, this is naturally shortened to "po' boy."[2]
 
alexrgct said:
You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
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I got that one, and it was mostly right. I'm from Milwaukee, which is in a part of Wisconsin where we say "soda." Much of Wisconsin does say "pop". I've lived in northern California for 30 years, but that hasn't changed my accent much.
 
Icebear said:
Po' boys is a Louisiana term.
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Yea but my mom was never in Louisiana or knew anybody from there or had anything to do with Louisiana. So not sure where she got that from????

(she didnt' have Wikipedia either ;))
 
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